A PAIR of friends have realised their dream of brewing beer in the Cerne Valley.

Vic Irvine and Jodie Moore have harboured a long-held desire to create their own beer in the shadow of the famous Cerne Giant.

Vic spent several years working in the brewing trade, first with the Piddle Brewery and then the Hidden Brewery in Salisbury, to understand the art of how to create the perfect beer.

He then teamed up with Jodie from the Giant Inn at Cerne Abbas and the pair set about their mission.

After tasting success at the Octoberfest event run by West Dorset CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) at Weymouth Pavilion, the tipple has now been fully launched to the public.

Four beers have been put on every pump at the Giant Inn, offering the Cerne Abbas Brewery ale and blonde.

The pair are now on their eighth brew and are extremely happy with their product.

They stated: “Firmly believing in the goodness of local, The Cerne Abbas brewers strive to conduct ourselves ethically with minimum disruption to Mother Nature.

“Set in the chalky hills of Dorset the water is of the best quality, having been filtered through the earth’s minerals. We do not believe in adding chemicals to the sacred juice, preferring to nurdle the barley and hops around the water’s magical powers.

“Creating a fine and balanced ale has been described as a mix of science and art.”

Vic added that their success at the CAMRA event in Weymouth had been a real victory for them.

He said: “We were especially happy to win this as it was against 80 other ales on our first event.

“What made this even more surprising was our beer ran out on the second session, so we only got half the opportunity for public votes.”

The new brew has even made it across the Atlantic, where it was sampled by regular Cerne Abbas visitor and 1990s pop star Chesney Hawkes.

Brewing is an ancient tradition in Cerne Abbas that goes right back to the brothers of the Cerne Abbey.

In the 18th century Bishop Richard Pocock described Cerne Abbas as ‘more famous for its beer than in any other place in the country’.

For more information visit cerneabbasbrewery.com.