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A thread devoted to Real Ales in Wales

William - any pubs in Mumbles doing decent ale? I'm supposed to be going there in September for a reunion:facepalm: last time I was there - decent ale was a rarity
 
It's my birthday today and each year my lovely inlaws get me a parcel of unusual beers from Wales (since they live there).
This year I've just opened the box and it's 3 bottles of 4 different beers from http://www.jacobibrewery.co.uk/
So far I've only tried the Beekeepers Delight and it was so nice I just want to doze off...Red Squirrel, Light Golden and Dark Roasted yet to come.
Urban First World Problem: I've nowhere at the right temperature to keep them in summer. Fridge too cold, house, shed too warm. Any ideas? Today's I put in bucket of cold water 2 hours before - but that needs planning...
 
Happy birthday man. Mine's tomorrow (Sat)!

Anything available in bottles from Otleys will go down well I find. If you can source bottled beers from Gower and Neath Breweries they too will taste lovely.

Not quite Welsh but ace : Wye Valley Butty Bach and/or HPA and/or their Dorothy Goodbody range, all available in bottles I think, are fabulous, albeit from Hereford!

Loads of others but in rush ...
 
.... because our Swansea Bay Beer Festival is on now!!!!!!

Opened at 5 pm yesterday (Thursday 23rd)

And continues today and tomorrow (Friday 24th/Saturday 25th, noon to 11 pm both days).

Second biggest beer festival in Wales!! :cool:

Today, busiest day, will offer the widest range of them, we have around 100 beers and 40ish ciders, but some beers weren't ready yesterday so there will be later ones brought on today and tomorrow to keep things varied.

Yesterday we had more visitors by 6 pm than we had at the same stage last year. Shelter from the rain down the Brangwyn!

Best beer choice in Swansea bar none, this is by far the best time to drink proper beer here than the usual fairly limited pub based options .... which are definitely there and available, but do take a bit of seeking out in this rather lager themed city :hmm:
 
I don't think we're going to make it through to 11 pm today! A large number of beers now sold out :eek:

Last night the Brangwyn reached capacity -- we had to operate a 1 in 1 out policy for about an hour.

We do have six or seven (?) beers that were due to go on stream today (not ready before) and we've ordered emergency supplies from Gower and Neath Breweries to arrive this morning. These last will be served 'bright' -- we have little choice on that one!

In other words we're victims of our own success. But there's enough beer left for a good time, provided people arrive nearer noon today than nearer 11 pm :eek:

Status Quo are playing in Singleton Park tonight, some of those rock fans en route to the (shite lager only) 'festival' site will probably help clean us out as the Brangwyn is almost directly on their way ...
 
Oh yes and we'll be dropping entrance prices today! :)

The 2013 Swansea Bay Beer Festival is happening in SIX MONTH'S TIME, not next August -- that's due to a big Brangwyn Hall refurbishment due to start in July 2013.

NEW DATES for 2013 -- Thursday April 4th to Sunday April 6th 2013, ie the weekend following Easter Monday in 2013.

I think we might order even more beer (see above!) :D
 
marty21 said:
William - any pubs in Mumbles doing decent ale? I'm supposed to be going there in September for a reunion:facepalm: last time I was there - decent ale was a rarity
Click to expand...

Best by far is The Park, Park Street - hiden away up a back street hill.. Most of the others are indifferent to shite for beer to be honest.

Try instead (or as well) to persuade them to go to The Joiners in Bishopston, bus ride away and truly excellent for beer, it's where the Swansea Bay Brewing Company (very micro) beers are made and sold, with other guests constantly rotating. Food pretty good too, better than anywhere in Mumbles IMO.
 
I have read this thread with interest and it's great that there is so much interest and passion for ale in Wales. However, as a resident of Cardiff for nearly 25 years, I have to sayt that it's one of the worst places for beer in the UK. In fact, although there are pockets of excellence throughout Wales, I don't think the country does beer or for that matter, pubs all that well. That's not to say that there aren't some great little boozers but there should be a hell of alot more. Why this is I don't know. Brains and it's stranglehold on Cardiff and alot of Welsh drinkingholes has alot to answer for. Finally they are starting to make 'craft' beers but for far too long Brains have been stuck around 20 years behind virtually any other brewer. They do play the Welsh card very well though so people think that if you criticise Brains, you are criticising Wales. I travel the UK alot and I find more and better pubs in small market towns than I do in Wales' capital city. It's embarrassing to be honest. And don't even start to mention places like Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Cambridge, Norwich, Bristol etc that knock cardiff into touch when it comes to great pubs. A test for me is when one of your friends is coming to stay and they ask to go to a couple of really great pubs. Great pubs. Not pubs that are quite good in Cardiff terms - but great pubs. I for one am scratching my head. I tend to drink in Chapter sadly as it's the nearest place to me when I can get a beer that's not bloody Brains. Would be interested in other peoples thoughts. To sum it up Brains pubs have all the charisma and charm of a Toby Grill - without the grill.
 
you may have a point!
we do need more of a range and it is weird that there isn't more in the city of Cardiff
Chapter is good but blydi pricey!
croeso
 
Chapter is indeed bloody expensive. But it's really the only the place to go for guest ales unless you want to join the wino's in Wetherspoons on Cowbridge Road. It says alot about Cardiff that probably the best place for beer if you can put up with the rest of it is Wetherspoons.
 
triedandtested said:
Chapter is indeed bloody expensive. But it's really the only the place to go for guest ales unless you want to join the wino's in Wetherspoons on Cowbridge Road. It says alot about Cardiff that probably the best place for beer if you can put up with the rest of it is Wetherspoons.
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don't know how much truth there is in it, but I was once told by a colleague who had worked in the brewery industry, that Wetherspoons do real ale as a kind of credibility thing - there isn't a huge amount of money in it for them, they just look at it as making them seem like 'real' pubs.
 
Chapter is only expensive if you buy the continental beers. Their handpump beers are £3.20 a pint for guest ales which is well above Wetherspoons prices but maybe about or just above average for anywhere else and the house regular - Ringwood bitter is £2.60. My favourite local The Butchers in Llandaff is not a Brains pub and has 4 handpump beers - Hancocks HB, Doombar, Wye Valley IPA and Bass the most expensive being the last at £3.20 a pint. Oddly enough The City arms in the middle of town is a Brains pub but doesn't sell any Brains beer and in fact has, or at least did the last time I went in there a nice selection of handpump beers and ciders.
 
Actually that's true with regard to the guest ales althought I still think that's expensive for a place that is supposed to be a 'community venue'. I do like Weisse beer too and you're paying roughly 4.50 for a bottle there. Extortionate. Went to The City arms the other day for the first time in years. They do indeed have guest ales - tried Golden Duck and an Oakham beer (the name escapes me). BTW for those not familiar with Oakham.....oh my....it's bloody fantastic. Another beacon of light in an otherwise dark area is The Windsor in Penarth. But the mere fact that we struggle to think of perhaps more than five hardly any of which are in Cardiff itself, says alot.
 
triedandtested said:
Actually that's true with regard to the guest ales althought I still think that's expensive for a place that is supposed to be a 'community venue'. I do like Weisse beer too and you're paying roughly 4.50 for a bottle there. Extortionate. Went to The City arms the other day for the first time in years. They do indeed have guest ales - tried Golden Duck and an Oakham beer (the name escapes me). BTW for those not familiar with Oakham.....oh my....it's bloody fantastic. Another beacon of light in an otherwise dark area is The Windsor in Penarth. But the mere fact that we struggle to think of perhaps more than five hardly any of which are in Cardiff itself, says alot.
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What does it say tho exactly? That Cardiff peeps don't like beer? Is it really worth having loads of different beers in a pub, just for a couple of pints to be sold every day? Personally, I don't know anyone who drinks beer and surely it's supply and demand? Would more people drink beer if there were more available? I wouldn't, but then I am a woman and I do think it tends to be men who drink beer, tho I know that is a generalisation.
 
Well people do drink beer in Cardiff - Brains beer. It's just that there's very little choice apart from that. Brains has a virtually monopoly on pubs as there are very few free houses in Cardiff. Where there is other beer to choose from say Chapter or Pen and Wig or City Arms, these pubs do very well. If I was Brains though i would sell my own beer rather than buy other beer in and sell it as the profit margins are much, much higher.
So, no I don't think it's simply a case of supply and demand. And also, good beer and good food, if it's not forthcoming from pubs and restaurants can be bought from supermarkets or made at home. There is a market out there, it's just untapped. Loads of other cities and towns are blessed with good places to eat and drink, and i dont think it's a case of Cardiff people having no taste, just no choice.
 
Brains was available in Swansea when I lived there in the 80s, The Adam and Eve - I'm going to see if that pub is still there - don't remember seeing it when I was down there a few years ago :( There was also a Brains pub in Bath! but it's closed down now.
 
Adam and Eve closed at least for now! Brains are trying to find a new landlord/manager ....

As Brains in Swansea go, The Vivian Arms in Sketty is far better.
 
Heard good reports of this one .....

otley arms, treforest (bang next to the station) :
oct-o-bar fest 2011
tue 25th - sat 29th october 2011

More details when I can find them! But a postcard I picked up months ago mentioned, bands, lots of different beers (not just Otley) and so forth.

We're very likely to be heading there on the Thursday evening (27th) as we have the day off afterwards, to head to the B'ham beer fest!! :D
 
This too will be happening, and sooner! (late September). Sadly we can only make the Thursday evening, before it properly kicks off :

http://www.carmarthencamra.co.uk/carmarthen-beer-festival

‘West is Best’ - Carmarthen Beer Festival Thurs 27thto Sat 29th September 2012.
St Peters Civic Hall, Nott Square, Carmarthen (Thurs 5pm to 11pm,
Fri & Sat 12 noon to 11pm) 5 minutes walk from Carmarthen train station.


40+ real ales approx, country wines, cider and perry.

Thu preview eve with limited ales and no live music.

Fri & Sat evenings live music. £4 entry fee entitles you to a commemorative glass and programme. CAMRA members free. Basic food available or bring your own. Beer Tokens on sale within. Contact Richard Evans on 01267 236433 or Barry Clarey on 01267 234885
 
William, indeed the Otley Arms is great. It's just a normal local pub with good prices... but with a great beer selection! Usually they have a few Otleys on pump (three I think) and a couple of guests on pump as well (two or three), plus more Otleys and others in bottle (O8 was, I think, £3.20 a pint!). I've done a few schoolday evenings with mates there...

But, if you really want to relish in beer heaven drop by the Bunch of Grapes (also an Otley), which is not as accessible as the Arms (bummer), but they do have good ales in casks and kegs. They always seem to have lots of American breweries (always one pump of some type of Sierra Nevada like Bigfoot) when I've been.

Today I've been to the new Rhymney Brewery pub in Albany Road. Quite disappointed. Four Rhymney's on pump, but no guests on sight, plus the ales were all on the safe-ish side (bitter, bevan, export...). Place looked like either a betting shop or a community centre. Still haven't lost hope for a couple of guest ales and some replacement for fluorescent lights to appear!
 
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