A BEER brewed by a Bury pub landlord went on sale in pubs across the country to mark Cask Ale Week.

Chris McClung, from The Black Bull, in Ainsworth Road, won the chance to make his own ale in the Thwaites Awards for Excellence 2016.

The pub won the award for Best Pint, so brewing its own beer was an apt prize.

Named ‘Gold Bullion’, the golden ale was gently hopped with a hint of fruit and served in about 80 Thwaites pubs this month.

Chris said: “It’s a great idea from Thwaites to give this as a prize.”

The beer was made with three different malts for a smooth flavour and the hops used gave a citrus aroma.

Chris and the brewers opted for a leaf variety of bullion hops, which is unusual because it is a very traditional approach to brewing.

The landlord was involved in the whole process, from the creation of the name and pump clip, defining the strength, colour and taste through to the actual brewing of the ale.

He and his wife Christine only entered the pub game with Thwaites 10 years ago. when Chris decided he fancied a change after taking early retirement from his job as project manager in the software industry, an ambition Christine mistook for a midlife crisis.

It was this precision that led to the pub winning a Thwaites Award for Excellence, as judges were drawn by the attention to detail.

Thwaites’ head brewer, Brian Yorston, said: “Chris demonstrated procedures in the cellar that I haven’t seen before in my life. The level of accuracy we saw in the cellarmanship process at the Black Bull Inn was amazing.”

Cask Ale Week runs from Thursday September 22 to Sunday October 2.