New beergeek.TV Episode – Ales of Wales (0)

This post was written by Chris
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Posted 25 June, 2009 in Travel in Europe, Wales

Merideth pulling a pint at Kilverts in Hay-on-Wye

“Ales of Wales” is the latest episode of One Pint at a Time.

We didn’t know what to expect from our journey to Wales. It was only a friend’s off-handed comment that brought us across the Irish Sea in the first place. With a little research, we learned several things about Wales; they have a strange language, there is a really tall mountain and, most importantly, there is a burgeoning craft beer movement brewing real ale.

So enjoy our Welsh adventures…

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For all the episodes of One Pint at a Time go to beergeekTV.

Holy and Good (0)

This post was written by Chris
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Posted 12 April, 2009 in Ireland, Travel in Europe, Wales

On a blustery and rainy Holy Thursday, we boarded the Stena Europe for our journey back to Ireland. We were sad to leave Wales, a country we thoroughly enjoyed, but were excited about the last leg of our trip.

We situated ourselves in the bar area for the three and a half hour journey to Rosslare. The bar area was filled with rugby players ready for some serious partying. Not wanting to feel like an outsider, I decided to have a beer too. Passing on the Stella, Carlsberg, etc., I decided to drink a couple of our Welsh beers. Procuring a half pint glass from the bar, I pulled out a bottle of Evan Evans Cwrw from bag.

Then the seasickness set in. It was quite a rough ride and between the feelings of queasiness, all I could think was how can a 25 ton ship could rock and roll this much. Halfway through the journey, I did get sick, though I give myself credit for being able to actually make it to the toilet. Not everyone could make that claim. Merideth didn’t have the greatest journey either but the ‘protector of the sea’, that is what Merideth means, never had to make the trip to the toilet.

After almost four hours at sea, we finally landed at Rosslare. Back on dry land but still feeling queasy, we climbed into a taxi to take us to our hotel in Wexford.

We wanted to find an off license in Wexford town to see the Holy Thursday phenomenon. Because Good Friday is dry, the Irish, apparently, go on a alcohol buying frenzy the day before. We wanted to see this for our own eyes and the video camera. But we couldn’t find an off license so our Holy Thursday ended with us sitting in the hotel bar enjoying a few Guinness and watching football on the TV.

Good Friday was the most anticipated day of our trip. If not the most anticipated, it was certainly the most talked about. What were we going to do on a dry day in Ireland? The answer was act like normal tourists.

Picking up a rental car, we headed down to Hook Head. On the southeast coast, Hook Head is home to the oldest working lighthouse in the world. Like normal tourists we took a tour of the 800 year old lighthouse which was the first non-brewery tour we have taken in a long time.

Then it was on to Cork.

There are ways to get around the Good Friday alcohol ban. Besides the obvious answer of drinking the stockpile of booze bought the previous day, there are a couple of other options. The taxi driver in Wexford told us that groups of friends will take the ferry over the to the UK and back; sort of a booze cruise. For us, another ferry ride was definitely not an option.

We also heard that some pubs are discretely open and a secret knock will get you in the back door. We never saw any evidence of this or rather, we were never invited.

Finally, hotels are allowed to serve alcohol to residents after 6pm with a meal.

So when the magical hour struck, we joined quite a large contingent of residents of our Cork city hotel in the bar. It felt all very secretive as our name and room number was checked by one of the hotel staff. To make the atmosphere complete, they drew down the shades so outsiders wouldn’t be drawn in by the sight of alcohol and merriment. Our very first dry Good Friday in Ireland ended for us in the hotel bar with our pints of Beamish Stout.

On the Wales Ale Trail (0)

This post was written by Chris
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Posted 11 April, 2009 in Travel in Europe, Wales

Our last two days in Wales we tried to reach our goal of adding 12 new breweries to the list. We had plenty of targets but craft beer traveling in Wales is not the easiest thing to do.

Geography was our first challenge. While Wales looks small on a map, due to the road system, distances take much longer to cover than what we are used to in the States.

The second issue – and I really don’t want this to sound too critical – is that Welsh breweries are just not used to people walking in to try their beer. Whereas in the States, many breweries created their following with an open door policy, this idea hasn’t caught on with some Welsh breweries. We were told outright by one brewery that they were too busy to have two people stop by. And then there was the Conwy experience where we were actually standing in the tasting room and couldn’t get anyone to come out front.

And lastly, some of the breweries are just plain hard to find.

Tuesday started with a short drive to the market town of Abergavenny, home of Tudor Brewing located in the Kings Arms. Abergavenny’s ‘retail’ market was going on and we couldn’t find any parking. We cruised two car parks for 30+ minutes when, as we were just about to give up, the miracle happened; a lady was pulling out. Not only did we get her spot, but she also gave us her parking ticket which still had a couple of hours on it.

Once we parked, the Kings Arms was pretty easy to find and we were soon trying their beers in their pleasant bar. They had two available, Sugarloaf, an amber beer and Skirrid, a dark beer. While the beers had potential, they seemed very green and probably could have used some more time in the cask to mature.

Next, we were off to Merthyr Tydfil (‘Myrtle Turtle’ in our version of Welsh) to find Rhymney Brewery. We never found it. We cruised around the industrial park a couple of times looking for signs of brewing activity. Seeing kegs is always a good sign, but we saw no indications of brewing. We found out later, the brewery is not sign posted and was located behind the tire place. I remember seeing the tire place.

Moving on, our next stop was Dare Valley Brewing at the Falcon Inn in Aberdare. Not only did we have a Google map printed out, Buster also gave us directions the night before.  Located in a valley next to a brook below the town, it still took us an hour to find.

We drove up a narrow city lane that we thought would get us to the inn. In reality, the road we intended to turn down only existed on our Google map. After seemingly endless searching, we finally turned down a road that had a dead end sign on it… the Falcon Inn was at the end of the street.

It was a good thing we persevered. A family operation, they were the nicest people. After a short brewery tour, Richard, the brewer, sat with us. He poured us his beers to try and we sat with the family for an hour or so talking beer.

We tried four beers, including the seasonal Spring Ahead on cask, and all were very nice. The highlight was a 3.8% Stout that was a stunner. The Stout was a beer brewed under contract for someone else, but Dare hopefully will have their own version some time soon.

Having spent most of the day trying to find breweries, it was time to close out Tuesday. We headed back to Brecon and stopped by Breconshire to have a few more beers with Buster.

Wednesday, we drove to the coast in preparation for sailing back to Ireland the next day. First stop was Black Mountain Brewery at the Telegraph Inn in Llangadog.

My best piece of advice for beer travel in Wales is to target the breweries that are located in inns. They will have normal hours and food. This advice served us well except for Black Mountain. We arrived at a bit before noon only to learn they opened at 3pm.

The next stop was up the road in Lladeilo, Wm. Evan Evans Brewery. Walking into the brewery yard, we met Simon, the owner, as he was leaving. Very personable, Simon was more than happy to get one of his brewers to show us around. After a short brewery tour, we were in their office kitchen trying their flagship beer Cwrw. Pronounced ‘curu’, it is the Welsh word for ‘ale’; what a great marketing idea. “I’ll have a cwrw, please”.

A premium bitter, Cwrw was one of my favorite beers of the trip. It had a very American-like hop presence, reminding me a lot of Galway Hooker IPA from Ireland.

We would have never found Ffos y Ffin Brewery in Capel Dewi if Buster hadn’t given us directions. Driving into the tiny village, we were told by Buster to take the first left up this country lane, then a right down another country lane. At a certain point we would see the brewery marked only by a cask out front. Lo and behold we found it!

Arriving right as one of the two owner/brewers, Glen was leaving to make a delivery, he was more than willing to delay his departure a few minutes to allow us to try the beer. We tried three and I have to admit I didn’t take any notes or snap any photos because I didn’t want to take too much of Glen’s time. The beers were nice and we got 4 bottles to try when we get home.

The last brewery of trip, Coles Family Brewery was located at the White Hart Inn in Llanddarog. In a country where we found it hard to find some breweries, White Hart Inn was the only brewery on our travels that was signposted from the main road. It was very easy to find.

Everything about White Hart Inn exuded Welsh countryside; thatched roof, a very cozy and comfortable dining area complete with roaring fire and large hearty meals.

They had two house-brewed beers available, an Ale and a Stout. Another Welsh Stout! If there was any surprise of the trip, it was the number and quality of Welsh Stouts I tried. Their Stout was another low ABV, high flavor brew on par with the other wonderful Stouts I had tried in the previous days.

That was it. Our Welsh beer adventure was over. We only added nine breweries to the list, three short of our goal. Despite the challenges, the quality of beer and the hospitality of its people has us already thinking about our next Welsh beer adventure.

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