A SELECTION of the region's best brews will be brought together tomorrow at Keelham Farm Shop in Skipton.

It is part of a two-day festival, which is being held to celebrate Yorkshire's reputation as the "beer capital of Britain".

And it will continue on Saturday at the farm shop's Thornton outlet, near Bradford.

A dozen small breweries from the area will be featured at the mini-festival. It will also see customers voting for their favourite specially brewed bitter, which will become Keelham's newest own brand - Squiffy Sheep.

Following the opening of the Skipton shop in June, the family-owned business, which has strong ties to next door Skipton Auction Mart, began working with Hetton-based Dark Horse Brewery to develop three specially commissioned beers.

The brewery is run by Carole and Richard Eyton-Jones who have used a range of malts, hops and brewing techniques to achieve distinct flavours in each.

Tomorrow in Skipton, customers will be invited to taste the beers before voting for their favourite.

And the most popular in Skipton and Thornton will be bottled and shelved as Keelham’s new own-brand.

Voting will close on Sunday.

“As we continue to work with an increasing number of local breweries, our beer offering becomes more and more comprehensive and we now sell over 1,000 bottles a week," said co-owner, Victoria Robertshaw.

"Beer is such a natural, sustainable drink and it really has become a drink for everyone. We’ve enjoyed working with Dark Horse brewery at our Skipton shop. We currently stock a tremendous 24 breweries and a total of 345 Yorkshire beers to choose from, a really amazing range of Yorkshire flavours.

"We’re constantly on the look-out for new ales to add to our extensive beer cellar, and it made sense to host our own beer festival to both launch and celebrate some fantastic local brews.”

The new bottled beer is the shop’s second own-brand beer, following the success of first beer, Tipsy Pig, which, since its launch in 2013, has sold more than 14,000 bottles.

In addition to sampling the specially commissioned brews on the day, customers can also try samples from other breweries, including family-run Naylor’s from Cross Hills, organic microbrewery Little Valley Brewery from Hebden Bridge, and Pool-in-Wharfedale's Wharfebank Brewery, between 1pm and 7pm.

Keelham is one of the first retail outlets in the country which is not a pub or brewery to have received a local award from the Campaign for Real Ale CAMRA in recognition of both the range and quality of the beers it stocks.