First published in BEER March 2007
ABV: 3.7 and 4.6
Origin: Porthmadog, Gwynedd, Wales
Buy from: Local outlets, specialists
Website www.purplemoose.co.uk
Mŵs Piws Cwrw Madog
The daffodils are blooming, the days are getting longer and Gŵyl Ddewi is upon us – time to celebrate the coming of spring with a glass of cwrw cymreig da.
Wales has a reasonable sprinkling of craft brewers offering Real Ale in a Bottle, most of them very small producers trading through local outlets and farmers markets. It’s a sector where distinctiveness and provenance matter to the consumer, especially in a part of Britain with its own separate and strong national identity.
So it’s pleasing to see so many beer bottles flying the Red Dragon and bearing the Welsh language, alongside more local references to the geography and history of brewery sites.
Porthmadog’s Bragdy Mŵs Piws is a good example. The name – Purple Moose – is a little puzzling as Gwynedd is rather out of range of any kind of moose, let alone a purple one. But founder Lawrence Washington, who first used the name on his home brew, says purple is his favourite colour and everyone loves a moose.
Lawrence conceived the brewery while based in Cheltenham, and it was a connection with the Ffestiniog railway that led him to choose Porthmadog as a location when he went commercial in 2005. He’s been picking up SIBA and CAMRA awards for his cask beer ever since.
The beers are proud to celebrate their home town, a small port on the Irish Sea coast and the edge of Snowdonia, founded in the early 19th century by landowner and agricultural improver William Madocks, who reclaimed land at the estuary of the afon Glaslyn.
The town’s founding father is namechecked in Cwrw Madog. Two varieties of crystal malt give a reddish-amber glow to a Maris Otter grist, with a bubbly off-white head and a broadly malty aroma with a touch of earthy hops and fruit salad. The palate is very dry and tannic with oily hop resins – Pioneer and Goldings –over light fruit.
There’s an unusual and interesting paraffin-like note on the swallow, leading to a resiny and peppery bitter finish with pleasant fruit and long lasting hops. Overall this is a rich and flavoursome bitter on the hoppier side of the style.
Mŵs Piws Ochr Tywyll y Mŵs
An obvious fondness for hop bitterness expresses itself across the Purple Moose range, even in dark ale Ochr Tywyll y Mŵs – Dark Side of the Moose in English. This is a deep amber-brown ale with a loose and bubbly head, again with crystal and dark crystal malts and a dash of roasted barley.
A spicy coffee aroma introduces a roasty palate with cola notes and a surprisingly hefty dose of Pioneer and Bramling Cross hops, with the sort of citric, pineapple and blackcurrant tones that are more usually found in paler summer ales.
It’s an intriguing and surprisingly successful combination that also includes a touch of powder-dry plain chocolate, and more blackcurrant on a very long finish with burnt roast flavours.
These are bottle conditioned beers, but be warned that Lawrence is planning to introduce contract-bottled filtered (though unpasteurised) versions alongside his RAIBs in future. This is in response to demand from some local restaurants whose staff and customers can’t quite get their head round the idea of a sediment yet.
I admit I have some sympathy with craft brewers considering filtering bottled ales. I’d originally planned to feature a second small Welsh RAIB producer this month, but every one of four different bottles I sampled was off.
Read more about these beers on ratebeer.com:
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/purple-moose-madogs-ale-cwrw-madog/50456/
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/purple-moose–dark-side-of-the-moose-ochr-tywyll-y-mws/53618/
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