A VILLAGE beer, brewed using hops grown by gardeners in Mildenhall has been celebrated after it was put to the test at a professional competition.

Minal Tap, brewed by ale house The Shed Alehouse, was a sell out hit at Swindon Beer Fest over the weekend.(Oct 26-29)

Using the Prima Donna variety of hop grown by Mildenhall’s very own gardening club and brewed at the Pewsey based ale house, the village drink sold out, with punters enjoying every last drop of the ale.

Milly Carmichael, of the gardening club, said: “Two years ago, eight members of Minal gardening Club planted dwarf hops in their gardens and this year they were mature enough to flower. Those that had survived were harvested for the beer making.

“The brew needed 1kg of flowers which is quite a considerable volume so the harvest was supplemented with some of 'Granny Hoare's hops' in Pewsey and with some foraged wild hops from the village hedgerows

“It turned out to be an excellent blend and Gordon did us proud, brewing the day after picking and producing a very, very drinkable English green hop ale.

“This has encouraged garden club members to plant more hops for the coming years and, at the Beer festival, we may have enthused Hop Kettle Brewery in Cricklade to try something similar too.

“It was so exciting to see our ale at the festival - something that had started as a wild imagining at the Devizes beer festival three years ago had actually become real.”

Praising The Shed Alehouse’ hard work, Ms Carmichael headed out to the festival on Saturday to taste the finished product.

Gordon Edwards, owner of Shed Ales, which opened in 2012, proudly presented the locally grown beer at Swindon this year after coming second with brewed beer Featheredge in 2015.

He said: "Our party from The Shed Alehouse enjoyed sampling many different beer types after arriving in style in a 1971 Layland Leopard bus. All in all it was a very successful event for all involved."

The village ale was shown at the festival which took place at the STEAM Museum, Fire Fly Avenue, Swindon.