REAL ale drinkers have raised their glasses to a new brew from the Dales by voting it the top tipple at a leading West Yorkshire beer festival.

Folly Ale, from the newly-launched Wharfedale Brewery at Hetton, outshone more than 100 other traditional beers drafted in from throughout the country.

Connoiseurs chose it as the "champion quaff" at the 15th annual Keighley Beer Festival, organised by the Keighley and Craven Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

The achievement was all the more remarkable as it was the brewery's first foray into the festival arena and came just days after the first Folly Ale barrels were rolled out for public consumption mid-September. Wharfedale Brewery has since introduced its second real ale - Executioner.

The business could well be termed unique in the industry sector as the brewery is pumping back a percentage of the sales on every pint into local charitable community causes. Beer deliveries are made in a specially adapted vintage 1924 Model-T truck.

The venture is the brainchild of local businessmen and "drinking partners" - American-born Steve Blizzard, and Dalesman David Aynesworth, who is estate manager at Broughton Hall, near Skipton.

Steve and David, near neighbours in Hartlington, have seen what first began as a hobby ferment and mature into a full-blown business enterprise, into which the duo have pumped over £100,000.

This major investment has included the conversion of a redundant Dales sheep barn into a new brewhouse, the sinking of their own 52-metre deep borehole and drafting in of two full-time employees - brewer Adam Witek, of Gargrave, and sales, marketing and distribution manager Simon Yeomans, of Grassington.

Steve, whose mainstream job is as a banker, takes up the story. "I started brewing my own beer three years ago when the price of a pint hit £2, which I thought was too much to pay and that I could do better," he recalls.

"I converted a folly at my home into a mini-brewery - hence the name of the ale, for local consumption by family and friends.

"David Aynesworth was my number two taste tester and he was obviously impressed as he came to me 18 months ago and suggested we turned it into a business.

"Plans were drawn up and we started brewing Folly Ale, a traditional 3.8 per cent Yorkshire bitter, on September 15."

Folly has now been followed up with the release of a second, stronger Wharfedale Brewery offering - Executioner, a 4.5 per cent dark beer, with a rich mahogany, almost reddish colour.

The barn-to-brewhouse project has involved the installation of a mash tun, wort boiler, heat exchanger, two fermenting vessels, three conditioning tanks, one hot water tank, two recovery tanks - and a great deal of graft!

The plant currently has a five-barrel capacity - that's 180 gallons or 1,440 pints per brew - with a new brew possible every couple of days. There is room for further expansion and development of the brewhouse to meet future demand as and when it arises.

Already, Folly Ale has made an impressive debut in free houses across the Dales and beyond - encompassing an area taking in Starbotton, across to Elslack and down to Silsden. The newly-introduced Executioner Ale is expected to make a similar impact.

"It is also our aim to put something back into the local community and we decided from the very beginning that 2p on every pint sold would be contributed to charitable causes.

"In our first three weeks, we have held true to that commitment by donating £500 to a number of local causes, including a contribution to improvements at Burnsall School, sponsorship of the village cricket club and a group of local ladies who took part in a sponsored bike ride. In effect, we are supporting the communities that support us."

Wharfedale Brewery is shortly to launch its own website at www.follyale.com