A MICROBREWERY in Lydeard St Lawrence has teamed up with an award-winning beer expert to create a tropical brew for Bristol Beer Week.

Kaite Loomes of Kubla Brewery, asked Sophie Atherton, Beer Sommelier of the Year to collaborate on a beer with her after meeting at a brewery in London.

Kaite said: “Sophie came to see us and really liked our beers so I thought I’d ask if she wanted to brew something with me.”

The two women came up with a recipe for a beer which they say is “pretending to be a cocktail.”

Given this masquerade and the fact it’s for Bristol’s Beer Week, they decided to name the brew after the infamous Bristol character, Princess Caraboo.

The princess was actually Mary Willcocks, a cobbler’s daughter from Devon.

In 1817, Mary hoodwinked Bristol’s gentry into believing she was from a tiny island in the Indian Ocean and had ended up in the city after escaping from pirates who had kidnapped her.

A blue plaque in Princess Street in Bedminster commemorates her.

Sophie said: “The story of Princess Caraboo captured our imagination. She seemed like a young woman trying to escape a mundane existence by creating a story about a more exciting world.

“We hope that our Princess Caraboo tastes like that – lots of big, hoppy flavours to which we’ve added a little coconut for a tropical twist. It’s a drink that wants to be a beer but something more exotic too.”

Kaite and Sophie’s beer will be officially unveiled at The Crofters Rights pub in Bristol on Monday.

Bristol Beer Week finishes on Wednesday.

More details are available on the Bristol Beer Week website: www.bristolbeerweek.co.uk