Hold the Front

Hold the front page

Aber Falls Farmers Market

Aber Falls are opening their doors this winter to invite the finest selection of Welsh producers to showcase and sell the best food and drink in the country. Aiming to make the market accessible all year round, the distillery is first hosting a festive edition, celebrating the quality of small businesses. Opened by Welsh TV presenter and celebrity Sian Lloyd, Aber Falls are hoping to connect the community to local businesses at the market to encourage the long-term loyalty between customers and nearby producers. The launch of the market also saw the presenting of the Local Hero campaign winner, Garry Frost. Garry worked relentlessly throughout lockdown volunteering for Blood Bikes Wales, supplying resources for the community over around 700 shifts, as well as providing sustenance to milk banks for premature babies. Nothing short of a legend. Selling produce at the market included Farmers preserves from Pembrokeshire, Feast Brothers with their Italian pasta dishes, and many more.

www.aberfallsdistillery.com

Victory is at Steak

Ben Roberts, 29-year-old butcher, was among seven of the finalists at this year’s Butchery WorldSkills UK competition, and stole the bronze award at the competition, where one point separated the top four candidates. On the 11th and 12th of November, this group of talented butchers headed to Reaseheath College, Nantwich, seeking victory at this prestigious event.

Roberts, who represented Wales on behalf of the Craft Butchery Team, stated, “I have wanted to compete at WorldSkills for several years but, until this year, have always struggled to dedicate the time needed to the competition to make it possible.” With 12 years of experience in the meat industry under his belt, Roberts felt he was ready to compete at WorldSkills and hopefully steal a win. Being the manager of a successful shop, he also hoped that the skills he will inevitably gain from the competition will benefit the prosperity of the business, returning the victor or not. Roberts will also be competing at the highly renowned, global World Butchers Challenge next September 2022, saying “Hopefully the skills and experience I gain from both competitions can be brought back into the business and one day allow me to run my own shop”.

Dolwen Welsh Lamb & Beef

Returning with the three stars from this year’s Great Taste Awards for their Welsh Lamb Shoulder was Dolwen Welsh Lamb & Beef. Among the top 2% of entries, Glenda and Mike Crawshaw were left “gobsmacked” by the response and praise of their product. One of only 10 products across Wales to have earned the three stars, Dolwen’s hard work has paid off after being encouraged by their customers to enter the prestigious competition. Converting to organic in 2014, the farm’s lamb, black beef and hogget are popular with their loyal customers as they know where the produce is coming from. As well as the awardwinning lamb shoulder, the Welsh Black Beef is highly admired by its customers, delivered to their doorsteps in beef boxes. The boxes include topside/silverside joint, brisket/knuckle joint, a selection of steaks, diced, braising, minced beef, sausages and burgers. Wrapped in environmentally friendly ‘woolcool’, Dolwen’s boxes are sustainable due to the reduction in plastic packaging, as well as being sourced locally, leading to the support of smaller communities.

www.dolwenlambandbeef.co.uk

Royal Welsh Winter Fair

Over the 29th and 30th of November 2021, the showground at Llanelwedd welcomed crowds from all over once again after a tumultuous couple of years for the Royal Welsh Winter Fair. With competitions, festivities and plenty of Christmas shopping opportunities, each day is also packed with 12 hours of entertainment, attractions and displays. As one of the highlights of prime stock events in Europe, this year’s Winter Fair saw the usual proceedings for its first time back since 2019. Hybu Cig Cymru were promoting sustainability at their stand, and how consumers can trust Welsh beef, lamb and pork in terms of climate friendly food purchases. With sensible precautions taken, producers enjoyed a busy couple of days and relished the opportunity to meet customers again and present some of the finest cuisine from across the country. The CEO of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, Steve Houghton described the Fair as celebrating “...everything that’s best in Wales...You can meet friends, have a chat with the politicians that are making the decisions, and you can influence change.”

In The Welsh Wind

Award-winning Ceredigion distillery ‘In the Welsh Wind’ recently held an Open Weekend, opening up to the public and inviting the community in for the first time since the start of the COVID 19 pandemic. From tours and Q&A sessions to gin blending and tasting, and the popular ‘Mystery Gin’ tombola, everyone had an interesting and very informative time, and the distillery was busy on both Saturday and Sunday. If you missed it, don’t worry - the weekend was such a success that the ‘In the Welsh Wind’ team are already planning Open Weekends for 2022! The Tailor Your Gin experience is also available as a gift voucher.

www.inthewelshwind.co.uk

Get Jerky Christmas selection box with a difference!

Struggling to find a tasty Christmas gift for the special person in your life, a family member or a friend who loves a surprise? Then look no further than Trailhead Fine Food’s Get Jerky, which put in another star performance in this year’s Great Taste Awards, and their selection of Christmas gift tins on offer for the festive season. Trailhead makes its handmade, artisan, high protein, gluten free, low fat, beef jerky snacks in eight flavours, using responsibly sourced PGI Welsh Beef and marinated using secret, unique recipes. It’s the second year running that the company’s Teriyaki Beef Jerky has won a prestigious Great Taste one star award. Recognised for the first time was Original Beef Jerky, with the judges commenting: “The texture is wonderfully traditional and delivers deep, buttery beef flavour notes, with a clever back note reminiscent of kidney,” they added. “The spice level has complexity and depth.” The Christmas selection tins make a perfect festive or birthday gift. The Original 6, is a great introduction to the award-winning jerky whilst the Gourmet Gift Tin includes three snacks each of Teriyaki and Black Garlic & Ginger, ideal for a sophisticated palette.

Finally, for those who like a bit of extra spice in their lives, there’s the Hot Ones Box, featuring two packets each of Spicy Chilli, Smoked Chipotle and fiery Devil’s Wrath. All selections come with a free gift of either a limited edition Get Jerky buff, which will keep the recipient’s neck and head warm in the outdoors this winter or a free tin of tasty Heartsease Farm sparkling presse.

www.trailheadfinefoods.co.uk

New Vision Launched for Welsh Food and Drink

Building on Wales’ recent success in the food and drink sector comes the ‘Vision for the food and drink industry from 2021’. This exciting new plan will help ensure a flourishing industry with a global recognition for greatness. Announcing these intentions at this year’s Royal Welsh Winter Fair was Lesley Griffiths, Rural Affairs Minister for North Wales, and Trefnydd.

One of the Vision’s initial objectives is to proportionately expand Wales’ turnover in the food and drink industry more than the rest of the UK. From 2014 to 2020, the country’s goal was to reach the value of £7bn within the sector, which was proudly achieved. Now, the aim is to reach £8.5bn by 2025. Judging by the past success of the nation, the future of its food and drink industry looks bright, and the goal to achieve the turnover target is seemingly within reach.

The plans also want to see an expansion in the threeyear average of hours worked, as well as an increase in a proportion of food and drink employees earning at least the Welsh Living Wage, with hopes of reaching 80% by 2025.

Accreditation is another aspect of the industry that Wales thrives in, and that evidently has significant impact on business and the economy. Each year the Vision is to increase standards such as environmental management, staff development and production within the industry. By 2025, the Welsh sector hopes to see at least six more products joining the UK GI Scheme, and 98% of businesses achieving a 5-star rating.

Highlighting Low Light Pollution Through Quality Food and Drink

Astronomy meets gastronomy in the Cambrian Mountains of Wales, as local food, drink and craft producers make the most of world-class dark skies. Local producers have created their own food, drink and craft network inspired by the night sky, and launched new branded produce, in celebration of some of the darkest skies in the world. All this comes after a report published recently confirmed that 99% of the Cambrian Mountains night sky has the best dark skies thanks to extremely low levels of light pollution.

Dà Mhìle Distillery launched their Cambrian Mountains Dark Skies Rum and have collaborated with Welsh Homestead Smokery to produce a special edition smoked bacon! Another product inspired by the night sky is the fruity Morgan’s Brew Stargazer Tea Blend and for the ultimate cosmic caffeine hit, why not try the cacao orange tasting notes of Teifi Coffee’s Dark Skies coffee. Add local milk from Llaeth Llanfair or Gwarffynnon for a milky coffee under the Milky Way! Small family-run butchers Mathews Butchers has created star-shaped local beef and lamb burgers, Radnor Preserves has created a Dark Skies Preserve and Hathren has created the Galaxy Collection of brownies. For the young or even young at heart stargazer, why not slip a bar of Sarah Bunton’s Dark Skies chocolate into your backpack and you’re set for a great night out under the stars! Cambrian Mountains-inspired local produce was officially launched, in partnership with Dŵr Cymru/ Welsh Water, in October 2021 at the Elan Valley Visitor Centre near Rhayader, Powys.

A short wait in the exhibition area allowed us a moment to appreciate a large ‘bookmark’, which wound its way around the double-height room. This offered an insight into some of the physical and cultural history of the local area. Also present was the story of Penderyn and some of the characters that were involved in the creation of the first Welsh whisky over a century ago, which began at the eponymous village in the Brecon Beacons. In keeping with the literary theme, there was a large pop-up book incorporating the actual school building.

We then met our guide for the day, who was both charming and knowledgeable, taking us first to the distilling hall. This was where the magic happened: a large expanse, complete with wonderful roof timbers. We were told in captivating detail how Penderyn is made: from the mill for crushing barley; to the mash tun (where the barley is added to hot water); into the fermenting tanks (where the barley beer is brewed ready for the still); and finally, onto the treasured copper Faraday Still. In particular, this is a unique still - producing spirit at 92% alcohol by volume (far higher than the industry standard).

Our guide told us that this means that Penderyn’s whisky is “light, fruity and flavoursome,” and we also learnt of Penderyn recently adopting the use of uniquely Peated Barley. Penderyn’s whisky starts life in ex-Bourbon casks and are then finished in a variety of barrels, including Madeira, Portwood and Sherrywood. We were lucky enough to get a nose full of some of these distinct barrel flavours.

After the main attraction, we were invited into the beautifully designed upstairs bar (fully accessible by lift). We enjoyed two whisky samples, with the offer of a miniature for designated drivers to enjoy safely at their own convenience. In all, the tour packed so much into just an hour and was a real treat to experience. The Penderyn Distillery is a wonderful addition to Llandudno and North Wales’ tourist trade - and we’ll definitely be back to school soon!

A visit to Penderyn Distillery

We at taste.blas were very excited to recently receive an invitation to the new Penderyn Distillery in Lloyd St, Llandudno. The site breathes a new lease of life into the renovated Old Board School in Lloyd Street, which was originally built back in 1881. In turn, it would be remiss to not feel excited for the distilling lessons to be learnt on our visit, as we entered the main building. All current mask protocols are followed to a tee, as you would expect on the grounds of such an institution (with hand sanitiser also freely available). The first impression of the shop is one of wonder - with all the whisky, spirit, and merchandise offerings found in a tall, airy, glass-fronted building annexed onto the back of the original school.

Russell Morris