EVERYONE knows East Lancashire loves a tipple and right now scores of microbreweries are popping up right across the region, not to mention all the people who are getting into brewing their own pints at home.

The competition to get the attention of ale lovers is stronger than ever before and Lancashire Telegraph reporter Steph Brawn visited two breweries to find out what is key to making the perfect pint.

"LOVE and passion, that's what it's all about, and there is no substitute for experience".

This is what craft brewer Barry Tyson, founder of Hopstar in Darwen, said when ask what makes an ale stand out from the rest.

And the story wasn't much different over the hills in Clitheroe, where Bowland Brewery sales manager Angela Edney said making beer was about 'imagination and experience' when to comes to pleasing the 'diverse crowd' of East Lancashire.

The basic process of making beer generally remains the same; malted barley is soaked in hot liquor to release sugars, then it is boiled with hops, then it is cooled and the yeast is added in for fermentation.

Once all that's done, the beer is bottled or put in barrels ready to make its way to your hand.

But going around Hopstar and Bowland it's clear that beyond a simple step-by-step process that hardly changed from one year to the other, the imagination, passion and experience that was talked about was what made them different.

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Both breweries started from humble beginnings in the early 2000s; Hopstar in Mr Tyson's garage in 2004 and Bowland in a milking parlour at Bashall Eaves in 2003, getting its name from the Forest of Bowland that borders the village.

And neither one has lost its roots in the fast-growing population of microbreweries, even though Bowland is now at the heart of a multi-million pound 64,000 sq ft development.

Both remain focused on drawing inspiration from wildlife, heritage and culture in their respective areas.

At Bowland, brewers have based their beers on the forest's birds such as Hen Harriers and pheasants and the colour of the sky, which inspired the bitter Bowland Gold.

The bold title of AONB, standing for ale of outstanding natural beauty, is also given to a light Bowland session ale; a play on the Forest of Bowland's Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty status.

Mrs Edney said: "It has always been about putting the best of Bowland into our beers.

"The colour of the sky, the wildlife, the beauty of the area is all important.

"We even donate money to the Hen Harrier appeal by the RSPB through the sales of our beer.

"We have moved onto a site that is much much larger than the one at Bashall Eaves but the brewery will always be at the heart of everything."

Over at Hopstar in a small business unit in Grimshaw Street in Darwen, the town's history is always there.

Off t' Mill, named after the town's skyscraping India Mill chimney, and Tower Tipple, made in tribute to the Jubilee Tower on the moors, are just some of the concoctions Mr Tyson and the crew have developed over the years.

Mr Tyson said: "I love Darwen, I always have done.

"I have lived here all my life. It would be hard not to have it as part of our beers."

As well as telling the unique story of each area through the beer, great care is also taken at each stage of the process, with ingredients carefully selected for each individual recipe.

Bowland has even recently purchased a 'pint-sized' brewery to allow staff to experiment with ingredients so that new and more exotic beers can be tried out by people before being brewed on a larger scale.

Mrs Edney said: "It's a lot of waste if the beer doesn't work.

"East Lancashire ale drinkers are educated and open-minded but they also know what they like.

"They are our best and worst critics and it will be great for us to experiment with them involved."

Mr Tyson said also that great beers take good time.

He said: "It can take years and years to come up with a flavour, and it can take even longer still to work out how you're going to make that happen.

"I've had something spinning round my head for ages, but I know when it's right it will make sense. You should never rush it."

Even for breweries like these who are striving for uniqueness and that have been around for more than a decade, most would think it difficult to compete in the current climate.

However, Mr Tyson believes that breweries don't so much compete and will always continue to share ideas.

He says: "I never worry about how many other people are brewing, because the rivalry is always friendly, you share things.

"And experience is invaluable, beer lovers will always want a quality product."