CAMRA in CEREDIGION
MARCH 2011 NEWSLETTER
PUB OF THE YEAR 2011
The judges have spoken, and our Pub of the Year this year, for the second year running, will be the Ship and Castle in Aberystwyth. A presentation has been arranged for Saturday 9th April; the presentation itself will take place around 4pm, but the pub will be open as usual from 2. Let’s have a good turn-out please for this flagship event in our flagship pub.
BRANCH MEETING
The next branch meeting will be at the Talbot in Tregaron on Saturday May 14th at 1.30pm (1135 bus 585 from Aberystwyth recommended – arrives Tregaron 12.30 to allow time for lunch). Exciting developments are afoot at the Talbot on the beer front, so here’s an ideal opportunity to see what’s happening. On the way back (for Aberystwyth folk at least) we’ll probably call in at the reopened Royal Oak in Llanfarian.
SOCIAL AND CAMPAIGNING EVENTS
On Tuesday 1st March there’ll be a St David’s Day quiz.at the White Lion in Talybont starting at 7.30pm. The questions will naturally have a Welsh theme and there’ll be a modest fee to enter. This excellent pub is a new venue for our quiz, so please support it.
Our main event in March is the First Aberystwyth Ale Trail, running from Fri 18th to Sun 20th March. Twelve Aber pubs have agreed to put on beers they don’t normally sell over the course of the weekend; there’ll be a chance to vote for your favourite beer of the trail, spot the Sherlock competition and a fun quiz. No formal meeting times / places, but CAMRA members will be out in force around the pubs all weekend. Beers are still being ordered by the individual pubs, but those you may see include Okells Spring Ram from the Isle of Man and Hop Back Entire Stout (the current Champion Winter Beer of Britain). Which beers will be where? You’ll have to follow the trail to find out! The pubs taking part are: Aber Vaults; Academy; Belle Vue Hotel; Black Lion Llanbadarn; Castle Hotel; Coopers Arms; Glengower Hotel; Gogerddan Arms Llanbadarn; Hen Llew Du; Mill Inn; Rummers (don’t forget Rummers only opens evenings); Ship and Castle.
On Saturday 2nd April we have a trip by train to the excellent Salopian Brewery in Shrewsbury. We’ll be catching the 9.30am from Aberystwyth, 10.07 from Machynlleth. The brewery is a short bus ride from the town centre, so after an informative – and, I expect, well-refreshed – visit to the brewery, we’ll have a chance to visit some of Shrewsbury’s many good pubs before catching a train home. You’re welcome to just turn up on the day, but it would be good to have a rough idea of numbers, so if you’re reasonably sure you’ll be going, please do let me know (contact details below)
BEER FESTIVALS
Next beer festival at the Ship and Castle is from Tuesday 22nd to Thursday 24th March opening from 2pm to midnight each day. With more beer on order, this is reverting to a three-day event. Probably still wise to get there early though – you can always come back for more later!
PUB AND BREWERY NEWS
The Talbot in Tregaron, where we’re having our branch meeting on May 14th, is now in the hands of business partners Mick Taylor and John Watkin. There will be some investment made in bringing the hotelpart of the building up to date, but they have no plans to alter the historic bar areas. What they do plan to do, however, is to make the place a showcase for craft beers from small Welsh breweries. A range of Purple Moose beers has already featured, and more can be expected. (They’ve even promised to have a beer of our choice available when we go there in May – so if you’ve any suggestions, please let me know).
A range of bottled beers from Neath Brewery has been on sale at CK’s supermarket, Waun Fawr. Neath Brewery, founded in 2009, specialises in bottle-conditioned beers (though some draught beer of theirs found its way to last year’s Swansea Beer Festival). Of the three available, I particularly enjoyed Gold.
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.
Well, that’s about it for this time. But if you have any news, ideas, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to ring me on 01974-241255, write to me at Gwynedd, Llanilar, SY23 4NR or email rhys.gwynedd@btopenworld.com .
Iechyd da!
Rhys Jones, Chair, Ceredigion CAMRA.
(The next CAMRA in Ceredigion will appear later in the year).