DRINKERS in Verwood can now help support injured service personnel while they enjoy a pint.

Andy Fuller, 47, is the landlord of The Swans pub and has started selling Help for Heroes beer on tap – and is one of the first to do so. He spent 27 years in the army before taking over The Swans 14 months ago and also runs the Elephant and Castle at West Moors.

He said: “I’ve done a couple of tours of Iraq and Afghanistan, so I’ve seen injured servicemen and the work that Help for Heroes does, so it’s a just cause and that’s why we’re stocking it.”

The beer was the brainchild of three injured veterans in partnership with Marston’s, the brewery behind Andy’s pub in Verwood. It came about after a chance meeting between Bryn Parry, co-founder of Help for Heroes, and Tesco ale buyer Chiara Nesbitt last year, which led to the involvement of Marston’s.

Three members of Help for Heroes’ Band of Brothers network went to Marston’s brewery in Burton-on-Trent in July to work with Innovations Brewer Genevieve Upton on the recipe.

Pete Dunning, ‘Baz’ Whittingham and Si Brown knew what they wanted and, after tasting samples, Genevieve narrowed it down to two beer samples to take away and mix together.

In typical Band of Brothers no-nonsense-style, Pete, Baz and Si poured the two ingredients together, tasted it and announced “that’s it”.

The bottled version is on sale at Tesco, with five pence from each sale going to the charity, while six pence from every pint sold at The Swans will be donated.