First real ale award presented to new Exmoor brewery

DUNKERY Ales founder Jim Winzer has been presented with the brewery’s first award - for one of his first beers.
The micro-brewery only started in Exford last September and it immediately entered the Minehead Beer Festival, where it won the ‘Somerset Beer of the Festival’ award.
The award was voted on by the people who attended the festival and tried the different beers which were available.
Dunkery Ale 4% received more votes than any other, and now the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has formally presented a certificate to Mr Winzer to commemorate the success.
The presentation took place in the Bear Inn, Wiveliscombe, where licensees Andy and Heather Harvey also received the Somerset CAMRA Pub of the Year 2007 certificate.
Both presentations were made by Somerset CAMRA chairman Alan Walker, who said of the Dunkery Ales success: “The fact that it was a new local beer makes people want to try it, but to win the award it had to be a good beer as well.”
Mr Winzer said: "I am very pleased, especially as the award was voted for by the general public. It is quite an honour.”
Dunkery Ales is the first micro-brewery to operate on Exmoor and it uses water from a spring in Downscombe Bog on the slopes of Dunkery Beacon.
It was set up with support from Exmoor National Park Authority’s sustainable development fund, provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and additional funding from West Somerset Council, Business Link, Connecting Somerset, and Foodlink.
DEFRA contributed with a Rural Enterprise Scheme grant toward the building costs of setting up the brewery in an old cow shed Edgcott Farm, Exford, owned by Mr Winzer’s friend Lindley Williams.
Among the local public houses which stock Dunkery Ale are the Culbone Stables Inn, near Porlock, the Exmoor White Horse Inn, Exford, the Crown Hotel, Exford, Ralegh’s Cross Inn, on the Brendon Hills, The George, in Brompton Regis, and the Rest and Be Thankful Inn, Wheddon Cross.
More information is available from Jim Winzer by telephoning 01643 831115 or visiting the website http://www.dunkeryales.co.uk/.

• Our photograph shows (left to right) Alan Walker with Jim Winzer and Heather and Andy Harvey. Photo ref C060101. Order image reprints online at www.tcpbymtp.co.uk.

From the slopes of the Quantocks to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro

WEST Somerset publican Pam Middlemast (pictured) is in training to become fit enough for the biggest challenge of her life, travelling from the Quantock Hills to climb the world’s highest free-standing mountain, the 5,685m Mount Kilimanjaro.
Pam, who runs the Bicknoller Inn, will travel to Tanzania in June to join 30 other people taking part in the hike to raise money for Scope, the charity for people with cerebral palsy.
To ensure she is fit enough for the adventure, Pam is running three times a week, practising yoga, and has invested in a cross-trainer to help build her strength and stamina.
She said: “I look forward to the trek with some sense of trepidation, but also with much excitement. I am sure this promises to be an experience of a lifetime.”
Pam’s first challenge, however, is to raise sponsorship money, which she has been doing through a number of events at the Bicknoller Inn, including a sponsored head shave, a table top sale, and a jazz night with ‘Gentle Jazz’.
Her husband, Paul, has agreed to have his legs waxed in public, and her yoga teacher, Tria, will be running a yoga lesson in Bicknoller Village Hall and giving all the proceeds to the cause.
Pam will also be giving a talk on Friday, March 23, in the village hall, on her experience of conservation in the Seychelles, which will be accompanied by a finger buffet and drinks.
She said: “I would like to thank everybody who has given me their help and support in raising money, and welcome any new ideas as we still have some way to go, as I have pledged to raise £3,000 for Scope.”
The trek to the summit Mount Kilimanjaro will take six days, with the route taking in cultivated farmland, lush jungle, alpine meadow, and, finally, barren lunar landscape.
Pam said: “An average day’s walking will be about seven hours, with the most challenging day being the day we will reach the summit. This day will start shortly after midnight and entail 14 hours’ walking.
“I am taking this challenge very seriously and know that I will have to be very fit if I am to succeed.”
Pam would like to hear from anybody willing to make a donation or help in organising a fund-raising event.
Readers of The Crier can sponsor Pam by visiting her fund-raising website at www.justgiving.com/pamm and clicking on ‘sponsor me now’, or contact her via her email at pam@bicknollerinn.co.uk, or by telephone on 01984 656234.
More information on events run by Scope is available on 0800 019 1200 or from www.scope.org.uk/adventures/.

Photo submitted.