Levenbank, the distillery recently launched by the team behind the Loch Lomond Brewery, has announced a partnership with Leeds-based craft brewery Northern Monk.

Through the collaboration, co-founder and head brewer of Northern Monk Brian Dickson will visit Levenbank and Loch Lomond Brewery to brew an imperial stout that will be made into three products. Through two of the products it will remain beer, released in its original form and as an oloroso cask-aged imperial stout.

The third release will be a "beer-to-whisky" project, through which the stout recipe will be distilled into single grain Scotch whisky and be matured for a planned three to four years in the same casks as the cask-aged stout.

Head brewer/distiller and company director Euan MacEachern said: "We are delighted to be partnering with Northern Monk on the first of our beer to whisky exploration projects. It marks the beginning of a wider initiative to explore the relationship between brewing and distilling through collaborations with leading craft brewers."

MacEachern added that the distillery plans to experiment with distilling further styles of beer into whisky, in order to demonstrate that "the style of beer, or wash as it’s known in the whisky world, has a significant influence on the flavour of the whisky".

Dickson added: "At Northern Monk, we’ve always been passionate about pushing the boundaries of what beer can be and this collaboration is a perfect example of that.

"Working with Levenbank/Loch Lomond Brewery to create an imperial stout designed to be drunk fresh as a beer, and also to be barrel-aged and used for whisky making, is an incredible opportunity to explore the relationship between brewing and distilling. We can’t wait to see how the rich, bold flavours of the imperial stout evolve through the distillation and cask-ageing process into something truly special."