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 & Cider Festival 2011- Friday review

It was friday, it was wales, it was raining.
No, actually it was belting it down in the morning to be honest, thankfully it lightened as the day wore on.
Whilst the easy transport links into Cardiff reminded me why i should go in there more often, the drunks screaming at each other in the street at 11am as i bought some lunch reminded me why i dont.

Anyway onto the CIA for the Great Welsh Beer and Cider Festival 2011.

The souvenir glass this year came only as a half pint, and i soon had it filled with Otley's Saison Obscura as i wasn't going to miss it again !5.5%,  small head on a dark copper medium body. Light fresh spice, orange, light sweetness. Nice start to the day.

 With all the talk of Black IPA's across many beer blogs and none to be seen in South Wales i stuck to the Otley bar and tried their Oxymoron.
Black IPA, also 5.5% abv, pretty black (duh!) in colour. Noticeably mostly to me for a pine aftertaste, its also got coffee and a dominating citrus twang i couldn't put a name to. Must admit i wasn't initially sold on the black ipa style on this first try.


Another beer that i had pegged to try was the recent award winning Hopback Entire Stout. I thought it a little thin though, all be it with good coffee, chocolate bitterness. Okay, not bad, expected a bit more for a champion winter beer though somehow.

Red Kite brewery are very new, based in Carmarthenshire,West Wales, with a range of five beers, they had three i could see here. I tried the 'Gold Wing' a 4.2% golden ale, it was light and crisp, with a good drying bitterness, again citrus hop came through.
Another new brewery and definitely the closest to where i live is the new Llantrisant brewery, i believe its based in the Wheatsheaf pub in the town. 'Black Army Stout' is their first beer i was told, 3.9% abv. Thin in the mouth, no head really, light malts with hedgerow berries coming through well, possibly blackberry? It seemed more like a porter in style, it was okay, although for your first brew its encouraging to see them produce something different rather than a safe bitter.

I've never ventured over to the German bar at any of the festivals before but thought it was time to make the effort. Karg are not a brewery i'd heard of, so i plumped for their 5.0% Weissbier Dunkel. A gloomy looking wheat beer, dirty toffee in colour, it was sharp, green apple sour, banana and bready. Was it supposed to be like this?? Not totally unpleasant but unexpected and one i wouldn't try again.

Heart of Wales brewery  - Aur Cymru - a golden ale, its was quite dry, woody, medicinal and a little flat, didn't seem in the best condition.

By now the Champion Beer of Wales 2011 had been announced, going to Rhymney for their 'Dark', which i'll agree is certainly their best beer. Congratulations to them, they also took silver with 'Export' , and Otley  took bronze for 08, a previous winner itself.

 By now the place was really filing up, seemed to be more provision of chairs and table than last year, although as soon as anyone vacated chair it was pounced upon.

At this point i wandered for a bit trying to decide which to have next, one of the volunteers tried to sell me the Thornbridge Jaipur but i instead went for the 'Sequoia' which was not in the programme, (seemingly replacing their 'Lord Marples' which was supposed to be there but i couldn't spot it).
 Really good, hit the spot immediately. Biscuity, nutty, light brown in colour, nice and hoppy but not out of balance with the malts. Certainly my beer of the night.

Brains had the usual bar on display, a great photo here by Beer Lens, and they had produced exclusively their 'Strong Ale' for the festival. 6.5%,  it was less alcohol more sweetness, lightly spiced, fruity. A half was more than enough at the end of night.

Great festival, well done to all those involved.