PUB OF THE YEAR 2010
Judging is now under way for our Pub of the Year award for 2010, with three excellent candidates: the Ship and Castle in Aberystwyth, the Pentre Arms in Llangrannog, and the White Lion in Talybont. The pubs are being assessed against Camra’s national criteria of beer quality, atmosphere / style / décor, service and welcome, mix of clientele, sympathy with Camra’s aims, and good value. We hope to have a result by the end of March, though if there is a tie the branch meeting on April 10th will have the final say. Once the result is known, a date for the presentation will be arranged with the winning pub and circulated to all those on email – alternatively phone Rhys on 01974-241255 to find out where’s won.
BRANCH MEETING
The next branch meeting will be at the Druid in Goginan on Saturday April 10th at 1pm (1225 bus from Aberystwyth recommended). As usual, we’ll try to keep it as informal as possible, so a good turn-out would be appreciated.
SOCIAL EVENTS
We have two events planned for March. Thursday March 18th sees the return of the famous quiz night at the Ship and Castle, High Street, Aberystwyth starting at 8pm sharp. Once again it’ll be £1 per head to enter, and there’ll be the usual raffle with mainly liquid prizes (prize donations for the raffle gratefully accepted on the night).
Then on Saturday 27th March we have a trip to the two breweries in Montgomeryshire – Monty’s at Hen Domen near Montgomery and Waen at Penstrowed near Newtown. There are still a few places left for this trip by minibus leaving Aberystwyth (Park Avenue, roughly opposite police station) at 10am. We’ll go straight to Monty’s brewery for a guided tour followed by visiting the Lion at Caerhowel where their beers are regularly on sale. There will then be time to visit some well-chosen pubs in Newtown before continuing to Waen brewery and finishing in Llanidloes, where some excellent pubs await us. We aim to be back in Aberystwyth for 9pm. All in all, this should be an excellent day out. Cost for the minibus will be £10 per head, and there’ll be £5 each to pay at Monty’s brewery which includes a drink at the Lion (where lunch is also available at reasonable rates). Bookings to Rhys please on 01974-241255.
BEER FESTIVALS
Next beer festival at the Ship and Castle is on Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd April opening from 2pm to midnight each day. In May, the weekend Friday 7th to Sunday 9th sees Cwrw ar y Cledrau, the annual beer festival organised by the Welsh Highland Railway. Venues for the festival include several freehouses along the railway route in the Caernarfon area, but the main event takes place in the rather splendid goods shed at Dinas, with live music afternoons and evenings and a wide range of beers. From the Aberystwyth area, a combination of Trawscambria, local bus, and Cambrian Coast railway will get you there and back. Further information on 01766-516000.
PUB AND BREWERY NEWS
Good reports have been received from the Black Lion in Llanbadarn, where Wychwood Hobgoblin is now permanently on sale and customers are encouraged to suggest their choice of guest beer from the Marston’s list.
Just outside our branch area, the Fishers Arms at Cellan has Breconshire Ramblers Ruin and a guest beer, with excellent quality reported along with a warm welcome and a roaring log fire.
From Banks’s brewery, now of course part of the Marston’s group, comes news that their Mild, rebranded some years ago as Original but always referred to as Mild, is to be renamed…Mild! Proof, I suppose, that if you’re patient, normal service does sometimes get restored – would it were ever thus.
ARE YOU ON LINE?
If you currently get this newsletter by post, but would prefer to get it by email, just email rhys.gwynedd@btopenworld.com and save me some tedious envelope-stuffing! Also, our webmaster Adam will soon be contacting people asking for volunteers to help maintain and update our website – please help if you can.
Iechyd da!
Rhys Jones, Chair, Ceredigion CAMRA.