The concept of the Heart of Wales Brewery came into being shortly after moving into the Neuadd Arms Hotel, we realised how much the locals appreciated good real ales. An initial brew was produced in 2004 using local spring water through a friend’s brewery, especially for the Mid Wales Beer Festival held in the town each November. The ale “Blaen Gwennol” (named after the spring) was so well received that we felt there was definitely the potential to build on this success. The brewery became a reality with the renovation of the derelict stables situated behind the Neuadd Arms Hotel.
The Brewery
The brewery is a six barrel plant (a Brewers Barrel is 36 gallons) which was custom built and installed by Porter Brewing Installations. It comprises six stainless steel vessels together with all the associated ancillary equipment needed to produce traditional real ales. It is housed on two floors linked by a cast iron spiral staircase.
The Brewing Process
We are firm believers in the adage that you only get out as good as you put in. Using only natural ingredients with no added chemicals or sugar, our ales are brewed by traditional methods to reproduce the flavours of ales as they used to be.
Our malts come from Warminster Maltings in Wiltshire, the oldest floor maltings in the country and one of only four remaining. They still use traditional hand-made methods in the original Victorian malting complex, which has been producing quality malt since 1845.
We purchase our hops through a family firm of hop merchants who have been in the business for well over 100 years. We use predominantly English hop varieties, but are prepared to take advantage of continental and American varieties in order to bring a wider range of flavours to our customers.
In 2010 we sank our own borehole to take advantage of the pure Cambrian water beneath our feet, naturally filtered by the mountain rocks, to give our ales a truly local heritage.
TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall unveiled an opening plaque at the brewery during their visit in July 2010, and then poured a pint in the main bar.
Our “session” bitter is Irfon Valley Bitter, brewed at 3.6% abv as an answer to those keg beer drinkers who claim that real ales are too strong for them, and to those ale drinkers who reckon that anything below 4% is flavourless.
The next up the strength scale is Aur Cymru, (“Welsh Gold” in Welsh), a clear, bright 3.8% golden ale with a clean refreshing taste. An initial bitterness gives way to a sweeter, floral body as the Cascade hops burst through and citrus notes linger to the finish
Then there is our standard, the Heart of Wales Bitter at 4.1% abv. A light chestnut bitter in the Northern style, it has a fine smooth balance between malt and hop. Eminently moreish it has the ability to satisfy your thirst whilst leaving you wanting more!
Next at 4.4% abv comes our award winning Welsh Black, a fine, complex, particularly smooth stout, full of flavour with notes of liquorice. It was voted winner in its class at the CAMRA Great Welsh Beer & Cider Festival in June 2009, 2010 and 2011, and took the overall silver medal position in 2012
Brewed for the Cambrian Mountains initiative, which is inspired by HRH The Prince of Wales who is it’s president.
Then there is Noble Eden Ale (don’t say it too quickly!) at 4.6% abv, a dark brown premium ale bursting with fruit and malt, with just a hint of chocolate to tickle the tastebuds. A full bodied, flavoursome brown ale
The final addition to our line-