The W-Ales Beer Festival 2014

Early June means time for the Great Welsh Beer and Cider Festival, this year its been re branded as the W-Ales Beer festival, in a new location also.
Earlier in the year I noticed that the Motor Point arena in Cardiff had a band listed as playing on the dates the festival is normally held there leading me to wonder if it had either moved dates or venue.
Turns out its the venue as they've upgraded to the Millennium Stadium, and also advertising "an emphasis on international ‘street’ foods" which, lets be honest, can only be an improvement on the dreadful food at the Motor Point. Looking today on the website though I still cannot see any vendors listed so it'll be interesting to see what is there.

Details:
 Beer List here
What looks interesting that they all appear to be Welsh beers, usually there are ones from all over the UK.

Dates are June 5th- 7th, with Thursday being the trade only day, open to public at 5pm. Friday & Saturday 12.00noon – 10.30pm

Price has increased again, day ticket is now £10, other deals available, and you get to keep the commemorative glass if your a CAMRA member.
(I'm fine then but what about my friends, are they to be charged if they want the glass, on top of the tenner to get in?)

Some great beers are listed, several new breweries to me that I'll try to seek out, it looks like a good beer day for me.

Great Welsh Beer and Cider Festival 2013: Friday

For once it was sunny, warm, and shorts weather on the trip into Cardiff for the GWBCF 2013.

After catching the lunchtime train in I waited for one of my friends to catch his (slow) train in. As he was delayed I moved myself into the Prince of Wales, a Weatherspoons pub, and ordered a Celt Experience Bledynn 1075. One of the Breweries that I was keen to visit once at the festival, this is their excellent IPA which I've had in bottle many a time, but this was the first time on cask and wow it was a palate stripping hopped up pint, superb and juicy. I could only hope the rest of the day's beers will be this good.

I pick up my glass, programme and tokens and head in. As much as I was eyeing up the specials on offer I thought sensible to start lower down the abv scale, and so picked on Brains 'Touch. Paws. Engage.' their rugby themed golden ale and 4%. Light, moderately fruity and refreshing citrus edge, very good start.
Always an impressive stand, the Otley boys and girls had an huge array of pumps, I went for the 'Hop Angeles' 4.8% an American Red ale which uses 9 different hops apparently. It had a nice light citrus aroma, with a dry woody strong bitterness in the mouth. I'd certainly seek this out again.
Next came a tick. One from the '300 beers...' book that I'd planned to get was the 'Oscar Wilde Mild' from Mighty Oak and I was glad I did. Bags of flavour, a great example of what a mild can be.

My good start continued as I moved onto the Tiny Rebel stand. A busy stand soon to get busier. Standing proud nearby was a pimped up old ice cream van in their colours.



Flux, a black IPA at 4% which was fantastic, juicy, citrus, roasted malts, another great beer from them.
The time then was just before 3 pm and it was the announcement for the Champion Beer of Wales results.
Okay, lets remind ourselves of my prediction in my previous post "....it will be interesting to see how many gongs they pick up. Champion Beer of Wales for Tiny Rebel?? I wouldn't be surprised."
 Well, no not very surprised, (perhaps at the clean sweep though) and yes feeling a little smug, but hey I called it!
Frankly though anyone drinking in the capital this last year probably is also not that surprised, such is the quality and consistency of the Tiny Rebel beers. A quick chat with Gaz and congratulations followed.
I also managed to publish my first post then on my mobile successfully, announcing the result (previous mobile attempts never worked).

 Violet Cottage were listed as a Cardiff brewery, one I'd never heard of, so i thought I'd try their 'Zigzag', a 5% IPA, which was nice and light, uncomplicated, a little lighter with the hops compared to others but as nice as many other IPA's out there and reminded me of Wye's HPA. When reading the programme a bit later i realised that they are from the award winning Gwaelod-y-Garth pub.
Back to one of the main stands now for one from Celt experience, 'Cat Scratched Celt' 5.8% a big amber ale, with nice strong malt backbone, caramel, pineapple from the hops, another great beer from Celt.
A side step takes me back to Otley and '09', a clear wheat beer I've not had before, lovely and light with orange and very spicy, 4.8%.
Redstone Brewery , based in Brecon Beacons only started last year, had just the one beer, 'Gorsey' 4.2%  a pale ale, lots of lemon and woody.
Brains Craft Brewery Low Hanging Fruit 4.8% - this was really good, 4.8% dark/mild?, on untappd I posted "Good dry earthy, sour aroma, a real lactic bitterness. Cherry lingers"
The only beer I didn't enjoy unfortunately was from Artisan, 'Alt' 5% although I cannot remember what was putting me off it but I didn't drink much off it.

Back to Brains Craft, and 'Stars and Stripes', an American wheat 5%, hazy, light and easy to drink quickly, citrus but not to bitter, fruity too.
I thought I'd go strong for my last beer and went for one of the Tiny Rebel specials, their 'Grand Regal Stout' this one aged in an 'Ardbeg Barrel' 7%.
My god, this was thick, chewy, so strong, like chewing a cigar. I couldn't finish it, wrong choice for the last beer of the night. Another night with this being the only beer in front of me I think I could give it more time but that night at that point it was palate overload. Not saying its a bad beer at all, my friend who enjoys whiskey liked it but agreed that it was a monster mouthful!
Thus I high-tailed back to the champions stand and got a 'Full Nelson' 4.8% with buckets of Nelson Sauvin hops, which refreshed my mouth immediately.

Overall this was one of the best GWBCF I've been to in recent years, a great range of beers from the headlining breweries, and all but one beer were thoroughly enjoyed which was a greater return for me than last few years. Loads more tables/chairs - excellent!
Many thanks to Arfur and the rest of the CAMRA guys for putting on a top show. I also managed to have a quick word with Arfur, although poorly timed as it was five minutes before the awards were announced, his steely focus on the stage as he wafted the results under my nose with a wry smile.

Main disappointment was not meeting Craig (top post btw) despite our girlish untappd posts pinging back and forward!
In sober hindsight I realised that 1 - telling him I'm by the winners stand was not making it easier, and 2 - me trying to spot a man just by identifying his beard at a CAMRA festival is like <insert cliché here> A real shame as I fancied a good chat, which is something, as he says in his post we'll have to sort out soon.


Full results:

Champion Beer of Wales 2013
1. Tiny Rebel Dirty Stop Out
2. Tiny Rebel Fubar
3. Tiny Rebel Urban IPA
Category Winners
Mild
Rhymney Dark
Bitter
Purple Moose Madog's Ale
Best Bitter
Brain's Rev James
Strong Bitter
Tiny Rebel Urban IPA
Golden Ale
Tiny Rebel Fubar
Speciality
Bullmastiff Welsh Black
Porter
Facers North Star Porter
Stouts
Tiny Rebel Dirty Stop Out
Barley Wine
Tiny Rebel Hadouken
Old Ales/Strong Milds
Breconshire Ramblers Ruin

Friday at Great Welsh Beer Cider Festival 2012

It was friday, it was Wales, it was raining.

hey - deja vu!!!

Actually the clouds lightened up a bit as I walked to the festival, texts informing me that my partner in crime this year (cruelly his wife made him go on holiday last year) had arrived and started without me. Well I would too!

Just the same as last year I made sure the first drink was one from Otley that I'd been unable to locate before, this one being '07 Weissen' (5%). And a great start and a kick in the senses for your first afternoon drink it was too. Cloves, orange and great wheat taste in a hazy yellow half glass. The bitterness was great, drying my mouth completely.

My next was more out of curiosity for the brewery more than anything.
I'd not heard of the Pixie Spring brewery before and they were listed as being based in Llantrisant which is quite close to me. Their Prince of Bengal IPA had already sold out so I went for the Deliverance APA. This had the cask labelled as 'Hazy' although it was only lightly so,  its 4.5% with 4 hops in it, some I suspect are the 'C' crowd as it gave some lovely lemon, perhaps grapefruit mostly, with a good dryness, light and fresh, very enjoyable. Later I found some of their flyers which listed a 'Black Army Stout', which was a beer I tried last year from the 'Llantrisant brewery' so I'm assume Pixie Spring is their new name. One to watch in Wales.

Gazz at Tiny Rebel stand

The Tiny Rebel brewery from Newport have only been going a few months, I did a 'Meet the Brewer' Q&A with then back in February. I'd only had their FUBAR before, fantastic it was too, and the display looked might impressive and extremely busy. Looking at various tweets before I even arrived I knew that FUBAR through the Hop Rocket, beers infused by being pulled through fresh hops in-line at the bar, had been the first beer to sell out on the first day. Restocked, I realised I had better get there soon before it went again. The hops being used were Amarillo according to the chalk note, the beer being the replenished FUBAR, a 4.4% APA, light yellow in colour, citrus and grassy, biscuit malts, very good.

By now I'd managed to introduce myself to a very busy Gazz and had a good chat, top bloke, happy to explain the workings behind a bar at a busy beer festival, their beers and future plans. I'd moved onto their 'Dirty Stop Out' after talking about smoked beers with Gazz, its a 5% smoked oat stout.
There is a good amount of smoke with it, small hits of dark chocolate with nice bitterness, with great smoothness alongside some vanilla, plus some spice that tickled the sides of my tongue.
They want to make it smokier, I've no complaints with that, but this was by far my beer of the festival as it was.

By now we'd jumped into the seats of a couple who barely hinted they were putting their coats on, you have to be that quick. Obviously there was more tables than last year again but with the popularity of this festival plenty more tables and chairs are required. The new token system seemed to work better from a punters point of view, no more losing torn off tickets.

Next up, Celt Experience 'Silures' , listed as a golden hoppy ale 4.6%. Grassy on the nose, golden yellow, but I got a lot of butter from it, too much for my liking, it was a struggle to finish this to be honest. Shame as all their beers I've had before are pretty good, I'll have to try it again and give it a 2nd chance.

Cant quite remember which one this was! (Possibly 'Cwtch')

The foreign bar was considerably lighter on choice than previous years, Czech Budvar providing 3 (well technically 4) options. The Original and Dark were on offer, plus a 'half n half' tap that drew from both lines. The other beer they brought was 'Yeast' 5%, an unpasteurised version of the Original, and this was the one that tempted me. Cold, obviously, crisp and clean, bitter finish, malty but balanced lager. Wasn't terribly exciting though.
Hopefully next year the organisers will go back to having a larger selection of foreign beers, on tap and bottled.

As I said in my pre-festival post the Waen 'Chilli Plum Porter' sounded like one to seek out. When I went round it seemed to be very popular, and I now know why. At 6.1% its a gorgeously fruity beer, subtle on the chilli, lovely spice floating around the mouth with a dry edge to it. Very good beer, I'd love to sit back with a pint of this again.

Going light again I plumped for Ilkley 'Mary Jane', 3.5% pale ale which was pretty good, very dry and hoppy, thin body but great flavours for a low abv beer. Would be a great summer session beer.

I turned back to Tiny Rebel at this point for the new 'Cwtch' a red ale 4.6%, brewed also with only 'C' hops. Great malty tones, herbal notes and taste, with matched citrus/lemon from those hops. Some caramel sweetness also. See Beer Lens for a great shot of the pump clip.

Up to the Brains bar next for one new to me, Jack Black, an oatmeal stout at 4.3%. My notes say a lighter body than the 2 previous stouts/porters I had that day, good roast flavour, good long bitterness, very pleasant. I also took a half of the Organ Morgan, a 4% golden ale, my notes underlined 'floral' in their description of the beer, it was a nice and smooth and a good way to end the evening.

The awards of the festival were announced whilst I was there, overall winner being the Barley Wine 'High as a Kite' from the tiny Heart of Wales, which was nice to see a speciality beer winning a national award.

If Tiny Rebel can maintain the high standard they have set so far with their beers I predict they will be picking up some awards next year, no doubt about it (to be eligible you have to have been brewing for a year).

Thanks to Cardiff CAMRA for another great festival.

My Beer of the Festival - Tiny Rebel 'Dirty Stop Out'

Great Welsh Beer and Cider Festival 2012

Great Welsh Beer and Cider Festival 2012

This Thursday 7th June will see Cardiff host its yearly CAMRA festival, at the Motorpoint Arena (CIA) until Saturday.

Organiser and Brew Wales blogger Arfur Daley has already blogged a few posts on its progress and his hopes for this year, and I must agree with him that the Brains and Tiny Rebel Breweries stands and beers are looking impressive, amongst the many others, giving us a massive choice headache (or is that to follow afterwards?!)

I’m hoping to attend on the Friday, and I’ve already been looking at the beer list on the official website which was last updated yesterday.

A few have interested me such as the Celt Experience ‘Silures’, their bottles are generally very good and this one is new to me and worth seeking out I think.

The new Kite Brewery have a few to try, their Thunderbird was very good when I had it in Tenby. As always a great selection from Otley, the O7 Weissen is one I’ve not before though and will probably tempt me.

The Waen Chilli Plum Porter sounds very interesting!!

And if you haven’t had the Mango beer from Zero Degrees then I can highly recommend it.

Most intriguing name listed? Surely is has to be Brecon’s Genesis 1.ii The Prophet's Porter!

On the website they list only three beers from the foreign bar, all from the Czech brewery Budvar, and the unfiltered pilsner certainly must be worth trying. This is a fairly limited choice compared to previous years so I’m not sure if this is all that’s on offer.

 Last updated 1227 hrs 05.06.12

Abbeydale Absolution 5.3
Abbeydale Moonshine 4.3
Acorn Barnsley Bitter 3.8
Acorn Gorlovka Imperial Stout 6.0
Acorn IPA 5.0
Big Bog Swampy 4.7
Brains Craft Brewery All at Sea 5.2
Brains British Summer 4.1
Brains Dark 3.5
Brains SA 4.2
Brains SA Gold 4.7
Brains Strong Ale 6.5
Brains Craft Brewery Barry Island IPA 6.0
Brains Jack Black 4.3
Brains Organ Morgan 4.0
Brecon Beacons to the sea 4.1
Brecon Bright Beacons 4.5
Brecon Bronze Beacons 3.9
Brecon Diamond Beacons 4.3
Brecon Genesis 1.ii The Prophet's Porter 5.6
Brecon Gold Beacons 4.2
Brecon Twilight Brecon 4.0
Brecon Wandering Beacons 5.0
Breconshire Ramblers Ruin 5.0
Bryncelyn Buddy Marvellous 4.0
Bryncelyn Holly Hop 3.9
Bryncelyn Oh Boy 4.5
Bullmastiff Son of a Bitch 6.0
Bullmastiff Welsh Red 4.8
Celt Experience Bleddyn 5.6
Celt Experience Red Castle Cream 4.7
Celt Experience Golden 4.2
Celt Experience Native Storm 4.4
Celt Experience Silures 4.6
Cerddin Cascade 4.8
Conwy Beechcomber Blonde 4.2
Conwy Cwrw Mel 4.5
Copper Dragon Black Gold 3.7
Copper Dragon Challenger 4.0
Copper Dragon Golden Pippin 3.9
Elland 1872 Porter 6.5
Elland Bargee 3.8
Elland Nettlethrasher 4.4
Facer's Clwyd Gold 3.5
Facer's Dave's Hoppy Beer 4.3
Facer's Landslide 4.9
Felinfoel Double Dragon 4.2
Gloucester Dockside Dark 5.2
Gloucester Gloucester Gold 3.9
Gloucester Mariner 4.2
Gower Gold 4.5
Great Orme Celtica 4.5
Great Orme Welsh Black 4.0
Grey Trees Rechabites Bitter 4.0
Heart of Wales Aur Cymru 3.8
Heart of Wales High as a Kite 9.5
Heart of Wales Irfon Valley 3.6
Heart of Wales Welsh Black 4.4
Ilkley Best 4.0
Ilkley Black 3.7
Ilkley Mary Jane 3.5
Jacobi Light Ale 3.8
Jacobi Red Squirrel 4.0
Kelham Island Kelham Best 3.8
Kelham Island Pale Rider 5.2
Kelham Island Riders on the Storm 4.5
Kingstone 1503 4.8
Kingstone Stout 4.4
Kite Cwrw Haf 4.1
Kite Gold Wing 4.2
Kite Thunderbird 4.5
Kite Jubilicious 4.4
Leeds Leeds Best 4.3
Leeds Midnight Bell 4.8
Leeds Yorkshire Gold 4.2
Llangollen Grange No1 3.2
Monty's Midnight Stout 4.0
Monty's Mischief 5.0
Monty's Sunshine 4.2
Nant Mwnci Nell 5.5
Neath Black 5.5
Neath Gold 5.0
Ossett Silver King 4.3
Ossett Yorkshire Blond 3.9
Otley Croeso 4.2
Otley Motley Brew 7.5
Otley O Garden 4.8
Otley O1 4.0
Otley O3 Boss 4.4
Otley O4 Columbo 4.1
Otley O5 Gold 5.0
Otley O6 Porter 6.6
Otley O7 Weissen 5.0
Otley O8 8.0
Otley Oxymoron Black IPA 5.5
Otley Odessa 9.7
Otley Thai Bo 4.6
Pixie Spring Deliverance APA 4.5
Pixie Spring Prince of Bengal IPA 5.5
Plassey Mild 4.2
Preseli Baggywrinkle 4.5
Preseli Rocky Bottom 4.5
Purple Moose Dark Side of the Moose 4.6
Purple Moose Glaslyn 4.2
Purple Moose Snowdonia 3.6
RCH East St Cream 5.0
RCH PG Steam 3.9
RCH Pitchfork 4.2
Rhymney Export 5.0
Rhymney Gold 4.2
Rhymney Hobby Horse 3.8
Rudgate Battleaxe 4.2
Rudgate Ruby Mild 4.4
Rudgate Viking 3.8
Saltire Raspberry Blond 4.0
Saltire Triple Chocoholic 4.8
Sandstone Edge 3.8
Snowdonia Carmen Sutra 4.4
Swansea Deep Slade Dark 4.0
Timothy Taylor Dark Mild 3.5
Timothy Taylor Landlord 4.3
Tiny Rebel Cwtch 4.6
Tiny Rebel Dirty Stop Out 5.0
Tiny Rebel Doc Brown 3.8
Tiny Rebel Fubar 4.4
Tiny Rebel Full Nelson 4.8
Tiny Rebel Hadouken IPA 7.4
Tiny Rebel Urban IPA 5.5
VoG Cwrw Dewi 5.0
VoG Still Reigning
Waen Blackberry Stout 3.8
Waen Chilli Plum Porter 6.1
Waen First of the Summer Waen 3.9
Wentworth Bumble Beer 4.3
Wentworth Oatmeal Stout 4.8
Wentworth Rampant Gryphon 6.2
Wye Valley DG Lager 4.2
Wye Valley DG Stout 4.2
Wye Valley HPA 4.0
York Centurion's Ghost 5.4
York Guzzler 3.6
York Yorkshire Terrier 4.2
Zero Degrees Mango 4.5
Zero Degrees Pilsner 4.8

Great Welsh Beer & Cider Festival 2011

Hurrah  its on again!. I booked annual leave months ago to ensure that the most important date this week, my wife's birthday (!), and the beer festival can be accommodated into this week seamlessly. My friends similar attempts have been thwarted at the last minute by his wife's holiday booking, not a happy bunny is he, so i'll be attending solo on friday.



Details: Official site here
All the Information you'll need on one post here by organiser Brew Wales here. Good work fella!

It starts today, thursday 16th june until Saturday 18th at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. Where? It used to the CIA (Cardiff International Arena) until they thought they were a premiership football stadium and sold the naming rights it seems! So same place, different name.
Cost: £6 for entry, programme and glass as usual. Tokens for beer, some free for CAMRA members.

The most important thing though: the beer list!

So i ask the same question i asked last year:
What do you recommend? What would you be heading for first??


Banktop Mild 4.0
Brains Bitter 3.7
Brains British Sumer 4.0
Brains Dark 3.5
Brains IPA 3.4
Brains Rev James 4.5
Brains SA 4.2
Brains SA Gold 4.6
Brains Strong Ale 5.5
Breconshire Brecon County Ale 3.7
Breconshire Cribyn 4.5
Breconshire Golden Valley 4.2
Breconshire Ramblers Ruin 5
Breconshire Welsh Pale Ale 3.7
Breconshire The Mayor's Inspiration 4.4
Breconshire Ysbrid y Ddraig 6.5
Bryncelyn Buddy Marvellous 4.0
Bryncelyn Holly Hop 3.9
Bryncelyn Oh Boy 4.5
Butcombe Bitter 4.0
Caledonian Deuchars IPA 3.8
Castle Rock Harvest Pale 3.8
Celt Experience Native Storm 4.4
Newmans Castle cream 4.7
Celt Experience Golden 4.2
Cerddin Cascade 4.8
Conwy Cwrw Mel 4.5
Conwy Beechcomber Blonde 4.2
Crouch Vale Brewer's Gold 4.0
Dark Star American Pale Ale 4.7
Elgood's Cambridge Bitter 3.8
Elgood's Black Dog 3.6
Evan Evans Cwrw 4.2
Evan Evans Golden Hop 4.3
Evan Evans SPA 4.2
Fullers Chiswick 3.6
Fullers ESB 5.5
Great Orme Celtica 4.5
Great Orme Welsh Black 4.0
Gwaun Light Ale 4.0
Harvey's Sussex best bitter 4.0
Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted 3.8
Heart of Wales Aur Cymru 3.8
Heart of Wales High as a Kite 10.5
Heart of Wales Irfon Valley 3.6
Heart of Wales Welsh Black 4.4
Hobsons Mild 3.5
Hopback Entire Stout 4.5
Hopback Summer Lighting 5.0
Jacobi Light Ale 3.8
Jacobi Red Squirrel 4.0
Jarrow Rivet Catcher 4.0
Jolly Brewer Taid's Garden 4.0
Kelham Island Pale Rider 5.2
Kingstone 1503 4.8
Kingstone Stout 4.4
Llangollen Grange No1 3.2
Loddon Ferryman's Gold 4.4
Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde Mild 3.7
Monty's Midnight Stout 4.0
Monty's Mojo 3.8
Monty's Sunshine 4.2
Moor Revival 3.8
Nant Mwnci Nell 5.5
Neath Black 5.5
Neath Green Bullet 6.0
Newmans Summerberry 4.2
Oakham JHB 3.8
Oakleaf Hole Hearted 4.7
Orkney Raven 3.8
Otley Colombo 4.0
Otley Dark O 4.1
Otley O Garden 4.8
Otley O1 4.0
Otley O2 4.2
Otley O6 6.6
Otley O8 8.0
Otley THAI BO 4.6
Otley MOTLEY BREW 7.5
Otley OXYMORON BLK IPA 5.5
Otley SAISON OBSCURA 5.5
Otley CROESO 4.2
Otley DUO (NEW) 5.4
Plassey Border Mild 3.6
Plassey Cwrw Tudno 5.0
Plassey Owain Glyndwr 4.3
Preseli Baggywrinkle 4.5
Purple Moose Dark Side of the Moose 4.6
Purple Moose Glaslyn 4.2
Purple Moose IPA 4.0
Purple Moose Snowdonia 3.6
RCH East St Cream 5.0
RCH PG Steam 3.9
RCH Pitchfork 4.2
Red Kite Cwrw Haf 4.1
Red Kite Gold Wing 4.2
Red Kite Thunderbird 4.5
Rhymney Bevan's Bitter 4.2
Rhymney Dark 4.0
Rhymney Export 5.0
Rhymney Hobby Horse 3.8
Rotters Utter Rotter 3.9
Rotters Whipping Tree 3.6
Rudgate Ruby Mild 4.4
Sandstone Edge 3.8
Sandstone Postmistress 4.4
Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby 6.0
Skinner's Betty Stoggs 4.0
Skinner's Cornish Knocker 4.5
St Austell Proper Job 5.5
Swansea 3 Cliffs 4.7
Swansea Bishopswood 4.3
Swansea Deep Slade Dark 4.0
Thornbridge Jaipur IPA 5.9
Thornbridge Seqoua 4.5
Timothy Taylor Landlord 4.3
Tomos Watkin Brewery Bitter 4.0
Tomos Watkin Cwrw Haf 4.2
Tomos Watkin Chwarae Teg 4.1
Tomos Watkin OSB 4.5
Tomos Watkin Lion's Pride 4.3
Triple F Alton's Pride 3.8
VoG Chocs Away 4.5
VoG Grog y VOG 4.3
VoG Wheats Occurrin 5.0
VoG No 1
Waen Landmark 5.5
Woodforde's Wherry 3.8
Wye Valley Butty Bach 4.5
Wye Valley DG Golden Ale 4.2
Wye Valley DG Stout 4.2
Wye Valley Ginger Pride 4.3
Wye Valley HPA 4.0
York Centurion's Ghost 5.4
Zero Degrees Mango 4.5
Zero Degrees Pilsner 4.8

The Otley bar seems a very good bet first off with three i've not seen before, the Brains Strong ale later on, award winning Hopback Entire Stout. Not seen the Swansea brewery before so i'll try one of theirs.
Too many !!!!!!!!

Help me narrow it down!

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.