A SUFFOLK ale has been crowned as East Anglia's champion beer.

Adnams Old, from the Southwold brewer, was top of the judge's list at the Harwich Beer Festival yesterday (Thursday) as it beat off stiff competition from five other regional ales.

In second place was Bartram's Brewery in Rougham near Bury St. Edmunds with their unusually named 'Comrade Bill Bartam's Egalitarian Anti-imperialist Soviet Stout' and in third was Adnams Explorer.

The Suffolk beer will represent East Anglia at the Great British Beer Festival in London next summer. The festival, which kicked off on Wednesday evening, marks its 10th anniversary this year and is showcasing more than 50 real ales and a Belgian beer bar at the Kingsway Hall in Dovercourt.

Organiser Richard Oxborrow said: 'I think the right beer won. A lot of people were talking about it beforehand, saying they liked it. It's good for a dark beer to win, especially as it's a style of beer that isn't as famous as it once was, so it's nice to see it making a return.'

The Harwich Beer Festival is open today (Friday) and Saturday from 11am to 11pm.