With the build-up to this month's Falmouth Oyster Festival moving into top gear, organisers enjoyed a visit to Skinner's Brewery in Truro for a "quality check" on the event's very own Cornish stout.

They joined brewer Mark Standinger in the first brewing of this year's Pennycomequick, which will go on sale at the festival and then be available across Cornwall for about a month.

"Not so long ago, the Cornish oysters were still being accompanied by Irish stout," recalled brewery managing director Steve Skinner. "We figured that just wasn't on! I'm delighted to say that Pennycomequick and Cornish oysters has gone down a treat and become a firmly established favourite."

This year's four-day festival starts on October 18, to be opened by celebrity chef Clarissa Dickson Wright, one half of TV's popular "Two Fat Ladies."

The programme includes cookery demonstrations by leading local chefs, Falmouth Bay Oysters, Walter Hicks Wines, Skinners Ales, hot seafood dishes, children's shell painting, a town parade, sea shanties, live music and marquees packed with Cornish produce and crafts.