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.

Tiny Rebel Beer festival 5th- 8th June

Starting this Thursday until Sunday is the NOT SO Tiny Rebel Beer Festival, at their Cardiff bar The Urban Tap House.
You gotta love a spreadsheet and it looks like they needed one here to list the beers schedule so you know when the beers you want will be on tap!!
I'm studying Fridays list as that's when I'll be going.

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.

Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival 2011

The last weekend in October, the 29th and 30th, is again the Food and Drink festival in the Vale of Glamorgan historic town of Cowbridge.

We've been every year for quite a few years, with baby in papoose one time!
Always a great selection of exhibitors, demonstrations, and stalls to buy from. My 4 year old son has to be dragged away from the cheese producers freebies, and we always succumb to either the hot pork rolls or the Thai dishes and soups.

Always an abundance of Welsh producers, you can see the list here.
The important ones for me will be:

Otley Brewery Award winning real ale bottles & presentation boxes
Penlon Cottage Brewery Bottle conditioned beer

and of interest to cider fans might be:

Gwatkin Cider Co Ltd Real farmhouse cider & perry
Gwynt-Y-Ddraig Cider Ltd Draught & bottled Ciders & Perry

A couple of the talks certainly appear worth attending:

Saturday
2.15pm James "Arfur" Daley,   (you may know him as Brew Wales)
Gwatkin Cider with Llanblethian Orchards
Arfur and his partner are local cidermakers, collecting fruit from local orchards. With the help of Gwatkin Cider, they will talk about the process of cidermaking, their local plans and offer tasty cider samples.

Sunday
1pm Bev "The Beer" Robins
Otley Brewery
Exploring brewing traditions in Wales as part of the "housewife's duties". And celebrating Otley Brewery's past, present and future with the launch of "Oxymoron". Including a few good slurps of light ales and traditional bitters, including past winners of the Champion Beer of Wales.

There is usually a couple of beer festivals going on although its not on the website, so i'm just assuming the details are the same as past years. Ring and check before attending to confirm they are going ahead.
If they are, I'm hoping to attend the one at the Vale of Glamorgan pub on the high street as i did last year. An excellent real ale pub normally they have stillage out in the courtyard, it was packed last year.
At the Duke of Wellington literally over the road is usually the cider festival. This Brains pub has recently had a complete refurbishment so i'm sure we'll go and check that out also.

EDIT:  No cider festival at the Duke this year, see comments below.

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.

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

Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival 2010

So this weekend was the Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival, which tied in nicely with a stag do i was going on, my friend Rob is the lucky man.

After a morning shooting we headed straight for the festival, although a slight detour into the Horse and Groom was a big mistake, if you want lager and pretty much nothing else then thats where to go. Straight up to the Vale of Glamorgan pub which has hosted the real ale festival now for a good few years running. Standing room only, the pub was heaving, so straight out to the marquee for the beer list . I some how only managed to photo the second and third lists. Some like the Purple moose beers had already sold out and the Otley O8 and O1 soon followed by early afternoon. Other brewery's present on the first list were Moor's of Somerset, Bullmastiff from Cardiff and Newmans of Caephilly. 

The Otley Kowhai was one of the first i tried being a new one to me, very pleasant start drinks lighter than its 4.9%, nice bitterness overall , could definatly drink a pint or two of it. I had to wiki Kowhai to find out what it was named after, a common New Zealand garden tree apparently. 

Next i had a Newmans brew called 'Last lion of Britain' which was not to impressive which is a shame as some of their other beer are quite nice. Waen's 'Blackberry stout' was up next, which was strangely disappointing, the first few sips seem quite pleasant with lovely blackberry notes coming in sweetly, but after that i really started to not enjoy it, seeming a bit watery and unnecessarily harsh, i only had a half and didn't finish that, nor did one of my friends.

After a couple of other halve's i fail to recall i tried the Gwaun valley 'Bitter' which was as good as it is in a bottle thankfully, and the Breconshire brewery 'Baroque ale' was next - unfortunately i cannot remember what it was like, i think i pointed it out to someone but i'm not sure if it was a 'have that next' or a 'avoid avoid!'.

By far the best i tried, despite being surrounded by welsh breweries was from Somerset's 'Moor Beer' . Their 3.8% bitter 'Revival' was wonderfully refreshing, great hoppy flavours, singing in the mouth, citrus, and nice dryness comes through. Really good beer.

After a food stop in the chippy we headed to the Brains' Duke of Wellington to try and find a seat after hours of standing at the Vale. This pub hosts the Cider festival for the weekend and a few of the party wanted to sample these delights. 

It was strangely situated out the back in a marquee set at the back of the garden but seemed forgotten, little signs telling us where it was, the conservatory we walked through was mostly empty and would have been a far better setting for it. Seemed very under promoted, and even the cider heads with us in the end didn't make the trek back out, just going to the inside pub bar for the pump stuff.

Anyway a couple pints of a lackluster Rev. James, couple of Dark and for once a surprisingly decent SA.

 

The following day i went back to the food festival side with the wife and family, always enjoyable, loads of tasting samples and great lunches to be found. Among the exhibitors were Otley, Pen-lon, and Warcop.

I bought the xmas offering from the lovely ladies at the Otley stand who very very friendly, apparently the new coloured bottle top wrapping is to aid identification of the different beers for retailers, probably needed as often you see their beers in Spar and the like, wrongly lined up to another price ticket.

I then had a nice chat with the guy from Warcop, (website a little outdated but they reply to emails quickly) about the Great welsh beer festival and my disappointment on the day i couldn't try his beers, and bought his Honeyed Stout 4.5%, Furnace ruby ale 4.5%, and his Caspa real lager 5.4% and look forward to trying them all, reviews as and when. 

Meanwhile my utility room has far to much beer in it for my wife's liking so i'm off to move some to the shed for a bit.

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'