Philip Thomas was busy talking to a friend when he heard the words "Bragdy Twt Lol" uttered on the stage at Olympia London in August. It was the Great British Beer Festival and Phil had come to the festival for its trading event.
Confused and slightly shocked, Phil looked up to the stage nearby. “They had pronounced 'Bragdy Twt Lol' perfectly,” he recalled. “It was almost like the cocktail party effect. I wasn’t listening to the stage and then suddenly I heard something.
"The person on the stage then asked: 'Is anyone here from Bragdy Twt Lol? Any of their Welsh friends?' and I said: 'It’s me, I’m here'. I walked over and it felt like it took me ages to get to the front. I was still confused as to what had happened. As I got to the stage they told me: 'You’ve won'. 'I’ve won? I asked. 'What do you mean I’ve won?'." Sign up to our food and drink newsletter here
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The brewery's Dreigiau’r Diafol, or Diablo Dragons in English, was the winner of this year’s best IPA in Great Britain. Although Phil’s beers have won a plethora of awards over the years this would be the first time for one of them to win an award outside of Wales. Rather fittingly it was also the first time the IPA category had been introduced in the annual beer festival’s competition.
The framed gold certificate now lives at the brewery, situated proudly right next to the beers that won the accolade. Since then, Phil says, they’ve had a couple of people coming round asking for his "champion beer".
Although small in size the Treforest brewery and tap room is big in character. It promises to "treat beer with respect" but also have a "bit of fun" along the way. The brewery was established in 2015 after an uncertain future in Phil’s career prompted him to quit his job and turn his lifelong passion for home brewing into a business.
The brewery owner was born and raised in Trelyn near Blackwood but had spent most of his early 20s in England before returning back to Wales around 14 years ago. “I came back here between 2009 and 2010. I'm not sure when – it was just after the global financial crash,” he said.
