TODAY is International Beer Day with Cumbrian breweries and pubs reflecting on the summer they have had so far. 

Bowness Bay Brewing is an example of a local brewery that has done well so far this year by supplying beer to Cartmel Races and this week's Cartmel Show. 

Speaking at the show, Anna Martin from Bowness Bay Brewing said: "We got asked to support the show by bringing a bar along-keep everybody happy."

And they had already sold pints by 11am in the morning. 

The business has grown steadily since it was set up ten years ago.

This is reflective of a lot of local breweries in Cumbria, with the chairman of Furness CAMRA Jack Summers Glass saying: "I think they are doing well, local breweries are taking off quite nicely."

However, not everything is rosy in the brewing industry.

"The feedback from the breweries is that is picking up, but not as much as before the pandemic because of the cost of raw materials. Nationally we are watching breweries closing all the time because it is so hard to keep up with the costs," Jack said. "Whether we can get people in the pubs to drink is hard to tell.

"I would hope that the pubs are full which would mean that there is an interest in drinking the local beers-but I think some of the visitors from down south do not know our beers."

He pointed to Wainwrights, a beer that is now brewed in Burton-upon-Trent but is associated with being the 'beer of the Lakes' as an example of tourists gravitating toward what they know rather than trying an unknown local brew. 

Speaking generally about International Beer Day, Jack said: "I hope the idea is to get people to understand that beer is something we can have with a meal and pair with food. People don't look at beer in the same way as wine. There are an awful lot of decent beers we do not see. It is definitely more than just the lager you get down the pub."