Brains Black

A new beer for March. Launched on St Davids Day, Wales' largest brewer of cask ale, SA Brain have decided to go for the Guinness market with their stout. Yes it is nitro-keg but that aside it is a flavour-packed beer and with less carbonation than Zero Degrees on Westgate Street. Brains have produced a full-flavoured stout with a wonderful dry astringency to it. Although brewer Bill Dobson would not tell me all the ingredients, chocolate malt did go into this brew. I fully admit to liking this beer, lets face it, the Irish stout has dumbed down its flavour so much over the years it is more of a drinking experience than a taste experience. Tasty keg beers,whatever next, tasty real ales from west of Swansea?

Welsh Beer Festival in London

The award-winning smallest bar in London, the Rake will be holding a Welsh Beer Festival next week, starting on Sunday 28th Febuary to 6th March.

Otley : O1, O-Garden, O-Rosie & Motley Brew

Purple Moose : Dark Side of the Moose, Snowdonia & Calon Lan

Breaconshire : Cribyn & Ramblers Ruin

Monty's : Mojo & Midnight

Warcop : Caspa Lager & Raiders

Tudor : Blorenge

Tomos Watkin : 1879(kegged fizzy for Cooking Lager)  Cwrw Ceridwen

Vale of Glamorgan : Grog Y Vog Wheats Occuring

Great Orme : Celtica

Ryhmney : Dark

Bryncelyn : Buddy Marvellous

Conwy : Telford Porter

Plassey : Offa's Dyke Ale

Swansea : Deep Slade Dark

There will also be a hot food offer provided by Andy Wright owner of Loaf Supplies and Tom Harding of Mootown will also be doing a cheese selection for your enjoyment.

Ciders from Gwynt Y Ddraig will also be available.

From Brew Wales

Meet the Brewer sessions with Buster from Breconshire Brewery will also be happening on the Sunday and he'll be going through the following beers :

Cribyn

Golden Valley

Ramblers Ruin

Winter Beacon

Night Beacon

Ysbrid y Draig

The tastings will be at 1pm and 3.30pm and you can get tickets at The Rake or by calling 020 7378 9461 there are only 15 tickets per tasting so get in there quick.
Info about the festival kindly nicked from Glynn at Rabid about Beer
The Rake
14 Winchester Walk,
Borough Market,
Borough,
London,
SE1 9AG

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The lost pubs of Abergavenny

From Brew Wales

Local historian and author Frank Olding will be holding a talk tonight at 1930 hrs in the King's Arms pub on the "Lost pubs of Abergavenny". Entrance is £5 on the door in aid of the 2010 Eisteddford in Ebbw Vale. Frank is the former curator of Abergavenny Musuem and published this excellent book on Abergavenny pubs a few years back.

The King's Arms is the brewery tap for the Tudor Brewery

Tomos Watkin Brewery

For those fans of the panoramic shots, this is the working heart of the Tomos Watkin Brewery in Swansea. Opened in 2000 by Rhodri Morgan AM, the company went into receiveship in 2002 and was bought by the local family-owned drinks company Hurns. Since then it has gone from strength to strength with their "Great Ales of Wales". Live blogged from the brewery, will post more pictures when back on the pc!

In the bar

In a bar, but not drinking, this is the tap room of the Tomos Watkin Brewery in Swansea. They produce a range of beers and lagers in cask, keg and bottles which are exported throughout the world. Latest addition to the range is the 1879 lager, on keg but selling well in their pubs across Wales. It will also be in the Rake in Borough Market for their Welsh Beer Festival next week.

Welsh Cider open days

From Brew Wales

Gwynt Y Ddraig, the Welsh Cider and Perry Company will again be holding two open days this year.

First weekend is 24th & 25th April

Second weekend is 7th & 8th August

More details on their Facebook page here

For those of you who cannot wait, Gwynt ciders will be at the really Welsh Food Festival in Cardiff next week. Friday 26th - Sunday 28th February at the former Virgin Megastore in the Capitol Shopping Centre, Cardiff

MPs to debate the future of the pub

From Great British Beer Festival 2009 Tuesday in Westminster Hall looks like a good debate will be happening as Swansea-born Nigel Evans MP will be holding a debate on the Future of the British Pub. The Ribble Valley MP and Vice-Chair of the All-Parliamentary Beer Club has secured one and a half hours of Parliamentary time for this subject that will hopefully be better attended than the debate in the Commons Chamber on the 26th March  last year that attarcted a total of 5 MPs.   Nigel Evans MP, said he expects the debate to cover ”all the major reasons” pubs are closing. “I know the number of closures has slowed a bit but it’s still far too many and the problems that existed for a while are still there. “There’s the aggressive pricing by supermarkets that’s nearly constant, the bureaucracy and extra tax, the smoking ban has clearly had an impact way and above what was said it would have, and there’s the changing society with people staying at home.” Evans, who sat on the Trade & Industry Select Committee that produced its critical report into pubcos in 2004, said: “I will mention the tie as well and make mention of Peter Luff’s committee report [last summer’s damning Business & Enterprise Committee report]. “The tie has impact on the viability of pubs if people can’t buy alcohol at competitive prices. Talk to any [tied licensee] they feel they are at a competitive disadvantage to freehouses.” The Ribble Valley MP said he will speak to tied tenants this week ahead of the debate, which is due to run from 10.30am until midday. A few problems facing the industry include: The continued funding of fake charities such as Alcohol Concern and their bastard offspring Alcohol Concern Cymru, the latter achieving a payout from the Welsh Assembly Government for 2009/10 of £250,000. They then use this money to promote their dodgy statistics on the dangers of drinking. Pete Brown has down some excellent work debunking their lies, unfortunately without Government funding. The beer tie, with respect to Pub Companies is unfair, both to the tenant and the publican. Minimum Pricing is supported by the Neo-Prohibitionists, a good enough reason to object to it.

Plough & Harrow, Monknash

 

Plough & Harrow, Monknash, CF71 7QQ

The Vale of Glamorgan has plenty of good pubs but the Plough and Harrow, Monknash is a truly outstanding one. The Plough is a short bus journey (No 145) from Llantwit Major or there is plenty of car parking available in the field opposite. There is a bus timetable to the side of the bar in case customers wish to extend their visits and catch later buses home.

Set in the hamlet of Monknash, there was never a monastery here, just a grange or outlying farm of Neath Abbey where the lay brothers farmed the land and there are still ruins in the fields behind the pub dating back to monastic times.

The approach to the pub is via a walled pathway and the entrance porch is popular with local swifts as well as local customers! Don't forget to duck on entering the doorway, where you have the choice of a bar to the right or a lounge on the left. The bar is as traditional as anyone would hope to find in an old pub, with wooden settles and a huge fireplace for those cold, distant days of winter. The interior of the bar hints at the fourteenth-century age of the Plough and Harrow with a now-blocked up arched doorway with a spiral staircase in one corner. Stone-flagged floors and wooden tables make up the bar area with what must be one of the smallest bar servery counters in Wales. Crammed onto the bar are 5 handpumps serving real ales such as Otley O1 and Wye Valley HPA, whilst on a rear stillage beers such as Bass and other guests are served straight from the cask.  The thick, stone-walls of the Plough keep the building cool in summer or customers can choose to sit out in the quiet beer garden and enjoy the weather.

Cider lovers are not forgotten either and the Plough was awarded Cider Pub of the Year 2009 (South Wales) by CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. The cider range features local makers such as Gwynt Y Ddraig with their Barnstormer or Two Trees Perry as well as makers from Somerset. Wine and whiskey lovers are also catered for with a wine of the month and and a good range of single malts and Penderyn Welsh Whiskey.

The food menus are chalked up on the old oak beams and blackboards in the pub and is served 12-2.30, 6-9 Monday-Friday, 12-5 Saturday and 12-6 Sunday. There is an extensive range of food on the menus with locally made faggots to Sea Bass appearing on the beams, along with separate children and desert menus. Wednesday night is steak night with £10 meals on offer and half price deserts.

The Plough and Harrow also holds an annual beer festival with live music in July. Always well-attended, the Plough and Harrow really is one of the top pubs in Wales and has been a regular in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide for years and has even made it into the Rough Pub Guide, recognised as one of the top 50 UK pubs.

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Journey Planner:

A new day, a new tax on our pubs

From Brew Wales

Just when we think that Colostomy Brown and his Darling Chancellor cannot tax the pub industry any further, news comes through of this via the British Beer and Pub Association:

Government plans to change the taxation of popular quiz and games machines like Cluedo, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Monopoly, will cost the industry £85 million, put many manufacturers out of business and turn more people towards gambling on fruit machines, the pub sector warned today.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are seeking to reclassify Skills with Prizes (SWP) machines as gambling machines, making them liable for gaming machine tax. HMRC also wants to make the tax retrospective for the last three years, which could cost the industry £85 million.

Retrospective! Our pubs are still closing at a rate of about 40 a week and the Government is doing bugger all to stop this - a retrospective tax will do nothing for an industry already in decline.

SWP machines have become increasingly popular in pubs in recent years. They are often based on well known game shows, such as Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Question of Sport, The Weakest Link, or board games such as Cluedo, Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit. They rely on the knowledge and ability of players to answer quiz questions and have become an important part of the entertainment offered to many customers, in a nation where the pub quiz is a national institution. There are currently estimated to be around 35,000 SWP machines being used in the UK.

The industry argues that SWP machines, which have been on the market for many years, have always been recognised as distinct and different from gambling machines such as fruit machines. In fact, it was a distinction explicitly recognised in the tax system. HMRC used to levy a separate SWP tax until its removal in August 2006. Gambling machines, where chance is the deciding factor on whether a player wins a cash payout, have always been covered by a tax called Amusement Machine Licence Duty (AMLD). Given SWP machines have existed for many years without being classified as gambling machines, the industry is questioning the legal and rational basis for such a change now.

The industry has highlighted five principle threats arising from HMRC’s attempt to reclassify quiz machines as gambling machines in order to make them liable for tax:

• It will cost the industry £85 million, or £2,500 per pub

• It will result in fewer people playing SWP machines for entertainment and more people playing fruit machines to gamble

• SWP machines are manufactured in Britain and the scale of the tax bill will put many out of business

• It will place hard-pressed pubs – closing at the rate of 39 a week – under further pressure

• Jobs will be lost in manufacturing and pubs

The industry estimates the tax revenues that will be lost to the Treasury due to falling business revenues, failing businesses and rising job losses will far outweigh any revenue gain from the tax change.

Brigid Simmonds, Chief Executive of the British Beer & Pub Association said, “The perverse result of this tax change will be to switch more people onto gambling as quiz machines are switched off across Britain. That cannot be a sensible or sustainable public policy outcome for Government.

“It must make more sense for Government to encourage those people who enjoy playing machines to have a bit of fun with their friends with games that are about skill and entertainment, rather than turn to gambling. At the moment there is an incentive for pubs and people to play these machines. This proposed tax change will remove that at a stroke.

“This sudden tax change will place a swingeing tax burden on the industry. The inevitable result of such a considerable cost increase will be business failure, job losses and contraction in this growing market.”

Another day another tax, this Government has ruined this country, roll on General Election Day and a chance to vote these idiots out of office.

 

Newmans Daliad Da

Popped into the Pen and Wig, Stow Hill, Newport for a lunchtime pint and found this beer from Newmans/Celt Experience on the bar. A tawny coloured session bitter with a dry finish, this tastes strongly of crystal malt, not unpleasant but hardly spectacular. A good session ale at only 4.2% ABV, the name translates as "Good Catch". Not bad for a lunchtime pint in the City Centre for only £2.20 and the food is quite good in here as well!

Gwdihw, Cardiff

Whilst in Cardiff, thought I'd visit Gwdihw, one of the better cafe/bars that have sprung up in the City. An unusual local outlet for the local Artisan Brewery Beers, the 'barenaked beers' are now on tap here, well the Helles Lager is, a golden hoppy brew at 5%. Also bottles from Artisan are available unless the local CAMRA members have emptied the fridge before you visit. Good food as well in this bar which also offers a range of Gwynt Y Ddraig ciders in bottles. And the name, Gwidihw, pronunced Goodywho, is Welsh for owl. One to watch in future.

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.

Halfway, Pontcanna, Cardiff

From Drop Box

Halfway, 247 Cathedral Road, Pontcanna, Cardiff, CF11 9PP


The Halfway is an attractive two-story building on the corner of Cathedral Road and William Street. In the summer the outside features a colourful display of hanging baskets and over the corner entrance door looms the unmistakable trademark of the rampant Brains dragon, along with a copper-framed lantern. The Halfway has an interesting heraldic pub sign as well. The pub was built in the nineteenth century, as was much of this area and has been serving pints of Brains beer for over 120 years. The original brickwork of the pub has been refaced in modern times, resulting in the off-white façade that is visible today. The pub used to have a sign outside showing a dog yelping after a case of Brains beer had been dropped on it's tail, with the caption “Brain's Honest Ale” above the unfortunate mutt. Say it out loud, it can still raise a laugh after almost 90 years. The pub name appears to drive from the fact that the Halfway is halfway between Llandaff and the City Centre or between the Cathedral and the Castle to be more accurate.

The interior of the Halfway features a wooden bar, gleaming brass handrails and is attractively decorated throughout, with a varnished wooden floor, mirrors and a choice of seating from traditional dark-wood chairs to modern leather settees. Despite the Victorian street-corner appearance to this pub there is a modern and well-designed look to the interior.

There is good choice of real ales available in the Halfway with Brains Bitter, Dark, SA, SA Gold and a regular changing guest beer all served from the gleaming brass handpumps. A recent guest beer was from Elgood's brewery in Cambridgshire.

The central island bar layout allows easy access to the various sections of the Halfway, with a skittle alley available for private hire to the side of the building.

Food is served all day until 9pm and there is an extensive chalkboard menu with a good range of deserts including a chocolate and raspberry clotted cream pudding.

To the rear of the Halfway is an enclosed courtyard, providing smokers with a pleasant place to indulge their pastime.

Plasma television screens showing sports programmes are in the bar, but the Halfway is large enough to allow customers to move to a different, quieter area if they so wish.

The Halfway is a deservedly popular Brains pub, a community local offering good beer and good food in a comfortable environment.

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Save the Vulcan - one year on

A year ago today,outside the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff Bay, the Save the Vulcan Campaign presented their petition with over 5000 signatures on it to save the pub to Assembly Members. Around 50 people turned up to brave the cold on the steps of the Senedd and a number of AMs came out to listen and talk to the protesters.

Above: Jenny Randerson AM addressing the protesters outside the Senedd last year whilst (below) Nick Bourne AM listens to the protesters.

Today, the National Assembly for Wales’ Petitions Committee released the report ‘Save the Vulcan: Protection of historic buildings’

Recommendations from the committee are:

1. We recommend that the Welsh Government considers the introduction of guidance, or legislation if necessary, to allow the protection of buildings that are of importance for social and cultural reasons.

2. We recommend that the Welsh Government consults with Welsh local authorities and the WLGA with a view to strengthening the powers available to local authorities to prevent the demolition of buildings that meet the criteria for local listing.

The report is a response to a petition of 5,000 signatures calling to save the historic Vulcan Hotel from demolition.
Save the Vulcan campaigner Rachel Thomas said, “We are pleased the Assembly’s Petitions Committee took time to examine our petition. However, this is by no means the end. This is just the beginning of the Vulcan campaign, and our aim is to see the Vulcan thrive for another 157 years.
“The fate of the Vulcan now lies in the hands of the developer Derek Rapport, and we strongly urge Mr Rapport to comment immediately on the future of this Victorian watering hole.
“According to the BBC, pubs in Wales are closing at the rate of five a week. The Vulcan should not be allowed to become a statistic.

“We strongly urge the Welsh Government to act on the report’s recommendations as soon as possible”.
Save the Vulcan campaigner Graham Craig is keen to see strengthened powers for Cardiff Council to prevent the demolition of buildings that meet local listing criteria. Graham said, “The Vulcan must be protected, and listing the building is the best way to do this. We understand why the Vulcan cannot be listed under Cadw’s current criteria, but the Welsh Government and the WLGA must now move swiftly to introduce legislation to protect buildings which are socially and/or culturally important”.

Local architect Jonathan Adams said he could see no reason why the Vulcan could not be incorporated into a future redevelopment of the site, and that it would pose an exciting architectural opportunity.

Save the Vulcan campaigner David Wilton added, “Don’t forget to visit the Vulcan during the 6 Nations. The atmosphere is unrivalled, and the beer’s pretty good too!”

The Vulcan is the only building to survive from the area formally known as Newtown.

Above: Window pane from the Vulcan

BBC Also cover this story here

As does the Save the Vulcan blog

As does Media Wales

Save the Vulcan Timeline:

2005: Brains given compulsory purchase order for the Vulcan so land could be used as a car park while St David’s 2 is built.

2007: The Echo reveals it was not sold to St David’s 2, but bought by businessman Derek Rapport for £500,000.
2008: Cadw rejects attempts to list property.
February 2009: Campaigners give 5,000-name petition to the Assembly Petitions Committee.
March 2009: Cadw urged to step in after campaigners offer new evidence of historical worth.
April 2009: Drinkers were told the pub would stay open for at least another three years after being given a reprieve.
February 2010: A Welsh Assembly Government report calls for a change in legislation to give more powers to local authorities to safeguard the future of “culturally significant” buildings like The Vulcan.

Wetherspoons to open in Chavertillery

The northern fringes of the Gwent tundra are to be further improved with the opening of yet another chav palace. JD Wetherspoons will be opening their new pub, the Pontlottyn in Chavertillery  Abertillery on Friday 12th Febuary, provided supplies of alcopops have survived the convoys to reach the Gwent valleys.  Conviently situated within walking distance of the Jobcentre Plus and Tattoo Parlour, the Pontlottyn is sure to shut down a few pubs in Abertillery, as the locals migrate to the open-plan zebu serving cheap chav palace instead of their usual smack-selling pubs.
Brew Wales sent their roving reporter to Abertillery this week to ask the locals what they thought about the new pub:
"It's fooking crucial like mon", said Brian 22, unemployed, "Cos we like now a proper town innit like the 'Port or Cradiff or even Ebbw Vale. I been to Ebbw Vale 'spoons and it real posh like cos they puts yer lager in a glass right, not like out of can like what they does in pubs around 'ere".
Brian's partner, Stacey, age 20 and a mother of 4 said, " I luvs the 'spoons, the pops are so cheap an I gets plastered on them and then gets preggers with my little babes. Me and my mates can bring our kiddies in the pub all day like and sit there and drink the 'pops and the little ones can run round the pub all day. it's going to be fookin great".
Semi-retired drug dealer and now illegal tobacco salesman Paul, 62, said, "It's another outlet for my chinese-made fags. The more customers in a pub the more chance I have of selling tobacco, pst want some Superkings?"

Pub manager Jane Merralls says she is looking forward to welcoming customers into The Pontlottyn.

“I am confident that it will be a good addition to Abertillery’s social scene,” she said.

Pontlottyn
Somerset Street
Abertillery
Gwent
NP13 1DJ