Purple Moose Brewery, Cwrw Eryri/Snowdonia Ale

Cwrw Eryri, sold in English as Snowdonia Ale, is a 3.6% ABV golden session ale from Purple Moose Brewery in Porthmadog, North Wales. The name translates directly from Welsh as "Snowdonia beer", and the beer has become the brewery's most widely drunk session offering, a light, approachable pale ale built for drinkability rather than strength or intensity of flavour.

Purple Moose Brewery, or Bragdy Mŵs Piws in Welsh, is an independent brewery based in the harbour town of Porthmadog, Gwynedd, close to the mountains that give this beer its name. The brewery brews with UK malted barley and water drawn from the Snowdonia hills, a combination that has helped it collect more than a hundred brewing awards over the years. Cwrw Eryri itself has been recognised with a Great Taste Award, and remains the beer most closely associated with the brewery's identity as a Snowdonia-based producer.

In the glass, Cwrw Eryri is a clear golden colour, brewed using a blend of pale and crystal malts with a mix of aromatic hops layered on top. The result is a refreshing, full-flavoured session beer rather than a thin or watery pale ale, with enough malt character to give it substance while keeping the ABV low enough for easy drinking. At 3.6% it sits comfortably in session beer territory, making it a beer that can be enjoyed over the course of an afternoon or evening without excessive strength.

Being a golden session ale, Cwrw Eryri pairs well with lighter food. Fish and chips, a classic pairing for Welsh coastal beers, work particularly well, as do grilled chicken, mild cheeses and simple pub-style meals. Its approachable character also makes it a reasonable introduction to Welsh craft beer for anyone more used to mainstream lagers, since it offers more flavour without demanding a shift in expectations around strength or bitterness.

Cwrw Eryri, or Snowdonia Ale, is best understood as Purple Moose Brewery's answer to the question of what a truly sessionable Welsh ale should taste like. Brewed with ingredients drawn from the surrounding landscape and finished to a Great Taste Award standard, it offers a straightforward, honest example of Welsh brewing, and a useful entry point for exploring what Snowdonia's water and malt bring to a simple golden ale.