POPULAR radio presenter and comedian Tony Beard, better known as the Wag from Widecombe, was at the Dartmoor Brewery this week to launch a new ale.

The presence of the famous moorland resident was one more ingredient in what is seen by the brewery as the 'true taste of Dartmoor'.

The malted barley for their Dartmoor IPA is sourced from within the National Park.

This has been made possible by specialist cereal farmer Tim Cox, whose land around Drewsteignton has already been used for growing wheat for Hovis.

Head brewer Mike Lunney said: 'We have always been committed to sourcing our brewing ingredients locally wherever possible, the quality of Tims Barley is really excellent and it has the added bonus of being very carbon friendly, having travelled 40 miles from the fields of Barley to Tuckers Maltings at Newton Abbot, then on to us at our brewery in Princetown.'

He said Dartmoor IPA was the brewery's fastest growing brand with sales up 56% last year.

'We have even been experimenting dry hopping it with Dartmoor and Devon grown hops, which has been made possible by Wyndham Monk, one of the country's leading authorities on hops, who resides near Chagford.

'With all this expertise and quality around us, Dartmoor is capable of producing probably one of the best pints of beer in the country.'