A WILD mushroom pie has taken a Bournemouth man into the finals of the Badger Ales national pie competition, which will be judged at the Hall & Woodhouse pub-restaurant in Bath on Thursday 6th March.

Russell Clarke beat nearly 700 entries to reach the finals. He won the first round of the vegetarian category, impressing the judges with his flavour combination of wild mushrooms, acorn squash, puy lentils and Badger’s Poacher’s Choice

Anna Corbett, brand manager at Blandford-based Badger, said: “We launched this competition to find the perfect pie made with a Badger beer. Here at Badger, we believe good pies typically consist of three things: a crust, a delicious filling and of course a Badger beer!

“We are delighted with the variety of entries we’ve received which all sounded delicious with great flavour combinations. It was a hard task sifting through the entries to choose the eight pies to go through to the awards ceremony.”

The semi-final judging took place in early February and the judging panel included food and drinks writer Fiona Beckett and members of the Hall & Woodhouse brewery team.

The overall winning pie will be professionally produced and launched as a ‘special’ in selected Hall & Woodhouse public houses in autumn 2014. The winner will also enjoy a two-night beach break at The Lulworth Cove Inn, a VIP brewery tour with head brewer, Toby Heasman, a Badger Countryside Sett gift box and £200 travel and subsistence.