Arfur's Pie at the Goat

Some beer bloggers do brews at breweries, me I get to invent my own pie!
Yes Arfur's Pie has finally made it on the menu at the Goat Major pub in Cardiff and today I had the chance to try it in the pub. After months of research, the Breakfast Pie has made an appearance! Breakfast Pie you may ask, what's that? Well it's farmhouse sausages, black pudding and bacon all cooked in a rich tomato sauce. The first attempt with the traditional pie crust did not work so we added a twist - an omelette on the top. All washed down with a bottle of Weiss Weiss Baby from the Brain's Craft Brewery. A new twist on the pie with a new craft beer to wash it down!

Goat stocks crafty Brains

The award-winning Cardiff City-centre pub, the Goat Major, has extended its beer range as it now stocks a range of bottled beers from Brains Craft Brewery. The bottles compliment the cask and craft keg beers already on the bar and are a perfect to go with one of the pies this pub specialises  in.
Pictured above is Chris Rowlands, manager, pie-master general and beard wrangler of the Goat Major with a couple of bottles of some of the craft beers from the range.

Beard lover brews craft beer

Cardiff pub landlord turns brewer


A Cardiff pub manager has swapped pulling pints for brewing pints after spending a day in Brains’ craft brewery.

Chris Rowlands, award-winning manager, beardwrangler and piemaster general of the Goat Major – one of Cardiff’s best loved real ale pubs – turned brewer after Brains invited him to brew his own beer in their craft brewery.
Chris, a lifelong real ale fan, along with a team from the pub, chose to brew a milk stout, he said:

“The day was fantastic! I've always considered myself a bit of a beer nerd but when I went down there I realised just how little I really knew of the process of making beer I'd so often taken for granted.
We named the beer ‘Beardface’, my wife's nickname for me, loosely based off the fact that I look like a lumberjack stuffed into a waistcoat. “

A milk stout is basically a standard stout brew with sugar from milk or cream added, the science behind this being that brewers' yeast cannot ferment lactose sugars so the natural sweetness and richness remains and provides a nourishing, potent counterbalance to the bitterness of a roasted malt. Brains used 5 different malts and a roasted barley to give the beer a layered depth of flavour and a truly nourishingly rich and resplendent pint of stout.

Blending Pale Ale, Munich, Crystal, Brown and Chocolate Malts with Roasted Barley, Beardface is a dark beer with a rich depth. Flavours of caramel, burnt toffee and roast coffee are balanced by the sweetness from lactose sugars, creating a sweet milk stout.
Bill Dobson, head brewer at Brains, added:
“Last year the Goat Major was named ‘Brains Cask Ale Pub of the Year’ at our annual awards ceremony, so we were keen to get Chris and the team in to brew with us. They’re knowledgeable and passionate about beer, and they pass on that passion to their customers.”
The beer will be sold in 30 Brains pubs and launched at the Goat Major pub on Wednesday 20th March at 1700hrs.

IPA and curry pie

Thursday lunchtime saw myself and some Brains staff meet up with beer writer Martyn Cornell who had brewed his Colonel Williams IPA on their new Craft Brewery. The beer is named after a Colonel Williams who commanded the Welch Regiment in the 1830s, Martyn has the whole story on his blog here. What better pub to launch the new beer in than the historic Goat Major? Named after the Regimental Mascot.
This was Martyn's first chance to try his beer and the chef was asked to come up with something that matched an Indian Pale Ale, well the team at the Goat came up trumps with a curried lamb pie. Finely diced marinated pieces of lamb in a rich gravy with shallots and spinach. matched well with the 6% hoppy IPA. The curry was not too hot, although my suggesting of serving it with the traditional South Wales accompaniment of 'half 'n' half' drew a blank look from Martyn, who was not aware of the popularity of rice and chips in Welsh curry shops!
As for the beer, after the pie we tried it both with and without a sparkler, it made quite a difference without, the aftertaste lasted longer, was not sure which version I preferred so had another one to make sure just in case! A very enjoyable afternoon in one of Cardiff's best pubs that also does excellent food.

The pub does not smell of fish either!

Pie and Chips

Whenever anyone asks me for a food recommendation for Cardiff, I always suggest the Goat Major by the castle. Its innovative menu of pies is always worth trying, as well as a set menu there is also the chalkboard specials and today I managed to have the last Lamb & Mint pie, don't expect these pies to be pulled straight from a freezer, the 'specials' are just that, individual creations from the chef that may or may not return to the menu. Steak and Blue Cheese was the other option, or for Veggies there was a Roast Vegetable Pie on the board.
The verdict on the Lamb & Mint pie? Excellent, once the the flaky pastry top had been broken, the pie was found to be packed with tender pieces of lamb in a rich, thick very minty gravy. Excellent, as were the chips with it. Oh and the beer I chose with it was Dark Horse Maypole, a golden ale which matched perfectly with the lamb.
Pie and chips, the perfect pub food.
The Goat Major is a previous winner of 'Pie of the Year'.

Use your Brains for British Pie Week!

Its British Pie Week again this week and what better goes with pies than a pint of beer or two. It's long been established that Brains Dark is the perfect accompaniment to a Clark's Pie but there's more to Cardiff pies than the Clarkies!

Pies in Brains pubs include:
1. Goat Major, Cardiff

The award winning Wye Valley pie (former chef Adam Pavey won ‘Pub Pie Champion in 2010), is a firm favourite at the city centre pub. The pie features buttered chicken in a rich creamy sauce, new potatoes, leeks and asparagus and is topped with Tintern Abbey cheese and a puff pastry lid. Available as part of a daily changing menu, if it’s not on you could always try one of the 15 others, including rabbit pot pie, lamb and mint, and mutton and rosemary pie.
A great little boozer in the heart of Cardiff, always serving excellent food and the pub does not smell of fish, unlike some other establishments on Cathedral Road. This is my favourite pub that serves food in Cardiff - only pies on the menu with weekly specials on the chalkboards - a recent pie featured 'black pudding mash'. An innovative and excellent menu.

2. Yard, Cardiff
One of the best sellers, the homemade beef, stilton & Brains Black pie is available on the £5 lunchtime menu. Part of the daily changing menu, so best to call before to check that it’s on.
Another pub that does not smell of fish.

3. The Duke of Wellington, Cardiff
Swap the cheese and order a pork pie instead with your ploughman’s. Served with salad, pickles, apple, Reverend James chutney and sour dough bread. N.B. The Ploughman’s is available on the lunchtime menu, or the pork pie is served on its own as part of the evening nibbles menu.
Always a popular pub, even for coffee in the morning, made even bettter as the pub does not smell of fish.

4. Wenvoe Arms
Try a ‘Proper Pie’ at the recently refurbished pub. Made with handmade short crust pastry, you can choose from steak and kidney, steak and ale, or chicken and ham.
Visited this pub for the first time a few weeks agao and there was not even the hint of smelly fish in the air.

5. Lamb and Flag, Abergavenny
The homemade luxury pie is filled with chicken, leeks, mushroom & smoked bacon, and topped with puff pastry.
Another pub that is free from the overpowering miasma of smelly fish.

6. The Bell, Glangrwyney
The venison shepherd’s pie is served with mashed potato and seasonal roasted roots.
Visited here for the first tme in years just last year, a great pub with fantastic real ales and a stunning menu. Did not smell of fish either.

7. Piercefield, Chepstow
Swap savoury for sweet with a bramley apple pie with apple & blackberry ice cream at the recently refurbished pub.
Situated on the road to Monmouth, the Piecefield is another pub in which the senses are not overpowered by the smell of fish.

Cardiff Publican grows beard for charity!

Award-winning Cardiff publican Chris Rowlands of the Goat Major is growing a beard for charity and will be dying it blonde in March as he dresses as a Viking for a month. All for a Motor Neurone disease charity and to support the beard liberation front, sponsorship forms will be available behind the bar from next week during the week-long beer festival run by the pub.The beard has been growing since July so we all look forward to a long and happy growth for Chris!
According to Chris, "What started as a drunken lark has now resulted in a long term project that I'm committed to, who knows I may dye it grey for Christmas!"
If enough money is raised next year, the beard may come off, though Keith Flett of the Beard Liberation Front may have something to say about that idea!

Was playing with the headline "No Goatee for Chris" but thought it would be too obscure for my readership!

Goat does beer festival

 

Cardiff's best ale & pie house, the Goat Major will be holding a week long beer festival from the first of October. All the beers will be served via handpump from the cellar, with the exception of Brains SA which is served from temperature-controlled gravity stillage. 

Beer list, all subject to availability etc:

Bramley Bitter

Splendid Tackle

White Boar

Highgate IPA

Humdinger

Lone Wolf

Betty Stoggs

Doom Bar 

Naylor's Autumn

Pirate's Gold

Bountiful

Old Hooky

Smiler

Stout Mary

& Black Rat Cider

Gwynt Y Ddraig Orchard gold is available in bottles. 

Have previously covered the award-winning Goat Major here, a pub that does great food without any pretensions and does not smell of fish as certain Cathedral Road 'Gastro' pubs do. 

FirKing Good

Wales largest brewery, SA brain have surpassed them this Christmas with this offering which should lead the Christmas pun jokes on Pumpclip Parade.
Available in the Goat Major, Cardiff and all other good FirKing pubs.

Future of pubs in Wales - video

There seems to be a few problems with embedding this video - link to the page is here - hopefully is should be visible below:




From Wales Online, the Future of pubs in Wales, needed a pint or two of Brains IPA after that.

Goat Major, High Street, Cardiff

Situated close to the entrance gate of Cardiff Castle, the Goat Major is a three-story building decorated with black timber beams and white plaster in the style known as Brewers' Tudor. In the summer hanging baskets bloom above the pub name and help make this part of the High Street look attractive.

The pub was originally known as the Bluebell and dates from 1813, it was renamed the Goat Major in 1995. The name is taken from the corporal in charge of the mascot of the Royal Welsh Regiment, formed by the amalgamation of the Royal Welch Fusiliers and the Royal Regiment of Wales in 2006. The tradition of having a goat as a regimental mascot occurred during the Crimea War.

The central doorway leads to an entrance hall and a long, curving bar room leads off here. The bar is impressive with dark wood and gleaming brass foot and hand rails contrasting nicely. This is matched by an equally impressive tilled floor with red, black and cream vitreous tiles shining in the light. The Goat Major is wood-panelled throughout, with dark-green leather seating arranged along the sides of the pub. Photos of the Regimental mascot adorn the walls.

Being a Brains pub, the beer range is Dark, SA, Bitter and SA Gold as well as a guest beer such as Timothy Taylor Landlord or Fullers. The previous guest beers have their pumpclips displayed behind the bar and include Brewdog, Brewster's, Springhead and Cameron's, to name a few. It comes as no surprise that the Goat Major is in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and has also achieved the Cask Marque award. Bottled cider from Gwynt Y Ddraig is also available. The pub is shortly to have fitted a stillage behind the bar so customers can have a pint served straight from the barrel if they wish.

The pub has an innovative and changing menu, with homemade food available 12-6 Monday-Saturday and 12-4 on Sunday. Last year the Goat Major pub won an award during British Pie Week for one of its pies. Other items on the menu include rustic cobs with Welsh cheese, wild game pie and homemade lamb cawl.

The Goat Major is well worth rediscovering, a centuries-old city centre pub that offers a good choice of real ales and good pub food, in a traditional atmosphere. 

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Goat Major Beer Festival

Good to see a Brains pub do a beer festival and this week the Goat Major, High Street, near Cardiff Castle is having brews on from Brewsters, Springhead, Roosters, Brewdog, Cameron's, Cropton and of course Brains Breweries. Not all the beers are on at once as they are being served on handpump, so when one goes another comes on and the festival is on until this Saturday. Well worth popping in if you're in Cardiff. Special events on through the week as well with Wednesday night being Pie and a Pint night for £5.95 and Thursday being Sausage & Mash Night. Looks a good week in the Goat Major. The Cropton Dangleberry being a favourite beer at the moment, though at 5% a bit heavy for lunchtime.

Goat Major Cardiff

Brew Wales is out rediscovering the pub again. Today was a visit to the Goat Major in Cardiff for a superb pint of Brains SA Gold. Served in a branded glass, this is a truely fantastic beer @ 4.7%, a golden hoppy beer which is not just different from the usual range of Brains beers but is an added complement to the Bitter, Dark and SA. The pub itself has a tiled floor and plenty of brass fixtures and fittings giving the impression that the last time it was refurbished was the 1930s. The food also features Welsh produce and bottled Welsh cider is on sale. Oh and the name Goat Major - the pub was originaly called the Goat until 1813 then the Bluebell until 1995 before attaining its present moniker, which refers to the mascot of the Royal 41st Regiment of Wales. During the Crimea War the regiment adopted a local goat after a skirmish at a farmstead and the tradition has carried on since into the 3rd Battalion The Royal Welsh. Altogether an historic pub that is well worth popping into if you are near Cardiff castle or shopping nearby.