Hello,
the Star Inn at Folly Hall in Huddersfield has been making waves for some time now - numerous mentions on blogs and its inclusion in the GBG brought it my attention and yesterday I got to go there for the first time. En route I was meeting Ale Ambler (hereinafter referred to as "the AA") from the A Swift One blog to show me a couple of Hudds-pubs and to hopefully introduce me to some of the Huddersfield glitterati. I smiled when I wrote that...
I started at the Sheffield Tap as I had 18 whole minutes spare for a beer - this turned out to be only a half since it took 6 minutes to get served, as me and the gentleman next to me were stood at the end nearest the entrance, which apparently makes us invisible. It was busy though. Harviestoun Schiehallion was sampled, in decent nick but probably a smidgen too warm.
Next followed the train journey that time forgot, the ball aching trundle from Sheffield to Huddersfield. A direct contribution to the paucity of my visits to Huddersfield, but at least it deposited me at a station which crucially features the Kings Head. Inside it smelled strongly of stale beer (grim) but there was nothing stale or grim about the range on offer - despite the plethora of unknown brews I went for a pint of Magic Rock Curious because its always good in the Kings Head.
Stood outside in the sun I soon met up with the AA and we headed for the Hand Drawn Monkey beer shop - or more accurately pub. On the bar were 3 real ales on cask and a selection of Keykegs. The AA had half a Summer Wine Pacer pale on KK and me a half of 6.5% Bombay IPA on cask. A rather strange slightly, erm, curry-ish concoction, but nice nonetheless.
We finally arrived at the Star just gone 6 and decided to forgo the beers in the pub to get some tickets in the marquee. Having got a glass and some tokens (the tokens are £1.40 each, all beers are the same price, but the glass is non refundable) we rolled up at the bar in the marque to survey the rather impressive beer list. I started with a half of Mallinsons Folly Girl, since I like Mallinsons. Not perhaps their best ever beer but a good place to start.
I followed this with a Popes Hop Market, a very unusual lemon and herby pale ale which worked very well but probably wouldn't tempt you to a whole pint. We did eventually get to sit down (high scores for festivals with plenty of seating) and having caught up with fellow Swift One scribe Will and bumped into Unpro and the blokes from Wakefield (*tip - you don't think they live in Wakefield...) we had a another few beers and started to think about ordering food.
We headed inside to what was now a slightly cooler pub, since it was quieter, mainly driven in by some sprog whose mewling it's deaf parents found incredibly amusing. Well done. Inside things improved with the arrival of very good value food (pastie and beans is £3.50 and the pastie is huge) and we also had halves of the Alechemy Cairnpapple IPA.
The other beers tried were :
XT XT pi mild
Great Heck Mosaic
North Riding Aussie Punch
Yorkshire Dales Feizor
Loch Ness Light Ness
The Mosaic and Loch Ness were probably the stand out beers (the Mosaic kindly enabling me to recognise its distinctive taste in other ales) and the Loch Ness was impressively dry and bitter for a sub 4% pale ale. All in all this was a great first festival visit for me and one I'd like to do again.
Not done however, we set off walking to Lockwood. We popped in the Salford Bowling Club, who despite our not being members were happy for us to sign in for a quick half. There were two real ales on, Salamander and Durham Evensong. I had the latter, which was an interesting version but not too bad, but the AA's Salamander got progressively worse as he got down the glass.
Before getting the train we just had time for a Pint of Mallinsons in the Shoulder of Mutton, an interesting Regional Inventory listed old stone pub at the top of a cobbled courtyard, selling three real ales. A great way to round off a great day out. Thanks to the AA for getting me to and from the salient points, and to Sam at the Star, and her staff, for putting on a great festival..
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
*...but they do...
Showing posts with label Kings Head Huddersfield. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kings Head Huddersfield. Show all posts
Saturday, 20 July 2013
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Huddersfield area pub crawl
Hello,
Most people know that Huddersfield has some cracking pubs, and its probably also been established already that there are some cracking pubs on the outskirts, so I can’t promise any bamboozling surprises on this crawl write up, but I can assure you that I would heartily recommend every pub.
Back in November me and Davefromtshop caught a sleeper train to Huddersfield – not one with beds in you understand, instead one which needed them, given that it took 1 hour 50 minutes to get there. It took so long in fact that we missed the hourly bus out to our intended first pub.
Being Sunday no pubs were open before 12.00 so we walked to the bus station and back to check the timetable and see how long it takes to walk there from the station, before returning to stand balefully outside the Head of Steam like alcos.
Once in, we had some White Bear Original. I can’t say I was won over by it, lacking any stand out flavour and with a strange Whitbread full mash like aftertaste hanging around. Given that the 3 bottles of their Bruin I bought have been off, I decided that they would have to produce something far better before I’d try them again, so sipped their biter and then headed ff to the bus station.
We headed out to Sowood, a large parish area than a village I would say, the effect being that we didn’t really know where to get off and neither could anyone on the bus suggest where. Despite this we soon found a local who directed us towards Forest Hill road and the Dog and partridge.
This is a tiny two roomed pub with small windows running along the front of each room and a timeworn bar, low beams and fireplaces. Its run by an enthusiastic landlord with an incredible 50 years in charge, who helped us to get back to the bus route, and thanked us warmly for making the effort to visit - its seldom you meet that kind of publican these days. There are 3 real ales, Black sheep plus two guests, on this occasion an astringent but enjoyable beer from Brass Monkey called Gold Monkey. Dave suggested this was following a recent trend of using what I may well have misremembered as Nelson Sauvin hops – intensely dry flavour that can, when used liberally, make a beer orangey and sharp and very dry.
We also had halves of a Great Newsome beer that neither of us could remember the name of, which is a sham,e because it was marginally better than the Gold Monkey.
A walk to Outlane followed for the bus, but we just had chance to nip for a half of Taylors at the Waggon and Horses, a large two roomed eateries that reminded me of an inter war hotel. The landlord was acceptably kept and enthusiastically priced.
Back in Huddersfield we contrived to get separated and missed the opportunity to cram a quick pint in somewhere in town, so headed off a little earlier than planned to Marsden, and the excellent Ossett brewery owned Riverhead tap.
We started with a pint of Town Terrier from Riverhead and a fantastic dark malty German style beer Marzendlen. This was so exquisite we had to have another 3 halves of it, before caving ion and trying the Sparth bitter and Ossett Galena. Although this refusal to leave cost us a trip to Greenfield, I can’t speak highly enough about the excellent Marzen beer and the comfortable relaxing pub that we sampled it in.
With darkness nearing we caught the bus to Slaithwaite (Slowitt) and walked form the main road up to the Commercial, opposite the Huddersield narrow Canal. This is owned by the landlord of the nearby Swan Inn and serves an excellent range of about 8 ales always with one or two from Empire brewery. We both had a pint of their Moonraker mild which was on sale at a sensible £1.90 a pint – had we not been mid crawl we could have stayed on it all night.
Alas we had to grab some food from the chippy and walk up to the delightfully named area of crimble to visit the Swan. This is a more traditional affair but with slightly less beer choice, never the less we enjoyed 2 pints of what according to my scribbled on sheet of paper was Empire Mallrs Lallrs. Yes, that’s right, I have no idea either. No doubt the long walk up the hill was to blame for our inability to read and write.
Off next to Linthwaite (Linfit), where we reached the Sair by climbing up the horrendously steep Hoyle Ing, which was only possible thanks to the knowledge of the bus driver, since you can’t see the Sair Inn sign heading towards Huddersfield.
We breathlessly stumbled into find faint orange lights and candle light, low beams, flagstone floors, an eclectic jukebox and a fire in every room. Alas there was no Linfit ale on the bar, I hadn’t heard that they’d stopped brewing but they do only sell the beer there nowadays, so it was a bit of a surprise. Instead we had a pint each of a bizarre Otley beer that I can’t read, and 2 fantastic halves of Phoenix mocha, which we would have preferred to have had as our pint.
We soon arrived back in Huddersfield, and just had time to get to the Kings Head on the station, a large pub split into 3 rooms, a noisy and cosy bar snug, a large concert room sized bar and an adjacent room that doesn’t appear to get used very much. From the amazing number of beers on offer, all were from Yorkshire, and we both had a half of Bobs Brewing super chief, which was very nice.
We now had to get home, which at that time of night involves a detour to Leeds. We had an hour here so tried the Scarborough Arms, which was a little disappointing, in which we had halves of Lees mild, and then took a long walk to a leeds brewery pub at the side of the river Aire. Until Dave rings me to confirm, I am afraid I can’t tell you what the pub was called, or what we drank, but I know it was a pint each of a Leeds brewery beer that may have been brewed for the pub, and it was a decent pint as well.
All in all then, a fantastic and varied day out, with country pubs, town pubs and city ones, notable for the Sair, Riverhead Tap and Dog and Partridge especially, and unforgettable on the basis of the excellent Marzen from Marsden.
And please be aware should this tempt you out West, travelling around West Yorkshire is inexpensive with a day saver , but unfortuntaely fares into the county from sunny Sheff are very high.
Next time I'll tell you about more January jaunts in lincolnshire and South Derbyshire.
Wee Beefy.
Most people know that Huddersfield has some cracking pubs, and its probably also been established already that there are some cracking pubs on the outskirts, so I can’t promise any bamboozling surprises on this crawl write up, but I can assure you that I would heartily recommend every pub.
Back in November me and Davefromtshop caught a sleeper train to Huddersfield – not one with beds in you understand, instead one which needed them, given that it took 1 hour 50 minutes to get there. It took so long in fact that we missed the hourly bus out to our intended first pub.
Being Sunday no pubs were open before 12.00 so we walked to the bus station and back to check the timetable and see how long it takes to walk there from the station, before returning to stand balefully outside the Head of Steam like alcos.
Once in, we had some White Bear Original. I can’t say I was won over by it, lacking any stand out flavour and with a strange Whitbread full mash like aftertaste hanging around. Given that the 3 bottles of their Bruin I bought have been off, I decided that they would have to produce something far better before I’d try them again, so sipped their biter and then headed ff to the bus station.
We headed out to Sowood, a large parish area than a village I would say, the effect being that we didn’t really know where to get off and neither could anyone on the bus suggest where. Despite this we soon found a local who directed us towards Forest Hill road and the Dog and partridge.
This is a tiny two roomed pub with small windows running along the front of each room and a timeworn bar, low beams and fireplaces. Its run by an enthusiastic landlord with an incredible 50 years in charge, who helped us to get back to the bus route, and thanked us warmly for making the effort to visit - its seldom you meet that kind of publican these days. There are 3 real ales, Black sheep plus two guests, on this occasion an astringent but enjoyable beer from Brass Monkey called Gold Monkey. Dave suggested this was following a recent trend of using what I may well have misremembered as Nelson Sauvin hops – intensely dry flavour that can, when used liberally, make a beer orangey and sharp and very dry.
We also had halves of a Great Newsome beer that neither of us could remember the name of, which is a sham,e because it was marginally better than the Gold Monkey.
A walk to Outlane followed for the bus, but we just had chance to nip for a half of Taylors at the Waggon and Horses, a large two roomed eateries that reminded me of an inter war hotel. The landlord was acceptably kept and enthusiastically priced.
Back in Huddersfield we contrived to get separated and missed the opportunity to cram a quick pint in somewhere in town, so headed off a little earlier than planned to Marsden, and the excellent Ossett brewery owned Riverhead tap.
We started with a pint of Town Terrier from Riverhead and a fantastic dark malty German style beer Marzendlen. This was so exquisite we had to have another 3 halves of it, before caving ion and trying the Sparth bitter and Ossett Galena. Although this refusal to leave cost us a trip to Greenfield, I can’t speak highly enough about the excellent Marzen beer and the comfortable relaxing pub that we sampled it in.
With darkness nearing we caught the bus to Slaithwaite (Slowitt) and walked form the main road up to the Commercial, opposite the Huddersield narrow Canal. This is owned by the landlord of the nearby Swan Inn and serves an excellent range of about 8 ales always with one or two from Empire brewery. We both had a pint of their Moonraker mild which was on sale at a sensible £1.90 a pint – had we not been mid crawl we could have stayed on it all night.
Alas we had to grab some food from the chippy and walk up to the delightfully named area of crimble to visit the Swan. This is a more traditional affair but with slightly less beer choice, never the less we enjoyed 2 pints of what according to my scribbled on sheet of paper was Empire Mallrs Lallrs. Yes, that’s right, I have no idea either. No doubt the long walk up the hill was to blame for our inability to read and write.
Off next to Linthwaite (Linfit), where we reached the Sair by climbing up the horrendously steep Hoyle Ing, which was only possible thanks to the knowledge of the bus driver, since you can’t see the Sair Inn sign heading towards Huddersfield.
We breathlessly stumbled into find faint orange lights and candle light, low beams, flagstone floors, an eclectic jukebox and a fire in every room. Alas there was no Linfit ale on the bar, I hadn’t heard that they’d stopped brewing but they do only sell the beer there nowadays, so it was a bit of a surprise. Instead we had a pint each of a bizarre Otley beer that I can’t read, and 2 fantastic halves of Phoenix mocha, which we would have preferred to have had as our pint.
We soon arrived back in Huddersfield, and just had time to get to the Kings Head on the station, a large pub split into 3 rooms, a noisy and cosy bar snug, a large concert room sized bar and an adjacent room that doesn’t appear to get used very much. From the amazing number of beers on offer, all were from Yorkshire, and we both had a half of Bobs Brewing super chief, which was very nice.
We now had to get home, which at that time of night involves a detour to Leeds. We had an hour here so tried the Scarborough Arms, which was a little disappointing, in which we had halves of Lees mild, and then took a long walk to a leeds brewery pub at the side of the river Aire. Until Dave rings me to confirm, I am afraid I can’t tell you what the pub was called, or what we drank, but I know it was a pint each of a Leeds brewery beer that may have been brewed for the pub, and it was a decent pint as well.
All in all then, a fantastic and varied day out, with country pubs, town pubs and city ones, notable for the Sair, Riverhead Tap and Dog and Partridge especially, and unforgettable on the basis of the excellent Marzen from Marsden.
And please be aware should this tempt you out West, travelling around West Yorkshire is inexpensive with a day saver , but unfortuntaely fares into the county from sunny Sheff are very high.
Next time I'll tell you about more January jaunts in lincolnshire and South Derbyshire.
Wee Beefy.
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