Timothy Taylor is toasting success in the annual North-amptonshire Beer Festival.

The Keighley brewery's Dark Mild was voted top tipple at the festival, which featured more than 70 ales.

This week members of the Northamptonshire Campaign for Real Ale were in Keighley to hand over the award. It was the first time in the festival's 23-year history that a mild had taken the champion title.

Taylor's head brewer Peter Eells says: "It is always gratifying to win awards, particularly from CAMRA which understands and appreciates traditional cask ales. The win is extremely rewarding, if not a little surprising, as the unique taste of Dark Mild is not usually widely appreciated by southern drinkers."

Sales of Timothy Taylor's award-winning beers are continuing to rise. The brewery says that for the third quarter running, sales are well up on the corresponding period for the previous year.

Managing director Charles Dent attributes the increase to a combination of factors, inc-luding major refurbishments at tied pubs and growing off-sales of its bottled Landlord beer.

He says: "It seems every day you read a gloomy story from the trade of falling beer sales and of larger breweries laying-off staff or even pulling out of brewing altogether. It's refreshing to know in these difficult times that by maintaining our tradition for quality and taste, Timothy Taylor's fine cask ales are obviously appreciated by our customers."

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