Serious Lervig

Morning,

      I have now managed to attend a further two and a half beer week events in sunny Sheffield. The first of which came on Wednesday when, having planned and then not gone to Huddersfield, I ended up out and about with Tash and went to the Lervig tap takeover at the Rutland Arms.

Chris and Dave have not long ago taken over the Rutland and in my two visits thereafter little has changed - its still kooky, still has an excellent jukebox, still sells an excellent range of beer in all formats, and am assuming the food remains excellent. The other trait continuing is it being chuffing rammed. Always the sign of a good show of ale.

Lervig, or Lervig Aktiebryggeri, are a brewery from Stavanger in Norway with a cool slightly understated logo and who produce very tasty beer indeed. I first heard about them in 2015 when me and Tash went to Indyman beercon. There were four or five of their beers on offer, none of which, of course, I can remember, but I do recall them being very good, against a fairly stunning selection fo ales from elsewhere. That they had a tap takeover at the Rutty was reason to celebrate and of course, attend.

One interesting thing is Tash drank their beers all night. Those of you who know us well will be aware that since June last year she has really struggled to drink beer. She still can't touch more than a taste of cask and limits herself when she feels OK to strong keg and canned beer. Its easy to guess that yeast is the issue, but much of the keg and canned beer I drink is unfined so that's not so straightforward. Whatever the cause, or found solution, Lervig was acceptable to her constitution... #rhyme

When we got there we had already missed the Magic Rock collab Farmhouse IPA. To be fair I would definitely have had a pint, but in its absence we both had a pint of Hop Drop sour IPA. This cloudy 6.5% (remember kids, these are just numbers) sour hoppy potation which hit the spot nicely. On keg it was pricey, in comparison to cask, and crucially for me, was slightly above the horrid pound a percent mark. That said, Norway is a very expensive place to drink in and but beer from, and as the alcohol level became higher the value improved. The beer was, as suggested, terrifically hoppy whilst rejuvinatingly sour in the aftertaste.

Up next was a half of the Sverd I Fjell Double IPA at a whopping 10.5%. A relative bargain for that strength at £7.80 a pint, this was a wonderful strong ale with plenty of hops but a balancing tropical tinge and good malt in the background. It was, worryingly, far easier to drink than its strength suggested. It was am American style IPA so am guessing had American hops but am not sure which but I thin Centennial featured.

Our final finisher was a half each of the Lervig collaboration with Hoppin Frog,  Slipping into darkness, a huge 12% imperial stout made with chocolate malt and aged in martini barrels. Sumptuous, wonderful and not that sweet after the first drink it tasted fantastic. Although this was more of a challenge than the previous beers, it was a wonderful way to end our three hour stint at the Rutland, once again as part of Sheffield beer week 2017.

It will be interesting to see if Lervig show up in Sheffield again soon and what ales are on offer - there were three or four others on sale at the takeover. I understand one or two may still be on at the Rutty as well so do pop down and have a try for yourself.

More details of Sheffield beer week 2017 events to follow. Huzaah!

Cheers

Wee Beefy