Maximo Park say 'drink us'

Maximo Park are being honoured - after a fashion - by having bottles of Newcastle Brown Ale shipped with labels designed by the band:

Frontman Paul Smith said: "So many amazing things have happened for our band in a short space of time and to have our image emblazoned on a Brown label is another addition to that list.

"It would be great for our band to be as synonymous with Newcastle as the mighty Brown Ale, and it's both amusing and an honour to be able to deface the label in this manner!"

Newcastle Brown Ale, of course, isn't actually synonymous with Newcastle at all, as it's actually brewed in Gateshead.

We're also a little confused as to how naming a beer Maximo Brown Ale squares with alcohol industry's own Portman Group and rules on not naming drinks in a way that will have "particular appeal to under-18s".