Hellall,
am not going to tell you about each one of the cans and bottles I have consumed whilst self isolating, as I am aware that I have already mentioned a few. I wanted instead to focus on the Fourth of July here in England, a date on which, for the most part, every public house in England which met the stringent arrangements and requirements set out poorly by the government, could once again open their doors. I would be interested to know how your own independent experiences were, dear readers - I heard a lot of talk of misbehaviour and trouble and other details of rambunctiousness in areas such as West Street in Sheffield, a place where one might go if desiring a mob rule, slavvering sump of stupidity, but also that behaviour across Sheffield had mostly been quite good. Here is what I encountered......
So whilst not celebrating independence day from 1776 in the US, I left the house about 14.15 and got straight on a bus to town. Having seen my friend JB starting his day at the Tap House on Alma Street, and realising it was near the two people whom I was meeting later, I went in there first of all. It appears that sending a text message to a new number is neither my quickest or most enjoyable practice, but once done, and inside, I viewed the cask from the past on the bar and decided to sit outside. After a small niggle with the cash machine requiring the whole card number of my non contactless card to pay, I started on a pint of Elland 1872 porter. It was perfectly served, and very tasty - and 6.5%. Nearly finished, I spotted Matty whom had spoken to Diane at the Fat Cat earlier, so I decided to nip in there next, not least because I have known her since 1994. The Tap House is an interesting venue - although they did serve a range of basic keg beers they did state that they were going to concentrate on cask. There was a choice of about five, and on this basis they were well kept. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.
I had to sign into a book to get in the Fat Cat - and saw a man I have known for years called Ian, as well as JB. I chose a hoppy pale from somewhere in London which has sadly escaped me, and went and sat at a table by myself in the beer garden. After a quick chat with Diane and a trip to the obviatorium I quickly left, meeting up with Vikkie and Matt outside and heading to a private do at Bar Stewards.....
So far behaviours had been excellent and this proved to be a feature here, and of the rest of the night. People had reserved seating and were served until 19.00 on tables outside. I started on a can of the excellent Festoon NEIPA from the excellent St Mars of the Desert, featuring grapefruit zest and excellent hops. I then moved onto a marvelous can of Chione from Alpha Delta in faraway Newcastle. It was about 7% and described as a Kveik IPA. It was cloudy yellow and absolutely delicious. As well as finally getting to meet the excellent Robert J Ward, and of course of seeing many regulars and the wonderful Al and Charlie, the main highlight of the three hours was the excellent range of beers. Next up was a can of the excellent Northern Monk OFS004, a Kveik DDH DIPA - and this was amazing. After a can of Pressure Drop Tambourine Mountain sour however my memories became unclear.....I know I ended up with tea at Vikkie and Matt's and slept there. It was then time to go out again......
Sunday I awoke with a sore neck - and a not that good head - and had a few cups of tea and an egg sandwich before we all headed out for a walk after midday to Gaard coffee hide. Due to their small size once ordered we had to sit outside, but the coffee I had - and the excellent sausage roll, were very enjoyable in the bright hot sunshine in their yard. I also saw and forgot the name of Matijas Kapstien, a name I still cannot properly spell. Finishing our treats we headed to the Gardeners Rest. Matty had been on IPAs the day before and wasn't feeling up to more beer but Vikkie joined me for a half and me a pint of 4.6% West Coast Pale ale. Sat in the beer garden having filled in a form with our details, there were a few others present, and after Vikkie had gone I got chatting to an older couple from Harthill along with a man from Hillsborough who may have been called John, and a youngster from Ull who may have been called Matty.....
Several pints of this and an Empire something beast 5% pale ale were had, along with pickled eggs from the past, before I attempted a frustrating and incredible long winded trip home on the Stagecoach 52 - a very unsatisfactory and expensive undertaking.
Finally, yesterday I traveled up to Crookes after meeting up with Mumraah, and had a couple of beers - the first was a pint of Deception from a reduced range at the otherwise ace Ball Inn, where I once again had to text my details, and the second was a half of a strong pale on keg from Shindigger in Manchester I think, at the never previously visited Early Bar at the top of School road. It was a lovely place to pop in for a quick half and very friendly - given that they initially opened about two weeks before lockdown forced them to close, I would hope that their reopening creates a surge in much needed trade and profit.
Once in town by the altered 52 route I walked to the Crow Inn on Scotland Street and started on a pint of North Tunnels of La West Coast IPA and then a half of the excellent Verdant pulp DIPA on keg from a choice of 7 or 8 keg and three hand pulled. Alas I had to quickly run to the nearest cash machine to pay for both as their new, and soon to be replaced, card reader, would not accept non contactless payments - this, and the rip off no change on a Stenchcrotch earlier in the month makes me think I may need to ask for a contactless card.....
I met up with good mate Robert J Ward and he had amongst other things a half of the 11% barrel aged sour which was immense, whilst I opted for a half of saison at 5% or thereabouts. Chatting to Ian and vicky (not certain if this is her correct spelling, but to point out hat it was not Vikkie) I also managed to get a pint of Atom stout at a similar strength on cask. We then all left for the Kelham Island Tavern and the wonderful Ed was working and saw us out to covered seating in the garden. Am fairly certain I started on North and finished with two separate halves of the excellent Buxton at 6.8%. A fabulous day of supping in all four venues.
Overall I have really enjoyed my experiences in the recently reopened pubs in fine sunny Sheffield. There were a few loud people leaving the Kelham later but overall behaviour and keeping within the rules has been perfect throughout. Lets hope that this continues as more and more pubs manage to reopen their doors whilst the awful pandemic lingers on.
Your very good health
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
Showing posts with label Gardeners Rest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gardeners Rest. Show all posts
Thursday, 9 July 2020
Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Aye Robot
"Av come in ere fr a parnt er Bansly bitter...
Aye
Aye
Aye...
Wiv me dog Gloria, aye, aye....
Aye...."
As with all writings on pub characters, I am significantly enough concerned to confirm that sine I thought of the pun in the title, I haven't seen this man, or indeed his hound, in about three months. Just like I have not seen 60s Clive, or whatever moniker I attributed to him, after my write up of his bizarre hobby of dragging his semi conscious incontinent Mother out with him, ironically, also to drink Barnsley Bitter (and then three pints of cider in half an hour), before his Mother lost interest/the will to live/control of her bowels. Am not suggesting for one moment that there is a link between my musings, strange folk, and Stancil Barnsley Bitter, am simply making an observation...
I have spotted the AR a number of times over a period of many years. I usually spot him in the Gardeners Rest, but have also encountered him in the Kelham Island Tavern and Shakespeares. He has a simultaneously intense yet distracted face, is plainly dressed, and always sups his favoured brown liquid with his dog in tow. I have never paid much attention to the hound but am fairly sure its the same one I have been seeing him with since day one, so it must be getting on a bit. He, meanwhile, is ageless. Which given how tiresome and frustrating his Aye symphony can become, is perhaps ironic.
Last year myself and friend Owen encountered him in Shakespeares. So amusing and yet maudlin was his repetition that we chose to sit outside in the cold to avoid him. However, unlike the troubling drunk with the shitting woman, he is, in fact, entirely harmless. I also heard rumours, and just that, suggesting that he lost his wife to a car accident many years ago, and has never got over it. If that is the case then I feel this once more demonstrates the succourable qualities embedded in the pub environment, although, that in itself is a subject for another post methinks...
To wear my psychological cap for a moment, I do think that the chap suffers from an affliction - mental or social - which inescapably defines the manner in which he espouses not so much this thoughts, but a carefully preplanned, perhaps oft rehearsed, sonnet of simple phrases. This of course, could be triggered by a deep loss. But as I have probably pointed out previously, I am not a psychiatrist or psychologist.....
One of the things I find odd about this affliction is that having found no response to or started a conversation with his two phrases, and possibly having given up his every ten second repetition of the word "aye" the bloke will often, without warning, let out a long and entirely singular aye, almost to remind us that he is still there. Often, when people glance over in surprise, this prompts a question to a usually younger or more nervous looking member of the pub's throng of drinkers, although this unfortunately does nothing to lessen their already palpable shyness, and the aye symphony restarts once again like a forward wound tape reel. If dogs weren't allowed in the pubs I drink in I imagine he would not be in, so it is therefore also notable that the existence of another dog is the final strand at which he swipes, in order to have a more personal symphony of communicative dysfunctionality with.
He does not stick around more than a couple of hours, usually finding that repeating his phrases and the word aye about twenty times is doing nothing to ameliorate his situation, nor to address his perhaps significant needs. He also never says goodbye - even though he already says the second half of it. And have never seen him catch a bus. If you like me are an observer, you will have seen him, am sure...
And heard the word aye.
Aye
Aye....
With regards
Beefolot.
Aye
Aye
Aye...
Wiv me dog Gloria, aye, aye....
Aye...."
As with all writings on pub characters, I am significantly enough concerned to confirm that sine I thought of the pun in the title, I haven't seen this man, or indeed his hound, in about three months. Just like I have not seen 60s Clive, or whatever moniker I attributed to him, after my write up of his bizarre hobby of dragging his semi conscious incontinent Mother out with him, ironically, also to drink Barnsley Bitter (and then three pints of cider in half an hour), before his Mother lost interest/the will to live/control of her bowels. Am not suggesting for one moment that there is a link between my musings, strange folk, and Stancil Barnsley Bitter, am simply making an observation...
I have spotted the AR a number of times over a period of many years. I usually spot him in the Gardeners Rest, but have also encountered him in the Kelham Island Tavern and Shakespeares. He has a simultaneously intense yet distracted face, is plainly dressed, and always sups his favoured brown liquid with his dog in tow. I have never paid much attention to the hound but am fairly sure its the same one I have been seeing him with since day one, so it must be getting on a bit. He, meanwhile, is ageless. Which given how tiresome and frustrating his Aye symphony can become, is perhaps ironic.
Last year myself and friend Owen encountered him in Shakespeares. So amusing and yet maudlin was his repetition that we chose to sit outside in the cold to avoid him. However, unlike the troubling drunk with the shitting woman, he is, in fact, entirely harmless. I also heard rumours, and just that, suggesting that he lost his wife to a car accident many years ago, and has never got over it. If that is the case then I feel this once more demonstrates the succourable qualities embedded in the pub environment, although, that in itself is a subject for another post methinks...
To wear my psychological cap for a moment, I do think that the chap suffers from an affliction - mental or social - which inescapably defines the manner in which he espouses not so much this thoughts, but a carefully preplanned, perhaps oft rehearsed, sonnet of simple phrases. This of course, could be triggered by a deep loss. But as I have probably pointed out previously, I am not a psychiatrist or psychologist.....
One of the things I find odd about this affliction is that having found no response to or started a conversation with his two phrases, and possibly having given up his every ten second repetition of the word "aye" the bloke will often, without warning, let out a long and entirely singular aye, almost to remind us that he is still there. Often, when people glance over in surprise, this prompts a question to a usually younger or more nervous looking member of the pub's throng of drinkers, although this unfortunately does nothing to lessen their already palpable shyness, and the aye symphony restarts once again like a forward wound tape reel. If dogs weren't allowed in the pubs I drink in I imagine he would not be in, so it is therefore also notable that the existence of another dog is the final strand at which he swipes, in order to have a more personal symphony of communicative dysfunctionality with.
He does not stick around more than a couple of hours, usually finding that repeating his phrases and the word aye about twenty times is doing nothing to ameliorate his situation, nor to address his perhaps significant needs. He also never says goodbye - even though he already says the second half of it. And have never seen him catch a bus. If you like me are an observer, you will have seen him, am sure...
And heard the word aye.
Aye
Aye....
With regards
Beefolot.
Thursday, 24 January 2019
Back in Sheffield
Urllorr,
I should point out first of all that I haven't drunk much in January - not because of Dry January - regular readers will know that I do not support the idea, even if potential, of hitting struggling pubs and bars in the pocket harder in what is already their most dismal month of the year. No, instead this was almost entirely down to a lack of funds. So here are details of just two crawls completed this month.
On the first Sunday of 2019 I went to Crookes. In the Two Sheds, Arthur two sheds Jackson (assuming at least part of that is his real name) was not there, instead it was quiet and calm and filled when I left by happy fellow Scots. I even stayed for two pints of Thornbridge Jaipur, which in comparison to other offerings was good value at £3.70 a pint.
Across the road the Punch Bowl had just one cask on, and almost no keg. The landlord had enjoyed his Christmas roster of ales but had somewhat fallen out with Greedy King, and so wasn't especially busy. He didn't do pizzas or like the oven, and didn't want ales that GK couldn't sell. Whilst I also dislike Greedy King, I stayed only for a half and left.
Down the hill the Walkley Beer Co was having no such issues. Packed when I arrived, I did get a seat on one of the tables and enjoyed some beer. In the months ahead am sure I will remember what it was. Am going to guess Pressure Drop - no, wait, it was Wiper and True IPA possibly involving the colour indigo and it was about 6.9%. It was bloody lovely.
I finished the night in Bar Stewards, where I had an excellent cask version of the Magic Rock barrel aged Bearded Lady, and in Shakespeares. where alas details are unclear.
On the second Saturday I met up with Vikkie and Matt outside my second home to walk to the Wellington. I started on a pint of Neepsend Amarillo IPA on cask from the past, and also had a half of the Siren Ryesing Tides on keg. Matt had a stout, am certain and Vikkie had a Ryesing Tides and a sour before we headed to our second stop.
This was at the Gardeners. Being virtually next door to the Cutlery Works seems to be helping trade and I had a pint of something pale which I used to be able to remember on CFTP. It was an enjoyable visit but it was definitely very busy.
Off to the Old Workshop next where I had a half of a pineapple and Yuzu IPA from a brewery that may have been in London. Claret had tried a half earlier and loved it so I knew I was making a good choice. From here we went to a packed K.I.T where I enjoyed a pork pie and a pint of Peach IPA or similar from Blue Bee. Once again the pub was very busy, which is always a good sign at this time of year. Good for Josh and Louise that all seems to be going well!
Back in Bar Stewards I had a half of Lervig Supersonic soundwave or similar, an excellent DIPA, before we finished in Shakespeares where I had a pint of keg - I know this because I took a picture. Alas I don't recall what it was of...
Sheffield continues to do very well in multiple venues at filling spaces and seats with the derrieres of discerning drinkers throughout the year. Hats off to my sunny city for once again reminding me why it is I am so lucky.
Your very best health!
Wee Beefy
I should point out first of all that I haven't drunk much in January - not because of Dry January - regular readers will know that I do not support the idea, even if potential, of hitting struggling pubs and bars in the pocket harder in what is already their most dismal month of the year. No, instead this was almost entirely down to a lack of funds. So here are details of just two crawls completed this month.
On the first Sunday of 2019 I went to Crookes. In the Two Sheds, Arthur two sheds Jackson (assuming at least part of that is his real name) was not there, instead it was quiet and calm and filled when I left by happy fellow Scots. I even stayed for two pints of Thornbridge Jaipur, which in comparison to other offerings was good value at £3.70 a pint.
Across the road the Punch Bowl had just one cask on, and almost no keg. The landlord had enjoyed his Christmas roster of ales but had somewhat fallen out with Greedy King, and so wasn't especially busy. He didn't do pizzas or like the oven, and didn't want ales that GK couldn't sell. Whilst I also dislike Greedy King, I stayed only for a half and left.
Down the hill the Walkley Beer Co was having no such issues. Packed when I arrived, I did get a seat on one of the tables and enjoyed some beer. In the months ahead am sure I will remember what it was. Am going to guess Pressure Drop - no, wait, it was Wiper and True IPA possibly involving the colour indigo and it was about 6.9%. It was bloody lovely.
I finished the night in Bar Stewards, where I had an excellent cask version of the Magic Rock barrel aged Bearded Lady, and in Shakespeares. where alas details are unclear.
On the second Saturday I met up with Vikkie and Matt outside my second home to walk to the Wellington. I started on a pint of Neepsend Amarillo IPA on cask from the past, and also had a half of the Siren Ryesing Tides on keg. Matt had a stout, am certain and Vikkie had a Ryesing Tides and a sour before we headed to our second stop.
This was at the Gardeners. Being virtually next door to the Cutlery Works seems to be helping trade and I had a pint of something pale which I used to be able to remember on CFTP. It was an enjoyable visit but it was definitely very busy.
Off to the Old Workshop next where I had a half of a pineapple and Yuzu IPA from a brewery that may have been in London. Claret had tried a half earlier and loved it so I knew I was making a good choice. From here we went to a packed K.I.T where I enjoyed a pork pie and a pint of Peach IPA or similar from Blue Bee. Once again the pub was very busy, which is always a good sign at this time of year. Good for Josh and Louise that all seems to be going well!
Back in Bar Stewards I had a half of Lervig Supersonic soundwave or similar, an excellent DIPA, before we finished in Shakespeares where I had a pint of keg - I know this because I took a picture. Alas I don't recall what it was of...
Sheffield continues to do very well in multiple venues at filling spaces and seats with the derrieres of discerning drinkers throughout the year. Hats off to my sunny city for once again reminding me why it is I am so lucky.
Your very best health!
Wee Beefy
Saturday, 31 March 2018
Week Beefy, Sheffield 2018
Hello Lazerngennulmern,
the title is an entirely fictitious event that I have invented in order to tell you about a period in which I have drunk almost every day, and which is in no way based on any recent similar sounding beer themed events in sunny Sheffield.
On Monday last I was heading home when I got a call from Matty asking if I wanted to join him and his beautiful Mother for a few drinks. Since I was only just on the bus I got off on the Wicker and walked back to meet them on Exchange Street. They had gone to the Dorothy Pax, which alas doesn't open on a Monday. Despite my suggestion that we go Tarlequin, we ended up in The Bankers, where I had some Conwy Black IPA and a can of Elvis Juice, before we went to the Dove for me to have a pint of Little Critters stout.
On Tuesday I secured some funds and went on a mini pub crawl with them. I started in Shakespeares with a half of the macchiato stout which was on cask and quite strong at about 8%. It was delicious, but I only stopped for one, and headed next to the Gardeners Rest. They still had a couple of Welsh beers on from their recent festival and I had a pint of what may have been a Cwrw Lal beer called Trog, but equally may not have been. It was only £2.00 a pint and went down very well. I had another half of that before heading to the Forest up the hill.
I only had a half in here, of a Toolmakers beer which I had misremembered as being pale and hoppy but was in fact a ruby red brown colour with little bitterness. It was only £2.70 a pint though so that was fine.
My penultimate stop was at the Wellington where I had a pint of Neepsend Pale and a pack of crisps and spent a relaxing hour sat in the room on the right supping it before heading to Bar Stewards. Here I had a half of the Wild beer of some description on cask, and a half of the excellent Verdant Pulp on keg. A fab end to a good night.
I had a break from beer on Wednesday and then met my Mum in town at dinner on payday for a coffee. Walking down to the Rutland I bumped into Mr Cain and he joined me for a few pints in there. I started on a pint of the Hop City DIPA which was dankly cloudy and fruitily hoppy, just how I like it. I tasted a sample of the To Ol dangerously close to guava which was getting a little low, but on agreeing with the title I went for a pint of the DDH IPA from Evil Twin called something like these days I like IPAs more than people. Its not going to be a remit of mine but it was a very tasty IPA with wonderfully complex bitterness in its flavour. I finished on another pint of the Hop City brfore catching up with Chris and Jodie before I left.
I stopped off for a half in the Old Queens Head - alas I can't recall what it was, and then got a taxi to Bar Stewards to pay off a tab and to have a can of the Clouidwater and Half Acre collaboration Triple IPA at 10%. It was worryinfgly easy t drink, despite its strength, and made me feel a little lightheaded.
Surprising then that I headed to Shakespeares afterwards to buy an drink. Its safe to say that as yet, I have not managed to recall what it was. I just remember sitting in the school room and chatting with Steve Lycett. I also don't remember what about!
Details of the rest of the Week Beefy week of Beefy drinking in Sheffield will follow in my next post.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
the title is an entirely fictitious event that I have invented in order to tell you about a period in which I have drunk almost every day, and which is in no way based on any recent similar sounding beer themed events in sunny Sheffield.
On Monday last I was heading home when I got a call from Matty asking if I wanted to join him and his beautiful Mother for a few drinks. Since I was only just on the bus I got off on the Wicker and walked back to meet them on Exchange Street. They had gone to the Dorothy Pax, which alas doesn't open on a Monday. Despite my suggestion that we go Tarlequin, we ended up in The Bankers, where I had some Conwy Black IPA and a can of Elvis Juice, before we went to the Dove for me to have a pint of Little Critters stout.
On Tuesday I secured some funds and went on a mini pub crawl with them. I started in Shakespeares with a half of the macchiato stout which was on cask and quite strong at about 8%. It was delicious, but I only stopped for one, and headed next to the Gardeners Rest. They still had a couple of Welsh beers on from their recent festival and I had a pint of what may have been a Cwrw Lal beer called Trog, but equally may not have been. It was only £2.00 a pint and went down very well. I had another half of that before heading to the Forest up the hill.
I only had a half in here, of a Toolmakers beer which I had misremembered as being pale and hoppy but was in fact a ruby red brown colour with little bitterness. It was only £2.70 a pint though so that was fine.
My penultimate stop was at the Wellington where I had a pint of Neepsend Pale and a pack of crisps and spent a relaxing hour sat in the room on the right supping it before heading to Bar Stewards. Here I had a half of the Wild beer of some description on cask, and a half of the excellent Verdant Pulp on keg. A fab end to a good night.
I had a break from beer on Wednesday and then met my Mum in town at dinner on payday for a coffee. Walking down to the Rutland I bumped into Mr Cain and he joined me for a few pints in there. I started on a pint of the Hop City DIPA which was dankly cloudy and fruitily hoppy, just how I like it. I tasted a sample of the To Ol dangerously close to guava which was getting a little low, but on agreeing with the title I went for a pint of the DDH IPA from Evil Twin called something like these days I like IPAs more than people. Its not going to be a remit of mine but it was a very tasty IPA with wonderfully complex bitterness in its flavour. I finished on another pint of the Hop City brfore catching up with Chris and Jodie before I left.
I stopped off for a half in the Old Queens Head - alas I can't recall what it was, and then got a taxi to Bar Stewards to pay off a tab and to have a can of the Clouidwater and Half Acre collaboration Triple IPA at 10%. It was worryinfgly easy t drink, despite its strength, and made me feel a little lightheaded.
Surprising then that I headed to Shakespeares afterwards to buy an drink. Its safe to say that as yet, I have not managed to recall what it was. I just remember sitting in the school room and chatting with Steve Lycett. I also don't remember what about!
Details of the rest of the Week Beefy week of Beefy drinking in Sheffield will follow in my next post.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
Friday, 21 July 2017
Short crawls in Sheffield
Hello,
back when I had money (laughs, then starts sobbing) I went on a few pub crawls in sunny Sheffield, mainly at the weekend, since I work, and nobody drinks on a school night. Well, apart from me, obvs. To be fair, in the good old days (pre October 2016) I used to drink virtually all the time. I digress however. Here is some more recent evidence of indulgence.
It was the first Saturday of the month and I nipped into town and to Beer Central to pick up my latest saves. Only the 6 or 7 this time, but as always some crackers amongst them. All now supped I hasten to add. I went straight from there to the Beer Engine and spoke to Tom about his new venture. I haven't seen him for a while so it was good to catch up, and having started on a pint of delicious beer that had a name I was bought another - in this case two halves, one of Lost Industry cherry and banana sour and Alphabet A to the K oatmeal pale (and Friendache, where I got that form tells me I had a pint of Toxteth IPA from Mad Hatter - proving why I post so many pics of beers I have drunk!). The sour was on especially impeccable form.
All three beers were as ever in perfect condition and I quaffed them outside in bright sunshine, before heading up to Hop Hideout for more sitting outside, this time supping something hoppy from To ol, and possibly something else. Or neither. I also bumped into Ron Patterson who is a beer historian and told him all about the Royal Cottage. He ordered food. That, is a fact.
I headed into town and then met up with Tash outside the Sheffield Tap. Here I had a pint, definitely of beer, and she had a cider. Or wine. We bumped into Katherine and I left them two to catch up and met them in the Old Queens Head, where I had a pint of the most local ale available. I also had half a bottle of wine. This may explain later "forgetfulness" in a style more apparent than normal.
From here I headed to meet Scott and Col and Sue and others in the KIT for Col's birthday drinks. It wasn't until Sunday that I figured out what I had, and why that had made me forget everything I had done in Shakespeares afterwards. I had a pint of the Brodies DIPA at 9%. This was not my most sensible move. It was good catching up with Col and Sue and Fluffy though.
Another trundle came the next day - having somehow done overtime I met Matty in the Shakespeares and bought a pint of something on cask am sure. We sat in the sunshine once again catching up before heading for the Kelham Island Tavern and having two thirds each of the Brodies - this was a clearly very strong tasting as well as strong gravity beer which explained memory loss on Saturday quite well. We finished this short and quick crawl in the Riverside where we had pints of a pale ale. This is probably the least revealing crawl I have ever written up. Luckily I can remember much more about the next.
A Sunday post overtime drink was arranged with Miss Middlemarch, but alas she cancelled as I was heading to Shakespeares so it seemed rude not to attend anyway. I sat in the sunshine once again, enjoying a frankly excellent pint of Kernel, although am not sure which, but it was on fine form. All too quickly however I had supped it and I returned for a further half before moving on.
My next stop was the Gardeners Rest. I haven't been in since Pat and Eddie sold it to the community and all that seems to have changed is there are now slightly fewer beers on. To be honest, I only ever seemed to go to the Gardeners when it was quiet, and with them being new owners as well this seems like a sensible move. They also appear to have a card machine, which am not sure was there before. Ironic, now that I only have once card....
I sat outside once again, talking to a guy about the local wildlife he had seen and supping a pint of Elusive, or similar sounding pale ale which was on great form. Its good to see the Gardeners still drawing in customers and serving excellent beer.
Just up the hill is the Forest, on Rutland Road. It was busy inside but nobody was sat outside - although there is now only one table to do so at. I got a pint of the Toolmakers Phillips screwdriver, some free crisps which were much appreciated, and went and sat outside where I was joined by a couple of locals who initially talked about holidaying abroad. It was lovely and hot and a fantastic place to sit, so I nipped in and got another half before heading off.
My final stop was at The Old Workshop. As I mentioned in my post yesterday I managed to sit outside, and I did indeed people watch. I got a fantastic pint of Kernel Citra IPA and supped that in hot sunshine watching the crowds arrive. I got chatting to a guy called Nick from Middlesborough who asked me to look after his pit bull, the Duke - named after a John Wayne character and film, whilst he got a drink. We got chatting to a group who came in and he offered to buy me a drink so I asked for a half of the Kernel but somehow the message got mixed up and he bought me a pint. The dog enjoyed the water in the bowl at least. Many thanks for the pint. I slowly finished this whilst the sun went behind the factories before heading home. A fine finisher.
I may have spent a little too much on the first and last but I enjoyed every one of them, and went to some cracking boozers en route. Once more, demonstrating the range of venues and beer menus available to the slakers of finest sunny Sheffield.
Huzaah!
Wee Beefy
back when I had money (laughs, then starts sobbing) I went on a few pub crawls in sunny Sheffield, mainly at the weekend, since I work, and nobody drinks on a school night. Well, apart from me, obvs. To be fair, in the good old days (pre October 2016) I used to drink virtually all the time. I digress however. Here is some more recent evidence of indulgence.
It was the first Saturday of the month and I nipped into town and to Beer Central to pick up my latest saves. Only the 6 or 7 this time, but as always some crackers amongst them. All now supped I hasten to add. I went straight from there to the Beer Engine and spoke to Tom about his new venture. I haven't seen him for a while so it was good to catch up, and having started on a pint of delicious beer that had a name I was bought another - in this case two halves, one of Lost Industry cherry and banana sour and Alphabet A to the K oatmeal pale (and Friendache, where I got that form tells me I had a pint of Toxteth IPA from Mad Hatter - proving why I post so many pics of beers I have drunk!). The sour was on especially impeccable form.
All three beers were as ever in perfect condition and I quaffed them outside in bright sunshine, before heading up to Hop Hideout for more sitting outside, this time supping something hoppy from To ol, and possibly something else. Or neither. I also bumped into Ron Patterson who is a beer historian and told him all about the Royal Cottage. He ordered food. That, is a fact.
I headed into town and then met up with Tash outside the Sheffield Tap. Here I had a pint, definitely of beer, and she had a cider. Or wine. We bumped into Katherine and I left them two to catch up and met them in the Old Queens Head, where I had a pint of the most local ale available. I also had half a bottle of wine. This may explain later "forgetfulness" in a style more apparent than normal.
From here I headed to meet Scott and Col and Sue and others in the KIT for Col's birthday drinks. It wasn't until Sunday that I figured out what I had, and why that had made me forget everything I had done in Shakespeares afterwards. I had a pint of the Brodies DIPA at 9%. This was not my most sensible move. It was good catching up with Col and Sue and Fluffy though.
Another trundle came the next day - having somehow done overtime I met Matty in the Shakespeares and bought a pint of something on cask am sure. We sat in the sunshine once again catching up before heading for the Kelham Island Tavern and having two thirds each of the Brodies - this was a clearly very strong tasting as well as strong gravity beer which explained memory loss on Saturday quite well. We finished this short and quick crawl in the Riverside where we had pints of a pale ale. This is probably the least revealing crawl I have ever written up. Luckily I can remember much more about the next.
A Sunday post overtime drink was arranged with Miss Middlemarch, but alas she cancelled as I was heading to Shakespeares so it seemed rude not to attend anyway. I sat in the sunshine once again, enjoying a frankly excellent pint of Kernel, although am not sure which, but it was on fine form. All too quickly however I had supped it and I returned for a further half before moving on.
My next stop was the Gardeners Rest. I haven't been in since Pat and Eddie sold it to the community and all that seems to have changed is there are now slightly fewer beers on. To be honest, I only ever seemed to go to the Gardeners when it was quiet, and with them being new owners as well this seems like a sensible move. They also appear to have a card machine, which am not sure was there before. Ironic, now that I only have once card....
I sat outside once again, talking to a guy about the local wildlife he had seen and supping a pint of Elusive, or similar sounding pale ale which was on great form. Its good to see the Gardeners still drawing in customers and serving excellent beer.
Just up the hill is the Forest, on Rutland Road. It was busy inside but nobody was sat outside - although there is now only one table to do so at. I got a pint of the Toolmakers Phillips screwdriver, some free crisps which were much appreciated, and went and sat outside where I was joined by a couple of locals who initially talked about holidaying abroad. It was lovely and hot and a fantastic place to sit, so I nipped in and got another half before heading off.
My final stop was at The Old Workshop. As I mentioned in my post yesterday I managed to sit outside, and I did indeed people watch. I got a fantastic pint of Kernel Citra IPA and supped that in hot sunshine watching the crowds arrive. I got chatting to a guy called Nick from Middlesborough who asked me to look after his pit bull, the Duke - named after a John Wayne character and film, whilst he got a drink. We got chatting to a group who came in and he offered to buy me a drink so I asked for a half of the Kernel but somehow the message got mixed up and he bought me a pint. The dog enjoyed the water in the bowl at least. Many thanks for the pint. I slowly finished this whilst the sun went behind the factories before heading home. A fine finisher.
I may have spent a little too much on the first and last but I enjoyed every one of them, and went to some cracking boozers en route. Once more, demonstrating the range of venues and beer menus available to the slakers of finest sunny Sheffield.
Huzaah!
Wee Beefy
Sunday, 20 September 2015
Two weeks of supping in Sheffield
Hellall,
as my bank account clearly attests, the last two weeks have been quite refreshing. There have of course been events to attend, but mostly me and Tash have split our time around different pubs and sampled numerous excellent beers in doing so. Here are some details of that, along with news of some reopenings.
We start, as always, in Shakespeares. I recently had several pints f the excellent Buxton Axe Edge at 6.9%, sold on cask at £3.90 a pint. This is whopping IPA with bags of hop flavour but is well balanced and easy, too easy, to drink. Last night I was in with Tash supping the Steel City collaboration strong ale - Hoppy Barley Wine. Its 9.4% and actually very well balanced - tons of hops but lots of malt in the background help to keep the beer and the tastes together nicely. The collaboration is between Steel City, Raw and Waen breweries, and costs, reasonably for it's strength, £4.80 a pint. Myself and Tash had a pint last night, whilst warding off the attentions of a drunken racist who was determined to share his absurd and frankly pointless prejudiced opinions with us.
We also had a pint of Mallinsons Baton Rouge red ale, and some delicious Buxton Far Skyline Berliner Weiss. I was in the night before as well with Matty, and sampled the keg saison Zinnebier and the Baton Rouge again, as well as the Citra on keg and the Alechemy Koala T. a bizarre but refreshing orange and lemon pale ale. Once again, Shakespeares serves up a wide range of different beer styles.
A couple of trips to the Bath Hotel recently saw us on keg once again, the last weekend we played cards against humanity there with Matty and "Rando" (who won, by being funnier than us by our pulling cards at random from the answers pile) and we supped pints of the Wiper and True Ella, which I may have previously told you is a fantastic beer. On our next visit we tried the Belgian version of Halcyon, also on keg, and possibly stronger - I can't say I like it as much as normal Halcyon, but it was worth trying, along with a half of Melba IPA on cask.
Last night I was in the Walkley Beer Co and was shocked to find all 3 casks and 1 keg still available! I had a delicious pint of Arbor NZ Bomb with Dan and Rob who I'd seen at the Punchbowl reopening, along with an exceptional half of Kernel Mosaic on keg - bursting with flavour and perfectly showcasing the flavours of Mosaic hops.
Two recent visits to the Andrew Inns Three Tuns have seen impeccable ale choices - the first time I had a pint of the 3.9% Comet pale ale from Blue Bee which was a dead heat choice with Mallinsons Citra - I chose the Comet as its a less regularly encountered hop. It was punchy and bitter and very refreshing. Last night I had a fantastic pint, as did Tash of the excellent Return of the Geek Mosaic Pale at 6.0%, also from Blue Bee. This was bursting with flavours, but was a very different beer from the Kernel earlier, not last because it was on cask.
Prior to this me and Tash popped in the Church House. Now no longer maligned by the absurd marketing segmentation of Scottish and Newcastle (as was) the pub has carved itself a niche as a rock pub, with bands and DJ's and, alas karaoke. I was disappointed to find so many pump clips turned round, especially on a Saturday night, but in fact the Robisons Trooper was on good form. I had a pint and a half and Tash two double whisky and coke whilst we listened to some long unheard tunes.
We recently visited the Gardeners Rest after a walk and had pints of the Sheffield Brewing Company Stonecutter IPA, as well as a red ale from Pin up Brewing. We sat in the beer garden initially, listening to the pagoda amplify our voices as we raised our heads - a logical but surprising event!
News now of upcoming events. Firstly, signs are that work is well underway at the Ship on Shalesmoor. No idea of a reopening date yet but the company behind it is Artisan beers - their website suggests it will retain its name as the Ship but operate as the Artisan Tap. Information is hard to come by apart from it appears to have been bought by them from Greedy King - since I doubt anyone would be able to arrange the deal the previous landlord did with them, this is potentially a positive development. If anyone has been to one of their ther three pubs in the UK, please let me know.
Also, on the 22nd September the Red House on Solly street is set to reopen - it promises to sell local real ales and craft beers (whatever that means!). I first went in the Red House in 1993 and drank Wards Bitter on cask and had something to eat at lunch. It was a friendly, paneled local pub then, but gradually changed into more of a venue, with, if memory serves, pretty terrible beer! It will be good to see some decent beer on, but am not sure what will happen to the facilities for bands to play.
More info on the above two openings and other news, as soon as I get it.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
as my bank account clearly attests, the last two weeks have been quite refreshing. There have of course been events to attend, but mostly me and Tash have split our time around different pubs and sampled numerous excellent beers in doing so. Here are some details of that, along with news of some reopenings.
We start, as always, in Shakespeares. I recently had several pints f the excellent Buxton Axe Edge at 6.9%, sold on cask at £3.90 a pint. This is whopping IPA with bags of hop flavour but is well balanced and easy, too easy, to drink. Last night I was in with Tash supping the Steel City collaboration strong ale - Hoppy Barley Wine. Its 9.4% and actually very well balanced - tons of hops but lots of malt in the background help to keep the beer and the tastes together nicely. The collaboration is between Steel City, Raw and Waen breweries, and costs, reasonably for it's strength, £4.80 a pint. Myself and Tash had a pint last night, whilst warding off the attentions of a drunken racist who was determined to share his absurd and frankly pointless prejudiced opinions with us.
We also had a pint of Mallinsons Baton Rouge red ale, and some delicious Buxton Far Skyline Berliner Weiss. I was in the night before as well with Matty, and sampled the keg saison Zinnebier and the Baton Rouge again, as well as the Citra on keg and the Alechemy Koala T. a bizarre but refreshing orange and lemon pale ale. Once again, Shakespeares serves up a wide range of different beer styles.
A couple of trips to the Bath Hotel recently saw us on keg once again, the last weekend we played cards against humanity there with Matty and "Rando" (who won, by being funnier than us by our pulling cards at random from the answers pile) and we supped pints of the Wiper and True Ella, which I may have previously told you is a fantastic beer. On our next visit we tried the Belgian version of Halcyon, also on keg, and possibly stronger - I can't say I like it as much as normal Halcyon, but it was worth trying, along with a half of Melba IPA on cask.
Last night I was in the Walkley Beer Co and was shocked to find all 3 casks and 1 keg still available! I had a delicious pint of Arbor NZ Bomb with Dan and Rob who I'd seen at the Punchbowl reopening, along with an exceptional half of Kernel Mosaic on keg - bursting with flavour and perfectly showcasing the flavours of Mosaic hops.
Two recent visits to the Andrew Inns Three Tuns have seen impeccable ale choices - the first time I had a pint of the 3.9% Comet pale ale from Blue Bee which was a dead heat choice with Mallinsons Citra - I chose the Comet as its a less regularly encountered hop. It was punchy and bitter and very refreshing. Last night I had a fantastic pint, as did Tash of the excellent Return of the Geek Mosaic Pale at 6.0%, also from Blue Bee. This was bursting with flavours, but was a very different beer from the Kernel earlier, not last because it was on cask.
Prior to this me and Tash popped in the Church House. Now no longer maligned by the absurd marketing segmentation of Scottish and Newcastle (as was) the pub has carved itself a niche as a rock pub, with bands and DJ's and, alas karaoke. I was disappointed to find so many pump clips turned round, especially on a Saturday night, but in fact the Robisons Trooper was on good form. I had a pint and a half and Tash two double whisky and coke whilst we listened to some long unheard tunes.
We recently visited the Gardeners Rest after a walk and had pints of the Sheffield Brewing Company Stonecutter IPA, as well as a red ale from Pin up Brewing. We sat in the beer garden initially, listening to the pagoda amplify our voices as we raised our heads - a logical but surprising event!
News now of upcoming events. Firstly, signs are that work is well underway at the Ship on Shalesmoor. No idea of a reopening date yet but the company behind it is Artisan beers - their website suggests it will retain its name as the Ship but operate as the Artisan Tap. Information is hard to come by apart from it appears to have been bought by them from Greedy King - since I doubt anyone would be able to arrange the deal the previous landlord did with them, this is potentially a positive development. If anyone has been to one of their ther three pubs in the UK, please let me know.
Also, on the 22nd September the Red House on Solly street is set to reopen - it promises to sell local real ales and craft beers (whatever that means!). I first went in the Red House in 1993 and drank Wards Bitter on cask and had something to eat at lunch. It was a friendly, paneled local pub then, but gradually changed into more of a venue, with, if memory serves, pretty terrible beer! It will be good to see some decent beer on, but am not sure what will happen to the facilities for bands to play.
More info on the above two openings and other news, as soon as I get it.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
Friday, 12 September 2014
Ale for the homlidays
Hello again,
I've been orf work this week and have used my time constructively. I....um...went to the pub. Oh yes. Lots of times. And enjoyed it very much. Since my note taking and long term memory are equally poor, I thought I'd fill you in on what I got up to so far.
Monday saw me and Miss N going shopping and drinking, in town and Walkley. Miss N started her shopping at the Dove and Rainbow and bought a fetching hat, whilst I started my wander in Walkley at the Florist. Subtle internal changes have taken place since I last ventured in, namely the decor, and Bradfield Brown Cow was the only real ale. It was on decent form and £1.25 a half. Sat in the left hand bay I could see the now refurbished "Crown House" across the road, now almost unrecognisable as a pub and as previously mentioned, sharing its fate with other Walkley locals. Good to see then, customers coming in the Florist straight from work.
Along South Road the Walkley Beer Co premises weren't open but still set up to be a temporary pub - I hear they were open August Bank Holiday. There was talk of them opening the building permanently as an off licence and then getting a temporary bar license for events and bank holidays, but am unsure what the situation is. I understand you can only get about 10 such licences a year, and with no further bank holidays til Christmas it would be a shame to wait so long to visit the pub/shop again.
Next up I popped into the Rose House. Three handpumps in here and one beer on, a rather odd tasting Moorhouses First Cut which I recall was £1.50 a half. It was fairly busy, and although not noticeably advertising the real ales, its a good sign that they are still selling them.
Into Commonside next and I opted not to visit the Springvale and instead went to the Closed Shop which was also, for a Monday late afternoon, quite busy. I had an excellent pint of Brass Castle Cliffhanger at £2.90 a pint and went and sat in the last of the sunshine in the beer garden. Having eaten an entire packet of chorizo from the excellent Beeches shop in Walkley I opted not to eat here, apart from some expensive zebra jerky. Instead I opted to "eat" the Brass Castle Sunshine, which, despite its light colour, you virtually needed a spoon to get it down your throat. Afterwards I nipped into the Hallamshire to see the man of Ash and sup a very enjoyable half of Thornbridge desert sessions rye IPA at 5.7%, which was probably £1.75 a half - but I didn't write that down.
I walked into Broomhill next and had a tasty smoked chicken and potato salad and half a 4.2% Summer Wine Brewery Union pale at the York. The salad was delicate and delicious but I probably would have benefited more from a bag of chips! I also visited the Broomhill Tavern for the first time this decade and had a half of Kelham Island Easy Rider at £1.50, from a range of 2 or 3. Its difficult to get the feel of the place on such a short visit but I noticed they took the menus off the tables at 18.50....
Off into town I stopped in the Wick at Both Ends for half of the Blackjack Trial 13 at £1.60, which was an odd but tasty beer, before going to meet Miss N and drink a pint and a half of Blue Bee Lustin for Stout in the Dove and Rainbow. Here I met Mr Slaughter and we persuaded him to join us for a last one in Shakespeares before he walked home to Stannington (!) and we headed home. I can't remember what we had but Mr S had a pint of the Revolutions demo wheat beer which was very nice, as we discovered on Wednesday....
Which is when I met Miss N outside work and we walked in the hazy evening sunshine to the Gardeners Rest. I had a pint of Fyne Ales Jarl and Miss N the Sheffield Brew Co Galena, which was stronger than the Jarl but about 80p a pint cheaper. We sat outside watching the bird life on the river and letting it get dark and the triffid like lamps light up, before we opted for more beer. This time I had a half of Kia Kaha from the Crwr Tal community brewery, and a Seven Brothers brewery IPA as well as another pint of Jarl, which came to £6.16 and was shared between us both.
It was now dark and we walked round to the Ship for a pint each of the Kelham Pale Rider which, at a guess, was likely £2.80 a pint and was as always, on top form. We then repaired to Shakespeares to drink some Hand Drawn Monkey beers, Tynebank Mosaic and the Raspberry Wheat beer from Revolutions, before realising that it was too late to get a bus and ordering a taxi home.
So, the first three days have been a success with some excellent beer in a number of equally excellent Sheffield boozers. Tomorrow, I will tell you all about yesterday and today as well.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
I've been orf work this week and have used my time constructively. I....um...went to the pub. Oh yes. Lots of times. And enjoyed it very much. Since my note taking and long term memory are equally poor, I thought I'd fill you in on what I got up to so far.
Monday saw me and Miss N going shopping and drinking, in town and Walkley. Miss N started her shopping at the Dove and Rainbow and bought a fetching hat, whilst I started my wander in Walkley at the Florist. Subtle internal changes have taken place since I last ventured in, namely the decor, and Bradfield Brown Cow was the only real ale. It was on decent form and £1.25 a half. Sat in the left hand bay I could see the now refurbished "Crown House" across the road, now almost unrecognisable as a pub and as previously mentioned, sharing its fate with other Walkley locals. Good to see then, customers coming in the Florist straight from work.
Along South Road the Walkley Beer Co premises weren't open but still set up to be a temporary pub - I hear they were open August Bank Holiday. There was talk of them opening the building permanently as an off licence and then getting a temporary bar license for events and bank holidays, but am unsure what the situation is. I understand you can only get about 10 such licences a year, and with no further bank holidays til Christmas it would be a shame to wait so long to visit the pub/shop again.
Next up I popped into the Rose House. Three handpumps in here and one beer on, a rather odd tasting Moorhouses First Cut which I recall was £1.50 a half. It was fairly busy, and although not noticeably advertising the real ales, its a good sign that they are still selling them.
Into Commonside next and I opted not to visit the Springvale and instead went to the Closed Shop which was also, for a Monday late afternoon, quite busy. I had an excellent pint of Brass Castle Cliffhanger at £2.90 a pint and went and sat in the last of the sunshine in the beer garden. Having eaten an entire packet of chorizo from the excellent Beeches shop in Walkley I opted not to eat here, apart from some expensive zebra jerky. Instead I opted to "eat" the Brass Castle Sunshine, which, despite its light colour, you virtually needed a spoon to get it down your throat. Afterwards I nipped into the Hallamshire to see the man of Ash and sup a very enjoyable half of Thornbridge desert sessions rye IPA at 5.7%, which was probably £1.75 a half - but I didn't write that down.
I walked into Broomhill next and had a tasty smoked chicken and potato salad and half a 4.2% Summer Wine Brewery Union pale at the York. The salad was delicate and delicious but I probably would have benefited more from a bag of chips! I also visited the Broomhill Tavern for the first time this decade and had a half of Kelham Island Easy Rider at £1.50, from a range of 2 or 3. Its difficult to get the feel of the place on such a short visit but I noticed they took the menus off the tables at 18.50....
Off into town I stopped in the Wick at Both Ends for half of the Blackjack Trial 13 at £1.60, which was an odd but tasty beer, before going to meet Miss N and drink a pint and a half of Blue Bee Lustin for Stout in the Dove and Rainbow. Here I met Mr Slaughter and we persuaded him to join us for a last one in Shakespeares before he walked home to Stannington (!) and we headed home. I can't remember what we had but Mr S had a pint of the Revolutions demo wheat beer which was very nice, as we discovered on Wednesday....
Which is when I met Miss N outside work and we walked in the hazy evening sunshine to the Gardeners Rest. I had a pint of Fyne Ales Jarl and Miss N the Sheffield Brew Co Galena, which was stronger than the Jarl but about 80p a pint cheaper. We sat outside watching the bird life on the river and letting it get dark and the triffid like lamps light up, before we opted for more beer. This time I had a half of Kia Kaha from the Crwr Tal community brewery, and a Seven Brothers brewery IPA as well as another pint of Jarl, which came to £6.16 and was shared between us both.
It was now dark and we walked round to the Ship for a pint each of the Kelham Pale Rider which, at a guess, was likely £2.80 a pint and was as always, on top form. We then repaired to Shakespeares to drink some Hand Drawn Monkey beers, Tynebank Mosaic and the Raspberry Wheat beer from Revolutions, before realising that it was too late to get a bus and ordering a taxi home.
So, the first three days have been a success with some excellent beer in a number of equally excellent Sheffield boozers. Tomorrow, I will tell you all about yesterday and today as well.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Wee Beefy's beer bites June 2013.
Oh aye.
last week the Three Valleys Festival, that signpost for casual violence and pseudo EDL allegiance in North East Derbyshire (only pulling yer legs three valleys organisers...) interrupted an otherwise normal but no less enjoyable week of drinking, thus:
Thursday started with a pint of Blue Bee Light Blue at Shakespeares after a late escape form work. This went down rather well, as did chatting with Andy M and Dave U from the world of beer. I followed this with a pint of a Steel City Brewing beer that I have no intention of remembering. Under duress, Dave U agreed it could be called Arthur. I prefer Douselb macken alle honig und devouren sie wollen die fliegen. Catchy.
So that was a nice Black PIA that isn't (or something), and I supped that along with a couple of much needed pork pies and a pint of Little Valley Dark Mild. A very palatable and well rounded mild. I also got chatting to Keith, whom I met when the legend in his own lycra Ron Clayton was in talking about the Robin Hood. It's goo to catch up with someone who not only remembers some of the older hostelries in Sheff, but is also interested enough to talk about them.
I had a half of Toolmakers Easy Driver and an excellent half of Black Iris Peregrine Pale next, the latter being a very palatable and well balanced pale beer with a subtle but acceptable hop kick. I then finished on the two best halves of the night - Raw Centennial and Great Heck Andromeda, both excellent well balanced pale, hoppy, beers.
Next up was the Bath Hotel. I say next - last up is the truth. In here I met a man from the US of A who despite the minute size of his country, didn't seem to know anyone from the bone study (stop sniggering now kids) course I chatted on Tuesday with. On the bar were beers (investigative journalism is clearly my forte) of which I had a pint of the Riverhead Floating Light and Thornbridge Chiron. Yum.
Friday saw me and Mr Dave H from the world of music traipse to the Gardeners Rest. Whilst it would seem more mature and constructive to voice my concerns with the staff directly I'll mump about it on here instead. I do find, unfortunately, that rather more significantly poor real ales are being put on at the Gardeners. A case in point was the Big Hand brewery Dark Anto (? - no info online, but definitely Big hand....) - reminiscent of the dire full mash Whitbread oddities that used to grace their Brewpubs in the dark days of the nineties. It was seriously debatable if it was drinkable, but in the end we decided it was just poor and ploughed on through to select another. This time the Cromarty Atlantic was poor so I had a pint of Sheffield Blanco Blonde which was very nice.
Its a concern because I love the Gardeners but now I think I need a taste of a beer every time before I buy. I don't know what the explanation is for this sudden malaise but it's not a good state of affairs.
Anyhoo, a quick run round to the Ship followed where the Pale Rider was not only £3.00 a pint but also in excellent condition. Alas Dave was off to meet a companion so I ordered us a taxi and arranged to meet in the Bath Hotel. Here, a pint of Dark Star Darkness and a couple of halves of the Thornbridge Chiron finished things off nicely.
A final note concerns the Three Valleys Festival. According to the Facebook (you've seen the Facebook) another smaller festival of pubs further down/lower down (?) the valleys called the Ridge is planned for August. I sincerely hope this can all go ahead but I think so soon after the trouble and idiot quota at the last one it seems optimistic to be planning another. I do however wish them the very best with any add on celebratory do. Assuming am not in hot climes I will, of course, attend.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy.
last week the Three Valleys Festival, that signpost for casual violence and pseudo EDL allegiance in North East Derbyshire (only pulling yer legs three valleys organisers...) interrupted an otherwise normal but no less enjoyable week of drinking, thus:
Thursday started with a pint of Blue Bee Light Blue at Shakespeares after a late escape form work. This went down rather well, as did chatting with Andy M and Dave U from the world of beer. I followed this with a pint of a Steel City Brewing beer that I have no intention of remembering. Under duress, Dave U agreed it could be called Arthur. I prefer Douselb macken alle honig und devouren sie wollen die fliegen. Catchy.
So that was a nice Black PIA that isn't (or something), and I supped that along with a couple of much needed pork pies and a pint of Little Valley Dark Mild. A very palatable and well rounded mild. I also got chatting to Keith, whom I met when the legend in his own lycra Ron Clayton was in talking about the Robin Hood. It's goo to catch up with someone who not only remembers some of the older hostelries in Sheff, but is also interested enough to talk about them.
I had a half of Toolmakers Easy Driver and an excellent half of Black Iris Peregrine Pale next, the latter being a very palatable and well balanced pale beer with a subtle but acceptable hop kick. I then finished on the two best halves of the night - Raw Centennial and Great Heck Andromeda, both excellent well balanced pale, hoppy, beers.
Next up was the Bath Hotel. I say next - last up is the truth. In here I met a man from the US of A who despite the minute size of his country, didn't seem to know anyone from the bone study (stop sniggering now kids) course I chatted on Tuesday with. On the bar were beers (investigative journalism is clearly my forte) of which I had a pint of the Riverhead Floating Light and Thornbridge Chiron. Yum.
Friday saw me and Mr Dave H from the world of music traipse to the Gardeners Rest. Whilst it would seem more mature and constructive to voice my concerns with the staff directly I'll mump about it on here instead. I do find, unfortunately, that rather more significantly poor real ales are being put on at the Gardeners. A case in point was the Big Hand brewery Dark Anto (? - no info online, but definitely Big hand....) - reminiscent of the dire full mash Whitbread oddities that used to grace their Brewpubs in the dark days of the nineties. It was seriously debatable if it was drinkable, but in the end we decided it was just poor and ploughed on through to select another. This time the Cromarty Atlantic was poor so I had a pint of Sheffield Blanco Blonde which was very nice.
Its a concern because I love the Gardeners but now I think I need a taste of a beer every time before I buy. I don't know what the explanation is for this sudden malaise but it's not a good state of affairs.
Anyhoo, a quick run round to the Ship followed where the Pale Rider was not only £3.00 a pint but also in excellent condition. Alas Dave was off to meet a companion so I ordered us a taxi and arranged to meet in the Bath Hotel. Here, a pint of Dark Star Darkness and a couple of halves of the Thornbridge Chiron finished things off nicely.
A final note concerns the Three Valleys Festival. According to the Facebook (you've seen the Facebook) another smaller festival of pubs further down/lower down (?) the valleys called the Ridge is planned for August. I sincerely hope this can all go ahead but I think so soon after the trouble and idiot quota at the last one it seems optimistic to be planning another. I do however wish them the very best with any add on celebratory do. Assuming am not in hot climes I will, of course, attend.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy.
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
A crapulence of Wanderiains
Hello again,
as previously mentioned (possibly?), the primary reason for my self enforced abstinence this week is recognition that I have somewhat overdone May so far. Having been out almost every night for two weeks even I had the remaining brain power to surmise that actually I'd been very silly. Not that I hadn't enjoyed being very silly. Its rather fun, I tend to find.
Anyhoo, this shaky procession of dry hours gives me the chance to catch up on some news about said events, which I hope to accurately convey hereafter.
Wednesday (not today, keep up!) was Wanderiains day, and since it was switching between sunshine and pouring rain so it seemed only sensible to walk to the Gardeners Rest. This time we broke with tradition and settled in the snug on the left, taking with us pints of Long Itch Light relief for me and a weaker offering of theirs for Mr P. Neither were exactly accomplished beers, but were refreshing, so we quickly dispatched them and moved onto a pint of Pennine Test match for Mr P and a pint of Blue Bee Brown Ball for me. And yes, it really is the bitterest brown beer in Sheffield.
A quick walk round to the Ship followed but in our haste we had arrived early so decamped to the Wellington for halves of Little Ale Cart Sir William something with an A in it (my notes offer Blake, Sage and Gage - chances are its none). Then we nipped back over the road to find the footy on in the Ship, where I had a pint and a half of the Deception and Mr P a surprisingly palatable Bradfield Rhubarb bitter. It was nice to sit in the left hand side watching the sun stream through the windows, and it was a shame to leave to be honest.
I finished in Shakespeares where I chatted to Keith and big Ron about pubs and supped a pint of Rat Brewery Light Mild and Hop Studio Black IPA, both of which were in good nick.
Thursday was supposed to be my "day off" but a wall of brain achingly complex work and a weird text from Christingpher about 16.00 heralded another reckless night of refreshments. We met at Shakespeares and I started with a pint of Mallinsons Bramling, which was every bit as good as I'd expected, and went to sit with Christingpher in the beer yard. Alas, the warm sunshine had deserted the area hours ago and before long it was raining so we headed inside, where we both had pints of the same.
Next we traveled to Commonside to visit the Closed Shop where we bumped into Mr Stephens (hardly surprising) and also Dave, AKA Closed Shop Kate. As you know, I;m a big fan of humour by repetition, so in only two years I'll definitely have tired of referring to Dave as Dave. Instead of Kate....
Here there was more glorious beer talk as well as a decent smattering of noise on the jukebox. Christingpher was very sensibly on the Raw Majjic Mild whilst I had two pints of the also excellent Welbeck Abbey Cavendish, before we undertook the rather lengthy but downhill walk to the Ship at Shalesmoor.
So began my second ever proper session in here, ensconced near the jukebox and putting away an ominous number of pints of the Bradfield Rhubarb Bitter. Three hours passed with conversation ranging from random events from our childhood, to classic arguments we'd had with friends. In some ways, a drinking session with some one you've known 35 years is hard to beat. In the end, it was only my ongoing employment that brought this festival of slaking to an end.
Friday I was going out with my dear friend Middlemarch but alas she caught a debilitating illness that meant she didn't even want to go out drinking. So, instead of leaving early for pints I diligently stayed at work til late - then caved in and ran away to the Closed Shop for beer and solace. Luckily, I bumped into Vinnie and Daniel who I'd met at Pete Green's birthday the other day and so ended up gatecrashing their get together.
Here I was on a mixture of Raw Dark Peak Stout, and Blue Bee Blue Ball (not in the same glass you understand) as we got through many hours of chat and numerous pints. It was great getting to know Vinnie and Daniel, along with Mark, Leila, and Steve, and catching up with Father O'Matic and Kiri, but eventually, and unfortunately, it became something past one and I had to go home.
My last night out of this post (there will be a separate one about another Manchester area crawl to come) saw me out for the unofficial Carlos' birthday night out. To be quite honest by this time I was starting to sense that I was pushing my luck living-wise so decreed to meet as late as possible and leave at a sensible time. In the end everyone was late, as befits a Carlos do, and I made the last bus.
We started in the Hop and I had a pint of Green Jack Trawler Boys, which tasted fine but by the end had developed a detectable compost bin nose, so I moved onto Abbeydale Devotion next. We sat upstairs with Jambon (for a bit), Carlos, Mole, Angie, Wee Keefy and Toastie, before the band started playing, and the situation with the blocked men's urinal started to tell. One final pint was supped in here, Ossett Challenger, which was the best so far, before we headed to the Washington.
The Washington is the default later on destination of virtually everyone my age. Its always had a place in my heart and I've had many fab nights there. Plus, the eclectic crowd and somehow always palatable cloudy Moonshine wins it many plaudits. However, it seems to be fast securing a place in my mind as one of the stranger pubs in Sheffield. Its like it was 50 when I first visited 20 years ago (it actually opened in 1839, but lets not confuse my metaphor) and now its a much loved, slightly doddery place where flashbacks and confusion abound.
On Saturday we got in about 22.00 and it was not too busy (I mean, no-one goes in before midnight, right?) and having secured our pint of surprisingly ace Moonshine we ventured into the "Deep End" i.e the two rooms to the right with the glitter balls and DJ in. The room was virtually empty and it was easy to imagine why.
It smelled like urine and cat food. A man who thought he was Bez shambled ambidextrously between the bar and an imaginary cliff edge near the seating, while a selection of weird but oft enjoyable surf rock and other poorly recorded oddities blasted distortedly out of the straining speakers. Yep. This was to be our night mapped out. Significantly more Moonshine would be required....
Wherein lies, of course, the trick, since before I knew it I was having a bloody great time as I should have remembered I always do in the Washie. Great friends, great beer and the amusing irregularity of its disheveled features made this, and continues to make this, an excellent venue.
So concludes my round up of a thirsty week. Not a plan of action I recommend you try and copy, but on the other hand, if you are going to take 5 days off the grog, it may as well be for a good reason.
Your very best health
WB
as previously mentioned (possibly?), the primary reason for my self enforced abstinence this week is recognition that I have somewhat overdone May so far. Having been out almost every night for two weeks even I had the remaining brain power to surmise that actually I'd been very silly. Not that I hadn't enjoyed being very silly. Its rather fun, I tend to find.
Anyhoo, this shaky procession of dry hours gives me the chance to catch up on some news about said events, which I hope to accurately convey hereafter.
Wednesday (not today, keep up!) was Wanderiains day, and since it was switching between sunshine and pouring rain so it seemed only sensible to walk to the Gardeners Rest. This time we broke with tradition and settled in the snug on the left, taking with us pints of Long Itch Light relief for me and a weaker offering of theirs for Mr P. Neither were exactly accomplished beers, but were refreshing, so we quickly dispatched them and moved onto a pint of Pennine Test match for Mr P and a pint of Blue Bee Brown Ball for me. And yes, it really is the bitterest brown beer in Sheffield.
A quick walk round to the Ship followed but in our haste we had arrived early so decamped to the Wellington for halves of Little Ale Cart Sir William something with an A in it (my notes offer Blake, Sage and Gage - chances are its none). Then we nipped back over the road to find the footy on in the Ship, where I had a pint and a half of the Deception and Mr P a surprisingly palatable Bradfield Rhubarb bitter. It was nice to sit in the left hand side watching the sun stream through the windows, and it was a shame to leave to be honest.
I finished in Shakespeares where I chatted to Keith and big Ron about pubs and supped a pint of Rat Brewery Light Mild and Hop Studio Black IPA, both of which were in good nick.
Thursday was supposed to be my "day off" but a wall of brain achingly complex work and a weird text from Christingpher about 16.00 heralded another reckless night of refreshments. We met at Shakespeares and I started with a pint of Mallinsons Bramling, which was every bit as good as I'd expected, and went to sit with Christingpher in the beer yard. Alas, the warm sunshine had deserted the area hours ago and before long it was raining so we headed inside, where we both had pints of the same.
Next we traveled to Commonside to visit the Closed Shop where we bumped into Mr Stephens (hardly surprising) and also Dave, AKA Closed Shop Kate. As you know, I;m a big fan of humour by repetition, so in only two years I'll definitely have tired of referring to Dave as Dave. Instead of Kate....
Here there was more glorious beer talk as well as a decent smattering of noise on the jukebox. Christingpher was very sensibly on the Raw Majjic Mild whilst I had two pints of the also excellent Welbeck Abbey Cavendish, before we undertook the rather lengthy but downhill walk to the Ship at Shalesmoor.
So began my second ever proper session in here, ensconced near the jukebox and putting away an ominous number of pints of the Bradfield Rhubarb Bitter. Three hours passed with conversation ranging from random events from our childhood, to classic arguments we'd had with friends. In some ways, a drinking session with some one you've known 35 years is hard to beat. In the end, it was only my ongoing employment that brought this festival of slaking to an end.
Friday I was going out with my dear friend Middlemarch but alas she caught a debilitating illness that meant she didn't even want to go out drinking. So, instead of leaving early for pints I diligently stayed at work til late - then caved in and ran away to the Closed Shop for beer and solace. Luckily, I bumped into Vinnie and Daniel who I'd met at Pete Green's birthday the other day and so ended up gatecrashing their get together.
Here I was on a mixture of Raw Dark Peak Stout, and Blue Bee Blue Ball (not in the same glass you understand) as we got through many hours of chat and numerous pints. It was great getting to know Vinnie and Daniel, along with Mark, Leila, and Steve, and catching up with Father O'Matic and Kiri, but eventually, and unfortunately, it became something past one and I had to go home.
My last night out of this post (there will be a separate one about another Manchester area crawl to come) saw me out for the unofficial Carlos' birthday night out. To be quite honest by this time I was starting to sense that I was pushing my luck living-wise so decreed to meet as late as possible and leave at a sensible time. In the end everyone was late, as befits a Carlos do, and I made the last bus.
We started in the Hop and I had a pint of Green Jack Trawler Boys, which tasted fine but by the end had developed a detectable compost bin nose, so I moved onto Abbeydale Devotion next. We sat upstairs with Jambon (for a bit), Carlos, Mole, Angie, Wee Keefy and Toastie, before the band started playing, and the situation with the blocked men's urinal started to tell. One final pint was supped in here, Ossett Challenger, which was the best so far, before we headed to the Washington.
The Washington is the default later on destination of virtually everyone my age. Its always had a place in my heart and I've had many fab nights there. Plus, the eclectic crowd and somehow always palatable cloudy Moonshine wins it many plaudits. However, it seems to be fast securing a place in my mind as one of the stranger pubs in Sheffield. Its like it was 50 when I first visited 20 years ago (it actually opened in 1839, but lets not confuse my metaphor) and now its a much loved, slightly doddery place where flashbacks and confusion abound.
On Saturday we got in about 22.00 and it was not too busy (I mean, no-one goes in before midnight, right?) and having secured our pint of surprisingly ace Moonshine we ventured into the "Deep End" i.e the two rooms to the right with the glitter balls and DJ in. The room was virtually empty and it was easy to imagine why.
It smelled like urine and cat food. A man who thought he was Bez shambled ambidextrously between the bar and an imaginary cliff edge near the seating, while a selection of weird but oft enjoyable surf rock and other poorly recorded oddities blasted distortedly out of the straining speakers. Yep. This was to be our night mapped out. Significantly more Moonshine would be required....
Wherein lies, of course, the trick, since before I knew it I was having a bloody great time as I should have remembered I always do in the Washie. Great friends, great beer and the amusing irregularity of its disheveled features made this, and continues to make this, an excellent venue.
So concludes my round up of a thirsty week. Not a plan of action I recommend you try and copy, but on the other hand, if you are going to take 5 days off the grog, it may as well be for a good reason.
Your very best health
WB
Wednesday, 17 April 2013
The Shakespeares sessions.
Now then,
alas the above is not a musical reference, just an indication that this week, I have been mostly in.... Shakespeares. And why not? Lots of people rightly recognise it as a fantastic pub. Heres a few fine details that support that theory.
Friday after work I was in need of a cheer up. I had been suffering with dropsy and malaria, and was desperate to go out on the ran tan, as absolutely no-one says anymore. Tempted as I was by a trundle to Commonside, the option of walking for just 5 minutes to a pub won me over, and I slipped away to Shakespeares.
It was fairly busy and there was an impressive array of beers on. I started with a pint of Blackjack Double Bluee, a gloriously tasty, well balanced bitter beer that demanded two goes. I have heard great things about Blackjack but not always tasted great things. This was a brilliant example of a night beer. A beer that defines, and is drunk throughout the whole of the, night. However, other delights would tempt me.
I bought a pint of Ascot Anastasia stout next, which I loved at the Kelham Decade fest but which was surprisingly smokey and not that well balanced - which was a shame. So I decided to "go cellar" and was rewarded by a very enjoyable pint of Hopcraft Abrek black IPA. I think. The things is, even having kindly been passed the pump clip, my mind wasn't willing to accept that the beer wasn't called something easy like Jeff, or brick or cat. So please forgive me if I get the name wrong. Whatever it was called it was an enjoyably bitter and hoppy (they're different, see) black IPA that did everything I expected. My first Hopcraft beer, and one that makes me think I'll try more if spotted.
Another Bluee followed (not a fit, but a pint of beer) before I ambled up to DAda to get the whole bottled beer offer wrong (it even bloody says on my bottle club card "Monday to Thursday" but in my optimism I bought one on a Friday. Dumpling). I also had a very enjoyable half of Acer from Bristol Beer factory but this was overshadowed by my regretting the purchase of the bottle and basically wanting to go home. Alas I didn't get back to sample the Brizzle bur. Curses.
My next Shakespeares session was preceded by a trip to the Gardeners Rest with J9. An almost pleasant walk through the Don's adjoining industrial wastelands brought us into, and then outside of, the Gardeners, me with a pint of Chantry Saxonia, J9 with a half of St Loius Kriek. Sat in gale force winds, I tried to make out it was springily warm by sitting there in a T-shirt whilst our crisps and my jacket blew onto the floor. By pint 2, a chunky and not unhelpfully cloudy Monster IPA from Celt Experience, the jacket was back on.
A second amble had us arrive at Shakespeares and looking forward to cooling back down in the sheltered beer garden. I had a pint of the excellent North Riding Aspiration Nation - feel free to laugh, but my phone says I drank Patanpo! A lovely refreshing bitter at under 4%, this really hit the spot, and I had two pints just to make sure. J9 meanwhile was on the Kriek. That's not an ailment.
After this a minor blot appeared on the Shakespeares copy book. They had run out of saison! Ye Gads! I instantly thought about decamping to the Wellington to sort out this situation but luckily renowned saison fan Dave U was on hand to direct me to his Steel City Brewing Metal Fatigue beer, brewed, in, erm, celebration of Maggie Thatcher. 'sdeath. This was very very nice and I had several glasses of it, before I became unable to type anything legible. Luckily I remember J9 had a bottle of Orval. And no doubt, Scasa means something, to somebody, somewhere...
I am sure it was sensibly priced and very tasty as well.
So ended our Shakespeares sojourn, and we walked into town for J9 to wend her way home, although we had to decamp from the bus stop in the face of a worrying crying man. Once we reached the Rutland Arms, which you may remember from being the pub of the month, I bade my drinking companion farewell, then popped in for a very delicious bacon butty, plus a pint of Arbor Snuffy Jam, and, one hopes, only a half of heir superb Yakima IPA.
All we need now is for Shakespeares to organise another of their excellent beer fests and their name could be synonymous with superlatives evermore.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
alas the above is not a musical reference, just an indication that this week, I have been mostly in.... Shakespeares. And why not? Lots of people rightly recognise it as a fantastic pub. Heres a few fine details that support that theory.
Friday after work I was in need of a cheer up. I had been suffering with dropsy and malaria, and was desperate to go out on the ran tan, as absolutely no-one says anymore. Tempted as I was by a trundle to Commonside, the option of walking for just 5 minutes to a pub won me over, and I slipped away to Shakespeares.
It was fairly busy and there was an impressive array of beers on. I started with a pint of Blackjack Double Bluee, a gloriously tasty, well balanced bitter beer that demanded two goes. I have heard great things about Blackjack but not always tasted great things. This was a brilliant example of a night beer. A beer that defines, and is drunk throughout the whole of the, night. However, other delights would tempt me.
I bought a pint of Ascot Anastasia stout next, which I loved at the Kelham Decade fest but which was surprisingly smokey and not that well balanced - which was a shame. So I decided to "go cellar" and was rewarded by a very enjoyable pint of Hopcraft Abrek black IPA. I think. The things is, even having kindly been passed the pump clip, my mind wasn't willing to accept that the beer wasn't called something easy like Jeff, or brick or cat. So please forgive me if I get the name wrong. Whatever it was called it was an enjoyably bitter and hoppy (they're different, see) black IPA that did everything I expected. My first Hopcraft beer, and one that makes me think I'll try more if spotted.
Another Bluee followed (not a fit, but a pint of beer) before I ambled up to DAda to get the whole bottled beer offer wrong (it even bloody says on my bottle club card "Monday to Thursday" but in my optimism I bought one on a Friday. Dumpling). I also had a very enjoyable half of Acer from Bristol Beer factory but this was overshadowed by my regretting the purchase of the bottle and basically wanting to go home. Alas I didn't get back to sample the Brizzle bur. Curses.
My next Shakespeares session was preceded by a trip to the Gardeners Rest with J9. An almost pleasant walk through the Don's adjoining industrial wastelands brought us into, and then outside of, the Gardeners, me with a pint of Chantry Saxonia, J9 with a half of St Loius Kriek. Sat in gale force winds, I tried to make out it was springily warm by sitting there in a T-shirt whilst our crisps and my jacket blew onto the floor. By pint 2, a chunky and not unhelpfully cloudy Monster IPA from Celt Experience, the jacket was back on.
A second amble had us arrive at Shakespeares and looking forward to cooling back down in the sheltered beer garden. I had a pint of the excellent North Riding Aspiration Nation - feel free to laugh, but my phone says I drank Patanpo! A lovely refreshing bitter at under 4%, this really hit the spot, and I had two pints just to make sure. J9 meanwhile was on the Kriek. That's not an ailment.
After this a minor blot appeared on the Shakespeares copy book. They had run out of saison! Ye Gads! I instantly thought about decamping to the Wellington to sort out this situation but luckily renowned saison fan Dave U was on hand to direct me to his Steel City Brewing Metal Fatigue beer, brewed, in, erm, celebration of Maggie Thatcher. 'sdeath. This was very very nice and I had several glasses of it, before I became unable to type anything legible. Luckily I remember J9 had a bottle of Orval. And no doubt, Scasa means something, to somebody, somewhere...
I am sure it was sensibly priced and very tasty as well.
So ended our Shakespeares sojourn, and we walked into town for J9 to wend her way home, although we had to decamp from the bus stop in the face of a worrying crying man. Once we reached the Rutland Arms, which you may remember from being the pub of the month, I bade my drinking companion farewell, then popped in for a very delicious bacon butty, plus a pint of Arbor Snuffy Jam, and, one hopes, only a half of heir superb Yakima IPA.
All we need now is for Shakespeares to organise another of their excellent beer fests and their name could be synonymous with superlatives evermore.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
Sunday, 3 March 2013
Celebration crawl
Evening,
myself and Mr P finally got out on our Wanderians on Wednesday, the day I found out I'd got a job interview. Not quite as tankard clinking and boisterous a piece of news as getting the bugger, but reason enough to celebrate. Because, you know. Normally I lead a virtually dry Methodist existence, with alcohol only passing my lips under duress. Di blah.
I had hoped for a Commonside jaunt as The Closed Shop is rapidly becoming my new favourite pub - more to come on that subject no doubt over the next month. One thing I'll quickly say is that its testament to the hard work of Mr Stephens from the death star canteen, to access the widest possible range of beers within the terms of his lease, that he has so consistently put on exceptional beer. Not every micro brewery is good, is kind of what I'm saying.
Anyhoo, this wander started after a brisk yomp through the unpromising territory of Neepsend, and up to Rutland Street, and the Woodside Inn. Landlord Gary was on hand to dispense warm greetings and cool beer. Better still, he had the Toolmakers Razmataz on. The former Forest pub, is the nearest licensed premises to the brewery.
I was a little confused when he said they'd only been in a week; not knowing much about the rapidly changing licensing history of the pub I didn't want to seem like I knew nothing, when in reality that is the case. I thought it reopened before Christmas, sorry, I know it reopened before Christmas, but that the incumbents then were still there now. Either way it didn't matter. Because the beer was good, and it was only £2.50 a pint. Or similar....
We stopped for two in the end, I had a brief chat with Gary about ales and his intention to regularly stock Toolmakers products. He actually had two Wood Street beers on as well, and I was offered a try of the Golden Larch. It wasn't in bad condition, but it was an odd mix of sweet malt with a bitter bite in the aftertaste. Interestingly, talking to Shakespeare Martin (no relation to the pub) at Magna yesterday, he said their beers had been on top form at The Hillsborough. Perhaps I should pop down to try them. And get over myself.
Off to the Gardeners Rest next and back on familiar Wanderians territory. Here I had a pint of Mulberry Duck brewery Wildfowler Mild, alas I forget what Mr P had but it was a pleasant pale ale. The Wildfowler was, erm, interesting. It probably comes under the category twiggy, but there was no crystal malt lurking in the mix - there was just too much mix. Not unpleasant though. Far better was my half of Early Dawn from Hayrake brewery, which was very enjoyable.
Our final, Mr P's anyway, stop was the Ship. As always 3 excellent beers were on, and we both had pints of Chantry Brewery Iron and Steel, a 4.0% darkish bitter at £2.65 a pint. As always there was an enjoyable mix of catchy, fiendishly catchy and achingly uncool tunes from the past to keep us amused, and a decent number of customers to drown out my somewhat late toasts.
After Mr P had headed home I popped in the Wellington across the roundabout and had an excellent half of the Little Ale Cart Darlington and what might have been their latest single hopped ale - in fact, it was, but I cleverly deleted the text containing this information in a bid to free up space on my creakily slow phone. For precisely no benefit.
I jumped off the tram at the University next and went to the Bath Hotel for a pint of Dark Star Festival and the brilliant 1910 Porter, which I topped off with a sneaky Halcyon, possibly on cask, but am not sure (last night it was on Keykeg and cask). It was nice to get to try some new (to me) Dark Star beers, and equally enjoyable to slake some Halcyon. Talking of which, as above, I was also in last night supping a couple of pints of that fantastic haze maker. It was great to finish on such an epic beer, and to catch up with Geoff, and John, from the now disbanded Sheffield beer board. A scheme or concept that none of you know anything about, because, erm, we never set it up, and I never mentioned it...
Business ideas eh!
Wee Beefy
myself and Mr P finally got out on our Wanderians on Wednesday, the day I found out I'd got a job interview. Not quite as tankard clinking and boisterous a piece of news as getting the bugger, but reason enough to celebrate. Because, you know. Normally I lead a virtually dry Methodist existence, with alcohol only passing my lips under duress. Di blah.
I had hoped for a Commonside jaunt as The Closed Shop is rapidly becoming my new favourite pub - more to come on that subject no doubt over the next month. One thing I'll quickly say is that its testament to the hard work of Mr Stephens from the death star canteen, to access the widest possible range of beers within the terms of his lease, that he has so consistently put on exceptional beer. Not every micro brewery is good, is kind of what I'm saying.
Anyhoo, this wander started after a brisk yomp through the unpromising territory of Neepsend, and up to Rutland Street, and the Woodside Inn. Landlord Gary was on hand to dispense warm greetings and cool beer. Better still, he had the Toolmakers Razmataz on. The former Forest pub, is the nearest licensed premises to the brewery.
I was a little confused when he said they'd only been in a week; not knowing much about the rapidly changing licensing history of the pub I didn't want to seem like I knew nothing, when in reality that is the case. I thought it reopened before Christmas, sorry, I know it reopened before Christmas, but that the incumbents then were still there now. Either way it didn't matter. Because the beer was good, and it was only £2.50 a pint. Or similar....
We stopped for two in the end, I had a brief chat with Gary about ales and his intention to regularly stock Toolmakers products. He actually had two Wood Street beers on as well, and I was offered a try of the Golden Larch. It wasn't in bad condition, but it was an odd mix of sweet malt with a bitter bite in the aftertaste. Interestingly, talking to Shakespeare Martin (no relation to the pub) at Magna yesterday, he said their beers had been on top form at The Hillsborough. Perhaps I should pop down to try them. And get over myself.
Off to the Gardeners Rest next and back on familiar Wanderians territory. Here I had a pint of Mulberry Duck brewery Wildfowler Mild, alas I forget what Mr P had but it was a pleasant pale ale. The Wildfowler was, erm, interesting. It probably comes under the category twiggy, but there was no crystal malt lurking in the mix - there was just too much mix. Not unpleasant though. Far better was my half of Early Dawn from Hayrake brewery, which was very enjoyable.
Our final, Mr P's anyway, stop was the Ship. As always 3 excellent beers were on, and we both had pints of Chantry Brewery Iron and Steel, a 4.0% darkish bitter at £2.65 a pint. As always there was an enjoyable mix of catchy, fiendishly catchy and achingly uncool tunes from the past to keep us amused, and a decent number of customers to drown out my somewhat late toasts.
After Mr P had headed home I popped in the Wellington across the roundabout and had an excellent half of the Little Ale Cart Darlington and what might have been their latest single hopped ale - in fact, it was, but I cleverly deleted the text containing this information in a bid to free up space on my creakily slow phone. For precisely no benefit.
I jumped off the tram at the University next and went to the Bath Hotel for a pint of Dark Star Festival and the brilliant 1910 Porter, which I topped off with a sneaky Halcyon, possibly on cask, but am not sure (last night it was on Keykeg and cask). It was nice to get to try some new (to me) Dark Star beers, and equally enjoyable to slake some Halcyon. Talking of which, as above, I was also in last night supping a couple of pints of that fantastic haze maker. It was great to finish on such an epic beer, and to catch up with Geoff, and John, from the now disbanded Sheffield beer board. A scheme or concept that none of you know anything about, because, erm, we never set it up, and I never mentioned it...
Business ideas eh!
Wee Beefy
Monday, 11 February 2013
Pics and pubs and pints o' Pollards
Evening,
I set out on Wednesday for a trip round Neepsend taking photographs with Maureen. He is mad keen and takes it all very seriously, whereas I am frustrated with my little snapper (insert euphemism here) and take hundreds more photo's to compensate. Given that it was chuffing freezing, this trip also required warm rooms, and so morphed into yet another predictably threadbare excuse for a sup.
En route, having photographed some gloriously grim seventies tiles on the side of the Cannon brewery, and a building on the corner of Harvest Lane and Neepsend Lane which proclaims Bottled Beers above its doorway*, we popped into the Gardeners Rest. Maureen alas was pre vehicular so opted for a girls drink, whilst I enjoyed a very drinkable and tasty Vale Red Kite.
Its good to see a wide range of the Vale beers getting in here especially since the Hadda's seasonals are rarely seen, and beyond that its nowt. Drinking my beer I was a little sad for Maure, but he quickly showed how deserving he was of his purgatory by saying he find the Gardeners amazing because "its so ful of random shit and junk". A comment, under minimal duress, he tried to pass off as being made in admiration. Bad Maureen, back in your car.
We headed off for the Ship next, not to go in as it was only half 5, but to photograph it and steer a course up the hill at teh side of the dual carriageway along Upper Allen and Beet Street to Portobello to photograph the church and the surrounding floodlit buildings. Unfortunately, after nearly 2 hours in the cold and wind our hands were unresponsive and there were needs to meet so we headed to DAda for a drink and a warm.
The excellent Pollards was back on, and also what may be the last of the Thorny Goat, so there was much to enjoy, and Maureen seemed quite taken with the Pollards, as any decent person would be. This proved to be the catalyst for a rapid improvement in beer choice at DAda and The Bath nearby, which I will catalogue further on.
After waving Maureen off I nipped into Henry's for an excellent half of Great Heck porter and Crouch vale Yakima Gold. I don't know why but having tasted it on gravity and hand pulled I don't like this beer anywhere near as much as my senses tell me I should!
Straight of to the Rutland Arms next for a sandwich, which had become smaller but cost less, and some great beer, which was nice but not deemed worthy of recording (slack of me), followed by a very enjoyable half of Magic Rock Human Cannonball. Which was tremendous, of course.
On Thursday I popped in Shakespeares after work for pints of Steel City Brewing Nuclear bomb, an excellent hoppy pale ale highlighting the almost cereal like characteristics of Cluster Hops (in a good way, despite that description), along with Oldershaw Grantham Stout. I also had time for a couple of halves, of Toolmakers Brewery Apprentice, at £1.25 a half, and the excellent Raw Endeavour, at £1.30. It seems it doesn't have to break the bank to sup in Sheffield after all.
My final ports of call over the last week were a couple of visits to the Bath Hotel, where the brilliant Marble Stouter Stout was on, and the Thornbridge Pollards, both of which I enjoyed, along with pints of the Dark Star Espresso Stout and a Red Willow beer that ended in "less" and had red malt in in it, and which I forgot the name of.
Finally it was DAda's turn to welcome me and I noted with joy unbounded that Halcyon was back on as well as Pollards, I also had the Dark Star in here, although, being approaching 1am when I left you'll forgive me for forgetting whether or not it was the stout.
This is a great recent show from my two regular haunts, and long may it continue. And what a great advert for beer choice in Sheffield.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
*UPDATE: I have found via the rather excellent Lost pubs Project website that this pub used to be the Britannia Inn. However, further down the page is information and a photo of it purporting to be the sawmakers . If the Britannia closed in the 1940's it maybe was on the left hand side in the photo. Allegedly, the Sawmakers didn't close until the 1990's.
I set out on Wednesday for a trip round Neepsend taking photographs with Maureen. He is mad keen and takes it all very seriously, whereas I am frustrated with my little snapper (insert euphemism here) and take hundreds more photo's to compensate. Given that it was chuffing freezing, this trip also required warm rooms, and so morphed into yet another predictably threadbare excuse for a sup.
En route, having photographed some gloriously grim seventies tiles on the side of the Cannon brewery, and a building on the corner of Harvest Lane and Neepsend Lane which proclaims Bottled Beers above its doorway*, we popped into the Gardeners Rest. Maureen alas was pre vehicular so opted for a girls drink, whilst I enjoyed a very drinkable and tasty Vale Red Kite.
Its good to see a wide range of the Vale beers getting in here especially since the Hadda's seasonals are rarely seen, and beyond that its nowt. Drinking my beer I was a little sad for Maure, but he quickly showed how deserving he was of his purgatory by saying he find the Gardeners amazing because "its so ful of random shit and junk". A comment, under minimal duress, he tried to pass off as being made in admiration. Bad Maureen, back in your car.
We headed off for the Ship next, not to go in as it was only half 5, but to photograph it and steer a course up the hill at teh side of the dual carriageway along Upper Allen and Beet Street to Portobello to photograph the church and the surrounding floodlit buildings. Unfortunately, after nearly 2 hours in the cold and wind our hands were unresponsive and there were needs to meet so we headed to DAda for a drink and a warm.
The excellent Pollards was back on, and also what may be the last of the Thorny Goat, so there was much to enjoy, and Maureen seemed quite taken with the Pollards, as any decent person would be. This proved to be the catalyst for a rapid improvement in beer choice at DAda and The Bath nearby, which I will catalogue further on.
After waving Maureen off I nipped into Henry's for an excellent half of Great Heck porter and Crouch vale Yakima Gold. I don't know why but having tasted it on gravity and hand pulled I don't like this beer anywhere near as much as my senses tell me I should!
Straight of to the Rutland Arms next for a sandwich, which had become smaller but cost less, and some great beer, which was nice but not deemed worthy of recording (slack of me), followed by a very enjoyable half of Magic Rock Human Cannonball. Which was tremendous, of course.
On Thursday I popped in Shakespeares after work for pints of Steel City Brewing Nuclear bomb, an excellent hoppy pale ale highlighting the almost cereal like characteristics of Cluster Hops (in a good way, despite that description), along with Oldershaw Grantham Stout. I also had time for a couple of halves, of Toolmakers Brewery Apprentice, at £1.25 a half, and the excellent Raw Endeavour, at £1.30. It seems it doesn't have to break the bank to sup in Sheffield after all.
My final ports of call over the last week were a couple of visits to the Bath Hotel, where the brilliant Marble Stouter Stout was on, and the Thornbridge Pollards, both of which I enjoyed, along with pints of the Dark Star Espresso Stout and a Red Willow beer that ended in "less" and had red malt in in it, and which I forgot the name of.
Finally it was DAda's turn to welcome me and I noted with joy unbounded that Halcyon was back on as well as Pollards, I also had the Dark Star in here, although, being approaching 1am when I left you'll forgive me for forgetting whether or not it was the stout.
This is a great recent show from my two regular haunts, and long may it continue. And what a great advert for beer choice in Sheffield.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
*UPDATE: I have found via the rather excellent Lost pubs Project website that this pub used to be the Britannia Inn. However, further down the page is information and a photo of it purporting to be the sawmakers . If the Britannia closed in the 1940's it maybe was on the left hand side in the photo. Allegedly, the Sawmakers didn't close until the 1990's.
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
Man walks into a pub. Then another. Then...
Hello,
over the past week I have been all over the shop, as they say, drinking in different counties, the throes of a Twissup and CAMRA award winning rural pubs, like the concept of Sheffield as the beer capital was long forgotten. Aside from any CAMRA rivalry of course, its not forgotten. Its just that other locations have took my fancy. By way of illustration, here's a (brief as possible) who's got what of local hostelries over the past 8 days.
Firstly, The Riverside. I only ever seem to get here on busy Friday evenings after work and have never really taken to the pub. Perhaps my usual demarcation to a corner of he bar before spewing out onto the patio when its packed has skewed my appreciation, but I gained a little the other night. I had an excellent pint of Blue Bee Parenthesis, a great hoppy dry bitter which did everything it didn't say by being named parenthesis, but crucially tasted fab.
I sat down on a comfy sofa in a cosily lit part of the bar near the opened out fireplace, admiring the lights outside and listening to some fairly excellent dub. Sometimes music in pubs can be a blight, but its untypical of the traditional boozer and its slightly cafe bar intentions are well suited to decent tunes. Especially when they really are. Another pint of the Blue Bee followed, as well as a tour of the upstairs before I headed off to sample a few other boozers.
One such was the Woodside Inn. This was only my second visit, and it didn't seem much busier, but there was a steady stream of arrivees to play in a darts match. Alas, no-one but me seemed to be supping real ale,m but the halves of Sheffield Brew Co Stainless went down really well, and still on at a decent price. Also disappointing was another poor Wood Street brew, although I opted for a taste first. I understand the pubs reinvention has seen the "original" owners return - am unsure if this is true but I hope they can recapture whatever it was the losing off made them depart.
The Gardeners rest was having a quiet night, but was enchanting visitors with excellent beers as always, and another plus was that I got a chance to catch up with Pat who I've not talked to for a while.
Here I had a half of Privateer Beers Dainty Blonde, plus another half of the Parenthesis, at which point I bumped into Brewer Rich. We did have quite a detailed discussion about the punctuation theme of his beers, the details of which I would suggest neither of us could remember. I also had a half pint of the Black Swan from Vale, which was nice, but there was a hint of sweetness in the Privateer which I wasn't keen on.
The Wellington is still sort of an irregular haunt so it was nice to pop in and have a pint - despite a darkish beer being on I went for a Little Ale Cart Eldorado, specially brewed with the hop of the same name. This was a really well balanced bitter beer, which, if only I went more often and the beers didn't change every day or so, I'd like to try again.
The Ship on Shalesmoor was selling my favourite Kelham Island beer Bette Noire so that's what I had in there, which was on great form and a decent price at £2.80 a pint, before I headed off to Shakespeares, via some dubious late night scran.
On this visit I had a rather odd but not unenjoyable half of Julian Church Brewery Martyr, and a rather ill advised half of Flying Dog K9, which was easier to drink than its high strength suggested, and didn't have too much of that odd Belgerican yeast.
I was also in on Friday with Mr G, supping the last of a barrel of Raw Pacific Gem, which was nice enough, as well as a further pint of Revolutions Clash London Porter for me. Nice to see the Porter again, just a shame the Gem was so very tired.
Prior to this I had been in DAda, enjoying a couple of pints of the reasonable Lumford (now now DAda, a lack of non Thornbridge beers doesn't suit you and you know it), yet so un-tempting was the cask range (after Lumford ran out) that myself and Mr G retired to a comfy spot to very slowly drink Thornbridge Chiron and Thorny Goat. Chiron did not disappoint, but the Keykeg Goat is a poor relative of the much better cask. Bring it back dammit!
The final bit of news is not about Sheffield pubs but about Bottle Conditioned Ale. Following on from my post about the CAMRA says this is real ale logo, I discovered to my horror more sour yeasty soup masquerading as a drinkable bottle of beer. Despite Wee Fatha's astonishing claim that he would drink it because it seemed a shame to pour it away, which is heroically disingenuous, we replaced it instantly with a much safer none BCA option.
I am going to have to contact the brewery concerned to make them aware of the problem, and hopefully arrange recompense, but in a producer, retailer, promoter(logo), customer, arrangement, I'd argue that having also bought the product from the brewer the two parties looking most shoddy from this situation are the brewery and the logo owning promoters; CAMRA. I can see this issue will be long in the resolution....
So, that's all for now, hopefully I will have more news in the coming days.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
over the past week I have been all over the shop, as they say, drinking in different counties, the throes of a Twissup and CAMRA award winning rural pubs, like the concept of Sheffield as the beer capital was long forgotten. Aside from any CAMRA rivalry of course, its not forgotten. Its just that other locations have took my fancy. By way of illustration, here's a (brief as possible) who's got what of local hostelries over the past 8 days.
Firstly, The Riverside. I only ever seem to get here on busy Friday evenings after work and have never really taken to the pub. Perhaps my usual demarcation to a corner of he bar before spewing out onto the patio when its packed has skewed my appreciation, but I gained a little the other night. I had an excellent pint of Blue Bee Parenthesis, a great hoppy dry bitter which did everything it didn't say by being named parenthesis, but crucially tasted fab.
I sat down on a comfy sofa in a cosily lit part of the bar near the opened out fireplace, admiring the lights outside and listening to some fairly excellent dub. Sometimes music in pubs can be a blight, but its untypical of the traditional boozer and its slightly cafe bar intentions are well suited to decent tunes. Especially when they really are. Another pint of the Blue Bee followed, as well as a tour of the upstairs before I headed off to sample a few other boozers.
One such was the Woodside Inn. This was only my second visit, and it didn't seem much busier, but there was a steady stream of arrivees to play in a darts match. Alas, no-one but me seemed to be supping real ale,m but the halves of Sheffield Brew Co Stainless went down really well, and still on at a decent price. Also disappointing was another poor Wood Street brew, although I opted for a taste first. I understand the pubs reinvention has seen the "original" owners return - am unsure if this is true but I hope they can recapture whatever it was the losing off made them depart.
The Gardeners rest was having a quiet night, but was enchanting visitors with excellent beers as always, and another plus was that I got a chance to catch up with Pat who I've not talked to for a while.
Here I had a half of Privateer Beers Dainty Blonde, plus another half of the Parenthesis, at which point I bumped into Brewer Rich. We did have quite a detailed discussion about the punctuation theme of his beers, the details of which I would suggest neither of us could remember. I also had a half pint of the Black Swan from Vale, which was nice, but there was a hint of sweetness in the Privateer which I wasn't keen on.
The Wellington is still sort of an irregular haunt so it was nice to pop in and have a pint - despite a darkish beer being on I went for a Little Ale Cart Eldorado, specially brewed with the hop of the same name. This was a really well balanced bitter beer, which, if only I went more often and the beers didn't change every day or so, I'd like to try again.
The Ship on Shalesmoor was selling my favourite Kelham Island beer Bette Noire so that's what I had in there, which was on great form and a decent price at £2.80 a pint, before I headed off to Shakespeares, via some dubious late night scran.
On this visit I had a rather odd but not unenjoyable half of Julian Church Brewery Martyr, and a rather ill advised half of Flying Dog K9, which was easier to drink than its high strength suggested, and didn't have too much of that odd Belgerican yeast.
I was also in on Friday with Mr G, supping the last of a barrel of Raw Pacific Gem, which was nice enough, as well as a further pint of Revolutions Clash London Porter for me. Nice to see the Porter again, just a shame the Gem was so very tired.
Prior to this I had been in DAda, enjoying a couple of pints of the reasonable Lumford (now now DAda, a lack of non Thornbridge beers doesn't suit you and you know it), yet so un-tempting was the cask range (after Lumford ran out) that myself and Mr G retired to a comfy spot to very slowly drink Thornbridge Chiron and Thorny Goat. Chiron did not disappoint, but the Keykeg Goat is a poor relative of the much better cask. Bring it back dammit!
The final bit of news is not about Sheffield pubs but about Bottle Conditioned Ale. Following on from my post about the CAMRA says this is real ale logo, I discovered to my horror more sour yeasty soup masquerading as a drinkable bottle of beer. Despite Wee Fatha's astonishing claim that he would drink it because it seemed a shame to pour it away, which is heroically disingenuous, we replaced it instantly with a much safer none BCA option.
I am going to have to contact the brewery concerned to make them aware of the problem, and hopefully arrange recompense, but in a producer, retailer, promoter(logo), customer, arrangement, I'd argue that having also bought the product from the brewer the two parties looking most shoddy from this situation are the brewery and the logo owning promoters; CAMRA. I can see this issue will be long in the resolution....
So, that's all for now, hopefully I will have more news in the coming days.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
Monday, 3 December 2012
Day of rest
Hello again,
firstly can I just point out that owing to not finding it fixed, I don't foresee photo's making it onto this post yet again. On-line techno sleuth and fellow blogger Clare is on to it, but the immovable force of Blogger stands in our way. Obviously, as soon as the problem's fixed there'll be pics a plenty on here (and if its sorted already I'll have to come back and delete this bit. Or perhaps I'll leave it in as a kooky little window on my pre-pic solution mindset...).
Anyhoo, talking of mindsets, Sunday is normally a day when the excesses of Friday and Saturday are washed out of my system by a lie in, a scan of some websites and something cooked long and slow in the oven. Normally by about 17.00 the bouts of shaking and breathless perspiration have lessened, some of the words I say are recognisable as English, and I don't list to one side when I walk round the edge of the settee. In essence, I've been a good boy and am ready for work on Wednesday. I do work Mondays and Tuesdays mind, its just that they don't really count. They tend to be more of a subconscious automatic action than a professional undertaking.
This Sunday however, I had just been paid. So it seemed silly to fanny around in the house, most likely doing cleaning or shopping or other necessities. So I jolly well pissed off to the pub around 14.30, for no other reason than I could.
First stop was the Rutland Arms, for reasons including proving that I wasn't in fact mentally unbalanced, and also, that I didn't care about ordering food after all. Although, after buying a delicious and sensible half pint of Jarrow Brewery Isis Blonde at 5%, I remembered that I actually did need and desire food, so I had one of the Rutland's fab bacon butties.
I also had halves of Blue Bee Bees Knees (with added students), my weakest beer of the day, but no less enjoyable, along with Magic Rock Highwire NZ on the inexcusable Keykeg (and at a decent price as well, less than £4.00 a pint if I recall), along with the excellent Dark Star and Magic Rock collaboration Rock Star, which was a very enjoyable Black IPA. Clearly Sunday was going to be a day not of rest, but rapacious consumption. Still eh.
Over to the Sheffield Tap next and I had halves again - there was just so much damn good beer around yesterday it would have been dangerous to attempt anything else, so I bought Tempest Cresta Black, Fyne Avalanche and the Fyne IPA series Ruvaal Blonde IPA. Drunk in that order, this quickly guided me back towards the 5 or 6% beers that would ultimately be my ruin. Oops. The Avalanche was excellent as always.
A surprise stop next at the recently taken over by Wood Street Brewery Roebuck. Nothing immediately obvious decor wise but there were as you'd expect, Wood Street ales on the bar. Here I was tempted to partake in a hot snack - the inexpensive garlic bread was filling and very tasty, just what I needed. The only thing that let the experience down was the rather poor Wood Street Pale Ale. Another sigh of disappointment in a glass.
Off next on the 53 omnibus to a new pub for me. The Forest, which used to be rented out for parties and before that was notable for being the last pub in Sheffield to get a spirits license, has reopened as a traditional pub selling real ales, called the Woodside Inn. The ad in Beer Matters proclaims 6 real ales and there are indeed 6 pumps. Last night one had cider, one is a permanent Black Sheep font/pump thing which I always think is keg, and there were three guests on the remaining handpumps - I went for a half of the RCH PG Steam, at £2.00 a pint. Not a beer to set the world alight but in decent condition and a good price. Certainly a venue to revisit I think, if nothing else to herald the arrival of a new sign.
From here I headed to the Gardeners Rest for a couple more halves, including one of the best of the night, against a fairly exemplary line up. The Ramsbottom Bitter was OK if a little sweet for my taste, but the Hackney Cluster was incredible. Whether intentionally or not, it tasted very much of cereal, but had an orangey zesty bitterness and very warming malts balanced perfectly in what was a very enjoyable beer. Certainly those Hackney chaps seem to know what they are doing.
My penultimate stop was to have been the Brooklyn Steak place round the corner but alas that closes early Sunday so I didn't even get to see if they sell real ale, so I headed on for the Kelham Island Tavern, which I don't seem to get to very often. From a great range, and perhaps wisely eschewing the stronger, darker ales on offer, I had a very pleasant half of the Ascot Ales Single Hop, which unfortunately did not confirm the identity of said bittering ingredient, but was enjoyable all the same.
My last stop was in Shakespeares, and here I found, in a close contest, the absolute winner, the very best beer of the day. Due to unfortunate instances of sleep I can't be sure how many I had, but 1 pint is a safe bet, and 2 pints would be reckless, but not inconceivable. Led to my choice by Robin leaning on the pump it was on, there was no contest when I saw Raw Chinook IPA, 6.2% (and £3.20 a pint) was on sale. An absolutely tremendous beer packed full of immense flavour, but somehow contriving to have a very accomplished and rounded finish. In a November of quite frankly astonishing beer quality, this welcomed in December (ignoring the fact I'd been supping on the 1st!) in some style.
If only one Sunday evening amble is spent drinking beers that good in the coming weeks then 2012 could end up being a benchmark year for beer quality.
Your very best health
Wee Beefy.
firstly can I just point out that owing to not finding it fixed, I don't foresee photo's making it onto this post yet again. On-line techno sleuth and fellow blogger Clare is on to it, but the immovable force of Blogger stands in our way. Obviously, as soon as the problem's fixed there'll be pics a plenty on here (and if its sorted already I'll have to come back and delete this bit. Or perhaps I'll leave it in as a kooky little window on my pre-pic solution mindset...).
Anyhoo, talking of mindsets, Sunday is normally a day when the excesses of Friday and Saturday are washed out of my system by a lie in, a scan of some websites and something cooked long and slow in the oven. Normally by about 17.00 the bouts of shaking and breathless perspiration have lessened, some of the words I say are recognisable as English, and I don't list to one side when I walk round the edge of the settee. In essence, I've been a good boy and am ready for work on Wednesday. I do work Mondays and Tuesdays mind, its just that they don't really count. They tend to be more of a subconscious automatic action than a professional undertaking.
This Sunday however, I had just been paid. So it seemed silly to fanny around in the house, most likely doing cleaning or shopping or other necessities. So I jolly well pissed off to the pub around 14.30, for no other reason than I could.
First stop was the Rutland Arms, for reasons including proving that I wasn't in fact mentally unbalanced, and also, that I didn't care about ordering food after all. Although, after buying a delicious and sensible half pint of Jarrow Brewery Isis Blonde at 5%, I remembered that I actually did need and desire food, so I had one of the Rutland's fab bacon butties.
I also had halves of Blue Bee Bees Knees (with added students), my weakest beer of the day, but no less enjoyable, along with Magic Rock Highwire NZ on the inexcusable Keykeg (and at a decent price as well, less than £4.00 a pint if I recall), along with the excellent Dark Star and Magic Rock collaboration Rock Star, which was a very enjoyable Black IPA. Clearly Sunday was going to be a day not of rest, but rapacious consumption. Still eh.
Over to the Sheffield Tap next and I had halves again - there was just so much damn good beer around yesterday it would have been dangerous to attempt anything else, so I bought Tempest Cresta Black, Fyne Avalanche and the Fyne IPA series Ruvaal Blonde IPA. Drunk in that order, this quickly guided me back towards the 5 or 6% beers that would ultimately be my ruin. Oops. The Avalanche was excellent as always.
A surprise stop next at the recently taken over by Wood Street Brewery Roebuck. Nothing immediately obvious decor wise but there were as you'd expect, Wood Street ales on the bar. Here I was tempted to partake in a hot snack - the inexpensive garlic bread was filling and very tasty, just what I needed. The only thing that let the experience down was the rather poor Wood Street Pale Ale. Another sigh of disappointment in a glass.
Off next on the 53 omnibus to a new pub for me. The Forest, which used to be rented out for parties and before that was notable for being the last pub in Sheffield to get a spirits license, has reopened as a traditional pub selling real ales, called the Woodside Inn. The ad in Beer Matters proclaims 6 real ales and there are indeed 6 pumps. Last night one had cider, one is a permanent Black Sheep font/pump thing which I always think is keg, and there were three guests on the remaining handpumps - I went for a half of the RCH PG Steam, at £2.00 a pint. Not a beer to set the world alight but in decent condition and a good price. Certainly a venue to revisit I think, if nothing else to herald the arrival of a new sign.
From here I headed to the Gardeners Rest for a couple more halves, including one of the best of the night, against a fairly exemplary line up. The Ramsbottom Bitter was OK if a little sweet for my taste, but the Hackney Cluster was incredible. Whether intentionally or not, it tasted very much of cereal, but had an orangey zesty bitterness and very warming malts balanced perfectly in what was a very enjoyable beer. Certainly those Hackney chaps seem to know what they are doing.
My penultimate stop was to have been the Brooklyn Steak place round the corner but alas that closes early Sunday so I didn't even get to see if they sell real ale, so I headed on for the Kelham Island Tavern, which I don't seem to get to very often. From a great range, and perhaps wisely eschewing the stronger, darker ales on offer, I had a very pleasant half of the Ascot Ales Single Hop, which unfortunately did not confirm the identity of said bittering ingredient, but was enjoyable all the same.
My last stop was in Shakespeares, and here I found, in a close contest, the absolute winner, the very best beer of the day. Due to unfortunate instances of sleep I can't be sure how many I had, but 1 pint is a safe bet, and 2 pints would be reckless, but not inconceivable. Led to my choice by Robin leaning on the pump it was on, there was no contest when I saw Raw Chinook IPA, 6.2% (and £3.20 a pint) was on sale. An absolutely tremendous beer packed full of immense flavour, but somehow contriving to have a very accomplished and rounded finish. In a November of quite frankly astonishing beer quality, this welcomed in December (ignoring the fact I'd been supping on the 1st!) in some style.
If only one Sunday evening amble is spent drinking beers that good in the coming weeks then 2012 could end up being a benchmark year for beer quality.
Your very best health
Wee Beefy.
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Wander-iains
Hello,
I was going to write up a few recent beery delights that I have encountered, but aside from the fact that if my Diabetic consultant ever read this we might have to have a "chat" it also occurred to me that what I had embarked on last night was a regular monthly pub crawl. So I thought I might personalise the journey, literally, and tell you how to do that same route, and what you might expect along the way.
Me and Mr P have, on our last 3 monthly, after work, beer wanders, gone and done the same route. The things is, we always used to go to the Harlequin then the Kelham without even thinking about it, rarer still we wandered to the Blake or the Sheffield Tap but recently we have settled on a regular trail.
Starting on Bridge Street (think Whitbread's brewery) we walk up past Irwin Mitchell's and follow the road round past Plum Lane and out onto and across the dual carriageway. Theres a cashpoint here for butter memories like me who never have any cash on them...
Round the corner next, then we walk past the Fat Cat, at which point comes your first choice. Obviously, the KIT and the Cat are here, and well worth a visit - but we usually walk onto Green Lane, then right over the bridge past the Milestone, up Ball Street. For a more scenic walk take the next right, Cornish Street, follow to the end and walk down the jennnel to join Waterloo walk which comes out at Rutland bridge. We normally take a left over the river off Ball street and follow the path out onto Neepsend Lane, which we follow to the Gardeners Rest (if going tother way turn left at the junction over river).
Here of course there are beers a plenty and outside seating. There;s nothing finer than sitting by the river on a sunny day, or sheltering in the conservatory during a heavy shower. Somehow, half of the time, the latter happens.
Last night was no exception. We were nearly drowned out chatting over our pints - we started with pints of Eden Best for me, which was a light refreshing little dryness in the aftertaste, whilst Mr P had a pint of a Tintagel ale, which I had low expectations of, but was in fact probably gutsier and more hoppy than my choice. Mr P had another of these, and I had a very unusual tasting but very enjoyable Wharfebank Treacle Toffee Stout, which smelt like Dandelion and Burdock and tasted of vimto and roasted barley. Despite this clumsy mix of descriptors I assure you it tasted fantastic.
Should you be able to tear yourself away, you could go mad and ditch the crawl and head for the Hillsborough - this of course is part of the rather longer and rightly more famous Don Valley pub crawl. What we do, however, is head back down Rutland Road and turn left onto Old Penistone Road, and head onto Shalesmoor.
At this point, assuming you didn't fancy a saison or other invented beer, you could cross the ring road and tram track to visit the Wellington, and try their excellent Little Ale Cart beers plus guests. What we usually do, however, is press on to the Ship.
Now, the Ship is a pub that I like very much but we're never quite sure of the opening hours. We consistently aim for 19.30 but at different times before now the landlord has insisted its 20.00, or, presumably in jest (!) 21.00. Either way, I think a sensible plan would be to aim to get their for 20.00, to avoid disappointment.
On our last visit there was Abbeydale Moonshine, Kelham Pale Rider and the excellent Welbeck Abbey Red Feather, which was our tipple of choice, perfectly kept and on sale at a decent price - £2.60 a pint. I understand that Kelham Wild Rider and the Barlow brewery stout are to feature soon, along with another few from Welbeck. Should be well worth finding out.
Our final stroll is fairly simple, just along Shalesmoor and keep right up Gibraltar Street to Shakespeares. Last time in Mr P was on the Axholme Best Bitter and I was trying, enjoying and all round being impressed by a sumptuously orangey bitter called Mudhopper from Mallinsons. Alas we were both pushed for time and it was getting really busy in the pub what with events on upstairs and down it seemed so this was our only drink. I could easily stayed for many more Mallinsons to be honest.
From here we usually go our separate ways, if I am being a good boy (which of course I always am), I go home as well, although its not unfeasible that I might instead head off for DAda or the Three Cranes. The KIT, Cat, Riverside and Harlequin are all 5 minutes away of course, so if you so wished you could walk on round the ring road and check them out aswell.
I hope you get chance to try out this trail sometime, if the weathers nice (ahem...) its a lovely walk for the most part, and crucially its populated with excellent pubs. Which is nice...
Wee Beefy
I was going to write up a few recent beery delights that I have encountered, but aside from the fact that if my Diabetic consultant ever read this we might have to have a "chat" it also occurred to me that what I had embarked on last night was a regular monthly pub crawl. So I thought I might personalise the journey, literally, and tell you how to do that same route, and what you might expect along the way.
Me and Mr P have, on our last 3 monthly, after work, beer wanders, gone and done the same route. The things is, we always used to go to the Harlequin then the Kelham without even thinking about it, rarer still we wandered to the Blake or the Sheffield Tap but recently we have settled on a regular trail.
Starting on Bridge Street (think Whitbread's brewery) we walk up past Irwin Mitchell's and follow the road round past Plum Lane and out onto and across the dual carriageway. Theres a cashpoint here for butter memories like me who never have any cash on them...
Round the corner next, then we walk past the Fat Cat, at which point comes your first choice. Obviously, the KIT and the Cat are here, and well worth a visit - but we usually walk onto Green Lane, then right over the bridge past the Milestone, up Ball Street. For a more scenic walk take the next right, Cornish Street, follow to the end and walk down the jennnel to join Waterloo walk which comes out at Rutland bridge. We normally take a left over the river off Ball street and follow the path out onto Neepsend Lane, which we follow to the Gardeners Rest (if going tother way turn left at the junction over river).
Here of course there are beers a plenty and outside seating. There;s nothing finer than sitting by the river on a sunny day, or sheltering in the conservatory during a heavy shower. Somehow, half of the time, the latter happens.
Last night was no exception. We were nearly drowned out chatting over our pints - we started with pints of Eden Best for me, which was a light refreshing little dryness in the aftertaste, whilst Mr P had a pint of a Tintagel ale, which I had low expectations of, but was in fact probably gutsier and more hoppy than my choice. Mr P had another of these, and I had a very unusual tasting but very enjoyable Wharfebank Treacle Toffee Stout, which smelt like Dandelion and Burdock and tasted of vimto and roasted barley. Despite this clumsy mix of descriptors I assure you it tasted fantastic.
Should you be able to tear yourself away, you could go mad and ditch the crawl and head for the Hillsborough - this of course is part of the rather longer and rightly more famous Don Valley pub crawl. What we do, however, is head back down Rutland Road and turn left onto Old Penistone Road, and head onto Shalesmoor.
At this point, assuming you didn't fancy a saison or other invented beer, you could cross the ring road and tram track to visit the Wellington, and try their excellent Little Ale Cart beers plus guests. What we usually do, however, is press on to the Ship.
Now, the Ship is a pub that I like very much but we're never quite sure of the opening hours. We consistently aim for 19.30 but at different times before now the landlord has insisted its 20.00, or, presumably in jest (!) 21.00. Either way, I think a sensible plan would be to aim to get their for 20.00, to avoid disappointment.
On our last visit there was Abbeydale Moonshine, Kelham Pale Rider and the excellent Welbeck Abbey Red Feather, which was our tipple of choice, perfectly kept and on sale at a decent price - £2.60 a pint. I understand that Kelham Wild Rider and the Barlow brewery stout are to feature soon, along with another few from Welbeck. Should be well worth finding out.
Our final stroll is fairly simple, just along Shalesmoor and keep right up Gibraltar Street to Shakespeares. Last time in Mr P was on the Axholme Best Bitter and I was trying, enjoying and all round being impressed by a sumptuously orangey bitter called Mudhopper from Mallinsons. Alas we were both pushed for time and it was getting really busy in the pub what with events on upstairs and down it seemed so this was our only drink. I could easily stayed for many more Mallinsons to be honest.
From here we usually go our separate ways, if I am being a good boy (which of course I always am), I go home as well, although its not unfeasible that I might instead head off for DAda or the Three Cranes. The KIT, Cat, Riverside and Harlequin are all 5 minutes away of course, so if you so wished you could walk on round the ring road and check them out aswell.
I hope you get chance to try out this trail sometime, if the weathers nice (ahem...) its a lovely walk for the most part, and crucially its populated with excellent pubs. Which is nice...
Wee Beefy
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Wee Beefy's August beer bites, already...
Hello,
with the hectic month hardly started, here's a round up of beer and pubs encountered over the last week.
Old House
A goodly selection of ales to choose from including First Porter from True North/Welbeck, but I plumped for the Abbeydale Dog Star having missed it at Sun fest. This beer, with an amount of each pint being donated to rain rescue, was a really satisfying well balanced fruity hoppy ale which went down well. I also tried a bottle of Saison Silly. Points go to the House for having a branded glass for this, but alas this was the most disappointing saison I've tried so far - far too sweet and hardly refreshing.
Wick at Both Ends
Just the Farmers Blonde on when I visited, and unfortunately their world bottled beer festival was in Asia, so nothing tempted me from the bottles either. Regrettably I had just missed the European leg - most unfortunate! The music was excellent though, so that was a plus point.
Gardeners Rest
A recent trip in with Mr P heralded another stonking range of new brews plus the output from Sheffield Brewing Co. I started with a pint of Bowness Tern Mild and Mr P the Radnorshire Whimbledon. The Radnorshire was, putting it politely, very grim. Slightly jarring with an odd malt flavour and a bewildering hop taste that defied description. It wasn't off, just awful. Luckily the smoky crispness of the Tern was far better.
We also tried pints of the Hackney Best for Mr P and Blackjack Stout for myself, whilst enjoying the calm before the storm sat in the beer garden. The stout was a perfect roasted, dry bitter beer which did everything it should. The Hackney was nice, with a slight caramel taste and good earthy hops.
Ship
We would have stood outside waiting to get in the Ship but it was hammering it down, luckily by the time they opened it had brightened up. Kelham and Abbeydale ruled the bar this time and I had a pint of the Abbeydale Brimstone, the same as Mr P. It was good to take some time out and relax in the pub watching the weather change from sun to downpour and back again outside.
Silly saison at the Wellington.
I persuaded Mr P our last one should be in the Wellington, a pub he had previously avoided due to a dislike of one of the members of staff. Realising that this was probably a long time ago I insisted we should go, espcially since their own brewed beer was so good. I got a pint of the Kimbolton Castle again, which was fantastic, and Mr P a mild which could have been called Light Grey. I should know by now to write these things down....
When it was the Cask Neil used to keep a fairly impressive range of Belgian beers so having sunk my pint I thought I'd try and find out if they stocked a saison. Having discovered they didn't, I also found out that this incredible departure from normality had attracted the attention of the grumpy man who runs the place. He asked what saison was, but as it turned out wasn't actually interested to find out the answer. Now I'm no saison fanboy, but me and the gent stood next to me did try to describe it, while his followers mumped and grumbled amongst themselves about the beer which it was suggested was a"new fangled thing". Alas the opportunity to improve this discourse with an answer was drowned out and the conversation then moved onto Rodenbach Grand Cru, one assumes not because its similar, since that's a well known Belgian sour ale (that he did not like either) as any fule kno.
I opted for another pint of Kimbolton because it was very good, and sat back down wondering why given an apparent lack of knowledge about beer styles, no-one seemed interested in learning anything, like erm, what the beer they had likely never tried was, for example. Had this been Shakespeares, never mind that they do stock one, and are probably quite knowledgeable (and polite), had they not known what it was they would have been interested to find out.
Shakespeares
Nicely segued from the above I was in Shakespeares twice, once to have a half and once to have a pint, of the excellent Steel City Brewing A slight case of over-hopping 14 (according to the barman), which had to be secretly fetched from the cellar like some illicit product. It certainly ticked all the right boxes for me, and wasn't too strong either, so this was an excellent beer. I also think it was actually called a Hopfenweiss.
Interestingly, Steel City are going to brew a saison - alas, with it having ginger in it (and something else incongruous), I think I'll probably dislike it as much as Dave himself! Which means I'll be looking forward to the next slight case of over-hopping instalment instead.
The Blake
At long last I got back to the Blake with the excellent company of my good friend Middlemarch. She was off fruit beer for the evening so opted for a pale lightly hopped bitter, which was provided by Allgates, and named after a Pagan goddess. meanwhile, as well as the obligatory pork pies, I had a good few pints of the Bobs Yakima Pale, which was a brilliant session beer, along with a pint of Fortl Kolsch, (please note, I am sure that is wrong, can anyone tell me what brand the Kolsch in the Blake is at the moment?) which was a new one on me. This was another great reminder of how enjoyable it is to spend an hour or four sat in the Blake enjoying the simple pleasure of supping ale. Excellent.
That's all for now, hopefully I will have some more info over the next few weeks.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
with the hectic month hardly started, here's a round up of beer and pubs encountered over the last week.
Old House
A goodly selection of ales to choose from including First Porter from True North/Welbeck, but I plumped for the Abbeydale Dog Star having missed it at Sun fest. This beer, with an amount of each pint being donated to rain rescue, was a really satisfying well balanced fruity hoppy ale which went down well. I also tried a bottle of Saison Silly. Points go to the House for having a branded glass for this, but alas this was the most disappointing saison I've tried so far - far too sweet and hardly refreshing.
Wick at Both Ends
Just the Farmers Blonde on when I visited, and unfortunately their world bottled beer festival was in Asia, so nothing tempted me from the bottles either. Regrettably I had just missed the European leg - most unfortunate! The music was excellent though, so that was a plus point.
Gardeners Rest
A recent trip in with Mr P heralded another stonking range of new brews plus the output from Sheffield Brewing Co. I started with a pint of Bowness Tern Mild and Mr P the Radnorshire Whimbledon. The Radnorshire was, putting it politely, very grim. Slightly jarring with an odd malt flavour and a bewildering hop taste that defied description. It wasn't off, just awful. Luckily the smoky crispness of the Tern was far better.
We also tried pints of the Hackney Best for Mr P and Blackjack Stout for myself, whilst enjoying the calm before the storm sat in the beer garden. The stout was a perfect roasted, dry bitter beer which did everything it should. The Hackney was nice, with a slight caramel taste and good earthy hops.
Ship
We would have stood outside waiting to get in the Ship but it was hammering it down, luckily by the time they opened it had brightened up. Kelham and Abbeydale ruled the bar this time and I had a pint of the Abbeydale Brimstone, the same as Mr P. It was good to take some time out and relax in the pub watching the weather change from sun to downpour and back again outside.
Silly saison at the Wellington.
I persuaded Mr P our last one should be in the Wellington, a pub he had previously avoided due to a dislike of one of the members of staff. Realising that this was probably a long time ago I insisted we should go, espcially since their own brewed beer was so good. I got a pint of the Kimbolton Castle again, which was fantastic, and Mr P a mild which could have been called Light Grey. I should know by now to write these things down....
When it was the Cask Neil used to keep a fairly impressive range of Belgian beers so having sunk my pint I thought I'd try and find out if they stocked a saison. Having discovered they didn't, I also found out that this incredible departure from normality had attracted the attention of the grumpy man who runs the place. He asked what saison was, but as it turned out wasn't actually interested to find out the answer. Now I'm no saison fanboy, but me and the gent stood next to me did try to describe it, while his followers mumped and grumbled amongst themselves about the beer which it was suggested was a"new fangled thing". Alas the opportunity to improve this discourse with an answer was drowned out and the conversation then moved onto Rodenbach Grand Cru, one assumes not because its similar, since that's a well known Belgian sour ale (that he did not like either) as any fule kno.
I opted for another pint of Kimbolton because it was very good, and sat back down wondering why given an apparent lack of knowledge about beer styles, no-one seemed interested in learning anything, like erm, what the beer they had likely never tried was, for example. Had this been Shakespeares, never mind that they do stock one, and are probably quite knowledgeable (and polite), had they not known what it was they would have been interested to find out.
Shakespeares
Nicely segued from the above I was in Shakespeares twice, once to have a half and once to have a pint, of the excellent Steel City Brewing A slight case of over-hopping 14 (according to the barman), which had to be secretly fetched from the cellar like some illicit product. It certainly ticked all the right boxes for me, and wasn't too strong either, so this was an excellent beer. I also think it was actually called a Hopfenweiss.
Interestingly, Steel City are going to brew a saison - alas, with it having ginger in it (and something else incongruous), I think I'll probably dislike it as much as Dave himself! Which means I'll be looking forward to the next slight case of over-hopping instalment instead.
The Blake
At long last I got back to the Blake with the excellent company of my good friend Middlemarch. She was off fruit beer for the evening so opted for a pale lightly hopped bitter, which was provided by Allgates, and named after a Pagan goddess. meanwhile, as well as the obligatory pork pies, I had a good few pints of the Bobs Yakima Pale, which was a brilliant session beer, along with a pint of Fortl Kolsch, (please note, I am sure that is wrong, can anyone tell me what brand the Kolsch in the Blake is at the moment?) which was a new one on me. This was another great reminder of how enjoyable it is to spend an hour or four sat in the Blake enjoying the simple pleasure of supping ale. Excellent.
That's all for now, hopefully I will have some more info over the next few weeks.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
Saturday, 28 July 2012
Wee Beefys Sheffield beer bites July 2012
Ay up,
well, since we are now the inspiration and some are partakers in the opening ceremony of the Olympics it seems only fair to raise the profile of our fair city even higher- by having an old man witter on abut this and that beer in which ever pub or blah. Or my blog, as its otherwise known...
Thursday saw a photography trip with Maureen around the salubrious and distinctly less then salubrious environs of the River Don and Kelham Island. The idea was to try out my new camera, and, obviously, to pop in a pub or two.
The Gardeners Rest was our first port of call, with a dazzling selection of beers from breweries I';d never heard of. Being a sensible lad Maureen had come in his car so I had a pint and he a half. His Severn session was a light gold beer with not much to say about itself - puny bitterness and lumbering malt with neither aspect showing through. Go buy some Citra! Meanwhile, my Camden Golden Ale was streets ahead, with a distinctive hoppiness but a lovely warm malt to balance it. A cracking beer to enjoy sat by the river, as we did.
Next we wandered in the direction of and into the Wellington at Shalesmoor. Another good array of beers with an emphasis on brews from Millstone and the Little Ale Cart brewery. Maureen declined a beer in here but I had a pint of the LAC Kimbolton which was a tremendously enjoyable beer which I could have drank all day. This simply raises more questions about why I don't drink in there more often to be honest.
Up Scotland street next for a glim and a pic of the decaying Queens Hotel, where "only" 16 years or so ago a friend worked and me and my housemate popped in for Wards and Pool once or twice. Its finally for sale, but the only outcome realistically is that some tax avoiding property developer will buy it and flatten it and build some "much needed" loft apartments in its place.
Last stop for us both, as Maureen had to get home, was Shakespeares where I had two halves, of the rather disappointing Oxfordshire Ales Team, and a half of the rather better Great Newsome dark mild, which I enjoyed sat in teh garden enjoying the last of the sunshine that was managing to peep over the roof.
A quick walk took me to Dada next, where I am becoming an all too recognisable feature (I like this homeliness, but am not sure this is good news for my bank balance) and where I started with, wait for it, a half of Keykeg Halcyon. Yep, that's right, upside down cross branded into my head as I sipped it, I really enjoyed the sweet citrus bite and flavours of grapefruit and pineapple, just as I had done on Saturday, hence my decision. This was followed by a pint of Jaipur, which was a nice satisfying IPA as it should be, although I can't get past my inclination that its "different" somehow.
My next sojourn was rather less successful, I popped in to talk to Barraharri but only for 5 minutes as I needed feeding, alas I contrived to miss all of the deadlines for ordering food at the local hostelries, leading ,e to veer into the arms of Satan himself (Tesco) to buy a reduced price wrap and head off down to the Sheffield Tap for a last one.
Here beervana was found as they had Dark Star Saison on cask, so I had to have a pint and a half, which I sat outside to enjoy in the last light of the day before heading home.
Yesterday, after work, I was at the hospital for 17.00 and on my way back into town settled on having a beer in the sunny beer garden at the University Arms. Some confusion came about because I was paying by plastic (bad Beefy) and the price came to £4.90, with crisps. Rather than charge extra for the crisps as I offered, or charge me £5.00 and put 10p in the charity box as I suggested, the management were adamant that no such deal could be done, and I bought an extra pack of crisps for later. A slightly bizarre and not very well thought through approach which ended up looking a bit silly I reckon.
I sat in the garden in the sun drinking my wonderfully weird half of Fox brewery Steamboat (with its absurd levels of distinctive malt) and an unusually disappointing pint of the normally excellent Dark Star Espresso stout. On the other hand, I did bump into Sheffield beer legend Aston, delivering some beer as I was on my way out. Good to see one of the "team" back on the scene.
Next I was propping up the bar at Harrisons 1854 enjoying a couple of pints of Moonshine, which was on decent form, and a half of Deception. This gave me chance to brief Dave about some of the details of our beery trip out Friday, and also to spend time somewhere cool and relaxing with decent music. All important factors.
My final stop was at Dada once again, James had cut his hair in protest at being photographed by me the night before, and Jamie and Steph were manning the bar. I got the chance to try something utterly insane that Emily had bought and also to repeat my beer prescription from the night before, so this was another enjoyable visit, although its gets more lively on a Friday so standing alone at the bar is a slightly sad preoccupation. Hence I ran away home for chicken wrapped in bacon and lemon rice.
One last point, according to the sign outside the Dog and Partridge the pub is closing down this week. Hardly surprising when you consider the arrogant and shortsighted greed of the pub company, and the shambolic conditions the manager has been given to trade in. I really hope the pub company will be big enough to admit they got it wrong and sell the pub as a going pub concern to an interested individual, then we might see throngs of customers in the Dog again, as opposed to it being forlorn and empty as it has over the last two years. I won't hold my breath though...
Wee Beefy
well, since we are now the inspiration and some are partakers in the opening ceremony of the Olympics it seems only fair to raise the profile of our fair city even higher- by having an old man witter on abut this and that beer in which ever pub or blah. Or my blog, as its otherwise known...
Thursday saw a photography trip with Maureen around the salubrious and distinctly less then salubrious environs of the River Don and Kelham Island. The idea was to try out my new camera, and, obviously, to pop in a pub or two.
The Gardeners Rest was our first port of call, with a dazzling selection of beers from breweries I';d never heard of. Being a sensible lad Maureen had come in his car so I had a pint and he a half. His Severn session was a light gold beer with not much to say about itself - puny bitterness and lumbering malt with neither aspect showing through. Go buy some Citra! Meanwhile, my Camden Golden Ale was streets ahead, with a distinctive hoppiness but a lovely warm malt to balance it. A cracking beer to enjoy sat by the river, as we did.
 |
| Unintentionally sloping bar pic.... |
Next we wandered in the direction of and into the Wellington at Shalesmoor. Another good array of beers with an emphasis on brews from Millstone and the Little Ale Cart brewery. Maureen declined a beer in here but I had a pint of the LAC Kimbolton which was a tremendously enjoyable beer which I could have drank all day. This simply raises more questions about why I don't drink in there more often to be honest.
Up Scotland street next for a glim and a pic of the decaying Queens Hotel, where "only" 16 years or so ago a friend worked and me and my housemate popped in for Wards and Pool once or twice. Its finally for sale, but the only outcome realistically is that some tax avoiding property developer will buy it and flatten it and build some "much needed" loft apartments in its place.
Last stop for us both, as Maureen had to get home, was Shakespeares where I had two halves, of the rather disappointing Oxfordshire Ales Team, and a half of the rather better Great Newsome dark mild, which I enjoyed sat in teh garden enjoying the last of the sunshine that was managing to peep over the roof.
A quick walk took me to Dada next, where I am becoming an all too recognisable feature (I like this homeliness, but am not sure this is good news for my bank balance) and where I started with, wait for it, a half of Keykeg Halcyon. Yep, that's right, upside down cross branded into my head as I sipped it, I really enjoyed the sweet citrus bite and flavours of grapefruit and pineapple, just as I had done on Saturday, hence my decision. This was followed by a pint of Jaipur, which was a nice satisfying IPA as it should be, although I can't get past my inclination that its "different" somehow.
 |
| James looking at the Maui brewery price list.. |
Here beervana was found as they had Dark Star Saison on cask, so I had to have a pint and a half, which I sat outside to enjoy in the last light of the day before heading home.
Yesterday, after work, I was at the hospital for 17.00 and on my way back into town settled on having a beer in the sunny beer garden at the University Arms. Some confusion came about because I was paying by plastic (bad Beefy) and the price came to £4.90, with crisps. Rather than charge extra for the crisps as I offered, or charge me £5.00 and put 10p in the charity box as I suggested, the management were adamant that no such deal could be done, and I bought an extra pack of crisps for later. A slightly bizarre and not very well thought through approach which ended up looking a bit silly I reckon.
I sat in the garden in the sun drinking my wonderfully weird half of Fox brewery Steamboat (with its absurd levels of distinctive malt) and an unusually disappointing pint of the normally excellent Dark Star Espresso stout. On the other hand, I did bump into Sheffield beer legend Aston, delivering some beer as I was on my way out. Good to see one of the "team" back on the scene.
Next I was propping up the bar at Harrisons 1854 enjoying a couple of pints of Moonshine, which was on decent form, and a half of Deception. This gave me chance to brief Dave about some of the details of our beery trip out Friday, and also to spend time somewhere cool and relaxing with decent music. All important factors.
My final stop was at Dada once again, James had cut his hair in protest at being photographed by me the night before, and Jamie and Steph were manning the bar. I got the chance to try something utterly insane that Emily had bought and also to repeat my beer prescription from the night before, so this was another enjoyable visit, although its gets more lively on a Friday so standing alone at the bar is a slightly sad preoccupation. Hence I ran away home for chicken wrapped in bacon and lemon rice.
One last point, according to the sign outside the Dog and Partridge the pub is closing down this week. Hardly surprising when you consider the arrogant and shortsighted greed of the pub company, and the shambolic conditions the manager has been given to trade in. I really hope the pub company will be big enough to admit they got it wrong and sell the pub as a going pub concern to an interested individual, then we might see throngs of customers in the Dog again, as opposed to it being forlorn and empty as it has over the last two years. I won't hold my breath though...
Wee Beefy
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Friday night out in the valley of beer
Good day,
last night I was fortunate to be carried away to a bibulous nirvana, set adrift on a raft of refreshments in a river of beery bibacity, when I went out to sample the wares of the valley of beer.
I hadn't expected to be going anywhere to be perfectly honest - a quick call to the bank earlier that day had revealed a distinct lack of funds and I had resigned myself to an evening of sobriety and drear, until I got a surprise call from Wee Keefy. He asked if I wanted to meet him at the Gardeners Rest for a pint. I explained my monetary predicament and he offered to buy me one, so, despite obviously feeling quite sick at the heinous suggestion of free beer, I reluctantly agreed...
The 1854
Before then however there were 2 hours to fill in, so I gritted my teeth and stayed working as long as I could bare before leaving the office and walking up to Harrisons 1854. Arriving like a heaving, perspiring beetroot, I committed the cardinal sin of buying some beer using plastic. Surely, the express way to destruction, but on a hot day, a very welcome way of paying for a thirst quenching pint.
This was Farmers Blonde, of which I had two, sat at the bar chatting to Barkeep Barraharri and planning a beer trip later in the year. It would have been nice to have taken advantage of the sunshine by sitting outside but I knew I had a walk to the Gardeners ahead so preferred a cool rest. Suitably chilled, I soon headed off for the bounty of the Upper Don Valley, the valley of beer, no less...
Wellington
Soon I was away down the side of Netherthorpe road, then along Meadow Street and down to the tram stop. Here, using the last real money I had, I stopped for a quick half in the Wellington. Myk was at the bar filling me in on details of pubs that I had missed or forgotten, whilst I supped a half of a Little Ale Cart beer called Simon. Obviously I was certain I'd remember its full title (it was 4.0%) but having scoured the tinterweb for details I'd suggest its quite new because I can't find out the beer's surname...
Still, it was another very drinkable and fairly delicious ale cart offering, which its a shame I didn't have more time to enjoy. Because all too soon I was Gardeners bound. Just after leaving the pub, heading along the old Penistone Road, I received a text from Wee Keefy - he was going to be late so I needn't rush. Good. I was ten minutes away at best, was dieing for the loo, and had 20 pence.
Still, I gamely forged on, seeking out the jennel and walkway at the side of the river which I used to consider a useful shortcut for many years but then inexplicably stopped using, and finally arrived at the Gardeners, with companions nowhere to be seen, to set about waiting across the road.
Gardeners Relief
At 10 to 8 Wee keefy and Jambon arrived and we went inside to firstly attend to a need, and then rejoice at finding another redoubtable range of beers on the bar. So vast was the range (and so uncertain the promise of further ale) I had two halves instead of a pint - half of the Llangorse Brewery Dark Side, and half of the Brodies Old Street.
Regarding the Llangorse, I know I could have asked, but I really thought it was going to be dark. It wasn't. It was light brown, and tasted OK, but nothing to get excited about. There was a strange aftertaste that I couldn't pin down, and as soon as I tasted Keefy's Old School Brewery Blackboard I knew I would have preferred that.
The Brodies on the other hand was a totally different scenario. Absolutely masses of hops, fizzing on the tongue and receding to a dry citrussy aftertaste, all packed into what I thought was a low gravity beer, but is in fact 5.3%, (which to be fair is much more the strength it tasted). I was now officially really glad that I had gone out for a pint, even if I was relying on brotherly generosity. Not just the brother though...
Next Jambon declared he would buy a round, Carlos had joined us by this time, he went with his favoured Guinness and me and Jambon pints of the Brodies, which simply got hoppier the more we drank, but without ever becoming ascorbic or harsh, just citrus hops and smiles all the way down the pint.
Our final pint in here was more Guinness for Carlos and a pint of the Navigation Stout, which is another Navigation beer that didn't quite match the exellence of the first one I tried at the beginning of the month in Shakespeares, but was still very good none the less. This had a very dry roast bitterness before finishing with a more creamy malt led finish, and in fact it rather grew on me as I ontinued drinking.
Ship
Off next to the Ship since neither Jambon or Wee Keefy had ever visited, and as usual we weren't disappointed by the beer range - we all had (except for Carlos!) pints of the Spire Sovereign, which went down well with those who tried it, as did the pub. I am pleased to announce two more converts to my list of new found Ship Inn fans. That the atmosphere and overall experience of visiting is every bit as reliable as the beers makes this an excellent stop off whilst in the area.
Shakespeares
Our final stop was without notes. It was late, I don't think we got there til 23.00, and although I know I only had one pint, I concede I have absolutely no idea what it was. Being Shakespeares I bet there's a good chance it was the an SWB or Revolutions brew, but I couldn't say. All I know is we ended up sat outside in the smoking garage (?!) slowly sipping our pints, before I had to run away and catch the night bus home.
A fab night with friends and family, with impeccable beer and pubs. I really can't think of anything better.
Wee Beefy
last night I was fortunate to be carried away to a bibulous nirvana, set adrift on a raft of refreshments in a river of beery bibacity, when I went out to sample the wares of the valley of beer.
I hadn't expected to be going anywhere to be perfectly honest - a quick call to the bank earlier that day had revealed a distinct lack of funds and I had resigned myself to an evening of sobriety and drear, until I got a surprise call from Wee Keefy. He asked if I wanted to meet him at the Gardeners Rest for a pint. I explained my monetary predicament and he offered to buy me one, so, despite obviously feeling quite sick at the heinous suggestion of free beer, I reluctantly agreed...
The 1854
Before then however there were 2 hours to fill in, so I gritted my teeth and stayed working as long as I could bare before leaving the office and walking up to Harrisons 1854. Arriving like a heaving, perspiring beetroot, I committed the cardinal sin of buying some beer using plastic. Surely, the express way to destruction, but on a hot day, a very welcome way of paying for a thirst quenching pint.
This was Farmers Blonde, of which I had two, sat at the bar chatting to Barkeep Barraharri and planning a beer trip later in the year. It would have been nice to have taken advantage of the sunshine by sitting outside but I knew I had a walk to the Gardeners ahead so preferred a cool rest. Suitably chilled, I soon headed off for the bounty of the Upper Don Valley, the valley of beer, no less...
Wellington
Soon I was away down the side of Netherthorpe road, then along Meadow Street and down to the tram stop. Here, using the last real money I had, I stopped for a quick half in the Wellington. Myk was at the bar filling me in on details of pubs that I had missed or forgotten, whilst I supped a half of a Little Ale Cart beer called Simon. Obviously I was certain I'd remember its full title (it was 4.0%) but having scoured the tinterweb for details I'd suggest its quite new because I can't find out the beer's surname...
Still, it was another very drinkable and fairly delicious ale cart offering, which its a shame I didn't have more time to enjoy. Because all too soon I was Gardeners bound. Just after leaving the pub, heading along the old Penistone Road, I received a text from Wee Keefy - he was going to be late so I needn't rush. Good. I was ten minutes away at best, was dieing for the loo, and had 20 pence.
Still, I gamely forged on, seeking out the jennel and walkway at the side of the river which I used to consider a useful shortcut for many years but then inexplicably stopped using, and finally arrived at the Gardeners, with companions nowhere to be seen, to set about waiting across the road.
Gardeners Relief
At 10 to 8 Wee keefy and Jambon arrived and we went inside to firstly attend to a need, and then rejoice at finding another redoubtable range of beers on the bar. So vast was the range (and so uncertain the promise of further ale) I had two halves instead of a pint - half of the Llangorse Brewery Dark Side, and half of the Brodies Old Street.
Regarding the Llangorse, I know I could have asked, but I really thought it was going to be dark. It wasn't. It was light brown, and tasted OK, but nothing to get excited about. There was a strange aftertaste that I couldn't pin down, and as soon as I tasted Keefy's Old School Brewery Blackboard I knew I would have preferred that.
The Brodies on the other hand was a totally different scenario. Absolutely masses of hops, fizzing on the tongue and receding to a dry citrussy aftertaste, all packed into what I thought was a low gravity beer, but is in fact 5.3%, (which to be fair is much more the strength it tasted). I was now officially really glad that I had gone out for a pint, even if I was relying on brotherly generosity. Not just the brother though...
Next Jambon declared he would buy a round, Carlos had joined us by this time, he went with his favoured Guinness and me and Jambon pints of the Brodies, which simply got hoppier the more we drank, but without ever becoming ascorbic or harsh, just citrus hops and smiles all the way down the pint.
Our final pint in here was more Guinness for Carlos and a pint of the Navigation Stout, which is another Navigation beer that didn't quite match the exellence of the first one I tried at the beginning of the month in Shakespeares, but was still very good none the less. This had a very dry roast bitterness before finishing with a more creamy malt led finish, and in fact it rather grew on me as I ontinued drinking.
Ship
Off next to the Ship since neither Jambon or Wee Keefy had ever visited, and as usual we weren't disappointed by the beer range - we all had (except for Carlos!) pints of the Spire Sovereign, which went down well with those who tried it, as did the pub. I am pleased to announce two more converts to my list of new found Ship Inn fans. That the atmosphere and overall experience of visiting is every bit as reliable as the beers makes this an excellent stop off whilst in the area.
Shakespeares
Our final stop was without notes. It was late, I don't think we got there til 23.00, and although I know I only had one pint, I concede I have absolutely no idea what it was. Being Shakespeares I bet there's a good chance it was the an SWB or Revolutions brew, but I couldn't say. All I know is we ended up sat outside in the smoking garage (?!) slowly sipping our pints, before I had to run away and catch the night bus home.
A fab night with friends and family, with impeccable beer and pubs. I really can't think of anything better.
Wee Beefy
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