Beer maker Shepherd Neame has signed a deal with an online retailer and wholesaler to give it exclusive rights to import barrel-aged beers from the Boston Beer Company.

The Faversham-based brewery – the oldest in the UK – will team up with the Bottle Shop to import beers from the American firm’s Barrel Room Collection.

Shepherd Neame already brews the firm's Samuel Adams Boston Lager under licence in the UK.

The new range of five beers – American Kriek, New World, Stony Brook Red, Thirteenth Hour Stout and Tetravis – will be available to trade customers and consumers later this year.

Shepherd Neame sales and marketing director Graeme Craig said: “Samuel Adams Boston Lager has exploded since we began brewing it here in early 2012.

“We’ve been able to complement its success by importing a select range of the Boston Beer Company’s seasonal beers.

“It’s great that we can now take that success one step further by working with The Bottle Shop – a specialist retailer whose customers appreciate high-quality niche products like the Barrel Room Collection.”

The Bottle Shop managing director Andrew Morgan said: “We have a hugely discerning customer-base – people who know and care about beer.

“By bringing the Barrel Room Collection to the UK for the first time we are – once again – importing some of the world’s most interesting beers.”