Everards launches Hazelnook Amber to fund hazel dormouse reintroduction

Everards has turned a limited amber ale into a direct wildlife fundraiser, with 25 pence from every pint of Hazelnook Amber going to Twycross Zoo’s hazel dormouse conservation work. The beer was launched at Everards Meadows Beer Hall on March 29, 2026, and is now pouring across Everards pubs in the Midlands for a limited time.

The release ties the brewery’s seasonal business to a very specific conservation outcome. More than 20 hazel dormice were reintroduced to a secret woodland on the Bradgate Park Trust estate in June 2025, creating Leicestershire’s only known population of the species. That release followed a 2023 reintroduction at Calke Abbey in Derbyshire, the first dormouse return to the National Forest. The Bradgate Park site sits within a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a National Nature Reserve, which gives the project added weight beyond a standard charity tie-in.

Dr Rebecca Biddle of Twycross Zoo said hazel dormice had declined significantly across the UK and were until recently extinct in Leicestershire, but the reintroduction programme is already showing encouraging signs, including evidence of breeding. That is the key detail behind Hazelnook Amber’s conservation hook: customers are not just backing awareness, they are helping support a live restoration effort with measurable milestones.

The numbers explain why the cause matters. Hazel dormice have fallen by around 70 percent in the UK since 2000 and are extinct in 20 English counties. The People’s Trust for Endangered Species says it has released 1,142 dormice into 26 woodlands in 13 counties since its reintroduction programme began in 1993, with animals going through eight weeks of quarantine and health checks before soft-release into new woodland homes. That makes every pint of Hazelnook Amber part of a much larger, carefully managed recovery model.

For Everards, the collaboration fits the brewery’s own identity. Founded in Leicester in 1849, Everards now brews at Everards Meadows and runs more than 140 pubs. Head brewer Jon Elks said the Twycross Zoo partnership felt like a natural fit because Everards Meadows was designed with biodiversity in mind. In practice, that gives the beer a clearer point of difference than a standard seasonal: drinkers know exactly where the money goes, how much moves from each pint, and which local conservation project benefits.