Golden Pints 2017

Yeesh!

     seems like a while since I did this. Am not sure its something one needs inviting to do but whether it is or it isn't it makes no difference, here are my answers (to the questions posed on John Clarke's blog since I don't know who's hosting it this year...). Have also added some I remember from the last time I did it, which occurred in the past, whilst I watched....

Best UK cask Beer.
Contrary to popular misbelief I do drink cask beer, quite a lot. There have been some fantastic beers on cask this year but the two that stand out are Neepsend Centennial and Northern Monk Heathen. The Centennial may actually have been brewed in 2016 by the way. But they are just numbers. It was incredibly well balanced and easy drinking for a stupendously hoppy pale ale and I loved it. The Northern Monk Heathen was over 6% and cloudy as a British summer's day, packed with an excellent hop hit, balanced perfectly by the malts and was overall a fantastic ale.

Best UK keg beer.
I could list many but the Verdant Maybe just one more PSi at 8.0% was a clear winner. Superb, hoppy, fruity, cloudy,  smooth excellence.

Best UK bottle.
Have probably drunk less bottled beers this year but of those that I have the Marble Imp of the Perverse was a highlight, approximately 72% alcohol and sliced when removed from the bottle. Another excellent product was the Weird Beard Holy Hoppin Hell at somewhere in the 9s. A fabulously ascorbic imperial ale with sufficient balance to make each mouthful refreshing and enjoyable whilst your tongue tingles.

Best UK can.
Oof. There is a lot to choose from! It has to be five day fresh Verdant Further for me. A fantastic 8% DIPA bristling with zesty fruit and hops, as easy to quaff as Vimto. The Northern Monk I want to Moob it Moob it was also a top drop, whether you liked the naked man artwork or not is another matter.....

Best cider or perry.
I don't drink much am sorry to say but the Cats Tongue at Shakespeares was very nice if I recall (the maker of which I do not).

Best Overseas Draught beer.
Stigbergets Bryggeri Sweden Amazing Haze IPA, which I tried at Shakespeares' stupidly delicious  beers tap takeover. It was wonderfully balanced and had the perfect blend of hops and malt to make a zingy satisfying hoppy pale ale.

Best Overseas Bottled beer.
I bought a gueuze from Hop Hideout that was rather special and quite rare, possibly a collab between Cantillon and other gueuze brewers. I can't for the life of me remember its name but it was fantastic. Alas this muddle of memories will have to suffice as an answer.

Best pub or bar(s).
Shakespeares. For achingly obvious reasons. Old Workshop as its a very interesting and innovative bar with fabulous beer and food. Beer Engine for virtually the same reason. Bar Stewards and Walkley Beer Co for being brilliant micropubs (amongst many) and Hop Hideout, where you can drink their range of excellent keg beers.

Best beer festival.
Sheffield, and any at Shakespeares. Always excellent!

Best book.
Am guessing beer books exist, so whichever you liked I may have.....

Best bottle or pumpclip label design.
Magic Rock or Odyssey.Excellent label designs from the latter, overall excellent branding from the former.

Best collaboration brew.
Cloudwater and Pilcrow Pub Missing piece IPA. A fabulous double dry hopped IPA from this excellent brewery and a pub I have not yet visited. Superb.

Best Overall Beer.
Verdant Maybe just one more PSi.

Best UK Brewery.
A three way tie alas between Verdant, Deya and Northern Monk. So many excellent brews from theses fine people!

So, there are my half remembered answers to the official and added question for the Golden Pints Awards 2017. I hope the winners of each receive significant adulation.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy

Shakespeares IPA Tap takeover 3

Hello,

       some of you may know that I had an issue recently known as a stroke. Am telling you this now so that you can judge me and then read with a clear head. I am not for a minute suggesting I have been sensible in my recovery. So lets now get on with the gen....

I had heard about this takeover a few weeks ago and had already enjoyed two of the beers in can in the last month, so no amount of minor brain injury was going to keep me away. It did take a while to walk from the Wicker, and it was cold, but I had my stick my phone and company. The beers did not disappoint.

I started on two halves, of Northern Monk and Wylam I want to moob it moob it, and Cloudwater and the Pilcrow pub Missing piece IPA at 7%. The Northern collab was fabulous, very cloudy and tantalisingly hoppy and absurdly easy to drink.

I had heard some in the tiny village of my drinking universe suggest that they were tired of Cloudwater and of the DIPA style. I found this quite interesting. I realise that price is an issue (the Northern Monk Wylam collab was £6.60 a pint at 8.8 and the Cloudwater collab was £7.20 at 7% for example) and also that their DIPA series of 9%ers had probably run its course before it finished. However, their New England DIPAs and Double dry hopped 6% pale ales have been far better, in some cases amazing,  and the idea of double dry hopping a DIPA whilst also maintaining its balance and easy drinking smoothness brings the style to a whole new level.

The missing piece IPA with Pilcrow was very interesting and featured Citra, Eukanot and Mosaic and was double dry hopped, pulling off the hoppy and balanced trick perfectly. It was also thick yellow in colour - not that this matters, but it suggested different malts or yeast to usual had been used which perhaps contributed to the flavour. It was quite frankly exceptional. A proper hop smoothie.

I also tried the Weird Beard and Odyssey Brew Co Fuck you I won't brew what you tell me, a 9.2% West Coast IPA. I have a lot of time for Odyssey and the only thing that let this down was that the strength possibly gave the beer a noticable sweetness.

The final IPA I tried was the Deya Into the Haze, a wonderfully cloudy tropical IPA at 6.2%. This was perhaps the beer of  the night in terms of mouthfeel and taste, and its the only beer I had a pint of. Deya are another good brewery whose products thus far have not disappointed me. A fantastic, smooth, hoppy end to a short tasting. Alas I did not get to try the Chorlton Mandarin sour or the Amundsen from Norway, and I didn't try the Lost Industry Landlocked streets in the sky because I had tried it in bottle and didn't fancy its unavoidable sweetness (although it is a very good beer).

Having   missed two excellent pub fests whilst in hospital or recovering am glad I risked a trip to Shakespeares to sample some truly fantastic ales from some influential breweries. Looking forward to another which I would recommend should take place in February when am good and better.....

Cheers

Wee Beefy