The Bottle & Barrel in Aberystwyth has won the 2026 Bae Ceredigion Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) pub of the year award.

Everyone is warmly invited to the presentation of the award in the Bottle & Barrel at 7pm on Tuesday 31 March.

The process to find the winner started when every local CAMRA member was given the opportunity to vote for one pub.

The pubs with the most votes were then visited anonymously over several weeks by volunteer members to evaluate each one against CAMRA’s pub of the year criteria. The quality of the real ale is the most important single factor in the award, but members also look at how well beer is promoted and the role a pub plays in its local community as well as the atmosphere, décor and service.

“I’d like to congratulate the Bottle & Barrel for winning our pub of the year award for the first time,” said Bae Ceredigion CAMRA Chair John Gale.

“This town centre beer bar offers an ever-changing choice of cask ales and quality keg beers, many of which are produced in Wales, and real cider. The friendly bar staff are very knowledgeable about beer and they will talk customers through the different styles, offering tasters to help you find one you like.”

Zac Marsden opened the Bottle & Barrel in Cambrian Place, Aberystwyth in May 2019.

The beer range has increased since then, and the bar now offers three cask ales and twelve keg beers along with two bag-in-box ciders. The wide choice of beer styles includes IPAs, pales, stouts, porters, lagers and sours from many different breweries. The beer and cider list appears on a digital screen behind the bar and online, and you can order a flight to try four smaller measures of the cask and keg beers.