Best Breweries in Wales 2018

Once again this blog comes out of retirement for the annual look at the best and worst that breweries in Wales have to offer. For those of you interested, Brew Wales moved to a Facebook platform some years ago, the blog is now only used occasionally for items that need it such as the Now & Then series or lists like this.

According to the geosocial networking service Untappd, the best breweries in Wales are:

1. Crafty Devil Brewing Co   Unchanged since last year
2. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co   Unchanged since last year
3. Wild Horse Brewing Company   New Entry!
4. Hopcraft Brewing     Up from #4
5. Grey Trees Brewery   Up from #6
6. Lines Brew Co.   New Entry!
7. Tenby Brewing Company   Down from #3
8. Gwynt y Ddraig   Unchanged since last year
9. West By Three Brewing Co. New Entry!
10. Heavy Industry Brewing    Down from #9
11. Mad Dog Brewing Co  Down from #7
12. Otley    Down from #11
13. Purple Moose Brewery (Bragdy Mws Piws)   Down from #13
14. Glamorgan Brewing Co  Down from #14
15. Gower Brewery  Up from #16
16. Untapped Brewing Company   Down from #15
17. Mantle  Down from #14
18. Harbwr Brewery  New Entry!
19. Hallets Down from #12
20. Cwrw Llŷn   New Entry!
21. Cwrw Ial Community Brewing Company   Down from #18
22. Big Hand Brewing Co   Down from #19
23. Hafod Brewing Company  Down from #20
24. Mumbles Brewery  Down from #17
25. Bragdy Twt Lol  Down from #24
26. VOG Brewery     Down from #21
27. Kingstone Brewery   New Entry!
28. Great Orme Brewery     Down from #23
29. Tudor Brewery   Down from #28
30. Conwy Brewery      Unchanged since last year
31. Celt Brewing        Down from #27
32. Tomos Watkin and Sons Ltd.    Down from #26
33. Bluestone Brewing Co.    #Down from #22
34. Brains Craft Brewery    Down from #29
35. Boss Brewing Company    Down from #29
36. Brains      Down from #32
37. Facer's           Down from #36
38. Rhymney Brewery    Down from #33
39. Evan Evans      Down from #34
40. Monty's Brewery    #Down from 35
41. Brecon Brewing    #Down from #37
42. Felinfoel Brewery Co Ltd    Down from #38
43. Sandstone     New Entry!

According to Untappd "A brewery must have at least 1000 ratings and at least 5 different beers in their portfolio to qualify for this list. Their ratings explainer is here.

Once again, Evans Evans Brewery are near the bottom of the list, not that they care as they have a few other things to worry about at the moment.

The best beers in Wales according to Untappd are:

1. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co  Imperial Puft
2. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Chocolate Stay Puft
3. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Clwb Tropicana
4. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Stay Puft
5. Celt Brewing Ogham Ash - the votes for this appear to be for beers brewed before the brand was ruined by Evan Evans Brewery
6. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Captain Insano
7. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Bonsai
8. Crafty Devil Brewing Co Tax Man
9. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Hadouken
10. Crafty Devil Brewing Co Not So Safe As Milk
11. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co In & Around The Mouth
12. The Waen Brewery Snowball
13. Crafty Devil Brewing Co You Love Us
14. Purple Moose Brewery (Bragdy Mws Piws) Chocolate Moose
15. Crafty Devil Brewing Co Safe As Milk
16. Crafty Devil Brewing Co The Devil We Know
17. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Sugar Rush
18. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Peaches And Cream IPA
19. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Bass Drop
20. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Sonic Boom
21. Crafty Devil Brewing Co Fairy Tale Of Cardiff
22. Celt Brewing Seven Flowers (Shapeshifter Series) the votes for this appear to be for beers brewed before the brand was ruined by Evan Evans Brewery
23. Hopcraft Brewing Waen Snowball
24. Hopcraft Brewing Citraic
25. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Beer Money Inc.
26. Mad Dog Brewing Co Petronius DIPA
27. Crafty Devil Brewing Co I Am the Resurrection
28. Wild Horse Brewing Company New England IPA Citra Mosaic
29. Mad Dog Brewing Co Granola Stout
30. Celt Brewing Ogham Willow the votes for this appear to be for beers brewed before the brand was ruined by Evan Evans Brewery
31. Crafty Devil Brewing Co Rock N' Roll Star
32. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Dutty
33. The Waen Brewery Mousse Warning
34. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Dirty Perle
35. The Vader Shuffle Tiny Rebel Brewing Co
36. Lines Brew Co. Double IPA Blend DIPA
37. The Waen Brewery Pamplemousse (late 2016 see Hopcraft Pamplemousse)
38. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Cali American Pale Ale
39. Hopcraft Brewing Mate Spawn And Die
40. Wild Horse Brewing Company Breakfast Cookies Milk Stout
41. Hopcraft Brewing Citra Plus
42. Heavy Industry Brewing Nos Smoked Porter
43. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co XLPA
44. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Lupulin Fiasco
45. The Waen Brewery Chilli Plum Porter (2016 late brewed at Hopcraft)
46. Hopcraft Brewing Sharks Against Surfers
47. Tiny Rebel Brewing Co Stupid Sexy Flanders
48. Crafty Devil Brewing Co Mikey Rayer All Dayer

Over at Ratebeer the top 50 list is different again, dominated by Lines and Tiny Rebel

1. Lines Line ACD - Farmhouse IPA Sour/Wild Ale
2. Lines Line CD - Double Barrel Farm Blend (Burgundy / Pinot Barrels) 
3.  Tiny Rebel Imperial Puft Imperial Porter                  
4. Lines Line A - New Zealand New England Session IPA      5             
5. Lines Line AD - Double IPA Blend (Nelson, Citra, Chinook & Amarillo) Imperial IPA            
6. Tiny Rebel / Arbor Bonsai India Pale Ale (IPA)    
7. Lines Line A - Pale Oats on Delta Resin Session IPA                          
8. Lines Line A - Dry hopped IPA India Pale Ale (IPA)                            
9. Tiny Rebel Sugar Rush Imperial Stout     
10. Lines Line CA - Nelson Saison Saison       
11. Tiny Rebel Clwb Tropicana India Pale Ale (IPA)   
12. Tiny Rebel Captain Insano Imperial IPA 
13. Tiny Rebel Loki Lite Session IPA 24          
14. Tiny Rebel Hadouken India Pale Ale (IPA)                            
15. Tiny Rebel / Dark Star Rebel Alliance Saison                        
16. Lines Line FA - Primary Brett Imperial stout Imperial Stout                           
17. Crafty Devil You Love Us India Pale Ale (IPA)                      
18. Tiny Rebel Dirty Stop Out Stout 308                        
19. Tiny Rebel Tiny Batch In and Around the Mouth India Pale Ale (IPA)        
20. Hopcraft Sharks Against Surfers American Pale Ale                          
21. Tiny Rebel Cereal Killer Session IPA                         
22. Tiny Rebel The Vader Shuffle Porter                      
23. Tiny Rebel / Weird Beard Dirty Perle Stout                          
24. Otley Oxymoron Black IPA                          
25. Tiny Rebel Stay Puft Porter                         
26. Hopcraft A Good Rogering Black IPA                       
27. Otley mOtley Brew Imperial IPA                                         
28. Tiny Rebel Cali American Pale Ale            
29. Lines / Fyne Ales Green Lines Saison Saison                        
30. Hopcraft Devilfish Ink Black IPA 20          
31. Tiny Rebel Bass Drop Imperial Stout       
32. Hopcraft Citraic American Pale Ale                          
33. Hopcraft Graveyard Eyes (5.3%) Porter                 
34. Tiny Rebel / Dugges Pina Colada Pale Ale American Pale Ale                        
35. Tiny Rebel Urban IPA India Pale Ale (IPA)                             
36. Tiny Rebel Cwtch Amber Ale                      
37. Tiny Rebel Loki Black IPA                              
38. Tiny Rebel The Full Nelson American Pale Ale                    
39. Tiny Rebel Frambuzi Sour/Wild Ale                         
40. Hopcraft Citra Plus American Pale Ale                    
41. Tiny Rebel Beer Money Inc. India Pale Ale (IPA)                
42. Tiny Rebel Beat Box American Pale Ale 
43. Waen Snowball Sweet Stout                      
44. Tiny Rebel Sonic Boom India Pale Ale (IPA)                          
45. Tiny Rebel Gin & Juice Spice/Herb/Vegetable                    
46. Hopcraft Spanish Main Stout     
47. Hopcraft Mate Spawn and Die American Pale Ale                             
48. Heavy Industry 77 Amber Ale    
49. Crafty Devil / BrewDog Cardiff No Ifs, No Buts, Just Coconuts Stout         
50. Tiny Rebel Billabong American Pale Ale

Again no Welsh beers make the Beer Advocate UK & Ireland list

Once again, CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, decided not to publish their Champion Beers of Wales 2017, either on their national website or on their festival website or even issue a press release of the winning beers but the winners for their 2017 competition are below:

1. Grey Trees Brewery Afghan Pale Ale
2. Boss Black
3. Untapped Ember