Latest Simon Buckley column from the Journal
The latest Simon Buckley 'Iechyd Da' column from the Carmarthen Journal -
January is traditionally the time of the year that the brewers disappear to the ski slopes of Europe.
Well this one didn’t - and nor did my young team of brewers.
In January, I gave them the task to brew six of our regular and seasonal beers for the International Brewing Championships which were held last week at Burton-upon-Trent.
Winning prizes is something that our team have, immodestly, come to expect, and so now it was time to pit their skills against those of the very best brewers in the UK and the World.
January saw two weeks of frenzied brewing, analysis, and making sure that the samples we sent were the very best that we could produce.
Two weeks ago, I stood in our fermenting room tasting six beers that my Irish brewer Ivan Kelleher and my Son James had brewed for the competition.
It is a proud moment for any brewer to stand with his colleagues and to review their work and to review a set of beers that in my mind were quite exceptional.
Hard work, attention to detail, and a passion for the job had paid off and the beers were some of the very best brewed in Llandeilo.
All six were given the thumbs up and were sent to the brewing industry’s ‘Oscars’.
Two weeks later and we were nervously waiting for the results.
My son James, hotly followed by Ivan, bound into my office clutching the results of the International Brewing Awards - and revealed they had won the coveted Bronze Medal for the Best Bitter Category.
This means that Evan-Evan’s Cwrw is now identified as being one of the top three Best Bitters in the UK and was adjudged one of the best cask conditioned beers in the World.
I have been blessed with working with good brewers all my life, but Ivan and James have made an old brewer a very proud man and have now put Evan-Evans at the very top of the brewing tree in Wales and the UK.
This year it was a Bronze, but I know that in the years to come they will both produce a beer that will win the top award - the coveted Gold Medal. Then it will be time for me to bin my brewing boots and let them get on with it.
In the last 15 years, Welsh brewing, and cask ale, in particular, has moved on.
A group of Welsh brewers now produce some of the greatest beers in the UK and a beer I tipped in this article for Christmas followed us home in the Premium Beer Class with another Bronze medal, SA Brains Gold.
I know that they will be as a proud of their achievement as I am of ours and I hope that the ale drinkers of Wales will join with us and raise a glass to the young brewers of both breweries and their magnificent achievements.
January is traditionally the time of the year that the brewers disappear to the ski slopes of Europe.
Well this one didn’t - and nor did my young team of brewers.
In January, I gave them the task to brew six of our regular and seasonal beers for the International Brewing Championships which were held last week at Burton-upon-Trent.
Winning prizes is something that our team have, immodestly, come to expect, and so now it was time to pit their skills against those of the very best brewers in the UK and the World.
January saw two weeks of frenzied brewing, analysis, and making sure that the samples we sent were the very best that we could produce.
Two weeks ago, I stood in our fermenting room tasting six beers that my Irish brewer Ivan Kelleher and my Son James had brewed for the competition.
It is a proud moment for any brewer to stand with his colleagues and to review their work and to review a set of beers that in my mind were quite exceptional.
Hard work, attention to detail, and a passion for the job had paid off and the beers were some of the very best brewed in Llandeilo.
All six were given the thumbs up and were sent to the brewing industry’s ‘Oscars’.
Two weeks later and we were nervously waiting for the results.
My son James, hotly followed by Ivan, bound into my office clutching the results of the International Brewing Awards - and revealed they had won the coveted Bronze Medal for the Best Bitter Category.
This means that Evan-Evan’s Cwrw is now identified as being one of the top three Best Bitters in the UK and was adjudged one of the best cask conditioned beers in the World.
I have been blessed with working with good brewers all my life, but Ivan and James have made an old brewer a very proud man and have now put Evan-Evans at the very top of the brewing tree in Wales and the UK.
This year it was a Bronze, but I know that in the years to come they will both produce a beer that will win the top award - the coveted Gold Medal. Then it will be time for me to bin my brewing boots and let them get on with it.
In the last 15 years, Welsh brewing, and cask ale, in particular, has moved on.
A group of Welsh brewers now produce some of the greatest beers in the UK and a beer I tipped in this article for Christmas followed us home in the Premium Beer Class with another Bronze medal, SA Brains Gold.
I know that they will be as a proud of their achievement as I am of ours and I hope that the ale drinkers of Wales will join with us and raise a glass to the young brewers of both breweries and their magnificent achievements.
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