In 1999 Mark Cade was given a home brewing kit for Christmas.

This year his own beer will be professionally brewed and distributed at the 40th Norwich Beer Festival.

It is a dream come true for Mr Cade, who has attended the festival each year since coming to college in Norwich in the 1980s. By day he works for a roofing and cladding company, and said brewing has only ever been a hobby.

'This is my escape,' he said. 'I have always liked beer and the family have always struggled with finding something to buy me for Christmas. It started out as a hobby, but I go along to the Anglian Craft Brewers meets and entered this competition.'

The competition, open to members of the Anglian Craft Brewers, provided the chance to have a brew sold to the thousands who attend Norwich Beer Festival each year..

The brewers, from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire, submitted bottled real ales of between 3.5pc and 5pc ABV, which were judged in three groups by the Norfolk CAMRA Tasting Panel, chaired by Alan Edwards.

'We had to enter three bottles of our own beer which were judged by other home brewer members,' added Mr Cade. 'It is exciting to be able to brew it as a bigger batch and see what people's reaction is to it.

'I have often had good reactions from people who have tried my beers in the past. If the beer is a success it might be something to take further.'

The winners were:

• John Watson from Essex with a Mosaic pale ale, 'Mosaical Chairs'

• Charles Abbott from Cambridgeshire with an oatmeal stout

• Mark Cade, from Norwich, with a specialist mild, 'Moonglow'

CAMRA approached all commercial Norfolk brewers to help with production ahead of the festival and three were then drawn out at random and allocated a beer, based on their preferences.

The collaborative breweries are:

• Golden Triangle to brew the pale ale with Mr Watson

• Elmtree to brew the oatmeal stout with Mr Abbot

• Wildcraft to brew the mild with Mr Cade

The beer not sold to the festival will be sold by the brewer through the trade, so may be found in local pubs and other outlets.

For more information on the Norwich Beer festival visit norwichcamra.org.uk.