AN award-winning North-East brewery is hoping to reach a new market of customers by selling its beer on-line.

Cropton Brewery, in the tiny village of Cropton on the southern edge of the North York Moors National Park, has already been inundated with orders worldwide.

Company spokesman Phil Lee said: "We are delighted with the results of this venture into e-commerce. We have only been 'live' for a few days and already orders and inquiries are being received from all over Britain and abroad.

"We have had a website for a while, but with the help of Business Link, in York, we managed to secure a grant from the Government's E-SME2 initiative which enabled us to fund this project."

Visitors to the website http://www.croptonbrewery. co.uk can order cases of 12 500ml bottles from a choice of nine traditionally brewed beers or mixed cases, giving the opportunity to sample the full range.

The choice includes Monkmans Slaughter, the Gold Medal winner in 2000 in the Strong Beer Category of the Champion Beer of Britain competition, Two Pints, which was Cropton's first brew and still the most popular cask beer, and the latest addition, called Endeavour.

Endeavour is described as a light refreshing beer of 3.6 per cent strength and has a delicate, fruity aftertaste.

"We brew monthly specials", said Mr Lee. "Last summer when the replica of Captain Cook's ship HM Bark Endeavour visited the local port of Whitby, we decided to produce a special beer and dedicate it to the life of Captain James Cook and his famous ship.

"It proved to be so popular that we have now added it to our standard range."