Born and bred in the North East Katie (The Beer Lover) and Steven (The Butcher) returned home after a stint in the capital, to start a new venture dedicated to their love of beer and responsibly sourced meat.
Officially launched last week Block & Bottle is the first dedicated free-range butchery and craft beer shop in the UK.
Located on Wellington Street in Bridges Quarter, a cultural hub of independent businesses based on the south bank of the Tyne, Block & Bottle provide locally sourced meat and draft beer to go in reusable bottles (growlers).
Katie Cullen, co-founder of Block & Bottle, said: “Steven and I have always enjoyed trying amazing food and drink, whilst paying close attention to the provenance of the produce. Block & Bottle has given us the opportunity to not only share our love of meat and beer with the North East, but enabled us to champion and support local and regional farmers and breweries. We’re extremely excited about our new venture and look forward to welcoming people from across the North East into our store.”
Block & Bottle offer almost 150 different craft beers from breweries in the North East, wider UK, Europe and America. The shop also offers draft beer to go in re-usable, 1 litre bottles called ‘growlers’.
The butchery side of the businesses offers a huge selection of fresh meat, hand made burgers, sausages and bacon. Steven also creates and cures several different types of charcuterie and has plans to cure parma and coppa ham in the future.
Steven takes great care sourcing the meat produce, focusing on Rare breads from Durham and Yorkshire. The couple ensure all the meat Block & Bottle sell is free range.
Katie & Steven will also be sharing their passion and knowledge for great food a drink through a range of events including butchery classes, beer tastings, meet the brewers and meat & beer pairings.
Katie and Steven met in Newcastle in 2011, and after a 6 month stint in Edinburgh moved to London. Steven has over 12 years of experience working at some of the top UK butcheries, developing charcuterie products and delivering butchery classes. Katie has spent the last 5 years co-ordinating luxury parties and has worked closely with several of London’s top chefs. During this time, and while travelling around the UK, Europe and the USA, she began to seek out new and interesting craft beers.
After both wanting to set up separate butchery and craft beer bottle shops they came to the realisation that meat and beer were perfect partners and combined the two to create Block & Bottle.
Block & Bottle are open Tuesday – Saturday, 8am – 8pm and Sunday 10am – 4pm.
To find out more about Block and Bottle visit www.blocknbottle.co.uk