EAST Anglia now boasts an impressive 107 breweries after 11 new operations opened in the past 12 months.

The encouraging news for the region’s brewing trade is revealed in the new edition of The Good Beer Guide.

The 2013 guide, published today by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), celebrates the publication’s 40th anniversary and the current boom in brewing across the UK.

A spokesman said: “While nationally there are now an incredible 1,009 breweries – the highest number for over 70 years – in operation across the UK, with 158 having opened in just 12 months, in East Anglia there are now 107 breweries, with 11 coming on stream over the past year.”

The Good Beer Guide 2013 is jointly sponsored by Cask Marque and the Society of Independent Brewers.

It features the best 4,500 real ale pubs from across the UK, with details of food, opening hours, beer gardens, accommodation, transport links, disabled access and family facilities.

Gaynor Thurlow and her husband Stephen run the Uffa Brewery, at the White Lion, in Lower Ufford.

The brewery is one of the 11 to have opened in the region in the past 12 months and one of just two in Suffolk, the other being the Brewshed Brewery, in Bury St Edmunds.

Mrs Thurlow said: “We have had an exceptional first year. I thought my husband had really lost his marbles when he suggested it but it’s been fantastic and we couldn’t have wanted it to be any better. We are selling more of ours than we are selling Adnams.”

The White Lion has just hosted its beer festival and now produces Uffa Fox, Uffa Gold and Uffa Tipple – all of which have gone down well with regulars and new customers.

Mrs Thurlow said it would be a boost to be in the guide, which draws in real ale fans from around the country all looking to try out a new brew.