A LYME Regis brewery is going from strength to strength as it celebrates five years with the release of a new beer.

The Lyme Regis Brewery, formerly known as the Town Mill Brewery, now employs seven staff and delivers products as far away as London, the Midlands and for the first time this week, Bristol.

All the Brewery's beers are hand-made in small batches using locally-sourced, natural and traditional ingredients wherever possible, but to mark the company's five year anniversary, they are releasing a new beer.

Called the Dorset Pearl, Lyme Regis Brewery's managing director Richard Surtees said: "It's a traditional English pale ale with a floral aroma and a crisp, refreshing hop finish.

"It's a very interesting beer actually, it's made with three different hops and has received good reviews so far."

The new beer is still waiting to be bottled, Mr Surtees said, but is available now on tap and will soon join the Brewery's existing Cobb, Town Mill Best, Lyme Gold, Black Ven and Revenge varieties.

Lyme Regis Brewery was set up in 2010 by a small group of people who were fond of Lyme Regis and wanted to keep business booming in the town's historic Town Mill area.

Explaining the inspiration behind the beers, Mr Surtees said: "We are just making beer in the best way that we can, which is in a traditional way with malt, hops, barley and yeast.

"The whole idea is to extract the maximum flavour from just four ingredients and we think we are coming up with some interesting beers."

The Brewery now supplies more than 200 pubs and 150 shops and restaurants, but they continue to expand into new areas and will also be releasing their first ever lager this summer.

Mr Surtees said: "It's the first time we have ever done that so it's a new thing for us.

"It's already been brewed, but as lagers need a bit more storage it will be ready just in time for summer and we are really looking forward to it."

Although Mr Surtees said rebranding the business has been a slow process, the business has enjoyed many successes including the recent Lyme Regis Beer Festival.

He said: "It was really good fun and we had a fantastic time at the event, which we think of as the first event of the season."

Mr Surtees added that Dorset Pearl is available in the Red Lion and the Rock Point Inn in Lyme Regis, and will soon be coming to Bridport at the Tiger Inn.