strangely for one of the more far flung points in Devon, a lot of the more
popular beers available have a Cornish connection. The standard bearer is
probably Doombar, a real favourite and easy drinking malty biscuit beer, “Doom”
as it’s known was the real forerunner of Cornish ales in the area. This was soon
followed by St Austell Brewery Tribute, partly helped in distribution terms
with their depot in Ilfracombe. Tribute is a more delicately hopped beer with
citrus overtones. Both Doom and Tribute are really excellent commercial beers
in that their flavours are tasty but not challenging and therefore have wide
appeal. However the Cornish beers don’t get it all their own
way…….
Another brewery whose beers you will see in North Devon is
Exmoor. This brewery started life in 1980 and is based in Somerset on the edge
of Exmoor. They were one of the original microbrewers and have had great
success with their beers. Exmoor Gold was perhaps the original Golden Ale and
along with Hopback Summer Lightning, these two beers ignighted the golden ale
category. In fact it was particularly pleasing to report at the recent Plymouth
Beer Festival, Exmoor Gold won the Golden beers judging panel for the 2014
Great British Beer Festival and will now go forward for judging at this
prestigious event.
Having talked about beers from out of county making inroads in
Devon, it’s great to see the growth of small home grown craft brewers within the
county. If you think back over a hundred years then every town and even village
would have its own brewery. Things then changed as transport improved and the
larger breweries took over the smaller ones. However partly driven by the lower
duty small brewers pay on the beer they brew, the smaller brewers are very much
on the up.
I’ve not personally tried many of the beers brewed, but by
reputation then the likes of Clearwater, Country Life, Forge, Holsworthy and
Wizard breweries are well worth trying. Many pubs now operate their own beer
festivals so if you go to one of these look out for the local brewers. For sure
the likes of Doombar and Tribute are great beers but then the small brewers do
some interesting and distinctive beers as well, plus of course try to support
local businesses.