Let The Drink Talk

[Johnny]

We love... Real Ale

Feb 15 2006

Tom Scotney, Western Mail


Are you or have you ever been a real ale drinker? Face it, it's not the trendiest hobby to admit to. In a century of iPods, blogs and Pete Doherty, ale might seem out of date, belonging to a mythical lost world of tweed, pipe smokers and rationing.

But does it really?

The stereotypical ale drinker might be middle-aged and balding and wear a knitted sweater, but it's never a good idea to pay too much attention to stereotypes.

Real ale is as modern as it comes, and something of which Wales can truly be proud.

Some of the best breweries in Britain are in Wales, and real ale is being lapped up (hopefully not literally) by the drinking public.

Pub chain Wetherspoons has been a massive success based on a good selection of ales, and anyone visiting Cardiff can't fail to see how successfully Brains has taken over the city. The traditional lager lout is fading away, and the time is right for a real ale revolution.

So what makes real ale so enjoyable? People who aren't in the know say it's warm and flat. But the fact that it's not fizzy and super-chilled means you can appreciate and enjoy the subtle and delicious flavours.

Try a few pints and you'll be making up opinions about "mellow hoppiness" and "sweet malty aftertastes" with the best of them, to impress your drinking buddies. It doesn't matter if you don't know what these phrases mean, no-one else does either. Just nod and look thoughtful when you hear someone talking about ale.

Real ale fits in perfectly with the whole Jamie Oliver post-modern food revolution that everyone loves, being free from artificial flavourings, preservatives and made by traditional methods.

Just as you now have to have exactly the right Italian buffalo mozzarella, organic vine-ripened cherry tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil, now you can worry about where the hops in your pint came from, whether the water used was soft or hard, and what blend of yeast was used in the fermentation. It's a foodie's dream drink.

Welsh brewers like Felinfoel, Tomos Watkin and, of course, Brains make some of the best-tasting ale around, and enjoying a pint in the pub or a bottle in front of the television before a rugby match can be a real treat. It's a mile away from a belligerent football hooligan tanking up on lager before going out to look for trouble.

We love real ale because it reminds us of a nationwide brewing tradition stretching back hundreds of years, instead of rubbish beer tasting of chemicals, foisted on the public by pub chain corporations.

So drink up and enjoy. Iechyd da!

Ten of the best Welsh ale breweries

Mws Piws: The "Purple Moose" brewery in Porthmadog was set up in June 2005 with help from the National Assembly, and has gone from strength to strength ever since;

Evan Evans: Wales' "slow food" capital, Llandeilo, is also a good place to sit down and take your time enjoying a pint from a brewery owned by one of Wales' oldest brewing families;

Rhymney: Merthyr was noted for its high number of breweries in the industrial revolution. Now Rhymney Brewery bottles ales as a tribute to all of them;

Bullmastiff: Cardiff's "other" brewery is little-known, but much admired. Winner of the Champion Beer of Wales award at the last national beer festival;

Breconshire: A regular award winner from the national park, producing English-style ales with traditional ingredients;

Bryncelyn: Almost certainly the only Buddy Holly-themed brewery in the world. The Ystalyfera-based brewery owner is obsessed with the rocker, and the ales usually stand out from the rest at the bar;

Conwy: Its ales are most often to be found in North Wales, but are popular at beer festivals throughout the UK;

Tomos Watkin: Ten years old this month, the brewery survived a corporate takeover in 2002 to carry on brewing quality ales in Swansea;

Felinfoel: The maker of the "national ale of Wales" was the first British brewery to put beer in cans, but still makes compelling real ale for drinkers;

Brains: The most famous Welsh ales of them all. Unavoidable if you're in Cardiff, but the first thing you'll miss if you go drinking across the border.

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