Cider at Chapter this Saturday

View Larger MapChapter Arts Centre in Cardiff wiil be hosting a Festive Food Fayre this Saturday:

Sat 10 Dec
11am – 6pm
Featuring local, organic, and ethically produced food and a selection of family-friendly workshops, our Festive Food Fair is the perfect opportunity to stock up on hamper-fillers, find some inspiration for Christmas treats and get hands on with some food sustainability issues.
Contributors include Mark's Bread; The Parsnipship; Cardiff Herb Co; Tortoise Bakery; Riverford Organic Veg; Hipo Hyfryd; I Want To Bake Free; Hungry Planet; Gwynt Y Ddraig Cider; Gwatkin Cider; Farmhouse Pantry; Llanfaes Dairy Ice Cream; Welsh Brew Tea; The Nut Hut and finally but by no means least, Chapter’s Christmas treats.
Activities include: a hedgerow hamper basket making workshop, gingerbread men decorating workshop, pottery workshop, fruit and veg sculpture, mosaic workshop, a low carbon Christmas cook off, rocket-jet stove workshop, smoothie pedal cafe and much more. We'll also be hosting the next Siop y Bobl - The People's Supermarket Cardiff big meeting - a chance to meet the team and get invloved in this exciting new project.
And the icing on the Christmas cake will be jazz singer Brigida Melly who will be performing some carols under our Christmas tree.

Gwatkin Cider seasonal Champear will be available, along with Santa Cider alongside the usual range of award-winning ciders and perries.

Sant-A-Cider

 Denis Gwatkin has launched a seasonal cider this Christmas.

Gwatkin Sant-A-Cider, 7.5% ABV £3.50 568ml bottle, available at Caerphilly Medieval Fayre (11th-12th December) and at Cardiff Christmas Market (from 11th December). Also available in a gift pack with mulling spices and a Gwatkin cider glass.

Award-winning cidermaker Denis Gwatkin, originally from Pontypool but who now farms in Herefordshire at Abbey Dore, has produced this special seasonal drink. Yarlington Mill apples, picked in the Autumn of last year were pressed into juice and this was fermented and aged in oak rum barrels for 12 months.

Santa-A-Cider is a deep orange colour with an intense oaky spirit aroma from the rum cask the cider was fermented in. A medium-dry taste is balanced by some astringency in the aftertaste together with the rum flavour and a warming sensation. Sant-A-Cider is suitable for drinking on its own, or being mulled with cinnamon and spices, as there is a recipe for mulled cider on the bottle label. 

Gwatkin goes medieval in Caerphilly

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:

Old Rats Tale

There is the old story about farmhouse cider being made with rats. Well Denis Gwatkin takes the story one step further with his Old Rats Tale cider. If customers ask if it is made from rats, the reply usually is "Only organic ones!" In truth this is an orange-red cider, made with Kingstone black apples and a whisky cask aroma. A very dry cider with plenty of tannins creating the aftertaste. If you like dry, then this is the cider for you. If you dont then try one of the sweeter ciders. Live blogged from Caerphilly Big Cheese Festival.

Gwatkin Cider goes online

One of Brew Wales favourite cidermakers, Denis Gwatkin has gone online. Denis makes his multi-award winning cider and perry in Abbey Dore, Herefordshire but was born in Pontypool so there is a Welsh connection there. The ciders and perries they produce are usually available at CAMRA beer festivals, as well as from the farm shop.
There are also a number of shows across the country where you will find Gwatkin Ciders and Perries (and the Brew Wales editor occasionally propping up their bar!)

Dates for June. Welsh shows in red
14, 15, 16 Yorkshire Agricultural
20, 21, 22, 23 Royal Welsh Show Builth Wells
24, 25, 26 CLA Game Fayre Nottingham
25, 26 Caerphilly Cheese Fayre, the Big Cheese
28, 29, 30 New Forest County Show Hampshire
August
1 Gloucester Docks Food Fayre
1 Llantony Village Show
2 Hereford County Fair Ross-on-Wye
7, 8, 9 Gatcombe Park Gloucestershire
7 Bacton
6 Burwarton Show Shropshire
14, 15 Shrewsbury Flower Show
18, 19, 20 Pembroke County Show
22, 23 Builth Wells Game Fayre
27 Monmouth Show
30, 31 Salop Steam Fayre Shrewsbury
30, 31 Caerphilly Balloon Festival
September
3, 4, 5, 6 Burley Horse Trials Lincolnshire
5 Morton-in-Marsh Cotswolds
11, 12, 13 Ludlow Food and Drink
17 Thame & Oxford County Show
19, 20 Midland Game Fayre Weston Park, Staffs
19, 20 Abergavenny Food & Drink
25, 26, 27 British Cheese Festival Cardiff Castle
26, 27 Malvern Autumn Show Malvern
October
3 Brecon Food & Drink Brecon
4 Forest Food Festival
3, 4 Melton Mowbray
17, 18 Newark Game Fayre
17, 18 Cider Museum
17 Devon County Show
24, 25 Cowbridge Food & Drink
24, 25 Hereford Food Festival


For those wishing to visit the farm shop for some fantastic local produce there is a map here:

View Untitled in a larger map

Gwatkin Cider website here

Gwatkin Cider Facebook site here

Breakfast!

Sunday morning at the Cardiff International Food Festival and the rain yesterday did not put off the thousands of customers who descended on the Bay yesterday. The sun is shining today and the stalls have been restocked ready for the crowds today. The Festival is open until 7 tonight and features ciders, beers, wines, cheeses and quality produce from across the world. The lamb sausages from Llandeilo based butcher Dewi Roberts are gorgeous and Brew Wales will be going for some of his burgers today. Thats if the cheese, beer and other great foods dont get in the way.

Cardiff Bay International Food and Drink Festival

Well a good start to the first day, with Gwatkin cider well placed next to the Handmade Scotch Egg Company. Gwynt also here along with Ralph and beers from Penlon Cottage Brewery. Oh and Wern Du. Hog roasts and loads of food and varied music on.

Oz & James Drink to Britain

New series following Oz Clark and James May, both have been Champion Beer of Britain judges in the past, as they go around the UK in a roller with a caravan in tow. Eight half an hour episodes where they try and find a beer better than Thornbridge Jaipur IPA - they won't, they found it and drank it on the first show!

Quite an amusing show and well worth watching - I might even buy the book.
The one episode I am looking forward is the visit to Denis Gwatkins' Cider Farm in Abbeydore. Now this involved a cricket match with a team from the Clytha Arms. Anyone who has been to the farm would describe it as a bit rustic to say the least and as a working farm, it's probably the only cricket pitch in the UK where the cows have to be cleared off before the match can start! added to that the wonderful cider and perry that Denis produces, it's sure to be a good episode.