Food Fair, new shops and Beer

The centre of Hay was busy on Saturday, with the marquee full of delicious food. Buster Grant was there from Brecon Brewery, and as I passed by the stall, he was handing over three cases of his beer to a couple who were going to make up the three bottle beer carriers themselves, presumably for Christmas presents. He handed over eleven flat packed boxes and the handles. I'm looking forward to Knight's Beacon, "an intense Welsh stout", to be available in bottles. He had it on draught on the day.
I also got a few goodies to use as Christmas presents, including some flavoured teas in little jam jars from Llantrisant. And I got to try some chuckleberry jam, a new berry which is a combination of redcurrant, gooseberry and blackcurrant, quite curranty, but with a depth of flavour. The lady from Painscastle Preserves said that they grow the fruit, and they have two websites - www.welshfruitstocks.co.uk and www.chuckleberry.co.uk
Outside, choirs were singing - Talgarth, Aberhonddu/Brecon Male Voice Choirs and Builth Ladies' Choir while I was there.
In the Buttermarket there were crafts from Erwood Station - in the B&R last week was the sad news that the son of the man who started the craft centre would be selling up soon, but hopefully it will be taken over as a going concern. They had problems over the last year or so while the bridge was being repaired, which meant that they were cut off from the main road (and therefore potential customers) for a long time.
Meanwhile, down at the Clock Tower, Clocktower Books and Tangled Parrot were opening for the first time. When I went in, they were blowing up balloons and handing a tin of Quality Street round.

The previous day, I went up to have a look at Beer Revolution, the new bottled beer shop on the Cobbles at the Castle. The building was originally some sort of store room, so be warned - the doorway is Really Low! They've got a marvellous selection there, though - and as it was Black Friday, they had a 10% discount on black beers.
I like dark beers.
They also had some Meantime Pale Ale - and I've been to the Meantime brewery, in the buildings of Greenwich Naval College, as close as it's possible to get to the Greenwich Mean Time Line, hence the name - and also very close to where the climactic scenes of Thor 2 were filmed, and the Dark Elf spaceship lands. (My first thought when I saw the film was "I hope the brewery's all right!").
And they had Hardknott's Infrared and Continuum, from the Lake District (Hardknott was previously known only for the nearby Roman fort). I first had those beers at a tiny pub called the Rake, at the side of Borough Market in Southwark, where many of the small and independent brewers go when they're in London - Hardknott were having a tasting session that afternoon, and I think we tried everything they had to offer except the ginger beer, and got to chat with the brewer, too.