Up with the Joneses.

(From Off Licence News)

T he Wye Valley, a verdant, twisting, watery divide between England and Wales, has been drawing tourists for centuries. In 1798 Wordsworth composed one of his most famous poems on the hills above the abbey at Tintern, waxing lyrical about the beauty of this sylvan paradise. Since last year, there has been a new attraction to the area, drawing beer lovers from across South Wales. At the Meadow Farm Shop, on the fringe of Tintern, they've started selling bottled beers. But this is not just another range of any old beers, these are wholly Welsh beers - a colourful collection from nearly every microbrewery in the principality. The shop is run by former property restorer Edward Biggs and his wife, Tori. Edward also brews on site, having transferred the nearby Kingstone Brewery to his hillside smallholding.

You are the leading stockist for Welsh beers. How did you develop this niche? We started the farm shop here four years ago. Then, last year, some friends of ours, who owned Kingstone Brewery, commented that there was such a good choice of Welsh ales being produced but that the full selection wasn' on display anywhere. We had room in the shop and we felt it would be a nice thing to try to set up. WeAmanaged to co-ordinate with the breweries to get the different ales. It is justAfor the smaller breweries and there wasn' any point in just stocking one or two. We wanted people to see the whole range. We've probably got about 16 Adifferent breweries, with a selection of ales from each of them - about 60 Welsh real ales. How healthy is the Welsh brewing scene? Very healthy. There's more and more interest in real ales. I think people are getting a bit fed up with lager and know when they're buying a real ale that they're getting something which people have put a lot of effort into making. There's such a variety of tastes, too, and people are going back to a more traditional way of eating and drinking. There is a lot of nutrition in ale and I think that's something people are beginning to realise. How did the brewery become part of the business? Brian and Jill Austwick, who ran the brewery in Whitebrook, didn' really have enough room, so we decided to take over the brewing and the bottling. I used to help Brian with brewing, and I had been very interested in real ales for some time, so it seemed a natural progression. ...