Dartmoor Brewery and Ottery St Mary pub ignite legendary town event with scorching real ale

Dartmoor Brewery has teamed up with Ottery St Mary pub, The Volunteer Inn, to create a special winter warmer beer for revellers to enjoy during the town’s legendary annual flaming tar barrels event.

Aptly named ‘Old Scorcher’ by the carnival committee to reflect the flaming barrel tradition, the speciality beer is a delicious 4.4% real ale brewed with black treacle. 

Thousands of thrill seekers are expected to descend on Ottery St Mary during the carnival and flaming tar barrel event with barrel rollers and visitors alike invited to try the limited-edition beer available exclusively at The Volunteer Inn, 1 Broad Street, throughout the event and from Saturday 19th October until 5th November. 

Mike Down, Landlord at The Volunteer Inn and member of the Ottery Carnival Committee said: “Dartmoor Brewery’s famous beer Jail Ale is a firm favourite among our customers, so we were delighted to team up with the Brewery to create a unique beer in celebration of this year’s event. Ottery Tar Barrels is a significant annual event in the town’s calendar and we will be donating 10p to the Carnival Committee for every pint of Old Scorcher sold.”

Tina Ryder, regional sales manager at Dartmoor Brewery said: “We’re proud of our heritage as a Westcountry brewery and are excited to have created a delicious beer in support of such an iconic event. This is a fantastic opportunity for both barrel rollers and visitors to enjoy a special locally-brewed real ale while taking in the exhilarating atmosphere of the event.”

The Westcountry tradition, which has been running annually for over 400 years, will see youths and adults from the town carry 18 flaming barrels of various sizes across the town throughout the afternoon on Tuesday 5th November until the final barrel is carried into the town square around midnight.

This year’s Ottery Tar Barrels will start with a carnival procession through the town on Sunday 27th October followed by the famous flaming tar barrels event on Tuesday 5th November.

For more information on the event visit: www.otterytarbarrels.co.uk.