Ledbury food group stimulates taste buds.

Banana, chocolate, citrus, apples, grass, peaches - these were just a few of the aromas and flavours experienced by tasters at Ledbury Food Group's 'appreciating great beer' tasting event on April 26 in Ledbury.

Master brewer and beer judge Derek Orford introduced a contrasting range of beers both local and continental - lager, wheat, English ale, stout, Trappist and Lambic - to demonstrate the variety of beer styles available. Tasters appreciated learning more about how beer is made and judged, and how to assess aroma and taste, sampling various malt barleys and hops as well as beer.

Ledbury Food Group ran the event to stimulate interest in our local beer heritage and products, with kind support from Hay Wines (Ledbury), Whittington's Brewery, Untapped Brewery, and the Friday Beer Company.

Details of the beers tasted are available at www.ledburyfoodgroup.org where you can also find the food group's local food and drink producer index and details of local food events.

Derek Orford recently returned to Herefordshire after brewing ales, lagers and stouts in the UK, Caribbean, Ireland, and Australia. He qualified as a master brewer in 1991 and is an examiner of the institute of brewing and distilling. He is hoping to become recognised formally as a Beer Sommelier later this year. He currently runs Bosbury boutique liqueur maker Three Counties Liqueurs with his wife and daughter and is also hoping to get back to hands-on brewing soon with his own recipes.

Ledbury Food Group is an independent group of volunteers from Ledbury and district formed with the following objectives:

to encourage and support those who grow, produce, sell and purchase local food and drink as a means of developing and sustaining our local economy, environment and community; to champion Ledbury as a centre for good locally produced food and drink; to foster learning about local food and drink, the local food web and the benefits of using locally produced products.

The group runs an information website on local food and drink and has in the past year organised the Ledbury big breakfast in January 2014 and food talks at the Ledbury OxRoast to help increase awareness of the benefits and value of local food and drink. It is part funded by Malvern Hills AONB.