It's time for the Cornish Black Stuff!

l Having a first taste of this year's seasonal Skinner's Pennycomequick are (left to right) Gerry Wills, Skinner's brewery liaison officer for the Cornwall branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, brewer Mark Standinger, and Mike Rangecroft and Shian Robbins, representing the Falmouth Oyster Festival

October 4, 2007: With the build-up to Cornwall's Falmouth Oyster Festival moving into top gear, organisers enjoyed a visit to Skinner's Brewery, Truro for a taste of 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 Two Fat Ladies.

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

4To find out more about the Falmouth Oyster Festival, visit the official website