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The Carmarthen Journal Iechyd Da beer column by Llandeilo brewer Simon Buckley, of the award-winning Evan-Evans Brewery. Snow on the hills, and freezing winds, for many time to snuggle up with a large mug of tea, and not to venture out. Humbug! With the nights beginning to draw out and the rain having stopped, now is the time to get out and brush off the cobwebs with some brisk country walks and visits to those rural pubs that are a vital part of our rural economy. This month we were told, as though we did not know it, that wine has over taken beer for the first time as the nation's favorite tipple. The whole concept of drinking at home and the convenience of slipping to the fridge for your evening sharpener is something that has become so ingrained in our lives that there can only be one loser, and that is the great British pub. There are many fine pubs in very special locations, places that are unique, architecturally unchanged, and frankly are the hidden gems of Wales. ...

The latest 'Iechyd Da' Carmarthen Journal beer column by award-winning brewer Simon Buckley, chief executive of Llandeilo-based Evan-Evans Brewery -  Wimbledon, Henley, Llandeilo Jazz, it’s got to be summer! This is the time of year to enjoy ‘Golden Beers’ that are light or golden in colour, and that have the fragrance and freshness of a warm summer’s day. So what should you be looking for? Light, golden beers, in a nutshell. Summer beers should be served cooler. Not freezing cold, so you get frostbite from holding the glass, but two to three degrees below normal. This enhances the flavours and makes the beers even more refreshing. Temperature is not everything. A good refreshing summer beer will be brewed with a combination of Pale Ale malt and some Torrified Wheat to give it a tight white head. Then, depending on what you are trying to create, possibly some Pilsner lager malt. This will give it a light almost continental style of flavour. Gentle malt flavours supported ...

The latest 'Iechyd Da' beer column for the Carmarthen Journal newspaper, written by award-winning brewer Simon Buckley, chief executive of Llandeilo-based Evan-Evans Brewery Well, dear readers, it’s summer time; time for golden beers, lazy days and the thrill of trying new beers. Time for the brewery cricket team to find their kit and get ready for the Llandeilo ‘Ashes’ series (more of that in due course) and time for you to try some great ales from Wales at the Great W-Ales Beer Festival in Cardiff. The inaugural W-Ales Beer Festival is being held at Cardiff’s massive Millennium Stadium between June 5 and 7. Generally, the current market is difficult, and I sometime wonder if the economic recovery actually is getting to us in the regions? For your Llandeilo brewer, however, we are having one of the best years we have had in a very long time. But why are we succeeding where others are finding it difficult? We have now built our business predominantly outside Wales. Whi...

The Iechyd Da beer column written for the Carmarthen Journal by award-winning brewer Simon Buckley, chief executive of Llandeilo-based Evan-Evans Brewery. It’s been the sort of winter where Noah would have felt quite at home. I think this has been the longest wettest winter I have experienced in nearly 40 years in the brewing industry. We have had customers flooded out, customers without electricity for weeks on end, and a drinking public that gave up trying to get to the pub on the wettest of nights. That was January and February, then there was a lamentable Six Nations performance by Wales - and the pub trade was in the doldrums. But each year Easter is like a beacon. It’s the time when the brewers and the licensees of Wales look forward to the better seasons ahead and make strenuous efforts to make one with our God to make sure that the weather is kind to us! This year, spring started in a very different way, with the Budget. Regular readers of this column will know that I hav...

Iechyd Da beer column, written for the Carmarthen Journal by Simon Buckley, chief executive of the Llandeilo-based Evan-Evans brewery - As part of this year’s St David’s Day celebrations, I was very proud to host a dinner party at Parliament in Westminster, London. With the support of Roger Williams, Lib Dem MP for Brecon and Radnor, I was able to arrange a cross-party event to celebrate our patron saint and the Welsh brewing industry. With MPs from all parties present, the evening was a great opportunity to share with our political lords and masters what we are doing in the Welsh brewing industry. A surprise visitor was Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who could not be influenced to take a drink and then spill the beans on the spring Budget! Naturally, when I was asked to share my ‘wish list’ for what I wanted from the Budget, I wasn’t backwards in coming forwards with ideas! As an award-winning brewer with a wonderful family history in the brewing business, it is m...

The Carmarthen Journal Iechyd Da beer column by Llandeilo brewer Simon Buckley, chief executive of Evan-Evans Brewery. It was Sigmund Freud who once asked ‘What do women really want?’ I am sure that question is not Politically Correct, but being PC would be a first for me! Over the last three months (while the Journal’s Iechyd Da column has been ‘off air’, so to speak), we have been far from idle in the Evan-Evans Brewery in Llandeilo. To the contrary we have been working like demons trying desperately to answer Freud’s big question. And the answer is? Well, if only it was a simple one-liner. It’s not - and we hope that after three months of market research we have come up with an answer that goes some of the way to answering what is really the question of the moment, how do we get ladies to enjoy beer and to sample new products? The answer, we believe, is to look at the opportunity of creating a new range of craft beers that develop wonderful new flavours, unique hop and m...

The latest Carmarthen Journal 'Iechyd Da' beer column by Llandeilo brewer Simon Buckley, chief executive of Evan-Evans Brewery -  Where else in the Celtic world would we accept another country dumping products in our marketplace? Could you see the French accepting that? Or our Spanish cousins? Yes, dear reader, I am about to have a rant, but one that I know every one of you will read in disbelief. You, in turn, will ask the questions: why are we letting it happen, and why as a consumer nation are we drinking these products? Those who have bravely followed my brewing career will know that 10 years ago I (along with a small group of Welsh brewers) led a campaign to fight the demise of the great Welsh brewing industry and the establishment of Worthington Best Bitter as the No1 brand here in Wales. The power of the mega-brewers was almost too much for us smaller guys and the routes to market were dominated by the large English brewers. However we took the fight to them ...