Clearly it shows people are drinking less, a fact borne out by falling alcohol sales in the industry.
Since 2007, the Office of National Statistics has assumed larger glasses are being used and stronger alcohol is being consumed. They now assume that a glass of wine contains 2 units, rather than 1, as it did before. With beer, what used be counted as 1 unit is now counted as 1.5, what used to be 1.5 units is now assumed to be 2 units and what used to be 2.3 units (a large can) is now counted as 3 units.
The current Champion Beer of Wales winner has a new beer out in North Wales this Christmas. Purple Moose Brewery of Porthmadoc have launched X-Mŵs Llawen/Merry X-Moose - a rich 5%, winter warmer with a full flavour and body, subtle bitterness and a rich ruby colour. Available across North Wales this festive season.
It's always a good laugh to read the Early Day Motions put down by Members of Parliament. Some EDMs give the members an opportunity to get a mention in the local paper for congratulating the local football team winning their 5th division match or stopping asteroids or tsunamis from hitting their constituencies. All joking aside, the last two were actual EDMs. However Brew Wales came across this beauty from Edward Tattysyrup impersonator Alan Meale MP.
| M EDM 389 | |
| DUTY ON CIDER | 08.12.2009 |
A view of Mansfield, constituency of Edward Tattysyrup MP
Theis weekend will see the historic Caerphilly Castle hosting a medieval fayre.Christmas fun and activities will fill the town centre where food lovers can savour the farmers market and continental market. Street entertainers, music, cookery demonstrations, children’s workshops and funfair rides provide a mixture of entertainment for the young and old.
The Caerphilly Medieval Market has a variety of festive entertainment with many of the activities being free of charge. Standard admission charges apply on entrance to the castle, one of the Great Medieval castles of Western Europe, although much of the entertainment around the town is free. There is also a selection of shops to browse in around the town centre.
Amongst the stallholders there will be Gwatkin Cider, Wernddu Vineyard and Ralphs Cider.
Caerphilly is easily reached from Cardiff via bus or train - journey planner below:
Hall of Shame part 5
An occaisional series devoted to the worst in the world of brewing.
Whitbread Traditional Draught Bitter
Came across this advert from 1980 the other day. At the time Whitbread had just closed down the Ely and Rhymney Breweries and the keg only factory at Magor (sad to say it's the Editor's nearest beer factory) had opened. Something that got me thinking was the advert stating that this beer could be enjoyed in over 200 Welsh pubs. Not a claim that many breweries could make today, with the exception of Brain's. Also looking at the 1980 Good Beer Guide there are so few Whitbread pubs in there, the majority of pubs in the South Wales section of the GBG were either Brain's or Welsh Brewers (Hancock's). Even the rare free houses sold Brain's or occasionally Crown SBB (Otley Arms of course).
At the time Whitbread Traditional Draught Bitter was brewed at the Cheltenham Brewery and the beer had an original gravity of 1038. The Good Beer Guide described the beer as “Full-bodied and hoppy”, not a description many of us would recognise as being a Whitbread beer. Perhaps because the GBG descriptions were a bit vague in those days, for instance Tim Taylor's Landlord is merely described as “a distinctive and full-bodied bitter” back in 1980.
The beer did not have a long life – it was withdrawn as a real ale within a few years.
Nowadays Whitbread has all but gone, they are merely a restaurant-owning company. The Cheltenham Brewery has gone the way of Rhymney and Ely but unfortunately the Magor factory is still there, producing traditional Welsh beers such as Stella Artois and other such dishwater.
The current Champion Beer of Wales brewers, Purple Moose of Porthmadog have been awarded the title of Gwynedd Product Ambassador at the inaugural Gwynedd Taste & Talent Awards.As part of a local initiative to promote the people behind the food, drink, arts and crafts throughout the County of Gwynedd, the Taste & Talent Awards 2009 recognise and reward the best of Gwynedd's success within the food, drink, art and crafts sectors.
Purple Moose Brewery was awarded Gwynedd Product Ambassador on the grounds of its commitment to relating products to the local area, bilingual labelling and of course the outstanding quality of the beer.
Names such as Cwrw Eryri (Snowdonia Ale), Cwrw Madog (Madog's Ale) and Cwrw Glaslyn (Glaslyn Ale), as well as our range of special brews named after local mountains, have all helped to keep some of the outstanding features of the County of Gwynedd in people's minds as they drink our beer across the UK.
Brewery owner Lawrence Washington was immensely proud to receive the award as it recognises everything he has striven to achieve with the business.
"My aim was not only to produce a high quality product but to create something which the local community can all be proud of ", said Lawrence.
"Not being from North Wales originally I am particularly aware of how sensitively you have to approach issues such as beer names, pump clips, bottle labels and other marketing material. From the outset I have ensured that Welsh comes first and that, on the whole, the names of our beers reflect the area in which they are created.
It is an honour to receive this kind of recognition from the local community. It also marks a great finish to a fantastic year for the brewery; a year in which sales have soared, we have been crowned Champion Beer of Wales and picked up our first International award."
Earlier this year Purple Moose Brewery won the Champion Beer of Wales Award with their Snowdonia Ale and Dark Side of the Moose went on to win a Gold medal at the International Beer Challenge 2009.
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| From Brew Wales |
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| From Brew Wales |
Following up from the occasional series on pub closures in the Newport, over the weekend the Brew Wales editorial team decided to take a similar look at Cardiff pubs. Needed a list of pubs to begin with, so the 1996 Complete Guide to Cardiff's Pubs was the starting point. This excellent booklet, written by Dave Matthews (Seidr Dai) is still useful today and was a follow-up to an edition published the previous year. Also used was the Cardiff Pubs foldaway booklet published in 2005 plus some local knowledge and of course the South Wales Echo.
Pubs closed since 1996
Almost the same number of pubs closed in Cardiff from 1996 as in Newport since 1997 comes as a bit of surprise, though Cardiff has a greater population and larger area. This is shown by more pubs being refurbished and changing their names since 1996, ie, more money being spent on the pubs.
Pubs renamed since 1996
Pubs Opened Since 1996
Admittedly some of those new openings are cafe bars and there are a that may be missed off the above list. Also the new hotel bars have not been included – very few of them are of interest to the average pub goer.
This weekend Cardiff will play host to the 5th, yes 5th5th & 6th December 2009
Artisan Brewing Co. in conjunction with Kings Road Art Studios is pleased to announce the fifth MicroBEER Festival
Starting 12pm - 8.30pm
Saturday & Sun
Xmas Market Stalls, Open Studios, Live Music, BBQ chili beef burgers (Veg option also) and several specialty beers on tap. Outdoor event so dress for warmth - we will have some heating...
Join us... entry is free
Barenaked Beers...
** Helles Lager 5%
** Chocolate Wheat 4.9%
** Belgian Raspberry 4.6%
Food available:
Chilli Beef Burgers £3 / Stuffed Mushroom Burger £3 / Sausages £1
Live Music (Starts 1pm)
-- Jonathan Powel
-- Klezma Kollective
-- Matthew Joseph
-- Thoby Davis
-- Ginge and Cello Boi
-- Sarah Louise
-- Evening Chorus
-- OK
-- Little Eris
-- Dirty Skanky Buskers
It's not just Newport where the pubs are closing - this photo is of the Woodfield in Blackwood, formerly the Mason's Arms and the birthplace (or so he claimed in a television interview) of former MP Neil Hamilton. The pub was run by his grandfather.
Part of an occasional series in which the latest pub closures/openings in and around Newport are mentioned. 
This edition of the Culture Show is presented by Lauren Laverne, and looks at the past, present and future of the British pub. With an estimated 50 pubs a week now closing across the UK, 2009 could be the worst ever year in the history of British pubs. What's behind the decline? What's being lost as pubs go to the wall? Writers, thinkers and philosophical drinkers join Lauren to discuss whether it's now last orders for pubs.
For the Culture Show, Sting goes the Cumberland Arms, one of the oldest pubs in Newcastle and the heart of the city's folk scene. Sting performs from his new album If on a Winter's Night, accompanied by Kathryn Tickell on Northumbrian pipes, Peter Tickell on the fiddle and Julian Sutton on the melodeon.
Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy has written and performs a special poem - John Barleycorn - for this pub-themed Culture Show. It's both a lament for and a celebration of the pub, once a cornerstone of British cultural life.
There's also a rare TV interview with John Cale. He talks about his life in music and the recent performance of his most celebrated album Paris 1919, at the newly reopened Cardiff Coal Exchange, his only UK date in 2009.
With the crucial Climate Change Summit starting in Copenhagen in December, Simon Mayo, Mark Kermode and a room full of film fans debate the pros and cons of films which deal with the end of the world including Deep Impact, Beneath the Planet of the Apes and both versions of The Day the Earth Stood Still.
All that plus Martha Wainwright, who joins Lauren in the bar to sing a song from her new album - a tribute to Edith Piaf called Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, a Paris.
Not a mention of the Vulcan in the BBC write-up.
