Crafty Devil's Cellar, Cardiff

Visited 08/08/24. Small venue with front bar with servery on left hand wall that looked like it was a DIY project. Seating at the bar and a ledge along the right-hand wall. Seating area behind with a big screen on wall. Cosy but not as lovely a space as their venue in Penarth. Strong craft beer venue, with seven taps on the wall behind the servery providing their own beers only on tap. The choices were Hells Bells, a lager, Fforest Haf, a session hazy pale ale, Miker Rayer All Dayer another session pale ale, Lush, a hazy pale ale, I am the Resurrection, a hoppy amber beer, 10 years Gone, a double IPA at a lofty 8% abv and Dreaming of You, a hazy IPA. I had a pint of the Mikey Rayer, same as I had in the Penarth branch back in the winter (when weather was better than today), followed by a half of the Fforest Haf, which I really enjoyed, but I had to move on to complete the Canton set! Their brewery is over on Ninian Park Rd but I don’t think they have any on site consumption facilities there. Decent range of beers but more likely to pop into the Penarth venue when I am there, although I gather the former JDW a few doors away has now re-opened in different ownership!

This is an outlet for the nearby Crafty Devil brewery that currently just does kegs tins and bottles. It's a shop conversion with two areas. The bar is at the front on the left with some shelves of bottles and cans on the right. There is just tall furniture in here and there is a large TV above the bar. Further on through there is another room with low furnishings and a massive projector screen. There are six keg offerings and the Crafty Devil Feed my Frankenstein (£4.70) caught my eye which was a proper Black IPA. I took this through to the rear room where after a while the barman came through and asked me if I would like the TV projector screen on. I was tempted to say yes and ask if I could have BBC Parliament on but thought better of it. This isn't a true micropub but I really enjoyed the Black IPA. The TV screens are a big minus point for me.

Keg-only micro-pub in the suburb of Canton, but otherwise as you would expect from this ilk. Little in the way of decor, and a limited amount of plain furniture in the compact bar and rear room. It does, however, benefit from a small rear patio (where all the customers were on a warm afternoon). Own beers and several guests in a range of styles on offer, but went for the 'house' Mikey Rayer (£4.00).

Official site of Crafty Devil Cellar Bar & Shop - www.craftydevilbrewing.co.uk

Official site of Crafty Devil Cellar Bar & Shop - www.craftydevilbrewing.co.uk