CORNWALL's Camel Valley has it's vines — now Dartmoor can claim to have its very own, and much rarer, product.

Dartmoor Brewery, based at Princetown and said to be the highest brewery in the UK, has just started experimenting with a new ingredient — Dartmoor hops, produced by a Chagford-based enthusiast and grower.

The hop variety, Fuggles, is being used in the brewery's Dartmoor IPA.

Mark Shackleton, Dartmoor Brewery's marketing director, said: 'We've just done our first experiment using them.

'We make the beer normally, then we add the hops and literally let them soak in it. It's called dry-hopping. It's a little like making a cup of tea, you have to leave them in for a while for the taste to come out.

'In the olden days all beers were dry-hopped, because it helped to preserve the brew.

'We were amazed, it's given the beer a beautiful aroma and taste, it's rather like spicy green apples.'

Mark said because the Dartmoor hops were only grown in small quantities, the special dry-hopped Dartmoor IPA was only available at one outlet — the Two Bridges Hotel near Princetown — and will only be available for a limited period.

Mark said: 'It's a unique beer but it will probably only be there for another couple of weeks because we will have literally run out of the Dartmoor hops by then, but hopefully next year, we will have far more.'

Mark said Dartmoor Brewery insisted on using English hops —from Hereford — which were more expensive than commonly-used American hops. To be able to use hops grown on Dartmoor was particularly pleasing, he said.

'They are brilliant, they are fantastic hops and we would love to use more of them, but they are hard to grow here because of the humidity.'

The producer of the Fuggles hops, Wyndham Monk, has been growing hops for some 15 years in various parts of Devon. A labour of love, their production has proved a challenge as the weather in this part of the world is not ideal.

He said: 'It has been very frustrating but I am beginning to find my way after 15 years.

'Growing hops organically isn't easy — I did expect the major problem to be aphids, but actually it turned out to be downy mildew, because of the humid air.

'Having said that, it hasn't been a problem in the last three years because this is a very small scale exercise and therefore I can pay enormous attention to the hops on a daily basis.

'That pays off — you couldn't do it if you were growing acres of hops.'

Mr Monk said his hops had been used once before, some time ago, to produce beer by a one-man brewery.

'That no longer exists but I must say, as soon as it was being bought, he had repeat orders — it did go tremendously well,' said Mr Monk, who said it was 'very gratifying' to see his hops being used by Dartmoor Brewery.

'It's very interesting how much a beer can be improved with really small quantities of hops if the hops are good — and they have to be good quality for the way they are using them,' he said.