PURR-FECT! That's the verdict by top judges on a Burnley brewery's Black Cat ale!

The mild was sold purely as a draught until last year when Moorhouse's Brewery got an order from Canada for the beer to be bottled.

And it was the bottled variety that was entered into the 1998 Brewing Industry International Awards in London, the brewer's equivalent of the Oscars, and picked as the champion dark beer.

Managing director Malcolm Macdonald said: "We first brought Black Cat in because we didn't have a mild.

"We have won a silver award at the competition in the past.

"But this year the bottled version of Black Cat gave us our first gold in its class and then it was picked as the champion of champions in its section to earn another gold." The awards are held every two years and attract more than 800 brews made by more than 200 breweries in 32 different countries.

Mr Macdonald has been with the company for 11 years and was promoted to managing director six years ago.

He said: "We can only ever equal this success we can never better it.

"In brewing terms it is like Accrington Stanley winning the FA cup!"

Black Cat, described as having a "distinctive chocolate malt flavour", is available in pubs, clubs and off licences.

But Mr Macdonald said the brewery was going to be targeting supermarkets once the labels had been changed to include the gold medal.

He added: "We are one of the smallest breweries at the competition and there is only one year out of the last eight that we have not won an award."

The brewery's Pendle Witch brew won a silver in 1996.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.