Left to right, Dartmoor head brewer, Mike Lunney, the Rev Louis Baycock, brewery chairman Philip Davies, and Dartmoor’s Mark Shackleton
Dartmoor Brewery, which began brewing its popular Jail Ale from the back of a Dartmoor village pub 21 years ago, celebrated its 21st anniversary with the launch of a limited edition commemorative beer at a special event for licensees at a Dartmoor hotel.
The anniversary beer, Jail Commemorative Ale, was created by Dartmoor Brewery’s head brewer, Mike Lunney. He said: “Jail Ale is the brewery’s original beer. It’s brewed within site of the iconic Dartmoor Prison, which inspired its name, and it seemed only fitting we should mark our 21st anniversary with an extra special version.”
Dartmoor Brewery is the second largest brewery in Devon, officially the highest brewery in England at 1,465ft above sea level, and is still located in Princetown, just a few steps away from the Prince of Wales pub where it all began.
The Jail Commemorative Ale (9% ABV) is being released by Dartmoor Brewery from the end of April as a special limited edition beer only. It uses the same traditional brewing techniques and high-quality ingredients original Jail Ale (4.8% ABV), just with less of the core ingredient — water.
Mike said: “Jail Commemorative Ale is a natural, bottle-conditioned craft ale, containing live yeast, Dartmoor water, Dartmoor malted barley and the best English hops.
“Although our production capacity has increased since those early days in 1994, the brewery remains true to its craft origins and we still produce premium, cask conditioned ales using a traditional brewing system. We source local ingredients whenever possible — it’s always Dartmoor water in our brews and more than 75% of the malted barley we use is grown within the Dartmoor National Park.”
