A Saturday crawl to the Beer Engine

Hello,

       whilst yesterday myself and Christingpher spent hours battling mud and rain in the Derbyshire Dales, the Saturday before I was in town around mid afternoon and in need of somewhere to go. You know, to keep warm. And fed. And maybe watered....

I started in the Three Tuns where I bumped into the lovely Dave for a hug and to show her my valentines card for Tash. I had two pints of lovely Blue Bee Transatlantic Pale ale, a nice starter to an hour or five of supping. It was good to catch up with Nathan and later Siobhan, or Jamie, and I also had a delicious bacon sandwich. I did however fancy something a bit different so headed up to the Bath Hotel.

The pub was rammed when I arrived, with a  crowd of the noisiest people on earth stood and sat in teh front bar. After buying a pint of Blackjack I sat down with Dan Ransome and Kara and friends and told them that I had come for a relaxing pint - seems they had too, but this was not happening! They soon left and I sat by myself for a while before venturing to the bar to find out of Chris and Stef and Mark were OK, before finding out that long departed Dada barman Jamie would be in town and maybe the Bth that night. Alas I couldn't hang around to see him, maybe next time.

Whilst there I tried the hops and dreams from Brew Foundation on keg -  a great example of a beer that simply does not work on keg! Instead I had a pint of Blackjack and a half of Jaywick to tide me over.

Off next to the Devonshire Cat to try the rye IPA that Nathan had told me about - it wasn't to my liking, quite jarring and not very well balanced. It was either an Intrepid or Bad Co beer if memory serves. Instead I went for the pricey Siren Liquid Mistress on keg at over £6.00 a pint. As always this was a lovely flavourful beer, which I enjoyed supping whilst watching some rugby and chatting to Rich and Kath and Tom.

I was supposed to be heading home from here but on West Street I encountered a drunk mentalist supping Oranjeboom strong from a can - whilst doing which he didn't notice the 52 and ran into the road shouting and waving his arms. He then proceeded to kick the bus shelter and shout abuse. I was waiting for the 52A so assumed he would get on the bus with me so I jumped on the 95 instead and got off at the top of the Moor. A short walk took me down to he Beer Engine.

This is probably only my third visit this year but it ended up being just as good if not better than my last visits. Mind you, initially I was disappointed by the cask offerings, mainly dark or Intrepid or Bad Co or the now identifiably bland Hops and Dreams - which I can confirm tasted mainly of dreams. I spotted the Axe Edge on cask so asked for a pint but was told that had run out. In the end I opted for a bottle of Wild Sourbeast and supped that whilst talking once again to Rich and Kath.

At this point Baz turned up and asked me which one of the 5 beers he had on offer I wanted him to put on next. I immediately recommended the Bad Seed IPA at 7.2% on keg. By the time I had finished my lovely bottle of chocolate sour the keg was ready and I straight away ordered a lovely, thick, light orangey red IPA. It was tremendous. t may have been £6.00 a pint but it was worth every penny.

After a quick chat with David and Patrick and after Rich and Kath had departed I sat with Barry for a bit and had an enjoyable catch up. Another pint of the excellent IPA was purchased as well as a bottle of a Blackjack IPA at 10.1% which I am keeping safe in the fridge. I finished the IPA, now a trifle refreshed, and was very kindly assisted in getting home.

Once more, another fantastic afternoon, evening and night of drinking in Sheffield pubs ended perfectly.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy