Local breweries that lovingly create hand crafted beers are a bit of a rarity in the UK, which is why the Pipes Beer Bar Open events are so much fun, bringing the beer loving people of Cardiff together for some prime hop action. With a great setting in an open courtyard leading up to the brewery’s micro brew-house factory, an impressive list of craft beers and tasty outdoor cooked food, there a lot to love about the events.
Bar Open days are essentially monthly beer extravaganzas where Pipes throws open the doors of its brewery in Pontcanna in Cardiff and sets up shop for a day of great beer. With little marquees up to keep the festivities going no matter what the weather and a great atmosphere in general, they’re a lot of fun, especially when you factor in the guest hot food vendors, which sees it serving home-made burgers one month and fresh, oven-baked pizzas the next.
They usually take place on the first Saturday of every month, so the last one was on the 1st November 2014 and the next one should be on the 6th December. However, they occasionally throw in the odd surprise opening to keep everyone on their toes, for example they’ll be open for the Autumn home Rugby international on the 8th November, with live coverage of the Wales vs. Australia game on big screens, which should be amazing.
They’ve got a pretty big list of craft beers on the go, including their Bohemian Pilsner, Helles Lager, Bavarian Wheat Beer, Californian Pale Ale, American IPA, Spiced PUNK’N Ale, Vienna Red Lager, Smoked Lager, ALTbeer, Chocolate Wheat, Baltic Porter Espresso and Midnight IPA. Our current favourites are the Pilsner, the wheat beer, the PUNK’N Ale and the Californian Pale Ale.
If you’re thinking of making it down to one of the Pipes Brewery Bar Open events and you don’t really know Pontcanna like the back of your hand, we added in the location map below, as it’s tucked away a little opposite a Co-op, so it’s not necessarily the easiest venue to find. If you don’t necessarily want to have wait until the monthly open days to sample the beers, the good news is that you can buy bottles of their beers from the brewery itself every Saturday, and they’re starting to get stocked in a few local bottle shops, including Wine and Roses on Severn Grove and Philip Morgan on Wyndham Crescent.
They’ve also made the transition to other bars in and around Cardiff and we reckon it’s just a matter of time before they expend to Bristol, London and other big cities in the UK. It’s already available at Milgi, as well as Chapter Arts Centre, Clwb Ifor Bach, Gwdihw Bar And Cafe, Arbennig Restaurant, Miss Jones, The Lansdown Hotel and The Graviton Station.
Pipes Beer itself is the product of the Artisan Brewery Co., which started out in Cardiff in 2008 in the same garage it still operates from today. Mixing science with an artistic outlook and German principles of brewing excellence, they’ve managed to create some genuinely brilliant beers and their Bar Open events are undoubtedly the best opportunities to taste the entire range.
