Welsh steam and ale
Our chair Paul Manning and his wife Bev had a recent short trip to Wales.
We had a weekend stay in a converted chapel at Minnford near Porthmadog calling on the way at the Bleeding Wolf pub near Congleton where we enjoyed a Dizzy Blonde, a pale ale by Robinsons brewery.
After a restful evening we walked into Porthmadog the next morning and enjoyed some lovely sunshine at Spooners Bar on Porthmadog railway station. This Good Beer Guide entry pub was flush with real ale and we enjoyed Moho a 4.3% Welsh pale ale by Mantle brewery, Ceridwen a 3.7% Welsh black ale by Bragdy brewery, Solstice Three Tuns a 3.9% pale by Bishops castle brewery in Shropshire and finally Snowdonia Ale a 3.8% golden pale by the local Purple Moose, brewery.
Suitably refreshed we boarded our Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway steam train for a 13 mile return journey to Blaenau Ffestiniog. The scenery was very nice especially and surprisingly the slate hillsides. The railway was built to transport the Welsh slate from the hills to the coast. Of course we enjoyed a bottle of the on board Welsh steam ale, a 3.6% pale from Purple Moose brewery.
Arriving back in Porthmadog we visited the town’s other GBG pub entry, the Australia which was Purple Moose brewery’s local tap. Our favourites were Mono citra a 4.6% session IPA being a collaboration brew with Bragdy brewery and Chocolate Moose a 5.6% chocolate and vanilla stout.
We returned home the next day via a short stop at Llandudno for some bracing sea air. We enjoyed a lovely lunch of Welsh cheese rarebit washed down with a pint of Tetleys Dark Mild at the Tynedale hotel on the promenade astonishingly already decorated for its Christmas breaks!










