I can’t see this going down well in all their houses (Vulcan, Cottage & City Arms) but in the posher pubs in their portfolio I think the Beerati may lap it up…

Anyway I want one of these for my shedpub…

Welsh brewer Brains is going continental. The company, famed for cask ale favourites such as Brains SA and Dark, will be launching ‘Beer Tapas’ ahead of National Cask Ale Week (29th March – 5th April) in a bid to encourage trial.

Featuring three third pint glasses in a branded wooden tray, Beer Tapas will be available throughout and beyond National Cask Ale Week in around 200 pubs, including over 100 Brains managed and tenanted houses.

Richard Davies, Sales and Marketing Director explains: “The beer tapas tray gives customers the opportunity to try three different cask ales but drink the equivalent of one pint. We think it’s a great way of encouraging customers to switch from other categories to try cask ale and also a good way of giving current cask drinkers greater variety of choice.”

The tray has been branded ‘Brains Beer’, and the glasses are etched with ‘Beer Tapas’. Richard Davies adds, “This is about growing the cask ale category, with an emphasis on trial and exploration. Naturally we want to encourage customers to try the full Brains range, but we also want to see them trying brands and styles they wouldn’t normally try.”

More on the Cardiff brewer here.

Today I had a Chicken/Ham & onion one.

I have never had them outside of this cafe.. let me know

They are massive and mighty, the cafe is expanding next door, so expect more of the same..

They also go great pancakes… and fry ups if you are up for one on a Sunday morning.

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I have not been there for about 18 years, that was with my mate Will (who was brought up in nearby Axbridge) and I could remember Cheddar was great village with some great pubs and too much cider.

We were not a big fan of the village now its gone a bit trashy with the tourism and trinket shops taking over the place.

But the upside was the Beer and Cider.

Firstly the Cider! A great little shop that sold Cider & Cheese, and not your tourist branded stuff, great Farm stuff, and the name of this great Cider was Wilcox Cider, wonder I like scrumpy, I never know my family name got that far east from the Welsh valleys

In the small shop right by the Riverside Inn (which we went into but it was packed so no room to eat, and they had Cheddar ales on as well) you can buy various ciders straight from the barrel into flagons.

I went for the “tipple” – a mix of Sweet & Dry and the Mrs picked up some smoked Cheddar £5 for both, Bargin.

Another gem in the rough was a great beer shop called West Country Ales they say they have over 100 beers & Cider from across the West country.

I spent 15 mins in there while the Mrs looked around the overpriced but posh cheese shop across the road, the selection of bottled ales was wonderfull.. and I managed to settle on some local brews from Cheddar Ales and one from Bath Ales.

The only downside is which bottle to gift to Rob, as he will no doubt bring me back something from his trip to the Far east of England.

If you are down that way and have room in your boot I would recommend paying them a visit they also give 10% off for Camra members.

Unfortunately I was unable to taste the local beers on tap, as the pub the Mrs decided on for lunch Bath Arms Hotel only had these brews on, but the Courage was not bad.

Anyway go for the cheese and the gorge but stay for the Beer & Cider… it was busy today so I would not like to visit in the heat of summer with the bus loads of tourists!

Bascially geeks and online lot get up and talk about something for 5 minutes? You get 20 slides for 15 seconds a slide. They are automatically timed so you are forced to move forward when your slide does, we had amongst other subjects Salt, cats who design, karaoke chat & thingaweek.

I thought I could see point a bit, but maybe

1) I am a grumpy SOD
2) Prefer a quiet pint
3) my Social Media circle should stay online – is it wrong to meet people you only talk to online – you only get disappointed.
4) Don’t get it – must be my age and could never make paper planes anyway
5) Networking – I don’t have anything to sell (well apart from sheds and most of these lot are not interested in those)

Maybe all of the above.

Some of the the younger members of the MediaWales (cough Ed) team enjoyed the meeting and greeting, or maybe they are just more social than I.

I may pop to the next one in June.. but will not relay on Cardiff Bus or the wait for a Sam Smiths for 15 mins in the Water Torture Pub.

Anyway Congrats to all those that organised the event and all that had the wossnames to get up and talk out of their comfort zone.

I think TEDxCardiff would be more my sort of thing..

Today St David’s Day Brains the Cardiff based brewery launched a new beer at their wonderful Crawshay Arms pub, which is in the grounds of the Brewery, the best pub in Cardiff has it does not have a till!

What is different about it from the other Brains keg ales, well It’s a Stout, and they have called it Black.

They see it as a direct competitor to Guinness but at a cheaper price point but with a slightly familiar Brains taste aimed at their regulars.

I used to drink Guinness as my backup beer if there was no Cask Ales on as you could always rely on it, so how would the pretender to the Irish throne compare?.

Well It tasted like the Irish institution on first sip but without the overly reliance on the moustache covering white head, but Black did have more to it, dare I say a great dark roasted malt taste that the Irish one does not seem to deliver any more.

And a better session beer I think at. 4.1% abv and hopefully they wont be brining out an extra cold version soon as that ruined Guinness IMHO

With a launch through selected brains houses this month and you may find it elsewhere within the year.

If you like a bit of the Irish black stuff then give Brains black a go, if you drink Brains excellent Dark on cask also give it a go, it’s got more of the blarney than Dark has, but would make a nice change.

We also had Welsh Black Beef cooked in Brains Black – a great combination served with rice with laverbread & leeks a great end to a good few hours tasting this new brew on our Saints Day.

• 4 Cornish IPA A pale gold, refreshingly full flavoured, beer with citrus aromas and a light malt finish with a hint of resinous pine.
• 4 Norfolk Bitter Malty, with a fruity character and a dry finish.
• 4 Scottish Cairngorm Ale Smooth, malty, full bodied thistle ale.
• 4 Sussex Golden Ale Delivers a refreshing flavour and a traditional Sussex ‘hoppy nose’.
• 4 Yorkshire Bitter Smooth, with a subtle hint of citrus fruits.

Shame no Welsh ale in there, but has anyone tried them? are they worth getting in for a party or just for a gentle supping.

Had a couple of pints before the game

At the Goat Major great pint of Hydes Berry Good Ale

AT the Central Bar (a spoons pub) Rhymney Export but at 2.95 a pint

But the worse pint of the night was at the stadium £3.50 a pint of Brains Bitter in a plastic glass, Iam sure they had pored it before from their super fast poring system and left it for a while, it was cold but tasted of drip tray slops – Sorry Brains but you need to check the quality of the beer at the stadium.

anyway the Trumpet of Truth (South Wales Echo) reports that head chef Adam has won a pietastic award.

THE best pie in the country is to be found at a Cardiff pub, a competition run by British Pie Week has found.

Adam Pavey, head chef at the Goat Major on High Street in Cardiff, created the award-winning Wye Valley Pie, which was named the winner of the British Pie Week Challenge 2010.

His winning effort includes locally sourced chicken, leeks, asparagus and Tintern Abbey cheese.

Chef Adam, 22, said: “I was really taken aback that I’d won. We were in competition with about 60 other pubs nationwide.”

No brains ale in it? ReciPie here

British Pie Week starts next week more details here

If you have a 2 mins enter your fave 5 here

The five on my list that I would go to again in a flash are..

1) The Goat Major In Cardiff
2) The Black Boy Pub in Winchester
3) The Philharmonic Dining Rooms, Liverpool
4) The Volunteer, London
5) Otley Arms/Bunch of Grapes Treforest/Pontypridd

of course the Welsh ones I go to quite often.

What’s On Tap is a project that me and Rob came up with, but Rob has done most of the work, I just meet him in pubs to talk about it, but he will be the driving force in getting it launched and the future development as I have something called shed week taking up my 5 to 9 time, so if you see him buy him a pint, he deserves it.