BEER sales have been boosted by an unusual ice cream recipe.

Titanic Stout, brewed by the Burslem-based Titanic Brewery, is a key ingredient in a chocolate stout ice cream recipe which has featured on TV.

Contestant Amy Cowton used the ale in her heat-winning entry on the ITV programme Britain's Best Dish.

Keith Bott, managing director of Titanic Brewery, said: "Using stout in ice cream is something I have never heard of before but we are delighted that Amy decided to use our beer.

"We have noticed a surge in demand which we can only attribute to Britain's Best Dish. This was evident at the Stone Food and Drink Festival last weekend where people were actually buying our stout for the ice cream recipe.

"In addition, the Spar chain of stores has bought bottled Titanic Stout for the first time which is a great success for the brewery."

Titanic Stout was crowned 2004 Champion Bottled Beer of Great Britain by CAMRA.