Industry campaign There’s A Beer For That headed to the John Lewis’ flagship Oxford Street location for its first beer and food-matching evening event in a department store.

Hosted by beer sommelier Annabel Smith, the event offered members of the public and invited guests a five mini-course menu, pairing a range of beers with charcuterie, sushi, chicken satay, vintage Cheddar and chocolate truffles.

The event was part of a partnership between TABFT and John Lewis, which also sees the retailer stocking TABFT-branded beer carry cases - also available in Waitrose.

“We’re extremely happy to be working with TABFT and we’re looking forward to providing our customers with a new way of looking at beer,” said Andy Evans, beers, wines and spirits specialist at John Lewis. “We stock a great variety of beer styles in our shops, and having an expert come in and help our customers learn more about pairing is great.”

Neil Gannon, marketing lead at TABFT, said working with John Lewis was a “perfect partnership” for both parties, thanks to the retailer’s audience of food and drink enthusiasts.

The event came after TABFT confirmed it would continue through 2016 with £5m of funding provided by the UK’s five largest brewers: Heineken, Molson Coors, AB InBev, SAB Miller and Carlsberg. The British Beer & Pub Association has also said it will contribute to funding the campaign for the first time.

“Having launched this campaign 15 months ago with the ambition to reignite the nation’s love of beer, we are delighted that we have been able to demonstrate tangible consumer and trade success,” said programme director David Cunningham.

“The campaign has been seen by over 20 million adults who have directly engaged with us over six million times on social media. As a result, we have seen a significant improvement in consumer attitude towards beer across all key image attributes.”

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