Best beers

Beers brewed in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire have come top of their class in a regional ale competition.Straw Dog, brewed by Wolf of Besthorpe, near Attleborough, won gold in the speciality beers category at the Society of Independent Brewers east region beer competition held at St George's Distillery, Roudham, near Thetford.

Beers brewed in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire have come top of their class in a regional ale competition.

Straw Dog, brewed by Wolf of Besthorpe, near Attleborough, won gold in the speciality beers category at the Society of Independent Brewers east region beer competition held at St George's Distillery, Roudham, near Thetford.

The wheat beer was first developed as a seasonal ale but soon became so popular it was brewed all year round.

Another Wolf beer, Coyote, won bronze in the best bitters class.

The brewery, founded in 1995 by Wolfe Witham, is now owned and run by director John Edwards. 'We're always pleased to win awards because we know that the standard and quality of our beers is maintained year after year,' he said.

'These awards are judged by other brewers, so you know these are people who really know what they are talking about.'

Comrade Bill Bartram's Egalitarian Anti-Imperialist Soviet Stout, brewed by Bartram's Brewery of Rougham, near Bury St Edmunds, won gold in the porters, strong milds, old ales and stouts class, and bronze in the overall champion beer category, while the brewery's AH-64 Special won bronze in the strong ales class.

Green Jack, of Lowestoft, won gold medals for Ripper, and silver for Mahseer IPA, Orange Wheat and Lurcher Stout; Grain, of Alburgh, near Harleston, won silver for Tamarind IPA; Adnams, of Southwold, won bronze for Broadside; and Elgood, of Wisbech, won bronze for Greyhound.