Welsh Perry & Cider Society festival 2012

Its that time of year again. In a few weeks, the annual Welsh Perry & Cider Festival will be held at Blaengawney Cider Farm (Hafodyrynys, NP11 5AY) over the Jubilee Weekend (1st - 4th June.) What a great way to celebrate anything - trying as many ciders and perries as possible at the top of a Welsh mountain! They have over 70 to try so sensible drinkers can easily to spread their liver damage out over the three days, rather than try for all of them in one day. Its a great chance to meet the producers, most of whom will be there at some stage so you can cheer their ear off one way or another should you feel the need!

I went last year where it was held at the lovely Clytha Arms but could only stay for a few hours. I REALLY wanted to stay for longer and vowed to come back. 

Having visited Blaengawney before, I can vouch for the spectacular views and generous hospitality of the owners, its a proper taste of Wales and is well worth a visit. Bring your tent and banjo too. The atmosphere was very family and very friendly last year - there was camping and sunshine and music and cheese and pies and smiles...

Amazingly - its only 4 quid to get in and that includes a free half pint glass full to the brim with a cider or perry of your choice too. I think camping for the weekend costs a little more but that includes entry into the festival too.

Here are some photos from last year (apologies if you've seen them before.) See you at the bar for some proper 'iechyd da.'

Arweinlyfr Perai a Seidr Cymru (thats Welsh Perry & Cider Guide to you and me)

Hey, I've got more good news... we must have pleased the gods when wassailed hard this earlier this month. Yey for Wassailing I say.

Following the strictest tendering process of the Welsh Perry & Cider Society, it gives me a thrill to announce that Barnsley beer geezer Pete Brown and my-Somerset scrumpy-self have been asked to produce the first ever Welsh Perry & Cider Guide. 

The guide is intended to increase awareness in Wales and beyond, specifically: 'a guide to producers of craft cider and perry in Wales, comprising producer profiles, a cider trail, cider on the menu, and cider pubs.'


WPCS, the Development Officer Cressida Slater told me "We’re really pleased to have you guys on board and think this will make for a really interesting publication." I would like to add, rather boastfully, that I think so too. It is after all the point of a guide to supply information in an interesting way. If we are anything as a team, its 'interesting.'

I confess to not having spent alot of time in Wales, although it doesn't really matter. In many respects, that goes in my favour - there is alot to be said for being new to something, or somewhere, particularly if you work visually. In this case, its Wales and I hope as a newcomer I'll be tuned in to the differences that make it Welsh. In the same way a Yorkshireman who lives in London is in a great position to write about cider because, although very experienced in beer and publishing, cider is a slightly newer arena for Pete, his eyes will be fresher too: no preconceptions or hang ups etc. That having been said, I did a small job for them last year.

One benefit is that it reinforces a larger project Pete and I have been chipping away at, looking at specific cider cultures around the world. There is still alot to sort out, plans to be made and grey matter to flex (for those of us that have it) but it looks like Wales is due to get the full Team Brownshaw treatment.

Below is a very homemade cover mock up we stuck on the front of our proposal (yes, I know... and they still gave us the job.) If all goes according to plan it should be ready sometime in Spring 2013.

Yachi da.

Welsh Perry & Cider festival

Another bank holiday weekend spent working (such is the plight of the freelancer!) but this particular event was fantastic and it felt more like personal work than work work.

The Welsh Perry & Cider Society festival is an annual event and was held this year at the fantastic Clytha Arms. This year was the 10th year and the first time I had been. I was asked to go along for half a day to provide photographic material for promotion and document aspects of the day; the judging, the camping, the venue, the variety of cider and perries, 80+ in all (one chap reckons he'd tried 62 of them...!) Needless to say, I loved it. I felt very at home there and was made very welcome. I can always judge the quality of a crowd anywhere I go with my camera kit because, in crowded places, I inevitably nudge someone as I turn or twist my way through the mass. The response I get is the meter-stick I use to measure the quality of people at the event. Sometimes I get a bit of agro, even threatened as if I did it to deliberately antagonize people. More generally I get a 'look' and followed by indifference. But at the very best events and certainly in this case, when I turn to apologise, I get a pleasant smile, a gentle wave of the hand and an understanding nod. The atmosphere there was lovely and its somewhere I want to return to with family. ("Pay attention -this is how you do a cider festival kids...")

Anyway - the day had bags of appeal and the natural beauty of both the area and the pub grounds was one of them. The setting is rural Wales, beautiful countryside, gently sloping beer garden, wandering ducks, two bars, a large covered stage area and a giant paddock for camping. Hundreds of people were camping so it had that real festival feel. It was quite a young crowd too, not too beard and sandals, but enough old faces and cider geeks to keep the quality up.

The ciders I had were lovely and so different from the Somerset cider I'm more accustomed too. They use different apples up there, more Herefordshire apples and the flavour did have a distinct difference. One producer told me they use more sharps than up there than we did in Somerset which would partly account for some of the difference. I asked for a few to photograph in the branded glass you were given upon buying tokens. The organiser grabbed a few she knew well and poured away. That being done, I tried them... wow, delicious. The two that stood out for me that day were Hallets and Balegawney medium, both interestingly made by the same man, Andy hallet, who went on to win 9 awards that day. Quite right too!

It made me realise that Welsh cider is something I want to explore. You can taste the passion in the juice and it tastes familiar!