With the 2007 Cumbrian Challenge Micro-Beer Festival only weeks away, food & drink writer Gillian Cowburn has been talking to co-organiser, Gazette wine columnist Derek Kingwell. When the event - which is sponsored by The Westmorland Gazette - began, there were only seven breweries in the county. Today there are 21 and 14 of them will be submitting ales for the 11th challenge which kicks off on Thursday, March 29, at Burgundy's in Kendal.

If former Westmorland Gazette editor John Lannaghan had any doubts about the newspaper sponsoring a Cumbrian micro-brewery challenge, they were immediately dispelled when he tried to escort a guest to the very first event in 1997.

Representatives of the newspaper's owners had been on one of their visits to inspect the troops' in Kendal which just happened to coincide with the 1st Cumbrian Challenge Micro-Beer Festival. Having finished with the business end of the visit, John and the MD thought it might be nice to take the bosses to Burgundy's for a special taste of Cumbria.

Sadly, there was no room at the inn! So many people had heard about the challenge that the place was packed out and the only way to the bar was to clamber over the crowds.

"Realising how popular this event was going to become, John called me the day after and said the Gazette would like to offer us a shield for the competition," said Derek, who co-organises the challenge with Burgundy's owner Mike Pennington.

According to Derek, the big brewers simply can't compete with their micro counterparts' diversity.

"They aren't able to offer such intrinsically different tastes. It's the choice of flavours and abundance of all those different flavours from the micro-breweries that makes them so popular."

Over the years the micro-brewers have come up with less alcoholic beverages which allows the drinker to savour the flavour more - and presumably not keel over quite so quickly!

"The micro-breweries have really responded to what the marketplace wanted," says Derek.

"Better quality beer - and more choice."

People travel the length and breadth of the country for the Cumbrian Challenge. It has even attracted international visitors.

"We had one person from San Francisco who happened on the challenge during a holiday. And then, on a return trip two years later, they actually scheduled their holiday to coincide with the festival," recalled Derek.

Of course, it's not just all those wonderful Cumbrian ales which have attracted a huge following down the years; there's a foodie treat for festival-goers too!

Master butcher Stuart Higginson of Grange-over-Sands created a special Westmorland sausage for the 2nd Cumbrian Challenge. A heady combination of venison, pork and spices, the sausage has been a hit with the punters ever since.

The present Editor of The Westmorland Gazette, Mike Glover, reckons this perfect marriage' of local food and drink is one of the reasons for the festival's popularity, and why the Gazette has continued to sponsor it.

"The Gazette has been at the forefront of promoting local food and drink and this event is obviously a successful way of doing that," he said.

The Cumbrian Challenge opens at Burgundy's on March 29 with the official tasting at 3pm. The festival will then open to the public from 6pm until 11pm on Thursday; and from 12noon to 11pm on Friday and Saturday. There will be a chance to vote for your favourite ale and win a gallon of it in the process. All the beers will cost £2.30 a pint.

For the full interview with Derek Kingwell and for news of a new initiative to help Cumbria's micro-brewers, see Food & Drink in The Westmorland Gazette, out today (Friday, March 16).