Beer in Wales

Beer in Wales can be traced to the 6th century. Since the 2000s, there has been a growing microbrewery industry in Wales.

History At least as early as the 6th century, the Druidic legendary person Ceridwen is associated with cauldrons and intoxicating preparations of grain in herbs in many poems of Taliesin, particularly the Hanes Taliesin. This preparation, Gwîn a Bragawd, is said to have brought "science, inspiration and immortality".

The Welsh Triads attribute the introduction of brewing grains barley and wheat to Coll, and name Llonion in Pembrokeshire as the source of the best barley, while Maes Gwenith in Gwent produces superior wheat and bees.Red Book of Hergest 56, Peniarth MS 54 23

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 852 records a distinction between "fine ale" and Welsh ale, also called bragawd."that Wulfred should give the land of Sleaford to Meohamsted, and should send each year into the monastery sixty loads of wood, twelve loads of coal, six loads of peat, two tuns full of fine ale, two neats' carcases, six hundred loaves, and ten kilderkins of Welsh ale; one horse also each year, and thirty shillings, and one night's entertainment." Bragawd, also called braggot, is somewhat between mead and what we today think of as ale. Saxon-period Welsh ale was a heady, strong beverage, made with spices such as cinnamon, ginger and clove as well as herbs and honey. Bragawd was often prepared in monasteries, with Tintern Abbey and the Friary of Carmarthen producing the beverage until Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1536. The drink is said to have been still in production by a few families in Wales at the beginning of the 19th century.

In the Laws of Hywel Dda, meanwhile, a distinction is drawn between bragawd and cwrwf, with bragawd being worth twice as much. Bragawd in this context is a fermented drink based on cwrwf to which honey, sweet wort, and ginger have been added.

John Gerard's Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes of 1633 says of the plant ground-ivy: "The women of our Northerne parts, especially about Wales and Cheshire, do turne the herbe Ale-hoof into their Ale; but the reason thereof I know not...".

Alexander Morrice mentions "Welch Ale" in his Treatise on Brewing (1802). The beer was made from pale malt, hops, sugar and grains of paradise. The author says that he saw the brewing process in Carnarvon, conducted by an old women.

Welsh beer is noted as a distinct style as late as 1854, with a recipe made solely from pale malt and hops described in a recipe book of the time.

Wales, along with the rest of Britain, came under the influence of the temperance movement, along with a burgeoning Welsh moral code based on Presbyterian and other Non-conformist beliefs in relation to alcohol. This rested against a background of places where there has historically been abundant heavy industry such as coal mining in south Wales and the north east.

Wrexham was one of the first places in the UK to brew lager.Brewers & Boozers Tour on Wrexham County Borough Council's website Homesick German immigrant brothers from Saxony started the process in 1882. Its demise came in 2000, when the site of Wrexham Lager was sold and subsequently demolished.

Investment by the Welsh Development Agency has helped establish a large number of breweries in Wales in recent years.

In the 1930s, Felinfoel Brewery was the first brewery in the UK to produce and sell beer in cans.

The largest brewer and packager of beer in Wales by far is the Budweiser Brewing Group (BBG) Brewery in Magor. The brewery was built in 1979 by the Whitbread brewing group and is now operated by the Budweiser Brewing Group, part of AB-InBev the world's largest brewer. The brewery is one of the largest in the UK producing over 5 Million hectare litres every year.

In 2012, CAMRA predicted that the number of microbreweries in Wales is set to carry on rising as the pub industry deals with continued closures.

Tiny Rebel brewery won CAMRA's 2015 Supreme Champion Beer of Britain for its Cwtch Welsh Red Ale.

List of notable Welsh breweries

+ Brewers in Wales Brewery Town/City Principal area SinceBeech Avenue Brewery WrexhamWrexham2020Bluestone Brewing Newport Pembrokeshire 2013Borough Brewery Neath Neath Port Talbot 2014Boss Brewing Swansea Swansea 2015Bragdy Nant Brewery Llanrwst Conwy 2007Brains Brewery Cardiff Cardiff 1882Breconshire Brewery Brecon Powys 2002Bryncelyn Brewery Ystalyfera Neath Port Talbot 1999Bullmastiff Brewery Cardiff Cardiff 1987Cader Ales (Cwrw Cader) Dolgellau Gwynedd 2013Caffle Brewery Narberth Pembrokeshire 2013Celt Experience Caerphilly Caerphilly 2007Cerddin Brewery Maesteg Bridgend 2010Coles Family Brewery Llanddarog Carmarthenshire 1999Conwy Brewery Llysfaen Conwy 2003Crafty Devil Cardiff Cardiff 2014Cwrw Iâl Community Brewing Company Eryrys Denbighshire 2013Cwrw Llŷn Pwllheli Gwynedd 2011Deva Craft Beer Deeside Flintshire 2015Erddig Brewery Wrexham Wrexham 2014 Evan Evans Llandeilo Carmarthenshire 2004Facer's Flintshire Brewery Flint Mountain Flintshire 2006Felinfoel Brewery Felinfoel Carmarthenshire 1878Geipel Brewing Llangwm Conwy 2013 Glamorgan Brewing Llantrisant Rhondda Cynon Taf 1994Gower Brewery Oldwalls Swansea 2011Great Orme Brewery Llandudno Conwy 2009Grey Trees Brewery Aberaman Rhondda Cynon Taf 2011Hafod Brewing CompanyMoldFlintshire2011Handmade Beer Company Capel Dewi Carmarthenshire 2013Heavy Industry Brewing Henllan Denbighshire 2012Hurns Brewing Company Swansea Swansea 2002Jacobi Brewery of Caio Pumsaint Carmarthenshire 2007Kingstone Brewery Tintern Monmouthshire 2006Llangollen Brewery Llangollen Denbighshire 2010Monty's Brewery Montgomery Powys 2009Mountain Hare Brewery Pencoed Bridgend 2013Mumbles Brewery Swansea Swansea 2013Neath Ales Neath Neath Port Talbot 2010Otley Brewing Company Pontypridd Rhondda Cynon Taf 2005Pen-lon Cottage Brewery New Quay Ceredigion 2004Pipes Cardiff Cardiff 2008Plassey Brewery (Now Magic Dragon Brewing) Bangor-on-Dee Wrexham 1985Preseli Brewery Tenby Pembrokeshire 2010Purple Moose Brewery Porthmadog Gwynedd 2005Radnorshire Ales New Radnor Powys 2012Rotters Brewery Talgarth Powys 2010Rhymney Brewery Blaenavon Torfaen 2005Snowdonia Brewery (Bragdy Eryri) Waunfawr Gwynedd 2004Swansea Brewery Swansea Swansea 1996Tiny Rebel Brewing Co. Rogerstone Newport 2012Tomos & Lilford Brewery Llantwit Major Vale of Glamorgan 2014Tomos Watkin (trade name of Hurns Brewing Company) Swansea Swansea 1996Treboom Brewery(changed ownership and moved to Wales in 2022)) Bagillt Flintshire 2022Tudor Brewery Llanhilleth Blaenau Gwent 2007Untapped Brewing Company Raglan Monmouthshire 2009Vale of Glamorgan Brewery Barry Vale of Glamorgan 2005Violet Cottage Brewery Cardiff Cardiff 2012Waen Brewery Llanidloes Powys 2009Warcop Ales Wentlooge Newport 1999Wild Horse Brewing Llandudno Conwy 2015Wrexham Lager Wrexham Wrexham 1882–20002011 (revived)Zerodegrees Cardiff Cardiff 2008

See also

Food and drink industry of Wales Champion Beer of Wales Beer and breweries by region Beer in the United Kingdom Welsh cuisine English beer Beer in Northern Ireland Scottish beer Irish beer

References

External links Society of Independent Brewers CAMRA