Our 20th edition, wow… 5 years in publication, nearly 10,000 copies of MASHED Magazine printed! What a journey from our humble beginnings, living off grid(ish) in a 4 acre field learning to grow hops, to running a community brewery in Aberystwyth. A true life of adventure. 

But, as with all great things, it takes 2 to party. I have to thank my wife, Yohanna. I have the greatest respect for this amazing woman. She is the lead contributor, designer and editor for MASHED magazine - without her MASHED would surely not have made it to this point, or perhaps even started. Not only does she run the magazine, but also lots of what goes on behind the scenes here at Dark Farm. Yohanna - myself and our lovely brewing community think you’re epic and thank you. [Editor: blush, blush, thank you!]

Anyway that’s enough about her :) more about beer! Yes, in June we finally received all our paperwork and are now officially a Community Nano Brewery. You may ask yourself what a Community Nano Brewery is, and that’s a very good question. 

The principle concept behind the brewery is to make brewing accessible. This is why we are only using our own homebrewing equipment - hence the “nano”. 

Alongside brewing up our own beers from the recipes published in this very magazine, we’ll be inviting people from the community to brew their own. If they don’t know how, then we’ll teach them. We have group workshops and 1-2-1 lessons to get them going. But, more importantly, we welcome open-minded people to come and join us in Aberystwyth to enjoy a beer in a safe and friendly environment. Not everyone has the time, space or money to have a brew set-up at home, so we invite anyone who wants to brew a beer to share with the community, to come in and share your love for beer. 

Later this summer (Aug 31st - 1st Sep), we will be taking part in the Aberystwyth Beer & Cider Festival (www.aberbeerfest.co.uk), opening our doors for anyone to pop in, sample some brews and have a chat. We look forward to meeting you!  

Finally, a quick shout out to ALL who entered this year’s homebrew tournament. All the judges were amazed with the high standard of beer - even those who got knocked out early. The voting was always so close, and the outcome could have easily been different; but that’s the exciting nature of the knockout format. Congratulations again to David Clough with his Black IPA, Duke, which battled its way to victory. It was not an easy path. 

 We were overwhelmed with the turnout on the day, and a huge thanks to those who travelled to Aber for the event. We are already looking forward to next year’s tournament, and we’ll be sure we take on board your comments and feedback to make it even better for 2025. 

Keep brewing and we’ll hopefully see you soon!

Cheers, Gareth