Brewdog selling ‘Barnard Castle eye test’ beer amid Dominic Cummings controversy

The beer is described as ‘short sighted’ for ‘tall stories’

Brewdog is selling a ‘Barnard Castle eye test’ beer following the ongoing controversy around whether senior government advisor, Dominic Cummings, broke lockdown rules.

On Friday it was first reported that Mr Cummings had driven 260 miles to his father’s home in Durham to self-isolate with his wife Mary, and their four-year-old child, while she had coronavirus symptoms.

On Monday Mr Cummings gave a speech at 10 Downing Street, confirming he did drive from his home in London because he was worried about childcare provisions, and later completed a second, shorter journey to local beauty spot, Barnard Castle.

Although Mr Cummings alleges this was in a bid to see if he could “drive safely” back to London, as his eyesight had seemingly been damaged when he contracted coronavirus, not as a sightseeing trip.

The brewery and pub chain describes the limited-edition drink, made with pineapple, mango and lime, as: “Short sighted beer for tall stories.”

Writing on the Brewdog official Twitter, it said: “The people have spoken. So we decided to actually do it.”

All profits from the New England IPA will be directed towards funding free hand sanitiser for the NHS and healthcare charities.

Customers can now pre-order the beers online from the Brewdog website. They come in batches of 12, at a cost of £16.95 and will be available for dispatch in two weeks.

Brewdog has already made a name for itself during the coronavirus pandemic by producing free hand sanitiser from its Scottish distillery.

Brewdog – which has sites across the country – said it was working with a global team to make its “Punk” sanitiser available as soon as possible to help people “stay safe”.

A spokesperson said: “To help with the shortages, we have just started working on making hand sanitiser at our distillery in Scotland.”

The announcement was met with mixed public reaction over plans to capitalise on the pandemic by selling it – but Brewdog boss James Watt said the product was being given free to NHS charities.

On Wednesday a survey by Mumsnet found more than 80 per cent of parents would not have broken lockdown rules if faced with the same childcare situation as Dominic Cummings.