Dean blesses ale created for cloisters refurb

Andrew Zihni blessed the CathedrALE at Gloucester Brewery

An ale blessed by a cathedral dean is being sold to raise money to renovate cloisters made famous in the Harry Potter films.

Andrew Zihni, the Dean of Gloucester, blessed CathedrALE at Gloucester Brewery on Monday.

The city's cathedral cloisters will be the focus of a "significant project" lasting 10 years, Mr Zihni said,

Pietro Lovato, head brewer at Gloucester Brewery, said the session ale is "a light, fruity, hoppy, easy-drinking IPA".

The beer is a session ale with a lower alcohol content

Mr Zihni said the "exciting collaboration" between Gloucester Cathedral and Gloucester Brewery was "particularly special" due to the history of monks and brewing.

"It harks back to the medieval tradition of brewery and beermaking that used to happen amongst the Benedictine monks that were part of the cathedral in medieval times, when it was an abbey rather than a cathedral," he said.

"I think there's a wonderful image of our cloisters on the cans and I hope that this will be a way for those who haven't been to the cathedral before to come and see the glory of the building and come to know the deep wonder, the spirituality, the peace, the prayerfulness of the cathedral."

10% of the funds raised through sales of the ale will go towards the renovation of the cloisters

Mr Lovato, who has worked at Gloucester Brewery for six years, said he is "very, very happy" with how CathedrALE has turned out.

"One of the guys at the cathedral approached us and it seemed like a perfect match for our ethos," he said.

"I do believe it is paramount for us to leave the place in a better place than we found it and this product is doing some incredible work when it comes to that."