Food?
Schmood more like...
For the purposes of his post, food has to be recognised as both solid and liquid. Mainly liquid. In fact, in terms of the "food" I sampled at the food festival, entirely liquid. Well, its a beer blog after all.
So once again, it was a warm September Saturday, and crowds were gathered in a bustling and noisy Peace Gardens, possibly concealing bottles of White Lightning or cheap sherry, enjoying the sights and smells of the Sheffield food festival. Stalls lined Fargate and Pinstone Street, and at the centre of it all, far more important than any other aspect, was the beer bar of the Sheffield Craft (coughs) Brewers Co-operative.
To get my own unique angle on the event, I was sat in the tent next to it - supporting local small businesses. How very locally engaged of me...
This year the bar features 8 breweries and staff from all of them were working behind the bar through the three days of the festival serving pints and offering advice to punters. The roll call was Abbeydale, Blue Bee, Bradfield, Brew Company, Kelham Island, Sheffield Brewing Co, White Rose and Wood Street breweries. Plenty of "real ale types" from the Sheffield scene were there but crucially, I spotted and overheard a lot of people looking to try real ale as a change or for the first time. In the spirit of the food festival, people were sampling the unusual, and as far as I could see, loving it. At £3.00 a pint regardless of strength, the beer was good value as well.
After a fortnight of tasty Pilcrow the only sensible choice for my first pint was a dark beer - alas we missed Brew Co's Oat Mocha Stout and instead plumped for a couple of pints of Blue Bee Lustin For Stout. This year for the bar they had invested in some rather more sturdy plastic glasses, meaning grabbing it with any force didn't result in you squirting quarter of a pint of beer over yourself, and the other bonus was the appearance of seating, which made this much more like a beer festival bar. Soon myself and Miss N were joined by J9 and Dave, Feasty, Gav, Gary and Clair and Mr P, and set about securing a large table in the sunshine. Cue four hours of enjoyable socialising and drinking.
Back to the beer then, and another couple of pints of Blue Bee Lustin for Stout were purchased, before we switched codes - both of us moving on to pints of the Brew Co Stateside Pale, as recommended by the brewer. As the bar was getting busier, at the same time the sun was getting hotter, but the only damage to the beers was their availability - pale ales were running out left right and centre. That said, the Lustin for Stout went very early on in our session.
Real food lovers (i.e most of the rest of our throng) wandered off at times to sample the likes of curried goat, Nepalese curry and hot roast pork sandwiches at nearby stalls, whilst we manned the table and continued our drinking. Next up were pints of Bradfield Farmers Pale, that being, as I have often mentioned, my favourite Bradfield beer, before we tried pints of the Kelham Island Knight Rider.
Eventually we got to our final festival drinks - a pint each of the Blue Bee Tangled Up IPA, before we headed down to the Rutland with Mr P to worship at the altar of the people's porter. According to the Rutland, who is a person, its the taste of Wee beefy. I am very pleased to assure you that none of my person ended up in the beer...!
So, had I been more sober and less busy am sure I would have checked out other pubs and beery delights - I hear the Beer Central shop proposed to open in the new market on the Moor have a stall, and there are, as I'm sure you know, plenty of pubs in and around the festival serving a range of real ales. The festival is on til this evening and the bar will be open for some of that time - last year I think it closed around 16.00 so you should be OK for an al-fresco pint if you get your skates on...
Cheers!
Wee beefy
Showing posts with label Bradfield Pale Ale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bradfield Pale Ale. Show all posts
Sunday, 22 September 2013
Thursday, 8 August 2013
Unfestival
Now then,
despite the c-units at www.referer.com hijacking this blog am ploughing on with info about stuff, not to mention things. The last week, for instance, has been busy but rewarding, and here are some details about why.
Last week I had two fantastic sessions with friends in Shakespeares. You've seen the Shakespeares. The first saw me supping a pint of the Liverpool Organic beer with a Higsons mat on the front. Obviously it had a name, but this info is from 8 days agpo. You've got NO chance, seriously... I moved onto a half and then more halves of the much vaunted and eagerly awaited Moor and Arbor collaboration alliance stout at 1 million per cent. Of course, I jibe, it was only 9.2%. Only.
Crucially it was a bout £2.00 a pint cheaper than the Rutland which is why I had waited so long to try it. Yeah, I could have paid over the odds, but why bother? There are many reasons why one pub charges more than another, and the Shakespeares free house status plays a part - but that doesn't excuse the absurdities of the Sheffield Tap on any grounds, to use an example.
Anyhoo, I interspersed between the double dark alliance and another beer which was on, and was dark - whatever it was it was very nice and was likely from Salamander. Always a reliable source of dark ales.
On my next visit I was on pints of the Mallinsons kjuwregtew6546984dsgfs hop beer. Yep. That's right. I have absolutely no idea what beer that was. But it was new hop, with a 3 and a b in it, and it was delicious. I had a pint and a half. Afterwards I met a friend to head for the Wellington. In here we supped a surprisingly and unusually poor Harley's Sorachi - not off, just tired. We sat in the sun enjoying it before moving onto the Ship.
The Ship featured my favourite Bradfield and indeed summer session beer Bradfield Pale at 5.0%. A few pints of this mighty quaffable pale were despatched whilst listening to an odd but eclectic mix of tunes and catching up with a fab friend. Before long however, Shakespeares beckoned once more. And, I confess, this wasn't a research night. So I have no idea what passed my lips.
Finally, on Monday I was off to Crookes with the Wee men for a meal. Our surprising choice was the Ball, previous battlefield of ill informed staff and Greedy King hate policies, to see if their new softer side, i.e. the food, was up to scratch. To my surprise it was. Prior to my arrival I had warmed up at the Closed Shop with an excellent half of Blue Bee Tangled Up, (although, perhaps a little sweeter than normal?), and a pint of the impeccable;e XT Dark Mild. Nom.
In the Ball, pints of the new Abbeydale Invocation made with hops from space, and also Bradfield Farmers Stout, were supped. WK was on the stout all night and WF tried the Copper Dragon Black Gold and a half of the Kelham Sweet Home Alabama.
The beer quality was very good and much to my surprise the food was excellent. I'd expected oven by numbers pubco (Greedy King are that, but worse lets face it) fare but it was, whether by trick or hard work, bloody nice food, and although we all went for full price dishes the 2 for..erm,....less offer featured some great meals.
So, in conclusion, that rounds off a fantastic week of mostly excellent beer and completely fabulous company, which I hope to repeat again soon.
Cheers
Wee Beefy
despite the c-units at www.referer.com hijacking this blog am ploughing on with info about stuff, not to mention things. The last week, for instance, has been busy but rewarding, and here are some details about why.
Last week I had two fantastic sessions with friends in Shakespeares. You've seen the Shakespeares. The first saw me supping a pint of the Liverpool Organic beer with a Higsons mat on the front. Obviously it had a name, but this info is from 8 days agpo. You've got NO chance, seriously... I moved onto a half and then more halves of the much vaunted and eagerly awaited Moor and Arbor collaboration alliance stout at 1 million per cent. Of course, I jibe, it was only 9.2%. Only.
Crucially it was a bout £2.00 a pint cheaper than the Rutland which is why I had waited so long to try it. Yeah, I could have paid over the odds, but why bother? There are many reasons why one pub charges more than another, and the Shakespeares free house status plays a part - but that doesn't excuse the absurdities of the Sheffield Tap on any grounds, to use an example.
Anyhoo, I interspersed between the double dark alliance and another beer which was on, and was dark - whatever it was it was very nice and was likely from Salamander. Always a reliable source of dark ales.
On my next visit I was on pints of the Mallinsons kjuwregtew6546984dsgfs hop beer. Yep. That's right. I have absolutely no idea what beer that was. But it was new hop, with a 3 and a b in it, and it was delicious. I had a pint and a half. Afterwards I met a friend to head for the Wellington. In here we supped a surprisingly and unusually poor Harley's Sorachi - not off, just tired. We sat in the sun enjoying it before moving onto the Ship.
The Ship featured my favourite Bradfield and indeed summer session beer Bradfield Pale at 5.0%. A few pints of this mighty quaffable pale were despatched whilst listening to an odd but eclectic mix of tunes and catching up with a fab friend. Before long however, Shakespeares beckoned once more. And, I confess, this wasn't a research night. So I have no idea what passed my lips.
Finally, on Monday I was off to Crookes with the Wee men for a meal. Our surprising choice was the Ball, previous battlefield of ill informed staff and Greedy King hate policies, to see if their new softer side, i.e. the food, was up to scratch. To my surprise it was. Prior to my arrival I had warmed up at the Closed Shop with an excellent half of Blue Bee Tangled Up, (although, perhaps a little sweeter than normal?), and a pint of the impeccable;e XT Dark Mild. Nom.
In the Ball, pints of the new Abbeydale Invocation made with hops from space, and also Bradfield Farmers Stout, were supped. WK was on the stout all night and WF tried the Copper Dragon Black Gold and a half of the Kelham Sweet Home Alabama.
The beer quality was very good and much to my surprise the food was excellent. I'd expected oven by numbers pubco (Greedy King are that, but worse lets face it) fare but it was, whether by trick or hard work, bloody nice food, and although we all went for full price dishes the 2 for..erm,....less offer featured some great meals.
So, in conclusion, that rounds off a fantastic week of mostly excellent beer and completely fabulous company, which I hope to repeat again soon.
Cheers
Wee Beefy
Sunday, 30 June 2013
Summer season sessions
Hello,
sitting in a great pub. Or sitting outside a great pub in the sunshine. Drinking a really good pint of beer, with good company. I was doing just that yesterday, listing the above whilst describing to Christingpher what constituted the perfect reasons, and situation, for a session. At the same time we were, sub consciously, starting one.
We'd walked in sunshine along Loxley Road to the Nags Head at Stacey Bank. There was still places to sit outside, and it seemed like a very good idea - because even if it hadn't been sunny, it was peculiarly warm in the pub. Christingpher opted for a pint of the Bradfield Wimbull-don, which he claimed head a hint of fruit flavour to it, I went for my absolute favourite Bradfield beer - Pale Ale at 5.0%. As its Bradfield Brewery's tap (perhaps not officially) the beer is remarkably good value here at £2.00 a pint, irrespective of strength.
We sat on the decking with the farm carrying on its business just yards away, with the sun beating down, and a steady but varied flow of people joining the throng - hikers, cyclists, dog walkers, people out for a countryside drive, locals having a catch up. It was inevitable that we wouldn't want to leave. Indeed, it was 5 hours, and 7 perfectly kept pints of glorious beer before we did.
Friday I'd been in Shakespeares with Wee Keefy and Jambon and friends, and once again the perfect combination of factors was in place. This time it was the Hop Studio Brew 100, a lovely citrus bitter with a hint of cluster and a surprisingly robust malt background. It was a perfect combination of a dry traditional Yorkshire bitter and something altogether more exotic. It was 5.1% and £2.90 a pint and despite not being an ideal; sessionable strength it kept me and my companions firmly entrenched in Shakespeares for hours.
The Ship at Shalesmoor is a pub you may know from my frequent write ups. It has a fantastic Tomlinsons Brewery tiled frontage and inside is a formerly multi-roomed layout, last refurbished in the 1980's. The extent to which the decor fails to match the age or outward appearance of this fine old pub is part of its charm. Its steadfastly rooted to the time it was upholstered and fitted and its reassuringly similar to the decor at the Old Heavygate in Crookes. The three well kept inexpensive real ales are the final piece in the jigsaw.
I was in chatting to JB on Friday and drinking the excellent if slightly heavy Harthill village Brewery Dark Hart, but last night, having stopped for a few hours of recuperation and eating, I managed to squeeze in a few hours supping the excellent Barlow Heath Robinson, 3.8% and £2.50 a pint, whilst chatting with Col, Sue, Fluffy, Sarah, Gone John and Lynn. I could have migrated to something stronger but the Barlow was exactly what I wanted so I stayed on that. In the end it was only the late hour and need for sleep which cut short our slaking.
So rounds up three slightly ill-advised but hugely enjoyable sessions - the perfect combination of location, company and beer. Well worth leaving the house for.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
sitting in a great pub. Or sitting outside a great pub in the sunshine. Drinking a really good pint of beer, with good company. I was doing just that yesterday, listing the above whilst describing to Christingpher what constituted the perfect reasons, and situation, for a session. At the same time we were, sub consciously, starting one.
We'd walked in sunshine along Loxley Road to the Nags Head at Stacey Bank. There was still places to sit outside, and it seemed like a very good idea - because even if it hadn't been sunny, it was peculiarly warm in the pub. Christingpher opted for a pint of the Bradfield Wimbull-don, which he claimed head a hint of fruit flavour to it, I went for my absolute favourite Bradfield beer - Pale Ale at 5.0%. As its Bradfield Brewery's tap (perhaps not officially) the beer is remarkably good value here at £2.00 a pint, irrespective of strength.
We sat on the decking with the farm carrying on its business just yards away, with the sun beating down, and a steady but varied flow of people joining the throng - hikers, cyclists, dog walkers, people out for a countryside drive, locals having a catch up. It was inevitable that we wouldn't want to leave. Indeed, it was 5 hours, and 7 perfectly kept pints of glorious beer before we did.
Friday I'd been in Shakespeares with Wee Keefy and Jambon and friends, and once again the perfect combination of factors was in place. This time it was the Hop Studio Brew 100, a lovely citrus bitter with a hint of cluster and a surprisingly robust malt background. It was a perfect combination of a dry traditional Yorkshire bitter and something altogether more exotic. It was 5.1% and £2.90 a pint and despite not being an ideal; sessionable strength it kept me and my companions firmly entrenched in Shakespeares for hours.
The Ship at Shalesmoor is a pub you may know from my frequent write ups. It has a fantastic Tomlinsons Brewery tiled frontage and inside is a formerly multi-roomed layout, last refurbished in the 1980's. The extent to which the decor fails to match the age or outward appearance of this fine old pub is part of its charm. Its steadfastly rooted to the time it was upholstered and fitted and its reassuringly similar to the decor at the Old Heavygate in Crookes. The three well kept inexpensive real ales are the final piece in the jigsaw.
I was in chatting to JB on Friday and drinking the excellent if slightly heavy Harthill village Brewery Dark Hart, but last night, having stopped for a few hours of recuperation and eating, I managed to squeeze in a few hours supping the excellent Barlow Heath Robinson, 3.8% and £2.50 a pint, whilst chatting with Col, Sue, Fluffy, Sarah, Gone John and Lynn. I could have migrated to something stronger but the Barlow was exactly what I wanted so I stayed on that. In the end it was only the late hour and need for sleep which cut short our slaking.
So rounds up three slightly ill-advised but hugely enjoyable sessions - the perfect combination of location, company and beer. Well worth leaving the house for.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
Monday, 3 June 2013
A quite marvelous evening of refreshments
Now then,
I know I might seem a little spoiled by all the pub crawls I go on. Or maybe threatened with imminent physical decline and slow, trembly, yellow death. Either way, the surfeit of ale yomps could perhaps make me a little jaded. You can, after all, have too much of a good thing, as people who've never had a good thing tend to say. Well that's their look out. I proved them, whoever they are, wrong on Friday night.
I had accrued some flexi credit for the first time in years and after a couple of stalled attempts an evening out with my dear friend Middlemarch was overdue. She was also owed a couple of years credit so we opted to leave work at 3PM and make an effort. To sit in the sun and sup beer. Albeit, we didn't actually escape til half past but it didn't matter. We were soon sat in the beer garden of the Closed Shop drinking Marstons EPA for the lady, and Blue Bee Nectar Pale for big lad.
Despite having visited the pub before, I admit I'm an infrequent visitor to the Closed Shop beer garden. Because I'm never there early enough, or if I am, its cold. Or wet. Or windy. Or all three. On Friday it was lovely and warm, and by fluke we picked the one remaining corner of sun dappled seating that the sun then deigned to shine on as the hours, and pints, went by.
Another round of the same followed, with a pork pie for me, and crisps for us both, then round three, when I'm fairly sure Middlemarch "upskilled" her palate to the Blue Bee. No better an education. This time my trip to the bar included fetching a brownie for her to enjoy in a very lady like fashion. By this time others had followed our lead, but, remembering it isn't a game, we were easily winning at sitting in the sun.
The next round saw Middlemarch on Nectar and me rather unwisely supping a pint of Blue Bee Tangled Up IPA. Soon the sun hid behind the gable end again and we sat in the table room (I haven't named them all yet) to finish, after another half of the Tangled Up for me.
After which we went for a long walk, down Commonside, and made a fairly well guessed travail diagonally to the Wellington. It was really busy arriving at around seven, and we sat outside studiously supping halves, of Harley's Galaxy Special from the on site brewery, before walking slowly to the Ship to make sure we didn't suffer the ignominy of arriving to find it closed.
"It usually opens about half seven" I announced with an air of authority as we arrived to find it absolutely rammed at precisely that time, with a near empty table of food near the entrance.There was a retirement do on, and it had clearly been in full swing for a while. Here Middlemarch had a pint of Moonshine (or maybe a half) and I a pint of the fantastic Btadfield Pale Ale, at 5.0%. Sitting down on one of the few free tables we were chatting away when Stuart from (amongst other places) DAda fame came and sat down next to us - it was his wife who was having the do....
This was a surprising co-incidence but it didn't seem out of place in the carefree flow of the day (although we'll paper over the fact that the pub had opened at 19.00 anyway, with the do having started at 16.00). However, before long Stuart had to "do the rounds" and we had to head off for a final pint at Shakespeares.
Here a minor kerfuffle with my attempting to spend money in small increments to pay by card meant Middlemarch graciously picked up the tab, and we repaired to the clock room to enjoy a pint of Welbeck Elis Dark Mild for me and a quite frankly I haven't the foggiest for Middlemarch. Afterwards, I even had time to walk her into town, grab supplies (pizza, two bottles of olive oil, and, um, sausages?) from the supermarket and have a glass of wine before bed. Well, I say bed. The settee was very comfy....
Sometimes a plan just comes together. And as a black belt in mis-haps, miscalculation and misanthropic moaning about changes and compromises, this excellent session was the perfect way to start the month, and the weekend. Thanks to Middlemarch for keeping me company, and sharing in an evening of faultless beers and fantastic pubs.
Wee Beefy
I know I might seem a little spoiled by all the pub crawls I go on. Or maybe threatened with imminent physical decline and slow, trembly, yellow death. Either way, the surfeit of ale yomps could perhaps make me a little jaded. You can, after all, have too much of a good thing, as people who've never had a good thing tend to say. Well that's their look out. I proved them, whoever they are, wrong on Friday night.
I had accrued some flexi credit for the first time in years and after a couple of stalled attempts an evening out with my dear friend Middlemarch was overdue. She was also owed a couple of years credit so we opted to leave work at 3PM and make an effort. To sit in the sun and sup beer. Albeit, we didn't actually escape til half past but it didn't matter. We were soon sat in the beer garden of the Closed Shop drinking Marstons EPA for the lady, and Blue Bee Nectar Pale for big lad.
Despite having visited the pub before, I admit I'm an infrequent visitor to the Closed Shop beer garden. Because I'm never there early enough, or if I am, its cold. Or wet. Or windy. Or all three. On Friday it was lovely and warm, and by fluke we picked the one remaining corner of sun dappled seating that the sun then deigned to shine on as the hours, and pints, went by.
Another round of the same followed, with a pork pie for me, and crisps for us both, then round three, when I'm fairly sure Middlemarch "upskilled" her palate to the Blue Bee. No better an education. This time my trip to the bar included fetching a brownie for her to enjoy in a very lady like fashion. By this time others had followed our lead, but, remembering it isn't a game, we were easily winning at sitting in the sun.
The next round saw Middlemarch on Nectar and me rather unwisely supping a pint of Blue Bee Tangled Up IPA. Soon the sun hid behind the gable end again and we sat in the table room (I haven't named them all yet) to finish, after another half of the Tangled Up for me.
After which we went for a long walk, down Commonside, and made a fairly well guessed travail diagonally to the Wellington. It was really busy arriving at around seven, and we sat outside studiously supping halves, of Harley's Galaxy Special from the on site brewery, before walking slowly to the Ship to make sure we didn't suffer the ignominy of arriving to find it closed.
"It usually opens about half seven" I announced with an air of authority as we arrived to find it absolutely rammed at precisely that time, with a near empty table of food near the entrance.There was a retirement do on, and it had clearly been in full swing for a while. Here Middlemarch had a pint of Moonshine (or maybe a half) and I a pint of the fantastic Btadfield Pale Ale, at 5.0%. Sitting down on one of the few free tables we were chatting away when Stuart from (amongst other places) DAda fame came and sat down next to us - it was his wife who was having the do....
This was a surprising co-incidence but it didn't seem out of place in the carefree flow of the day (although we'll paper over the fact that the pub had opened at 19.00 anyway, with the do having started at 16.00). However, before long Stuart had to "do the rounds" and we had to head off for a final pint at Shakespeares.
Here a minor kerfuffle with my attempting to spend money in small increments to pay by card meant Middlemarch graciously picked up the tab, and we repaired to the clock room to enjoy a pint of Welbeck Elis Dark Mild for me and a quite frankly I haven't the foggiest for Middlemarch. Afterwards, I even had time to walk her into town, grab supplies (pizza, two bottles of olive oil, and, um, sausages?) from the supermarket and have a glass of wine before bed. Well, I say bed. The settee was very comfy....
Sometimes a plan just comes together. And as a black belt in mis-haps, miscalculation and misanthropic moaning about changes and compromises, this excellent session was the perfect way to start the month, and the weekend. Thanks to Middlemarch for keeping me company, and sharing in an evening of faultless beers and fantastic pubs.
Wee Beefy
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