Welsh Golden Ales: Otley, Brecon and Celt Experience

A live blogging post last tonight, tasting a few of the more readily available Golden Ales around on the market. (And then it got too late,and I'm sure you've all been there, the post doesn't happen. So this morning it was finished and photos sorted).

Its Pontypridd vs Brecon vs Caephilly.

From Pontypridd it's Otley and their 01, the Brecon Brewing co. 'Gold Beacons', and Caerphilly's Celt Experience with 'Golden'. The Otley is 4% abv, with the other two coming in at 4.2%, all 500 ml bottles and all were bought for about £2.30. Of the three the Celt is not bottle conditioned.


Okay first up.
I love the Celt Experience, I've gushed enough about them in these posts before here.They are about to launch a redesign of their labels, this photo shows the current/old design.
Billowing head at the start, that settles and gives frothy lacing on the sides. Deep golden orange colour, strong citrus, orange and pine aroma.

Great body and this drinks and feels like something so much stronger than 4.2% it must be said. The pine is accompanied by floral bite, and a medicinal/herbal edge too. It reminds me too of my mother-in-laws homemade orange marmalade, juicy but the lingering bitterness that's more  grapefruit than orange, a superb quality beer. Enough gushing??!!!



After amazing me with their Dark Skies III raspberry and vanilla sea salt infused Saison at the Welsh festival, my wife and I stayed in Brecon not long after and I bought a case of their Gold from the brewery which is based on an industrial estate on the outskirts of the town of Brecon town.

Gold Beacons pours again a golden orange although perhaps a little clearer than the Celt beer.
Big pop and smoke on opening, lighter in body than the first beer, a toasty and caramel aroma, with hints of orange and pine.
Light and fruity in the mouth, a light bitterness stays with you, its lighter and more refreshing than the Celt. A great beer, and I enjoyed everyone in that case I bought.



Otley with their great beers and distinctive branding have firmly established themselves as many peoples favourites, they have three pubs in Pontypridd, the Bunch of Grapes being a must visit if your in the area, great food accompanying their beers.

01 opened with little fanfare shall we say, and scant carbonation. Colour is a much lighter gold than the other two, with little lacing from the head.
Now I could tell you that I've had this beer many times, and its dry but fruity, some grass and pine, and quite refreshing. Unfortunately this bottle doesn't seem to hit that description, its got a slight sour aroma and green apple rasp to it, its a duff bottle. A real shame because this is a great beer, usually, as all Otleys beers are.

It did start me thinking though about how long it had been on the shelf in my local Spar shop, I don't see a huge turn around on their 'premium/craft' ales. Perhaps its just been there far to long, it wasn't past its date though. I'm grateful that the owner sells the beers he does, Otley, Kite, Brecon and Celt, I wouldn't get these in the village elsewhere, I'd have to travel a little further out, but if they're going past their best sitting there then perhaps I should exercise more caution and watch the shelves from this point of view.

Coincidentally whilst editing this post this morning Boak and Bailey posted their weekly round-up which included a detailed piece from the Pete Drinks blog on a very similar thread, worth a read if you already haven't.

Under normal circumstances I'd be very happy to drink any of these three beers, the Brecon and Otley are great examples of Golden Ales, and the Celt  is excellent too, even if one foot is in the IPA camp with the superb use of hops in it, and if I'm honest I'd choose the Celt over the other two as my favourite.

The Gower Brewery, Gower Gold, and the GreyHound Inn

(A very late post, sorry, should have been out last year!)

 The Greyhound Inn, Llanrhidian, is home of the Gower Brewery in South West Wales.

Back in July last year, after months of rain the school holiday's were starting and we feared the worst - Weeks indoors with kids going slightly crazy.
But the sun actually came out and we grabbed the tent, headed for the Gower and pitched up. We had cracking weather in the end, a great holiday, and discovered an excellent pub that also happened to brew its own beer.

On the first Sunday we went to get a meal at a local pub, recommended by someone on the camp site, only a little drive and certainly worth it even if its further than the closest pub to the campsite.


The Greyhound Inn at Llanrhidian turned out to be home of the Gower Brewery, and I managed to have a chat with one of its co-owners the landlord Chris. A genuinely nice guy who is obviously passionate about the beer they are brewing there. The other co-owner I believe is another local landlord also called Chris (another reason why I should have written this when it was fresh in the mind)

The kids enjoyed themselves in a nice clean wood play area, and we all enjoyed the food, quality pub food, well priced, and nice to see good choices and properly cooked  and well portioned children's meals (mine eat well!).

So whilst a bemused bar staff watched me photo, create and upload to Untappd, I started with their Gower Power, an IPA that is 5.5% abv. Classically smooth, with a good spice hit, moderate hop profile, orange in the colour and on tongue, a very promising start.

Next up I tried the Gower Gold, a golden ale, 4.5% abv, which was singing out of the barrel fresh. Wonderful citrus aroma from the Cascade hops, juicy tropical fruit, with grapefruit sharpness.
This was a cracking find, made my lunch, no, made my day supping this in the beautiful sunshine in a beer garden.

The best news, many months later, was that my local Spar shop has started stocking this in bottles so I can sup it much more regularly.

Anyway, back to that day. Their bitter on pump was called Brew #1, 3.8% and as suggested by the name, this from the recipe that was their first ever beer. A classic bitter, nowt wrong with that.
I also had Sampson's Jack, another bitter but stronger at 4.2%, and this was straight from the cask. Dry and fruitier than Brew #1. 


Overall this pub would have been a great find for us on our holiday, good food, pleasant environment, large outside area with a clean and safe kids area.
It was just it was a massive bonus for me that it houses a great microbrewery, producing some really good beers, and one excellent one in 'Gold'. That I now can buy it at the end of my street is great also.
Hopefully the Gower Brewery will continue to expand, perhaps putting more of their range into bottles (and into my Spar!), and getting their beers into some of the number of new craft beer establishments in Cardiff, you can only wish them the best of success for the coming year.

Wye Valley Dorothy Goodbody's Golden Ale

Wye Valley Dorothy Goodbody's Golden Ale  4.2%, 500mls.

A golden ale, obviously,  made with Goldings and Fuggle hops.

Pours a golden yellow, and its quite well carbonated.
It had little to no head after the initial pour,
Its got sweet malts and citrus on the nose.
Its a little oily, good hits of bitterness with a light fresh citrus bite, some sweetness comes in like a mild honey.

Very good golden ale, well rounded, you could very easily sink a few of these in a session, on a hot day it would be perfect.

When I made notes I forgot to look to see if it was bottle conditioned, I do recall a minute sediment at the bottle of the glass so it might well have been.

Quantock Brewery Sunraker

Seemed like an appropriate beer to have on such a glorious day, must have been the hottest of year so far. So after a day starting in Cardiff Mermaid Quay, walking the length alongside the bay to the barrage at Penarth, and catching the water bus back, a cool light refreshing beer was exactly what was needed.

Sunraker is a golden ale, described as a 'delicately hopped refreshingly light beer' on the label.
Very light gold indeed in colour, it had a small bubbly head although it didn't last to long. Aroma was flowery, grassy and a little metallic. Crisp and citric also. A light to medium body, a little oily, and i tasted earthy dry tones, a little herbal almost, some pepper?
Damn refreshing. It has again a little metallic notes, and with the dryness that all makes it seem not to dissimilar to some pilsners. Its the slight fruitiness that brings it into the golden ale camp.

I can imagine that on a hot day, pub beer garden, on cask, this would be hitting that spot just right. A sweet thought for the summer ahead i hope.

You can buy Quantock beers from local farmers markets, or from myBrewerytap, or West Country Ales.
Again, thank you to Rob from Quantock.

Celt Experience - Golden

Celt Experience - Golden

Another beer from the Celt Experience from Caerphilly, this one being their 'Golden'.
From their website they say
This beer is named after the Golden Age of the Celtic people. The Celts dominated Mid-Europe before the Roman Empire stretched westwards and northward. In the Golden Age of Celtdom, the Celts waged successful wars in continental Europe, notably in around 500 BC where modern day Spain and Northern Italy were overthrown. The name Bracis-Curmi (malted beer) traces back to the ancient Celtic language or proto-celtic, an age where Celts were some of the first beer producers in Europe.. 


As you see a golden colour indeed, with a sweet citrus aroma. You get a fresh, again citrus, hoppy taste, and its quite dry and not too bitter. Overall a refreshing bottle.

Untapped Brewing Co. 'Ember' 'U.P.A' & 'Sundown'

After the thoroughly enjoyable Untapped 'Eclipse' the other night i decided to get stuck into the rest of their range.   'Ember' at 5.2% is described as a "Winter Warmer" , an ale with three types of roasted malt that give it a good dark colour (see below) with slight tan head. There is a tang and fizz on your tongue, chocolate aroma which then follows through in the taste and its not to heavy either.

In their description of this beer they call it a "strong, old style ale" rather than a stout. I'm not sure i'm knowledgeable enough to know what the difference is with this beer, but i do know its a very good one.


Next up was the U.P.A 4.5%. A light golden pour into the glass, sweet fruit and citrus aroma.
A balance of hops and malt, and a good, medium amount of bitterness follows. Very enjoyable but i would say not particularly distinctive.
Lastly was the 'Sundown' a golden ale which is lively, with a sweet fruit note i couldn't put my finger on, and bready aroma, a refreshing yet dry and bitter end. Superior to the U.P.A. definitely.
In order of preference i would give top marks to the Eclipse, followed by Sundown, Ember and then the U.P.A.

All of these beers, and a few more beside (Marble, Otley, VoG, RCH were ones i picked up), were bought at the excellent Arth Wine in Penarth run by a very knowledgeable and friendly chap called Richard. You can find them next door to the railway station, where they have a walk in chiller section keeping our lovely beers at the exact temperature (9.3`c when i went in!) as well as a great range on the shelves. I will be going back very soon!