Old Arcade has rugby makeover

One of Cardiff's most famous pubs has been given a makeover by owners Brains. The Old Arcade in the city centre, which dates from 1844, is now even more rugby themed with jerseys, photographs and other memorabilia adorning the walls. Have previously written about the pub here.
 As Brains Brewery says
Celebrating Wales’ national sport, walls will be adorned with match day programmes, exclusive signed and framed shirts, memorable newspaper front covers, and a feature WRU timeline.

Wayne Jones from Brains said: "There are few pubs in Cardiff with more sporting heritage than the Old Arcade. It has long been a favourite with sports fans but these changes mean it will become a true shrine to rugby. It’s the perfect place for rugby diehards and aficionados to gather, get their fix and be inspired by great rugby deeds of the past and present."

There’ll be a new menu, with an emphasis on hearty Welsh food, which includes a signature Celtic Pride ‘black and blue burger’ – created with 100 cap legend and lion, Martyn Williams. And when the pub opens you’ll find two limited-edition beers on the bar, brewed in collaboration with former Wales internationals Bob Norster and Rob Jones.

Powerhouse and Swift Half will go head-to-head and customers will get to decide which beer wins by voting in the pub or on Twitter, using the hashtag #BobsBeer and #RobsBeer.

Had a chance to visit the pub on the re-opening night and had to say my favourite beer was Swift Half, the American and New World hops made it for me.

Also ran into Simon Martin at the pub so we did a couple of interviews there with the rugby legends.

Brewdog Cardiff Celt Takeover

Popped into Brewdog in the 'Diff on one of my rare visits to Cardiff nowadays and discovered the Celt Experience Brewery had a bar takeover the night before. Eight Celt beers on, another eight beers from the Brewdog Collabfest and ten beers from Brewdog. oh and the myriad of bottles in the fridge.
Getting back to the Celt beers, Tom at the brewery has been experimenting with wild yeasts, planting traps for them around Wales and brewing beers from the captured organisms. Sounds mad? Yes but thinking outside of the box often works.
Three Saisons were on at the takeover including a dark IPA/Saison crossover The Black Book.
Hallstatt Deity another Saison but my favourite of the night was Home of the Fruit Cakes, a 6% sour but fruity ale.
The Campaign for Real Ale, CAMRA, may not agree with the method of dispense in Brewdog pubs but you cannot argue with the quality of the beer served. Surely quality of a product is more important than the way it is dispensed?
There are plenty of poor real ales out there, surely it's time to support good breweries and their beers regardless of their chosen method of dispense?