Sip Santa's Beard this Christmas

Press release from Brain's Brewery regarding their latest bottled beer.

Santa’s Beard, a Christmas ale brewed by Brains Brewery, will be exclusively available in Tesco supermarkets nationwide over the festive period.

Santa’s Beard will be available in over 250 Tesco supermarkets nationwide in a 500ml amber bottle.

Santa’s Beard is a milk stout brewed with five different malts – pale ale, Munich, crystal, brown and chocolate malts – roasted barley and lactose sugar to create a dark beer with flavours of caramel, burnt toffee and roast coffee.

The recipe was perfected in the Brains Craft Brewery, before being up-scaled to the main Brewery for bottling.

Paul Harvey, Head of Sales, says “We’re delighted to be part of Tesco’s Christmas range with Santa’s Beard, a milk stout. Two years ago we introduced Brains Original Stout into Tesco’s stout range and we hope Santa’s Beard will be just as popular.”

“Christmas is a key period for the Premium Bottled Ale sector, and we think Santa’s Beard is the perfect beer to enjoy over the festive period or to give as a gift.”

Tesco currently stock the Brains range of bottles and cans including Organ Morgan and Jack Black from their Dylan Thomas range and Barry Island IPA and Boilermaker from the Brains Craft Brewery.

Santa's Beard joins three other Christmas ales from Brains - Fir King Good, Secret Santa and I Sea Santa. Fir King Good is the December seasonal available nationwide, Secret Santa will be a small scale beer brewed in the Craft Brewery with treacle and molasses and I Sea Santa has been brewed for Nicholson's by Brains in collaboration with beer writer Melissa Cole and the Nicholson's Cask Masters. I Sea Santa will be available exclusively in Nicholson’s pubs.

TASTING NOTES

Santa’s Beard blends five malts – Pale Ale, Munich, Crystal, Brown and Chocolate malts – with roasted barley to create a dark beer with a rich depth of malty wonderment. With flavours of caramel, burnt toffee and roast coffee balanced by a sweetness from lactose sugars, this is a luxuriously sumptuous sweet milk stout, perfect for Christmas. A great accompaniment to aged cheese or rich, chocolate puddings.

Some tasting notes below of mine which appeared in the South Wales Echo on Friday 29.11.13. Yes my column has moved to a Friday!

Brain's Brewery Santa's Beard, 4.5% ABV, £1.99/500ml bottle available at Tesco.

Since the introduction of their Craft Brewery last year, Brain's have brewed a wider range of beers than they have in the previous 131 years in the history of their brewery. Santa's Beard is based on another beard-themed brew that came out on the smaller scale Craft Brewery earlier this year, it has now been tweaked and upscaled to the main brewing plant and is exclusively available in Tesco for the Christmas Season.

Santa's Beard is black in colour and pours with a rich-foamy brown head. Aromas of sweet coffee and caramel dominate. Roast flavours come through in the initial taste, closely followed by sweet, dark chocolate flavours. The chocolate flavours continue into the aftertaste, together with the roast coffee sweetness. Brewed from a blend of five malts, Pale Ale, Munich, Crystal, Brown and Chocolate, an added ingredient is lactose which is a non-fermentable sweetener, this was used to brew 'Milk Stouts' many years ago.

6 Nations beers from Wales

It's that time of year again when men with oddly-shaped balls chuck them around the field to the cheers of shouting fans. I don't mean the Superbowl either where heavily-padded Americans stop every few seconds and Madonna comes on at half time. Yes it's the 6 Nations and the brewers of Wales have been coming up with some beers to go with the rugby as everyone knows rugby and beer go together well.

First up is Hop Head Jay at Neath Ales with his 6% 6 Hop Nations IPA. Now his Green Bullet is one of my favourite beers but for this one-off Jay has sourced hops from 6 Nations for this beer, unfortunately he could not get the hops from the Nations participating in the cup as Scotland and Italy are not favoured climates for growing the 'pernicious weed', however he does have this to say about his beer:
  " I decided on some subtle hops which lead to a really complex flavour rather than one which smash you in the nose: the ones which are evident in the taste are lots and lots of Northdown, lots of Hallertauer, and a seasoning of Pacific Gem".

"Vale of Glamorgan Brewery return with their Fe Fi Fo Fum, a 4.3%, a copper-coloured Best Bitter with ' subtle malt flavour and hop varieties giving the aroma and taste reminiscent of the hedgerow'. Not too sure what that actually means? Does it smell of badger piss and taste of bird droppings?

The soon-to-be-moving Waen Brewery of Powys have also produced a Best Bitter, this time called 'Scrum and Get it'. I did try try some last week but I found it unbalanced in flavour tasting like not very good home-brew but some others have had positive things to say about it so each to their own!

Finally Brains bring back 'Bread of Heaven' a 4% ABV beer.
Named to embody the spirit and passion of the Welsh Nation, Bread of Heaven is handcrafted to celebrate Brains’ sponsorship of the Welsh National Rugby Team and is the official ale of the 2005 and 2008 Grand Slam.
Its rugby ball-shaped logo features the WRU Official Ale logo and the words ‘Bread of Heaven’ and ‘feed me till I want no more’ from the famous Welsh hymn, ‘Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer’.

A traditional cask ale with a distinctive reddish hue and a rich hop aroma, finely balanced by a more-ish fruit finish.

Brains Black now in cans

From SA Brain Press Release:
Brains’ decision to enter the competitive stout market has paid off. Just five months after launching Brains Black in pubs and the brewer has canned the beer for sale in Tesco stores throughout Wales.

The ‘classic Welsh stout’ was developed to provide stout drinkers with an alternative to the market leader. And it seems to be hitting the mark. Early sales figures show that it is proving to be a popular alternative among beer drinkers who have been tempted by the taste, price and provenance.

Richard Davies, Sales and Marketing Director at Brains said: “We always believed that Brains Black would sell, but you never really know how a product will be received by customers until you take it to market. Thankfully it has done better than any of us could have expected, which has given us the confidence to launch it to Tesco.

“It was never our intention to compete with more established brands, simply to offer Welsh consumers a credible Welsh alternative. Brains Black has proven that people are willing make the switch providing the alternative is a good one.

“It’s not only sales that have been encouraging. Independent research carried out just a month after launch reported that ‘Brains Black’ was familiar to 43% of Welsh beer drinkers*, which is an impressive result for a brand so young.”

Brains Black is available exclusively in Tesco stores throughout Wales. Its arrival in store means that the supermarket now stocks 14 Brains bottles and cans, including the ever popular SA, the newly launched IPA bottle and a mixed four pack.

Richard Davies added: “Three years ago we had just 3 brands available in Tesco, today we’re into double figures. It bodes well for the future and we believe that this area of the business will continue grow.”

Okay there ends the corporate PR stuff from Brains, now I did taste some of the draught Brains Black earlier this year and was impressed by its flavour - its not often you find a nitrokeg stout these with plenty of roast and chocolate flavour, who knows I may even have a can or two of this beer.

Brains Iechyd Da

Welsh for cheers, this is the seasonal offering from SA Brain. A sweet, malty red-brown bitter. Not half as good as the Revs Cracker, a previous christmas ale. Why are so many breweries producing bland beers?

St David's Day Beers

Popped into the Pen & Wig in Newport and had the choice of 2 St David Day beers from either Wye Valley Brewery or Brains, both very good but the one in Welsh, Cwrw Dewi Sant, brewed in England was the best. Well done Wye Valley!

Great British Beer Festival

Earls Court, London will again host CAMRA's Great British Beer Festival this year, running between Tuesday 5th August and Saturday 9th August.

65,000 people attended the ‘Showcase for British Beer' last summer and we expect the same numbers to come along this year to participate in the festival fun!

Over 500 tasty tipples from the smallest microbreweries and large regional brewers have been handpicked for visitors to try. These will include wheat beers, ciders, golden ales, stouts, porters, bitters, milds, bottle-conditioned beers, perries and traditional foreign beers from around the world.

A large representation of real ales, ciders and perries from Wales will also be at the festival and for the first time ever, Brains, the National Brewer of Wales will be having a stand at the Great British Beer Festival. For years their beers have been available at this event, now the brewery has confirmed it's position as the National Brewer of Wales with a larger presence at the Festival. It's a long way from one of the first CAMRA festivals at Covent Garden in the 1970s, when rumour had it, after selling out of real ale a call was made to Brains for an emergency delivery and for the first time ever they sent a dray into England!

The festival is not only about the ale! Visitors will also be able to enjoy food, live music, entertainment, games, tombolas, and quizzes in the comfort of a family friendly atmosphere. Why not catch up and socialise with friends, unwind after work, or just soak up the festival atmosphere!

Other Festival Highlights

Family Room - all those under the age of 18 must remain in the Family Room throughout the festival and must be supervised by a family member.
Tutored Beer Tastings - why not learn to appreciate the different tastes and flavours be attending one of our tutored beer tastings - But be warned - places sell out fast!
Corporate Hospitality - For work colleagues or clients, we are able to offer a variety of packages to suit most tastes and budgets.
Hat Day - Thursday 6th August. This will be the 4th year that we will be celebrating Hat Day! As usual we will be asking people to wear their silly hats on Thursday. So whether you have got one in the cupboard, or even better make one for the day, make sure you remember those hats! The best hats will win some superb prizes.
Opening Times

Tuesday 5 August 5pm - 10.30pm
Wednesday 6 August 12 noon - 10.30pm
Thursday 7 August 12 noon - 10.30pm
Friday 8 August 12 noon - 10.30pm
Saturday 9 August 11am - 7pm

Ticket Prices

Discounted tickets can be bought in advance from seetickets.com/gbbf / 0871 230 5594

For more information

CAMRA Press Office - 01727 798443 www.gbbf.org

GREAT WELSH BEER & CIDER FESTIVAL - WE'RE OPEN!

Keith Jenkins Regional Director of CAMRA and John Rhys, a Director of Brains celebrate the opening of the Great Welsh Beer & Cider Festival by pouring a SA Gold. It's okay Keith, John knows how to pour a pint!