Chapel Down, famous for its award-winning wines, is fizzing after being named tops for lager too.

The vineyard at Smallhythe, near Tenterden, has collected a gold medal for its Curious Brew in the prestigious International Beer Challenge. It saw off rivals from large conglomerates to micro-brewers.

Judges tasted more than 400 beers before declaring the Kent winemaker’s lager to be the best of its class.

They rated only 30 beers - from countries including Belgium, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the USA - to be of gold medal standard.

Chapel Down uses high quality ingredients such as East Anglian malt, saaz and cascade hops, and brings wine-making thinking to the beer brewing process. It adds a dash of rare and fragrant Nelson Sauvin hops before cold filtering the unpasteurised beer into bottles.

Frazer Thompson, Chapel Down’s chief executive, used to work for brewers Heineken and Whitbread.

He said: "I'm sick to death of being force-fed fizzy flatulent froth which has all the taste of corporate cardboard and the dull stench of market research and answering to the name of lager beer. It’s so awful that I’ve had to brew one myself. At its best, lager is a peerless drink to refresh and satisfy."

Beer expert Pete Brown added: "Brewing with champagne yeast is something you’d expect the Belgians to do. The result is a lovely beer which has a sparkling zing that makes it refreshing, satisfying and a lovely halfway house between beer and a sparkling wine."

Curious Brew is served at Jamie Oliver restaurants, The Swan at London’s Globe Theatre, the Royal Opera House, Gordon Ramsay restaurants and independent pubs across the south east.