One last ice cream story, this one international. The Windermere Ice Cream Company, based in the UK, has created a beer ice cream using a local beer, the Hawkshead Brewery’s Red Ale. The ice cream received rave reveiws at the beer festival, and will now be available for sale in the company’s shop.

Explaining the idea behind the new flavour, boss Steve Duffin, a 43-year-old father-of-two, said: “I’d read about beer ice cream before and the idea of combining the sweet produce with a bitter beer works quite well really.”

Mr Duffin said he went to the Hawkshead Beer Hall and sampled all the beers before deciding to give it a go. He added: “I chose the Hawkshead Red, which has a nice colour to it as well. We just reduced it down so we have a nice intense flavour and boiled off the alcohol. It tastes like ice cream but there’s something else there – there’s a different taste and body.”