Ramsbury's D-Day beer flown out to US (From This Is Wiltshire)

Ramsbury's D-Day beer flown out to US

8:23am Wednesday 3rd June 2009

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A special batch of 1,000 gallons of beer brewed at Ramsbury for the 65th anniversary of D-Day and called 506 after the legendary Band of Brothers US soldiers who were based in the village was flown out to America last night.

The beer has been produced at Ramsbury Brewery in honour of the men from the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division who were stationed at Ramsbury in preparation for D-Day on June 6, 1944 and which was the turning point of the Second World War when Allied troops began to turn back and eventually defeat the advancing German army.

Thousands of American troops were based in and around Ramsbury and Aldbourne in preparation for the massive thrust into Europe to repel and finally defeat the Nazi onslaught.

Many of them flew out from the former Ramsbury airfield and parachuted down to support their other colleagues who had been taken by road convoys to the coast and shipped over the English Channel for the D-Day assault The bravery and camaraderie of the 506th led to the regiment being christened the Band of Brothers and there is going to be a big celebration of the 65th anniversary of their D Day involvement at their base in Fort Campbell in Kentucky next Wednesday.

Ramsbury Brewery was set up as a farming diversification by Ramsbury Estate in 2004 in a redundant farm building and its beers quickly caught on and have become popular not only locally but are sent to pubs as far away as London.

Its most popular draft and bottled ales are Ramsbury Gold and Ramsbury Bitter, all produced from barley grown on the 5,500 acre estate.

Estate manager Alistair Ewing said: “We have brought out a beer called 506 which is named after the 506th Infantry Regiment recognising the fact they were based here at Ramsbury in World War 2.”

The beer will be available at Ramsbury Brewery outlets in the UK but 1,000 bottles of it were crated up this week to be flown out to the USA.

Mr Ewing said: “We have been in negotiations for four or five months trying to get this shipment of beer out to the USA in time for the anniversary.”

The label on the 506 beer shows the regiment’s spade emblem and its motto We Stand Together, Then, Now and Always.

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