Battle of the breweries - Boars Head 12-14th July

This weekend the Boars Head at Tyla Garw, South Wales, is holding a 'Battle of the Breweries' beer festival,  featuring Dark Star,  Oakham, Crouch Vale, Salopian and the Welsh Champion Brewers Tiny Rebel.
With the glorious sunny weekend ahead where else would i want to spend my birthday weekend!!
BBQ on Saturday.
Looking at the list today with Wayne behind the bar they have some cracking beers on, loads from Tiny Rebel.


Directions to the  Boars Head here.

Boars Head Halloween Festival

The excellent Boars Head, Tyla Garw, is having a Halloween party and beer festival this Wed 31st, starting at 6pm. This includes a fancy dress competition, BBQ, games, and beer festival featuring some Halloween beers.

My family and I are getting into costume and heading down!

Boar's Head, Tyla Garw, Pontyclun, CF72 9EZ, 01443 225400

Directions.

Get off at the Pontyclun station, (you should be on the opposite side to the Brains 'Brunel Arms'),  and with your back to the high street walk ahead over a wooden bridge into an industrial estate. Keep going straight and when you get to the end there is a thin path on your right through the railings. Go through, bare right and keep going down the road and you come out with the Boars Head on the left. Sounds more complicated than it actually is.

Bullmastiff Welsh Black

A quick lunch out was taken today at the excellent Boars Head in Tyla Garw, South Wales.

We both had the excellent Aberdeen Angus burgers, and to accompany it i had a BullMastiff Welsh Black stout.

Bullmastiff are a Cardiff brewery, run by two brothers since the late 80's, and naming the brewery after their own dogs as well as a lot of the beers (As far as i can see they have no website). Your most likely to find their beers in the Wetherspoons in Penarth.
I first came across their beers in another less than salubrious establishment in Penarth a few years ago, perhaps it was the (dodgy) atmosphere, and the name of their main beer 'Son of a Bitch' but I didn't form a great first impression back then. I have not really seen their beers outside of the Penarth/Cardiff areas really so a surprise to see 3 on tap today, but i went for the Welsh Black.

Light to medium body, light cappuccino creamy head that lasted very well.
Aroma was fruity, sweet berries that certainly had me thinking blackberry, and little roasted notes.
The fruit i first thought was blackberries now appears in abundance but its not as earthy as i would expect so raspberries would be my second guess, its not sharp enough to be blackcurrants.
The sweetness does dominate the mouth, but you do get some creamy, oily texture alongside light bitterness.

Review: Boar's Head, Tyla Garw, April festival

Well unfortunately its only a review of the tail end of the festival as plans for a Friday attendance were scuppered and i got to go this evening (Sunday) instead.
Firstly well done to the girl behind the bar this evening, seemed to be on her own in a busy pub, excellent service.
According to a guy i spoke to on the Friday and Saturday, as well as the bar pumps, most of the casks were on outside, this evening though it was only the beers left on the pumps but seeing as i had not tried any of those before that was fine with me.
Attending on my own, with a book, (William Burroughs 'Junkie' - probably why no-one spoke to me!) ) i found a nice armchair and tried:
Centurion Ghost ale -  very dark almost black in the glass, aroma was blackberry and burnt, good body, with a lingering bitterness, smoke/roasted malts, chocolate. Very nice.
Oakham White Dwarf - pale lemon and hazy, small foam head, citric sharp, wheat, bitter hop end, astringent/lemon, would be a lovely pint on a hot day.
Banks & Taylor Shefford Old Dark (SOD) - very little aroma, maybe some malt, creamy head, slight sweetness, hint of coca cola, its very drinkable but light with little body, no weight in the mouth.
Westerham British Bulldog - beautiful shining bronze colour, medium amount of maltyness, biscuit, some fruit comes through, flattish/little carbonation, fairly standard bitter, nothing exciting.
 Buffys Bitter - again a bronze malty bitter, fairly drying in the mouth, earthy, not to dissimilar from the last one to be honest, a little fruit and malt, but again average stuff.

Well they had great weather all weekend so i hope it was a success, the wife and i are hoping to get out there for a meal very soon, being walking distance is very handy. I noticed they had their 'awards' from the Mid-Glam Camra branch for their service to real ales, and also from the R.A.T.S on the walls.

If i had to buy another pint i would have chosen it from between the Ghost Ale and the White Dwarf, and i think the Dwarf would have won it, perfect for the sunny Sunday evening.

The Boar's Head in Tyla Garw, April Festival

The Boar's Head in Tyla Garw, South Wales is having a beer festival this weekend 15th - 17th April, this is a cracking little pub, an oasis in a little welsh corner.

Anyway yesterday the  Brew Wales  blog had a great post with a beer list and lovely history of the pub, head over there and check it out, and then head over to the pub this weekend.

I'm hoping to get there friday evening, for you others its very accessible from Cardiff central station. Get off at the Pontyclun station, (you should be on the opposite side to the Brains 'Brunel Arms' side),  and with your back to the high street walk ahead over a wooden bridge into an industrial estate. Keep going straight and when you get to the end there is a thin path on your right through the railings. Go through, bare right and keep going down the road and you come out with the Boars Head on the left. Sounds more complicated than it actually is.

Boar's Head, Tyla Garw, Pontyclun, CF72 9EZ, 01443 225400

The Boar's Head in Tyla Garw, South Wales

The Boar's Head in Tyla Garw, South Wales was the destination for a final few beers of a condemned man, my friend Rob who gets married this weekend. I blogged about their great beer festival back in September, and last time the missus and i tried to get a table on a friday night it was jam packed in there, no space left.
So last monday we met up, and headed down icy back lanes on a short cut toTyla Garw and settled at a table next to a nice open fire. As you can see from the photos they obviously had just had a delivery from Bath ales!  On tap was Bath's Gem, Wild Hare, Spa and Festivity, RCH Pitchfork, Tudor Blorenge, Wadworth 6X, and the empty pump soon had Felinfoel Stout on.

As one of my recent posts was about Bath's 'Festivity' porter, very enjoyable it was too, i pounced on the cask version to compare. Its body seemed fuller against the bottle version, and more pronounced smoke and coffee came across, excellent pint taken warmly next to a fire - ideal in this weather.
Next up was the RCH 'Pitchfork', which i have had as a bottle but couldn't remember what i thought. A fresh zesty drink, lightly floral and bittersweet, this went down very quickly. Baths 'Spa' was one i have not tried before, a golden ale which was sharply bitter, grassy aroma and peachy, very nice indeed.

I moved onto the Tudor offering Blorenge, from a welsh microbrewery based at the 'Kings Arms' in Abergavenny. They say its a 'session beer at 3.8% abv Appeals to the lager drinker if chilled 2 degrees below normal cask temperature. Lads and Lasses love it. Wonderful with hot curries and spiced dishes' which is an interesting description, but dont it dissuade you its rather good. Golden in colour, biscuity malt and refreshing floral aroma, its dry and leaves you wanting another.

I finished off with the Bath Gem, a nice bitter, nutty and malty, always satisfying.

Excellent evening, the pubs great, the lady behind the bar was polite and friendly, you should go there.

I'll have a half of......

several lovely ales at the Boars Head festival 2010,
as described in my last post. (Photo from their Facebook page)
A lovely pub, certainly somewhere where i will return in the near future, although i stupidly forgot to ask what they currently had on tap post festival.

Anyway up first was indeed the Brewdog 'Trashy Blond' - lovely golden colour, lasting head, hops and nice subtle bitterness. Enjoyable start to the evening.
Rob from Rob's beer quest recommended the York 'Guzzler' and i duly moved onto that. A good floral crisp golden ale, went down very well, thanks Rob!
Next was another i was looking forward to, you read so much good stuff about the Thornbridge brewery, including the 'Jaipur IPA' so i ordered that. It is a lovely beer, beautiful aroma but was not quite as i was expecting, perhaps i had built it up too much in my mind, i was expecting more punch from the hops, more bitterness.

Nevermind - onwards, and we tried the Green Jack 'Orange Wheat'. Very smooth and very drinkable, light orange aroma and taste, not overpowering at all. I'll jump to my last drink of the night which was their 8.5% 'Ripper' they describe as  
"Green Jack Brewing Company’s champion Barley Wine. Inspired by Belgian tripel ales this multi-awarding winning brew is dangerously drinkable. Rich amber in colour Ripper is sweet and fruity with a warming finish."
 Really good, punchy alcohol taste and indeed very warming, perhaps a bit overly sweet though. Didn't stop me having a second though which in hindsight probably wasn't a good idea!!

Inbetween the two Green Jack beers i had a stout (possibly the Hop Back 'entire stout', not sure) which was smooth, nutty and coffee. Didn't enjoy the Sarah Hughes 'Dark Ruby Mild'.
The Brewsters 'Stilton Porter' was very good however, full flavored with spice and caramel and a good roasted bitterness.

Boars Head Beer Festival - What to drink?

The Boar's Head in Tyla Garw, South Wales is quite close for me yet i've never been to one of their festivals, barely been to the pub actually, the curse of very young children and shift work i'm afraid. And annoyingly i'm again toiling in a work place depressed in the knowledge i'm missing out on these beers, as posted by blogger Brew Wales.(Thanks for the list).
 If I get some time to go what would you recommend? I've got to make it count! I'm quite keen to try the Brewdog as i'm not likely to see anything by them on cask very often down here, and from the beer blogs i know the Thornbridge and Dark Star beers are very good. (The Old Slug porter and Summer lightening i have had before so i'll give them a miss.)

BREWDOG - 'Trashy Blond'

BREWSTERS - 'Decadence'

BREWSTERS - 'Rutterkin'

BREWSTERS - 'Stilton Porter'

CHEDDAR ALES - 'Gorge Best'

CHEDDAR ALES - 'Potholer'

CHEDDAR ALES - 'Bitter Bully'

CROUCH VALE - 'Amarillo'

CROUCH VALE - 'Brewer's Gold'

CROUCH VALE - 'Summer Breeze'

DARK STAR - 'American Pale Ale'

DARK STAR - 'Hophead'

DARK STAR - 'Sunburst'

GREEN JACK - 'Orange Wheat'

GREEN JACK - 'Ripper Tripel'

.HOPBACK - 'Crop Circle'

HOPBACK - 'Entire Stout'

HOPBACK - 'Summer Lightning'

.HOWARD TOWN - 'Snake Ale'

HOWARD TOWN - 'Longdendale Light'

.LODDEN - 'Bamboozle'

LODDEN - 'Ferrymans' Gold'

MAULDON - 'Mousetrap'

MAULDON - 'Silver Adder'

MAULDON - 'Suffolk Pride'

OAKHAM - 'Bishop's Farewell'

OAKHAM - 'Inferno'

OAKHAM - 'JHB'

RCH - 'Double Header'

RCH - 'Old Slug Porter'

RCH - 'PG Steam'

RED FOX - 'Red Fox Bitter'

RED FOX - Hunter's Gold'

RED FOX - 'IPA'

RED FOX - 'Wily 'Ol Fox'

SARAH HUGHES - 'Dark Ruby Mild'

.SPRINGHEAD - 'Bare Bones'

SPRINGHEAD - 'Charlie's Angel'

SPRINGHEAD - 'Roaring Meg'

THORNBRIDGE - 'Craven Silk'

THORNBRIDGE - 'Jaipur IPA'

THORNBRIDGE - 'Kipling'

TRIPLE FFF - 'Stairway to Heaven'

TRIPLE FFF - 'Moondance'

WOLF - 'Granny Wouldn't Like It'

WOLF - 'Straw Dog'

WYE VALLEY - 'D.G. Golden Ale'

WYE VALLEY - 'Butty Bach'

WYE VALLEY - 'HPA'

.YORK - 'Guzzler'

YORK - 'Yorkshire Terrier'