Brew Wales

Friday, 20 November 2009

True Taste Awards 2009

It's that time of the year again when the Welsh Assembly Government announce the True Taste awards. The awards were presented last night (Thursday) at the historic market hall in Abergavenny. Although one producer did decide to ignore the embargo and announce they had won an award the day before via Facebook.

Now in their eighth year, the Welsh Assembly Government managed awards reflect the increased demands from consumers for locally sourced produce along with those of the export market place. The 2009/10 awards has seen some 860 entries from over 400 companies – over half of producers in Wales.

he independently judged awards were founded to recognise and reward quality and innovation across the food and drink and hospitality sectors.

This year there were 18 award categories catering for all areas of food and drink production, retail and hospitality sectors as well as a new Export Achievement Category, which was won by The Anglesey Sea Salt Company.

Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones said, “The Wales the True Taste Food and Drink Awards are a tremendous showcase for the Welsh food and drink industry.
Once again the Awards have highlighted just how much high quality food is available here, and I congratulate all those who have received awards.

“Earlier this year I launched our Local Sourcing Action Plan which encourages us all to buy more Welsh food. There are so many benefits to buying local: from reducing food miles and supporting the local economy, to the reassurance that comes with knowing where our food comes from and how it has been produced.

“While our Food Tourism Action Plan is all about improving visitor experiences in Wales as a destination where high quality and distinctive food is widely available in our cafes, restaurants, pubs, hotels and guesthouses.

“We want to ensure that our visitors are provided with an exceptional food experience based on locally sourced and distinctive food. In 2008 the first category for Food Tourism Destination was included in Wales the True Taste Food & Drink Awards and this year’s winners – Pembrokeshire County Council - will help raise awareness of the excellence of Food Tourism outlets throughout Wales.”

A number of companies scooped more than one award; among them were South Caernarfon Creameries, Penrhiw Farm Organic Meat, Oaklands Organics, Gill’s Plaice, Greta’s Wholefoodies, and Hafod Welsh Organic Cheddar. It was a good night in particular for Primrose Organic Centre which won awards in several categories.

While the main award of the night, the True Taste Champion was awarded to Deiniol ap Dafydd of Blas ar Fwyd Cyf in Llanrwst.

Full list of winners is available here

As usual Brew Wales have sifted the results for the interesting ones:

Non-alcoholic drinks:

SILVER - Ty Bryn Cider

Ty Bryn apple juice -

Ty Bryn, Upper House Farm, Grosmont, Monmouthshire, NP7 8LA. Tony also makes cider which is why he gets a mention here!

Alcoholic drinks:

GOLD Evan-Evans Brewery
Cwrw Evan-Evans

SILVER - The Hurns Brewing Company Ltd

Tomos Watkin's cwrw gaeaf (Winter Ale)

BRONZE - SA Brain & Co Ltd

Brains dark

Eating out in Wales -

Restaurants, pubs & hotels:

GOLD - The Crown at Whitebrook - Overall &

South East Wales Regional Winner

BRONZE - Ynyshir Hall

Mid Wales Regional Winner

BRONZE - Tyddyn Llan

North Wales Regional Winner

BRONZE - Cwtch

West Wales Regional Winner

Local Sourcing Initiative:

GOLD - Riverside Community Markets Association

(Riverside Markets, Roath Real Food Market, Newport Farmers Market) Plenty of local brewers and cidermakers at these events

Export Achievement:

GOLD - The Anglesey Sea Salt Company

SILVER - The Hurns Brewing Company Ltd

Thursday, 19 November 2009

Python goes local!

Former Monty Python star Terry Jones was spotted supporting a Welsh brewery the other day at the Star Inn, Dylife where he enjoyed a few pints of Festival Landmark and Brewster's from the Waen Brewery at Caersws. “Best pint around”, said Terry who expressed his love of the local beer and spent the afternoon drinking it.

The Waen Brewery was only set up earlier this year and has already featured on a bar in Parliament.

Terry Jones is known to be a fan of real ale, he was a partner in the Penrhos Brewery, Lyonshall, Kington, Herefordshire (1977-83) and even opened the Great British Beer Festival one year. The first brew of the Penrhos Brewery was the aptly named Jones' First Brew. In 1983 the brewing equipment was sold to Summerskills Brewery of Plymouth.

Tuesday, 17 November 2009

Pomona Award winner

Mike Johnson (pictured left in his cider cellar), owner of the Ross-on-Wye Cider and Perry Company at Broome Farm, Peterstow, Herefordshire, is this year's winner of CAMRA's Pomona award after a series of glowing nominations from CAMRA members and people within the cider and perry industry. Johnson was singled out particularly for his work in nurturing new talent in the cider world.

One individual who nominated Mike Johnson for the Pomona Award 2009, said:

'Mike (Johnson) is a very good cider-maker but the reason why he deserves to win this award is nothing to do with his skill in this respect. In short, the cider and perry community owes Mike a huge debt of gratitude for his selfless dedication to helping encourage new producers to enter the market, even though they are in direct competition with him. This attitude, combined with his interests in ecology and benefitting the local community through holding an annual Cider Festival is reason enough to give Mike this award.'

The Pomona Award is named after the Roman Goddess of apples and is presented by CAMRA to the person, place or thing who has done the most to promote real cider or perry primarily over the previous twelve months and secondarily, where there is no outstanding contender in the last twelve months, for ongoing work.

Mike Johnson, Pomona Award 2009 winner, said:

'I am very surprised to win as I didn't even know I'd been nominated. It's really gratifying for me and the team of people that put a lot of work into being hospitable and encouraging more people to make cider. I started producing myself in 1984, and it's great there's been a renewed interest in real cider in recent years.'

CAMRA's Cider and Perry Committee also noted that while Johnson's extensive charity work- which has seen him donate significant sums to development charities around the world- was not a factor behind his success in the Pomona Awards 2009, his willingness to help others is nevertheless a key reason why he has contributed so much to the cider and perry industry.

Sarah Newson, Vice Chair of CAMRA's Cider and Perry Committee, said:

'It is with great pleasure that we have chosen Mike (Johnson) as the winner of the Pomona Award 2009. CAMRA's Cider and Perry Committee agreed there wasn't a more deserving winner to be found in the industry and we hope he can educate and influence cider and perry producing enthusiasts for years to come.'

The connection with Wales is that Broome farm is where Seidr Dai cider and perry is juiced before being transported back to Wales to be fermented.

Cheese and Beer join forces to create a powerful taste of Wales

Two of Wales' most popular brands have joined forces to give the nation’s pubgoers a taste sensation.

Welsh brewing and pub giant S.A Brain and Co Ltd is to feature Collier's Powerful Welsh Cheddar on its menus from November, in delicious dishes such as homemade fish pie with topped with Collier's Cheddar and potato crust; warming ploughman’s platter; and Welsh steak burger topped with Collier's.

Thirty two Brains pubs will feature the award-winning cheese on their menus, which was judged to be the Best Mature Cheddar in the UK at the International Cheese Awards earlier this year.

Diners and pubgoers will also have the chance to win a weekend stay at one of Brains' hotels or pubs with rooms, which includes the picture postcard pretty Grove in St David's, and the classic coastal pub the Ship in Tresaith. To be in with a chance of winning you’ll need to enter a recipe containing Collier's into a competition to be judged by TV chef and brand ambassador for Collier's, Matt Tebbutt.

There will also be two prize draws taking place at each participating pub for a free meal for two. More details of the competition are available at participating Brains pubs and at www.sabrain.com, although entry can only be made in the pub.

"Both Collier’s and Brains are quintessential Welsh brands and cheese and beer is a culinary match made in heaven," says Marketing Director for Fayrefield Foods, Chris Swire.

"Collier’s has a unique and distinctive flavour which elevates any dish that it is included in. Visitors to Brains' pubs are in for a real treat."

Philip Lay, Retail director at Brains said: "Long gone are the days when pub food was limited to little more than a packet of salt and vinegar crisps. Today our pubs are serving quality food, using only the best and freshest ingredients. We are therefore delighted to introduce Collier’s award winning cheese to our menus."

To enter the competition, visit one of the participating Brains pubs below to collect your entry card. Create your recipe using Collier's Powerful Welsh Cheddar, fill in the entry card and hand it in at one of the Brains pubs below:

Use the Find a Pub section from the SA Brain website to locate your nearest participating Brains pub.

Aubrey Arms, Bonvilston
Black Boy, Swansea
Black Lion, Lampeter
Boathouse, Bath
Churchills Hotel, Cardiff
Dovey Inn, Aberdovey
Duke of Wellington,
Fox & Hounds, St. Mellons
Fox & Hounds, Cardiff
Grafton, Hereford
Greenhouse, Cwmbran
Lord Nelson, Milford Haven
Monachty, Aberaeron
Old Inn, Swansea
Old Post, Bonvilston
Piercefield, Chepstow
Plas Derwen, Abergavenny
Pontygwindy Inn, Caerphilly
Pumphouse, Swansea
Punch House, Monmouth
Savoy Country Inn, St Clears
Tafarn Y Tanaerdy, Carmarthen
Thomas Arms, Llanelli
Twelve Knights, Port Talbot
Ty Mawr, Cardiff
Ty Nant, Cardiff
Ty Risha Ale House, Bridgend
Watermill, Bridgend
Wellington, Brecon
White Horse, Buckover
White Horse, Coychurch
White Lion, Bala

Sunday, 15 November 2009

In the cellar

After making 69 gallons of cider and perry today, where better to have a social glass or two of cider than in the cellar of the Ross on Wye Cider Company at Broome Farm. With a choice of various ciders served straight from the wood the cellar is popular with visitors and guests camping at the farm. Tonight was only a brief visit as our home-made scones with jam and cream were waiting for up upstairs in the farm. Home in time for the new series of Top Gear as well.

Building the cheese

To make the cider the apple pulp has to be pressed. Layers of cloth with apple pulp are built up to form the cheese. This is the Brown Snout apple picked earlier today with Seidr Dai and we are hoping for over 20 gallons from the one tree. The press is a Victorian twin screw press which was used for many years at Lyne Down Farm in Much Marcle, Herefordshire. Back to the pressing!

Brown Snout apples

A good crop of Brown Snout apples picked near Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire. Lots of pears picked today as well on the last pick of the season. Weather not too bad today as well, a bit of rain but at least the apples are not frozen to the trees as in previous years around this time. Off to press after lunch.

Saturday, 14 November 2009

Murenger - haven in a superpub ghetto

Newport is not a great place for good pubs, however Ye Olde Murenger House on High Street is the notable exception. Owned by Sam Smith's brewery of Yorkshire, the Murenger serves Old Brewery Bitter drawn from the wooden cask. The building dates back to the early 1500s. Have written about this pub on previous blog entries so not going into all the details here but if you are ever in Newport it is well worth visiting. The price of the OBB is a competitive £1.90 a pint and there is no music or TVs in the pub. Time for another. Live blogged from the Murenger using the Sony Ericsson K550i.

Monday, 9 November 2009

Shove Ha'penny

On the way home tonight popped into the Pen & Wig in Newport and witnessed a shove ha'penny match between a couple of pubs. Newport can still manage a Shove Ha'penny league and it is played in quite a few pubs and clubs in the area.

White Hart, Machen

Tonight Brew Wales visited one of the strangest pubs in Wales. Machen is a village between Newport and Caerphilly and the White Hart pub occasionaly brews its own beer, tonight Otley was on. This pub was refurbished in the early 1960s just as the liner, the Empress of France was being scrapped by Cashmores in Newport. Cashmores used to sell off the interiors of the ships they were scraping. This has resulted in the art deco interior we see today in the White Hart. Now here is where the fun starts, why don't CADW, who are responsible for protecting historic buildings in Wales list, ie protect this 1930s woodwork? One of the reasons why they say they will not is because the interior dates from the 1960s! Cant win. Best way to support the pub is drink there!

Friday, 6 November 2009

Booze/Death Calculator

Now I realise this is only a bit of fun and not to be taken seriously but having found out that it would take 25 bottles of Fullers ESB to kill me I'd better stop drinking at 20! From the Barstools site, a website that scares Fake Charities before they get out of bed in the morning!

CHOOSE YOUR DRINK

HOW MUCH DO YOU WEIGH?

GIRL OR GUY?

Created by Bar Stools

Online Cardiff Pub Guide

Whilst browsing the Internet today I came across this useful site, an online guide to Cardiff pubs. Having used the excellent pocket-sized maps made by the same person for years, I can recommend the useful information contained on both the the website and the maps.
The website contains photographs of the individual pubs both interior and exterior and a pub sign if they have one. A brief description of the pub is given, together with the opening times as well as a link to Multimap to help you find the pub. Not yet checked out the website via mobile Internet but will do so later.
An useful site if you regularly use pubs in Cardiff.

Butcher's Arms, Llandaff

On my recent post regarding Smoke Rooms I forgot to mention the Butcher's Arms in Llandaff, Cardiff, which not only has a Smoke Room etched window but also an old Hancock's Brewery monogram on another window. Anyway here is a full write-up on the pub.

Butcher's Arms, 16 High Street, Llandaff, Cardiff, CF5 2DZ
The Butcher's is an unusual three-story building with a sharp, angular roof and the name of the former brewery, Hancock's who once owned the brewery, emblazoned high on the front wall.

One of the windows also has a etched glass monogrammed logo of W and H, representing the William Hancock name. The other, smaller sash window has the letters 'Smoke Room' etched into it. The central doorway to the Butcher's leads into the Smoke Room and then through an archway into the main bar area. The bar is carved out of dark wood and there is an equally impressive bar back or gantry for serving spirits from.

Three real ales are served from gleaming brass handpumps, Bass, Hancock's HB and a guest which changes regularly and was recently Wye Valley HPA. The Smoke Room features settles and tables, which lead into the rear area of the pub with more seating and a roof light. At the very back of the Butcher's Arms is a very pleasant, partly covered beer garden, unusual for a Cardiff pub and a very well-kept secret.

The Smoke Room has attractively carved cornices and features numerous pumpclips from breweries whose beers have been served in this pub over the years. The walls of the pub are adorned with framed photos of rugby starts who have visited the Butcher's over the years, as well as with newspaper cuttings and even the more unusual 'Genealogy of the Earls of Llandaff', proudly hanging near the entrance. The tables are mainly of the old cast-iron tripod varieties, painted black, apart at their bases where the countless shoes of patrons have polished the metal over the years.

The Butcher's Arms does lunchtime food and there is a blackboard of often changing 'Specials' hanging up adjacent to the bar.

The Butcher's Arms has much of the atmosphere of a country pub, despite being in a suburb of Cardiff, albeit on a historic side-street, close to the Bishop's Palace and the Cathedral. Conversation dominates in the bar and other rooms of this pub, there is a television but it is only used for major sporting events and the piped music is kept at a low background level. There is a quiz night on Mondays. The pub is called the Butcher's Arms as the building was formerly a butcher's shop, together with a slaughterhouse at the rear. The building became a pub in 1880. Today the Butcher's offers good beer and good food in a comfortable atmosphere in one of the City's more pleasant areas.

Above: the interior of the Butcher's Arms, looking from the Smoke Room towards the bar

Thursday, 5 November 2009

New Chairman for Brains

From Brew Wales

Pictured Above: A nervous Keith Jenkins (bar manager) looks on as John Rhys is about to pour a pint of Brains at the Great Welsh Beer & Cider Festival

John Rhys, a direct descendent of Samuel Arthur Brain, has taken over the pumps at SA Brain, the largest cask ale producer in Wales. John has replaced Christopher Brain, who retires after 20 years in the role and more than 50 years with the company.

In recent years, the Chairmanship has been handed down through the generations and both men followed in their father’s footsteps. M.B. Brain (father of Christopher) was in the chair from 1955 to 1971 and Bill Rhys (John’s father) from 1971 to 1989.

John has been Non-Executive Director at Brains since 1998 and in that time he has been closely involved in shaping Brains’ brand development and marketing strategy. This has included the award-winning ‘positive thinking’ campaign and the marketing of Brains’ high profile sponsorship of the Welsh Rugby Union.

After a 20-year career in London marketing agencies, John co-founded branding consultancy Heavenly Group in 2002. Heavenly’s clients include various departments of the Welsh Assembly Government, including Visit Wales and International Business Wales, Glyndŵr University, Sony, Sky TV and Vodafone. John will continue to play a reduced role at Heavenly, alongside his responsibilities as Chairman of S.A. Brain.

John said: "it is a great honour to take over the Chairmanship from Christopher Brain and follow in the footsteps of my father and great great grandfather. I have been closely involved with Brains’ business for over 10 years now and I am very much looking forward to playing an increased role in the company’s exciting future as a family-owned, independent brewer and pub operator."

Brewdog top dog on Wikio

The Wikio rankings for last month are out and Brew Dog have had the pre-announcement tip off this time. It comes as no surprise that they are top this month in the Wine and Beer section, their "Equity for Punks" launched last month attracted lots of debate and rumour in the blogosphere with everyone clicking on their site and linking back to it. What does come as a surprise is that there are now only 4 wine blogs in the top 20. Now compare this with the amount of coverage in the dead tree press wine gets compared to beer. Do these figures prove that there is more of interest in beer than in wine? With the exception of the 'Trumpet of Truth' ie, the South Wales Echo which has a weekly beer column written by the Brew Wales editor (blowing my own trumpet there) and the Western Mail which has a beer column by Brian Glover, the rest of the media in Wales; South Wales Argus, Swansea Evening Post, Monmouth Beacon etc, all ignore beer writing in general. Any surprise the blogs have taken off so well?

1	Brew Dog Blog (+1)
2	Pete Brown's Blog (-1)
3	Pencil & Spoon (=)
4	The Pub Curmudgeon (+6)
5	Woolpack Dave's beer and stuff blog (+3)
6	Tandleman's Beer Blog (-2)
7	The Beer Nut (+2)
8	Spittoon (-3)
9	Brew Wales (-2)
10	Stonch's Beer Blog (-4)
11	Bibendum Wine (=)
12	Called to the bar (+4)
13	The Bitten Bullet (-1)
14	The Wine Conversation (+1)
15	Jamie goode's wine blog (-1)
16	Impy Malting (+3)
17	Reluctant Scooper (+7)
18	Real Ale Reviews (+11)
19	Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog (-6)
20	On pubs and beer - screeds by jesusjohn (+37)

Brew Wales

Friday, 20 November 2009

Thursday, 19 November 2009

Tuesday, 17 November 2009

Sunday, 15 November 2009

Saturday, 14 November 2009

Monday, 9 November 2009

Friday, 6 November 2009

Thursday, 5 November 2009

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