ABV: 4%
Origin: Ystradgynlais, Powys, Cymru
Website: Currently unavailable
Bryncelyn began as a tiny brewery in the cellar of the Wern Fawr Inn at Ystalyfera in 1999 and steadily built up a reputation as one of Wales’ best small cask ale breweries — it’s since expanded to new premises in industrial workshops at Ystradgynlais. The name means Holly Hill, linking to the wordplay of the beer names which almost all contain some reference to Buddy Holly. Unsurprisingly brewery founder Will Hopton is a huge fan of the ill-fated bespectacled pop star.
At British beer festivals I head first for the dark milds, and so it was that I encountered Buddy Marvellous from the cask at the National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester last year. It’s a chestnut-brown beer with a fine yellowy head and a pronounced malty, fruity, nutty aroma with notes of toast and fruit cake. The sappy, rich and fruity palate turns slightly astringent, with chalky hops offset by kind brown sugar, and there’s a very slight touch of smoke and cinder toffee in a finish that ends with woody flavours and a controlled note of peppery hops. That subtle smoke touch at the end was a pleasant surprise and kicked this beer, a former Champion Beer of Wales, into the Top Tastings list as an impressive and enjoyable example of its kind.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/bryncelyn-buddy-marvellous/31611/
Leave a Reply