Second century begins at Tapped

Hello,
       
        am not suggesting that the Tapped Brew Co is about 1900 years behind the rest of us, am just  trying not to use the word century or hundred in this post about their...ninety ninth plus one brew. I can see this will be a fruitless exercise however....

Anyway, on Tuesday the Tapped Brew Co had an event on at the Sheffield Tap where you could see the whole brewing process from start to finish in one night, and taste some of their hundredth brew. It was called 100 Cent, and used centennial hops. Do you see what they did?

Admittedly the merit in being twice as good as 50 Cent is difficult to measure but if we get over it not being called Centenary, we can appreciate the beer for its ingredients. I am led to believe it was Mojo with the change being to make it with 100% centennial hops.... but I wasn't paying attention. What am I, your information monkey?! Ge darda yere....! No, really, I sort of think it was Mojo rebadged. It was a very tasty brew whichever way you looked at it. Especially since I love centennial hops - Mallinsons single hopped centennial was my beer of the 2012 Sheffield beer festival, so I was instantly sold on the tastes we had.

Having been delayed by hospital responsibilities I was quite late arriving so we only wandered into see who and what was there at the end, and to soak up the wonderful smells that brewing creates. It was interesting seeing the next size of kit up from Blue Bee and to try and spot beer twitterers and bloggers (I didn't). If you want to know how to brew beer by the way, this barely factual post here tells you everything the author knew about brewing beer. That's as much as I'm willing to promise.

The evening was also an opportunity to sample some other excellent ales and formed one of the highlights of a week of rather good beer. The Magic Rock Chipotle Punchline, a mightily maverick but hugely satisfying chocolate chilli porter,  had just enough bite (a difficult balance to measure) and just the right amount of bitterness to work. It was also a beer that probably worked best in its Keykeg guise,  given its powerful blend of flavors. Either way it was very good.

The other notables this week were found in just two venues. DAda, as I alluded previously, had Red Willow Heartless chocolate porter featuring 85% cacoa single origin Colombian chocolate. Again, the trick here was to expertly blend the bitterness of the chocolate, the hops and the sweetness afforded by the malt, to make something palatable and eminently suppable. Heartless was just that. It was not, a Wednesday night beer. It was a beer for a long Saturday. We had a couple of pints to show willing though....

The final duo came from Shakespeares Ale and Cider House. There was a North Riding Galaxy single hop in the cellar, and I bloody love galaxy as a hop so it was nailed on that I'd have that - it was exactly what I hoped for, lovely citrus bitterness but none of the dryness that single hop beers sometimes allow to creep in with more astringent hops. This was accompanied by pints of the Hopcraft "The Beast" IPA at 6.5% and £3.30 a pint. There were plenty of hops to get your taste-buds round but it wasn't a 6.5% drink, and there were no unpleasant lingering aftertastes or other untidiness to distract you from enjoying it. As I did. Thrice.

Its often said that older and more experienced people know best. As the bairns at Tapped Brew Co roll out their 100th brew, Hopcraft are already a go-to brewery for me, and Magic Rock and Red Willow are renowned established brewers. With quality like that to aspire to, the prospects for newer breweries, and those supping their beers, look mighty fine. May things only improve!

Cheers

Wee Beefy