Hello all,
don't worry, this isn't a post about short Sheffield pubs, its just the details of a short trip I had on Saturday to a few places to buy a small number of drinks. Being only yesterday there is a good chance I may even recall the details of all the beers I tried....
Having met relatives for a coffee in town earlier, and popped into Beer Central to pick something up, I headed for Hop Hideout, to wish Jules and Will a happy marriage (am not sure if that is what one says, but I said it to both!) and to have a couple of small drinks. I started on a half of the The Choice is Yours Export Porter, brewed by Blackjack, the Hop Hideouters and the Black Sheep Store at Blackjack Brewery in Manchester. Despite its strength of 6.7% the porter was really easy drinking - credit to all involved for a wonderful colab brew.
I also got a third of Magic Rock and Basqueland Brother Chucker IPA, a 6.7 colab with a wonderful aroma and a very satisfying taste. From here I caught the bus up to Archer Road Beer Stop. There were two real ales on, Wet Feb from Dancing Duck, and White Rose Blonde. As you may know you can't drink in but seeing as how I know Dave he invited me in for a catch up and very kindly bought me a couple of pints of the Dancing Duck beer, which was on top form.
From here I walked along Archer Road and up the road on the left Cawthorne Grove to come out and visit the Ale House. This is my third visit since it was taken over by new management last year and once more didn't disappoint. Here I had a pint and a half of Whitby IPA. I have never tried any of their beers before and so went for my default style, and the beer was served in a Whitby branded glass.
The IPA was hoppy, although not overly so, but was very well kept, and it was an enjoyable end to my rather short crawl of three Abbeydale and Woodseats venues.
Just a final note, and that is that next time am up in the area am going to pop in the White Lion which Jon and Mandy have now been running for three years! Congratulations to them on turning the pub round and making it into a top boozer once again.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
Showing posts with label The Ale House Fraser Road. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Ale House Fraser Road. Show all posts
Sunday, 25 February 2018
Saturday, 18 April 2015
Post run pints
Hello,
its important to emphasise that, despite the post title, I didn't partake in the run that the pints were a reward for. I mean, I did run, well, jog...walk fast perhaps, from the bus stop to the pub, but it was my good friend Fluffy who did the Sheffield half marathon. After which, of course, the lad needed a pint.
We met at 13.00 in the Tap and Tankard. Coming into the dark from the bright but cold and windy outside, I struggled to spot anyone, before seeing Sue and Col, and found out what they were drinking. Sue doesn't drink real ale, alas, but Col does. Fluffy was away getting changed so I went for a pint of the Great Heck Treasure IPA. I think we were all on the same.
My next pint was one of the last of the Saison from Hop Studio. A 6.1% saison on keg at £3.80 a pint. that, dear readers, represents good value. And the saison was lovely - crisp, fruity, cloudy and refreshing - exactly what I didn't need on a cold day.
A taxi came - or rather, due to road closures, we went to it, and took us to Woodseats where we went to the Ale House. I went in not long after it opened with Davefromtshop and we talked Saltaire and other breweries with the landlord. I have been in a few more times since but not in the last two years, since I had been told it was locals only.
To be fair, when we arrived, the door was locked! Luckily, Fluff banged on the door and we were allowed in. I understand the procedure is, the landlord asks who you are, if you live local, and where you go drinking. Rumour has it, if you reply the Big Tree or Woodseats Palace you are asked to leave, and anywhere else you are informed you can stay for one and then leave. None of this is fact. Necessarily. The pub isn't closed to none locals, but access is restricted. Got a problem with that? Well, I got in, so I don't. I completely sympathise with anyone who does though....
On teh bar were 5 or 6 real ales and Fluff and Col went for the Dark Star Sunburst, which, given that it was sheeting down with rain when we arrived was ironic, and I went with a pint of Marble Lagonda IPA at £3.00 a pint. The landlord advised me that he paid more fro Marble beers, as his normal price is around £2.60 a pint. To be fair, £3.00 a pint for Lagonda IPA at 5.0% is another good value beer.
As time went by some more regulars turned up, one fresh from the half marathon, and Fluff chatted to them about race times and highlights, and I chatted to the landlord about Marble Dobber which he had coming on. I really enjoyed my visit t the Ale House. Lets hope I can go again.
We all left around 17.00 and I walked down to the Broadfield. here I bumped into Will from Hop Hideout and had a half of Black IPA on keg which I can't remember whose it was. It was very busy in the Broady, but the ale was nice.
I met Tash in town and we returned to the Tap and Tankard. We sat in the rocking chairs near the fireplace and supped pints of Kelham Island Bete Noire and Pale Rider, and had, inevitably, a Wateralls pork pie. Although I was a trifle tired, this was another excellent visit, even though the pub was now darker still!
Our final stop of the night was BrewDog. On a day of inexpensive pints, it seemed worthwhile splashing out on some, er...less than inexpensive pints. I had a half of the BrewDog Indian Summer, which was described as saison in style, and the excellent Hardcore IPA, while Tash had half a Weihenstephaner cloudy wheat beer. We took photos of the bar and the lighting (more fun than it sounds) and Tash also drank a BrewDog and possibly Mikeller colab. I think...
So, an interesting micx of different pubs, all once again serving excellent real (and keg) ales at a wide variety of prices. Thanks to Fluff for organising and well done for running his first half marathon. Hope to see him and Col and Sue soon in, I don't know, maybe the reopened Ship?
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
its important to emphasise that, despite the post title, I didn't partake in the run that the pints were a reward for. I mean, I did run, well, jog...walk fast perhaps, from the bus stop to the pub, but it was my good friend Fluffy who did the Sheffield half marathon. After which, of course, the lad needed a pint.
We met at 13.00 in the Tap and Tankard. Coming into the dark from the bright but cold and windy outside, I struggled to spot anyone, before seeing Sue and Col, and found out what they were drinking. Sue doesn't drink real ale, alas, but Col does. Fluffy was away getting changed so I went for a pint of the Great Heck Treasure IPA. I think we were all on the same.
My next pint was one of the last of the Saison from Hop Studio. A 6.1% saison on keg at £3.80 a pint. that, dear readers, represents good value. And the saison was lovely - crisp, fruity, cloudy and refreshing - exactly what I didn't need on a cold day.
A taxi came - or rather, due to road closures, we went to it, and took us to Woodseats where we went to the Ale House. I went in not long after it opened with Davefromtshop and we talked Saltaire and other breweries with the landlord. I have been in a few more times since but not in the last two years, since I had been told it was locals only.
To be fair, when we arrived, the door was locked! Luckily, Fluff banged on the door and we were allowed in. I understand the procedure is, the landlord asks who you are, if you live local, and where you go drinking. Rumour has it, if you reply the Big Tree or Woodseats Palace you are asked to leave, and anywhere else you are informed you can stay for one and then leave. None of this is fact. Necessarily. The pub isn't closed to none locals, but access is restricted. Got a problem with that? Well, I got in, so I don't. I completely sympathise with anyone who does though....
On teh bar were 5 or 6 real ales and Fluff and Col went for the Dark Star Sunburst, which, given that it was sheeting down with rain when we arrived was ironic, and I went with a pint of Marble Lagonda IPA at £3.00 a pint. The landlord advised me that he paid more fro Marble beers, as his normal price is around £2.60 a pint. To be fair, £3.00 a pint for Lagonda IPA at 5.0% is another good value beer.
As time went by some more regulars turned up, one fresh from the half marathon, and Fluff chatted to them about race times and highlights, and I chatted to the landlord about Marble Dobber which he had coming on. I really enjoyed my visit t the Ale House. Lets hope I can go again.
We all left around 17.00 and I walked down to the Broadfield. here I bumped into Will from Hop Hideout and had a half of Black IPA on keg which I can't remember whose it was. It was very busy in the Broady, but the ale was nice.
I met Tash in town and we returned to the Tap and Tankard. We sat in the rocking chairs near the fireplace and supped pints of Kelham Island Bete Noire and Pale Rider, and had, inevitably, a Wateralls pork pie. Although I was a trifle tired, this was another excellent visit, even though the pub was now darker still!
Our final stop of the night was BrewDog. On a day of inexpensive pints, it seemed worthwhile splashing out on some, er...less than inexpensive pints. I had a half of the BrewDog Indian Summer, which was described as saison in style, and the excellent Hardcore IPA, while Tash had half a Weihenstephaner cloudy wheat beer. We took photos of the bar and the lighting (more fun than it sounds) and Tash also drank a BrewDog and possibly Mikeller colab. I think...
So, an interesting micx of different pubs, all once again serving excellent real (and keg) ales at a wide variety of prices. Thanks to Fluff for organising and well done for running his first half marathon. Hope to see him and Col and Sue soon in, I don't know, maybe the reopened Ship?
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
Sunday, 28 April 2013
Beer in South West Sheffield and beyond
Eh up,
this weekend has seen me visit a few venues not usually on my radar. It wouldn't be a day with a letter A in it if I hadn't been to at least one of my regular haunts but it was nice to get out and sample something a bit different.
On Friday I had to have some important documents signed and witnessed, as did Chala, so we traipsed over to the wilds of Woodseats to have Davefromtshop perform this noble task. Obviously being an alcoholic,. sorry, genius, this important legal process also afforded us the opportunity to have a beer or two.
There were three real ales on at Archer Road Beer Stop, Concertina One Eyed Jack, Howard Town Wrens Nest and Cross Bay Zenith. I started with a pint of the Howard Town, which I haven't seen for a long time, and it was sufficiently crisp and bitter to taste to meet my expectations. Chala meanwhile was disappointed not to find any dark beers on draught, despite the tally of such a beer type being on the bar in the shop being about 2 in 30 years, so she opted for a bottle of Beowulf Smokestack Lightning Stout. A decision she admitted was based largely on the label...
The stout was bottled conditioned but didn't turn into a fountain on opening and was as smokey and roasty a stout as you could hope for. After the paperwork was dealt with, I had a quick catch up with Das Beer Man (his name's not Darren, which suggests he's missing a trick....) about London brewers and the new fashion for German Brewers to make American style IPA's and super strength Imperial Stouts. It was then time to replenish and I went for a pint of the admirable Cross Bay Zenith, which was on top form. I didn't take note of the prices but the Archer Road beer Stop has been consistently a good 50p a pint cheaper than most pubs so I expect this is still the case.
We had hoped to head for the Broadfeld next but we wanted to eat and they advised they were fully booked so we headed for the Robin Hood. However, we cleverly worked out that we could buy an inexpensive, or morally dubious, fast food product, and use the money saved on beer instead.
So we took the vile conglomerate's egast on board and afterwards went to cleanse our palates, and souls, in the Ale House on Fraser Road. Slightly contradicting my claim that its always shut, by not being, it was quite busy in the left hand side with people presumably planning on doing the quiz. Having had the questions read to me as a test before now, I considered hat even free entry was a price not worth paying. It was probably likely we wouldn't have made it to double figures. Best not to risk that ignominy.
Chala had a half of Lancaster Black, not a beer I've seen in these parts before, and I had a pint of Dark Star Hophead which was, if I remember correctly (i.e. not) a very reasonable £2.70 a pint. We got chatting to a couple doing the picture quiz and tried to help them out with answers, which am not sure is strictly the plan but no-one seemed to mind, before I went back for a half of Chantry Iron and Steel, which was very agreeable.
We headed back into town after this and Chala had to get back so I walked to Shakespeares for a last couple. I had a Half of the Grantham Dark and a pint of the Arbor "Its brown, dammit " which I had high hopes for - it was described as a traditional brown bitter coloured beer with the addition of high alpha hops. Unfortunately, having bought a pint, I realised that they had also added a slightly old nectarine and some brown fruit. It wasn't off, it wasn't unpleasant, that much, but it wasn't good. I'd have preferred a traditional brown bitter to be honest...
I finished on a pint of Otley O3 which had gone up in my estimations since I'd last had it, and was a great antidote to the fruity weirdness of the Abor.
Today I have been even further South West and attended the Ridgeway Farmers Market. Wee Fatha had invited me on the promise of their advertised real ale, which I admit I found a little surprising since its not mentioned in their online advert, but still, I figured it would make a nice change from lounging around doing nowt.
It was quite busy featuring plenty of stalls with varying degrees of desirable products, including some rather ace sausages and bacon from Moss Valley Meat, some rather tasty jerk chicken from a stall also serving fried dumplings and roast sweet potatoes, not to mention the apostrophe-gate gourmet snack makers at Kevin's Pies. Strangely there was no real ale though. There is a bar in the village hall but it just sells keg Tetley and mass produced lagers, which was a shame, since they could easily have got hold of a pin or mini keg from one of the Derbyshire breweries to pop on the bar.
What we did find though was a stall selling Welbeck Abbey Brewery products, cheaper than at the farm shop they claimed. I grabbed a Henrietta since I don't think I've ever had it, whilst WF and WK both bought a selection of 4 bottles - not bad at £2.50 a go.
We headed to old haunt the Swan next for a pint and were pleasantly surprised to find more than one real ale on offer. For years it was strictly Bass only at something astronomic. Now all 3 Handpumps are in use, 1 for Cider (Gwynt Yr Draig Happy Daze) and Courage Best and Kelham Easy Rider, at £3.20 a pint.
The "Best" was Wee Keefy's choice but am not sure even his delicate tastebuds could have found much flavour in the uber bland Courage, but the Easy Rider was fresh and and in good nick, so, whether because of the contrast or not, it was a very enjoyable pint indeed.
The pub is very old and retains quite a lot of interesting features and even though I'd guess the right hand room is extended, it does still have separate rooms, with one comprising seating in front of the bar. If it turns out the Queens Head up the road (which I've still never been in) does real ale as well, it may be worth a walk around the area sometime. You know, for the exercise. Or something.
All in all this was an enjoyable trip out which demonstrates that you can still get good beer in great pubs even if you leave the Don or Crookes Valley of beer.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
this weekend has seen me visit a few venues not usually on my radar. It wouldn't be a day with a letter A in it if I hadn't been to at least one of my regular haunts but it was nice to get out and sample something a bit different.
On Friday I had to have some important documents signed and witnessed, as did Chala, so we traipsed over to the wilds of Woodseats to have Davefromtshop perform this noble task. Obviously being an alcoholic,. sorry, genius, this important legal process also afforded us the opportunity to have a beer or two.
There were three real ales on at Archer Road Beer Stop, Concertina One Eyed Jack, Howard Town Wrens Nest and Cross Bay Zenith. I started with a pint of the Howard Town, which I haven't seen for a long time, and it was sufficiently crisp and bitter to taste to meet my expectations. Chala meanwhile was disappointed not to find any dark beers on draught, despite the tally of such a beer type being on the bar in the shop being about 2 in 30 years, so she opted for a bottle of Beowulf Smokestack Lightning Stout. A decision she admitted was based largely on the label...
The stout was bottled conditioned but didn't turn into a fountain on opening and was as smokey and roasty a stout as you could hope for. After the paperwork was dealt with, I had a quick catch up with Das Beer Man (his name's not Darren, which suggests he's missing a trick....) about London brewers and the new fashion for German Brewers to make American style IPA's and super strength Imperial Stouts. It was then time to replenish and I went for a pint of the admirable Cross Bay Zenith, which was on top form. I didn't take note of the prices but the Archer Road beer Stop has been consistently a good 50p a pint cheaper than most pubs so I expect this is still the case.
We had hoped to head for the Broadfeld next but we wanted to eat and they advised they were fully booked so we headed for the Robin Hood. However, we cleverly worked out that we could buy an inexpensive, or morally dubious, fast food product, and use the money saved on beer instead.
So we took the vile conglomerate's egast on board and afterwards went to cleanse our palates, and souls, in the Ale House on Fraser Road. Slightly contradicting my claim that its always shut, by not being, it was quite busy in the left hand side with people presumably planning on doing the quiz. Having had the questions read to me as a test before now, I considered hat even free entry was a price not worth paying. It was probably likely we wouldn't have made it to double figures. Best not to risk that ignominy.
Chala had a half of Lancaster Black, not a beer I've seen in these parts before, and I had a pint of Dark Star Hophead which was, if I remember correctly (i.e. not) a very reasonable £2.70 a pint. We got chatting to a couple doing the picture quiz and tried to help them out with answers, which am not sure is strictly the plan but no-one seemed to mind, before I went back for a half of Chantry Iron and Steel, which was very agreeable.
We headed back into town after this and Chala had to get back so I walked to Shakespeares for a last couple. I had a Half of the Grantham Dark and a pint of the Arbor "Its brown, dammit " which I had high hopes for - it was described as a traditional brown bitter coloured beer with the addition of high alpha hops. Unfortunately, having bought a pint, I realised that they had also added a slightly old nectarine and some brown fruit. It wasn't off, it wasn't unpleasant, that much, but it wasn't good. I'd have preferred a traditional brown bitter to be honest...
I finished on a pint of Otley O3 which had gone up in my estimations since I'd last had it, and was a great antidote to the fruity weirdness of the Abor.
Today I have been even further South West and attended the Ridgeway Farmers Market. Wee Fatha had invited me on the promise of their advertised real ale, which I admit I found a little surprising since its not mentioned in their online advert, but still, I figured it would make a nice change from lounging around doing nowt.
It was quite busy featuring plenty of stalls with varying degrees of desirable products, including some rather ace sausages and bacon from Moss Valley Meat, some rather tasty jerk chicken from a stall also serving fried dumplings and roast sweet potatoes, not to mention the apostrophe-gate gourmet snack makers at Kevin's Pies. Strangely there was no real ale though. There is a bar in the village hall but it just sells keg Tetley and mass produced lagers, which was a shame, since they could easily have got hold of a pin or mini keg from one of the Derbyshire breweries to pop on the bar.
What we did find though was a stall selling Welbeck Abbey Brewery products, cheaper than at the farm shop they claimed. I grabbed a Henrietta since I don't think I've ever had it, whilst WF and WK both bought a selection of 4 bottles - not bad at £2.50 a go.
We headed to old haunt the Swan next for a pint and were pleasantly surprised to find more than one real ale on offer. For years it was strictly Bass only at something astronomic. Now all 3 Handpumps are in use, 1 for Cider (Gwynt Yr Draig Happy Daze) and Courage Best and Kelham Easy Rider, at £3.20 a pint.
The "Best" was Wee Keefy's choice but am not sure even his delicate tastebuds could have found much flavour in the uber bland Courage, but the Easy Rider was fresh and and in good nick, so, whether because of the contrast or not, it was a very enjoyable pint indeed.
The pub is very old and retains quite a lot of interesting features and even though I'd guess the right hand room is extended, it does still have separate rooms, with one comprising seating in front of the bar. If it turns out the Queens Head up the road (which I've still never been in) does real ale as well, it may be worth a walk around the area sometime. You know, for the exercise. Or something.
All in all this was an enjoyable trip out which demonstrates that you can still get good beer in great pubs even if you leave the Don or Crookes Valley of beer.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
Sunday, 12 February 2012
Wee Beefy's beer crawl bites - Dronfield Woodseats and Heeley
Afternoon be alikers
See below details of a pub crawl by bus using the 43 Sheffield to Chesterfield Service
on Thursday 9th February I used up some of the last of my annual leave to embark on a days drinking in that Dronfield, where, legend has it, whilst most pubs were almost always uniformly disappointing, there are now a few good boozers these days. It sempt like a good time to venture out to put this theory to the test. With me was Mr M, a doughty alesman with a healthy interest in pubs.
Hallowes be thy name
Of course "a good time to venture out" is a purely personal interpretation. In reality, it was only a good day based on the fact that I had secured leave to do so. It was chuffin freezing on Thursday, and much like when me and Christingpher had ventured out the other weekend, the ne-ersayers were quick to warn me of the meteorological perils ahead. As it turned out, initially the most perilous aspect of the trip was the ball aching trundle through standing traffic on Woodseats en route to pub 1.
The obvious choice was a pint of one of my favourite Spire beers, Dark Side of the Moon, while Mr M had a pint of Barlow Heath Robinson. Having recounted my experience to a few folks who have been, it has been confirmed that the pumps at the Tuns are a bit rubbish, with really very short pulls that make you think the beer is running out. This is a potentially unhelpful feature since the second my Dark SOTM didn't taste exactly as I remembered I convinced myself it was the end of the barrel - but it probably wasn't. Next time I may ask them to take the sparkler off...
Soon we were warming up, and after a quick trip to obviate via the nice looking 1930's style toilet doors (you notice the small details in 1930's pubs I find) I was ready for another half. This turned out to be a quite significant one, since I wanted to try almost all of the rest of the beers on offer.
In the end I narrowed it down to and plumped for the Barlow Ebeneezer Scrooge porter, so had that, along with a half of Intergalactic from Black Iris brewery with its beautifully designed pumpclp. Alas, the extravagance of the writing hid from me its true strength, 6.0%, so I insisted Mr M partake of some as well. This hoppy bitter pale ale was the best of all the beers we tried in the Tuns.
Siding with the Dronny Arms
Next we trudged in the damp sapping cold through sleet to the Dronfield Arms, another first visit for me, and Mr M. Its an odd shaped long establishment not unlike a turn of the century Scottish bar in layout, but with a sleek modern blue and pale wood interior. All the handpumps, I think there were 4 beer and 1 cider, were at the end of the pub, and there was a board listing the ales on offer. Mr M opted for a safe Farmers Blonde and even though I suspected the Dronfield Arms bitter was likely from Thornbridge I opted for the sensibly weak Thwaites Nutty Black, which was £2.10 a pint, and thus £4.60 for the round.
We sat at the end of the pub listening in on a chat about the Three Valleys festival and the pubs of Holmesfield (theres another crawl, maybe in addition to the festival) and admiring the comfy surroundings and light airy space in which to drink or eat. The barman/landlord told us they were opening up the bottom floor.cellar bar room which was to be a restaurant. This fits in with what some people had told me about the former Sidings pub which I think this used to be. A pleasant visit, with a surprisingly tame beer range, but a warm relaxing place to drink.
Swan
Our penultimate Dronfield stop was to have been the older White Swan across the road. Still showing scars of Whitbreadifying in the early nineties I suspect, the maroon sign board mentioning traditional ales and the gold letters of th pub sign told me instantly that Sherwood Inns had clasped their grubby fingers round this venerable old building in the past.
Inside is a really old bar, alas laden with multiple shiny gas filled fonts, but affording space for two handpumps. Mr M lost control of his senses and ploughed straight into a reckless and unwise pint of Bombardier, and me a half of the strangest Adnams Bitter I ever tasted. It wasn't off, but just tasted of malt and fatigue. It didn't even appear to be the right colour. That said, it was still better than the dread horror of trying to enjoy Bombardier, the asinine homogenised beer by numbers which you must have to work really hard at to sell in a condition that would attract compliment.
We sat under a Sky Sports screen grimacing at the interchangeable images of Fabio's blind cobblers thumb and Redknapp's melted landslide faces as reaction to the former's acquittal and Capello's resignation was raked over tediously by "faces" from the world of the beautiful gane. Welcome to the brain poison world of repetition which is Sky Sports. The pub was quiet, but crucially, warm, and very comfortable. There was quite a lot of pub to look at actually and had we had more time I would like to have seen one of the other rooms. Alas we had to press on to our next destination down the main road.
Coach and Horses - now replaced by bus.
We arrived at the coach before 15.00 assuming as any rational person would that being a Thursday not a Friday or weekend they would open restricted hours like 12 til 15.00. Alas, the Coach opens at 17.00 or some random hour so we met neither our thirst or toiletry needs. We skulked around at the bus stop for a while instead, the only brief highlight being that the beer carriage turned up earlier than it said on my up to date timetable.
Chantrey Chuntering.
Fifteen minutes later we were in Woodseats and heading for the Chantrey. The last time I had visited it had been, erm, well at least 1997, and there had been Tetley on, and a club singer who was so "club", that we had to leave half way through from laughing. Now the pub has a slightly more adventurous approach to beer, although I can't say what the entertainment promises.
Mr M once again plumped for Bombardier, which was a trifle better than in the Swan, and I had a very nice pint of Kelham Island Easy Rider in a Kelham branded glass. My only gripe was that the Easy Rider seemed to be lacking hops, but I think this is actually how its meant to taste - like Pale rider with the hops and alcohol reduced. It was in good condition though, so were able to warm up in here, trying to ignore the radio being played over the pub speaker system (always a bad sign), before venturing out once more.
A view of the Sheaf.
We decided to take the opportunity to grab some snap before we headed for the Ale House on Fraser road which was to open at 16.00. We got our supplies then called the pub to make sure we were on track to find it open - unfortunately they were going to open at nearer 17.00 due to a deliveries mix up so we spent a rather long stint cowering in the bus shelter eating our food, although this of course did keep us dry.
Eventually we headed off slowly for the pub and found that Tony's love of Saltaire had continued unabated, with 4 of the 5 cask ales on offer being from that brewery. Not that we were complaining, but I really fancied a stout, and there was none in the range to be found. Instead we both opted for a pint of the Cascade which was once again on good form.
Conversation soon drifted to the pub quiz. Tony was mortified that the wining score in the last one had been 11. Really, we should have taken this as a hint that it had been really difficult, but bravado got the better of us and we unwisely agreed to be read the questions, have an aimless pop at answering them, before he gave us the actual answer. Estimates of our tremendous score were between 4 and 6 out of 20. I think Tony should simply accept that questions about betting odds and the name of the band the father of an upcoming act was in are just a little too difficult. But what do I know...
Well, that diversion did at least mean that we had another in here, this time I had the fantastic Saltaire Challenger which was a lovey dark strong bitter with a very defined hop character. This went down a treat, although, once again, with snow now starting to fall, we had to move on.
Archer Road Beer Stop.
En route to pub 6 we popped into the ARBS, which regular readers may recognise as Sheffield's premier bottled and draught real ale off license. Davefromtshop was welcoming as always and invited us in for a wee snifter in the back before we gilded ourselves for another chilly wander. There were 3 draught beers on offer and we both opted for the excellent Thorne Pale Ale, which was in good form and had a very pleasant lingering hoppy taste. Alas we could not stop long catching up, not least because I was coming back the day after for a beer tasting.
Broady
Just like the popular England cricketer of the same name the lovable old Broadfield is not without its flaws. Still there is a surfeit of seating, still no cask beer list and on this occasion am not even sure there was a dark beer to tempt me. Both me and Mr M grabbed two stools and a tiny table near the door and had a pint each of the Acorn USA Northern Brewer IPA. This was a nice drop but despite its name was still a slightly astringent bitter rather than a gloriously hoppy IPA, but we didn't let that trouble us. Since we had to change course at this stage to get over to Heeley it became clear that we could stretch to a re run at some point, starting at the Sheaf and taking in the Broady en route to the Union, Cherry Tree, Greystones and Lescar.
Tap route
Having also finished my Jaipur I caught the 43 using my cheap all day ticket to get off near the Sheffield Tap for a couple of last halves. There was a noticeable Marble theme again, so I had half of Lagonda 4th IPA (this is based on my "eclectic sloping and wavy writing style that I adopt whilst processing alcohol) and Thornbridge Black Harry. The Tap was mercifully quiet which meant i didn't have to hide away in a back room,. but it was a brief visit on account of my having a pressing need to get home and lie down.
Overall we got to 9 pubs if you count ARBS and tried a number of beers from a diverse range of breweries, all at sensible prices, i.e below £3.00 a pint (apart maybe from the Black Iris, but it wouldn't be overpriced since it was 6.0%). Its a shame that we couldn't get to the Coach and Horses and that we didn't have time for the Sheaf View but all in good time, we can always do this again sometime. A highly recommended pub selection.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy.
See below details of a pub crawl by bus using the 43 Sheffield to Chesterfield Service
on Thursday 9th February I used up some of the last of my annual leave to embark on a days drinking in that Dronfield, where, legend has it, whilst most pubs were almost always uniformly disappointing, there are now a few good boozers these days. It sempt like a good time to venture out to put this theory to the test. With me was Mr M, a doughty alesman with a healthy interest in pubs.
Hallowes be thy name
Of course "a good time to venture out" is a purely personal interpretation. In reality, it was only a good day based on the fact that I had secured leave to do so. It was chuffin freezing on Thursday, and much like when me and Christingpher had ventured out the other weekend, the ne-ersayers were quick to warn me of the meteorological perils ahead. As it turned out, initially the most perilous aspect of the trip was the ball aching trundle through standing traffic on Woodseats en route to pub 1.
Eventually I stepped off the bus across from the Three Tuns, formerly the Hallowes, a pub I had never visited before. I had heard that the new owners Spire had retained or maybe restored some of the original features and there were still one or two subtle nods to its 1930's origins, in addition of course to its mock Tudor frontage. Inside, they had sought to make the pub naturally atmospheric by making it as chuffin freezing as it was outside - an interesting touch. I was briefly warmed however by the sight of 12 handpumps in front of me (2 for Zoider), and decided I wanted to start dark.
Soon we were warming up, and after a quick trip to obviate via the nice looking 1930's style toilet doors (you notice the small details in 1930's pubs I find) I was ready for another half. This turned out to be a quite significant one, since I wanted to try almost all of the rest of the beers on offer.
Siding with the Dronny Arms
Next we trudged in the damp sapping cold through sleet to the Dronfield Arms, another first visit for me, and Mr M. Its an odd shaped long establishment not unlike a turn of the century Scottish bar in layout, but with a sleek modern blue and pale wood interior. All the handpumps, I think there were 4 beer and 1 cider, were at the end of the pub, and there was a board listing the ales on offer. Mr M opted for a safe Farmers Blonde and even though I suspected the Dronfield Arms bitter was likely from Thornbridge I opted for the sensibly weak Thwaites Nutty Black, which was £2.10 a pint, and thus £4.60 for the round.
Swan
Our penultimate Dronfield stop was to have been the older White Swan across the road. Still showing scars of Whitbreadifying in the early nineties I suspect, the maroon sign board mentioning traditional ales and the gold letters of th pub sign told me instantly that Sherwood Inns had clasped their grubby fingers round this venerable old building in the past.
We sat under a Sky Sports screen grimacing at the interchangeable images of Fabio's blind cobblers thumb and Redknapp's melted landslide faces as reaction to the former's acquittal and Capello's resignation was raked over tediously by "faces" from the world of the beautiful gane. Welcome to the brain poison world of repetition which is Sky Sports. The pub was quiet, but crucially, warm, and very comfortable. There was quite a lot of pub to look at actually and had we had more time I would like to have seen one of the other rooms. Alas we had to press on to our next destination down the main road.
Coach and Horses - now replaced by bus.
We arrived at the coach before 15.00 assuming as any rational person would that being a Thursday not a Friday or weekend they would open restricted hours like 12 til 15.00. Alas, the Coach opens at 17.00 or some random hour so we met neither our thirst or toiletry needs. We skulked around at the bus stop for a while instead, the only brief highlight being that the beer carriage turned up earlier than it said on my up to date timetable.
Chantrey Chuntering.
Fifteen minutes later we were in Woodseats and heading for the Chantrey. The last time I had visited it had been, erm, well at least 1997, and there had been Tetley on, and a club singer who was so "club", that we had to leave half way through from laughing. Now the pub has a slightly more adventurous approach to beer, although I can't say what the entertainment promises.
Mr M once again plumped for Bombardier, which was a trifle better than in the Swan, and I had a very nice pint of Kelham Island Easy Rider in a Kelham branded glass. My only gripe was that the Easy Rider seemed to be lacking hops, but I think this is actually how its meant to taste - like Pale rider with the hops and alcohol reduced. It was in good condition though, so were able to warm up in here, trying to ignore the radio being played over the pub speaker system (always a bad sign), before venturing out once more.
A view of the Sheaf.
We decided to take the opportunity to grab some snap before we headed for the Ale House on Fraser road which was to open at 16.00. We got our supplies then called the pub to make sure we were on track to find it open - unfortunately they were going to open at nearer 17.00 due to a deliveries mix up so we spent a rather long stint cowering in the bus shelter eating our food, although this of course did keep us dry.
Eventually we headed off slowly for the pub and found that Tony's love of Saltaire had continued unabated, with 4 of the 5 cask ales on offer being from that brewery. Not that we were complaining, but I really fancied a stout, and there was none in the range to be found. Instead we both opted for a pint of the Cascade which was once again on good form.
Conversation soon drifted to the pub quiz. Tony was mortified that the wining score in the last one had been 11. Really, we should have taken this as a hint that it had been really difficult, but bravado got the better of us and we unwisely agreed to be read the questions, have an aimless pop at answering them, before he gave us the actual answer. Estimates of our tremendous score were between 4 and 6 out of 20. I think Tony should simply accept that questions about betting odds and the name of the band the father of an upcoming act was in are just a little too difficult. But what do I know...
Archer Road Beer Stop.
En route to pub 6 we popped into the ARBS, which regular readers may recognise as Sheffield's premier bottled and draught real ale off license. Davefromtshop was welcoming as always and invited us in for a wee snifter in the back before we gilded ourselves for another chilly wander. There were 3 draught beers on offer and we both opted for the excellent Thorne Pale Ale, which was in good form and had a very pleasant lingering hoppy taste. Alas we could not stop long catching up, not least because I was coming back the day after for a beer tasting.
Broady
Just like the popular England cricketer of the same name the lovable old Broadfield is not without its flaws. Still there is a surfeit of seating, still no cask beer list and on this occasion am not even sure there was a dark beer to tempt me. Both me and Mr M grabbed two stools and a tiny table near the door and had a pint each of the Acorn USA Northern Brewer IPA. This was a nice drop but despite its name was still a slightly astringent bitter rather than a gloriously hoppy IPA, but we didn't let that trouble us. Since we had to change course at this stage to get over to Heeley it became clear that we could stretch to a re run at some point, starting at the Sheaf and taking in the Broady en route to the Union, Cherry Tree, Greystones and Lescar.The Lion
Next Mr M unexpectedly showed me a brilliant shortcut over the Sheaf to come out at Heeley almost at our next destination the White Lion. To our surprise the pub was busy (wait, that's not where the surprise emanates) but the snug was free - so we went in there and settled down to a pint and a review of the days events. I had a pint of Jaipur and Mr M sensibly a pint of Abbeydale Daily Bread. It was here we worked out that my up-to-date timetable supplied by Wee Fatha was, in fact, printed in April 2010. Which explained why the 43's had been a little early throughout our visit. This did however afford us enough time to dispatch our beers at a sensible pace, in fact Mr M was awaah before me, having decided he'd had enough and needed the safety of his home.
Tap route
Having also finished my Jaipur I caught the 43 using my cheap all day ticket to get off near the Sheffield Tap for a couple of last halves. There was a noticeable Marble theme again, so I had half of Lagonda 4th IPA (this is based on my "eclectic sloping and wavy writing style that I adopt whilst processing alcohol) and Thornbridge Black Harry. The Tap was mercifully quiet which meant i didn't have to hide away in a back room,. but it was a brief visit on account of my having a pressing need to get home and lie down.
Overall we got to 9 pubs if you count ARBS and tried a number of beers from a diverse range of breweries, all at sensible prices, i.e below £3.00 a pint (apart maybe from the Black Iris, but it wouldn't be overpriced since it was 6.0%). Its a shame that we couldn't get to the Coach and Horses and that we didn't have time for the Sheaf View but all in good time, we can always do this again sometime. A highly recommended pub selection.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy.
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
New years beers in West Sheffield, Crosspool and nearer home.
Ay up beer monsters,
I have quite a lo to tell you about today so will do two posts in order to make the info more easy to digest. First, here are the details of my trip to West Sheffield yesterday, and some beer news from way back in December which eluded me.
Sportsman, Crosspool
Back in 2011 I was in here to meet up with Bobert, Coops, Big G and Mick amongst others, for a pre Christmas drink. The Sportsman, whilst never having been my hostelry of choice in the area (I used to go in the Bell Hagg in the nineties, and never really felt compelled to drink in the Crosspool Tavern at any time) and its a while since I was last in before this visit - I seem to remember it was early nineties and me and pathos Brian were in to share a half prior to meeting friends. It wasn't resolutely traditional then, but did at least have the now novel feature of separate rooms, as all pubs should.
It was with some dismay that I noticed the homogenised signatures of the Ember Inns chain, indicating to me that i would virtually know the much changed interior already : lots of pale wood, a big dark chunky bar, many dividing walls replaced with boxes of sawn down pine logs, and much soft furnishings. And so it was to be, my Mystic Meg predictions came true, but what I hadn't forseen was the beer range.
On the bar were Tetleys cask (now brewed in Northampton or somewhere ), Leeds Pale, Keltek King, Orkney Dark Island and another offering that I have managed to forget. Both the Leeds and the Orkney were tried, and were found to be in good nick, and not too expensive either - I think the Leeds came in at about £2.60 a pint. Round the corner of the bar, the upcoming brews were advertised by being on the furthest pump clips. This practice is guaranteed to wind me up as it creates a false expectation but at least I was intercepted en route to inspecting the pumps by a member of staff who made it clear they were coming soon (and on closer inspection there were small "flags " atop each pump clip attesting the same).
So, overall this was a surprising and quite pleasant discovery. I thank my lucky stars that i don't have to make a food pub my local, since its atmosphere vacuum means its a transient rather than a long comfortable session venue, but the beer range shows imagination and the pricing is logical and sensible. At least you can be assured of something worth drinking if you end up in the Sportsman.
West of Sheffield wander.
I went up to see Davefromtshop in his native Woodseats and we went on a brief but interesting crawl around some of the pubs that the area had to offer, starting on Fraser Road at the Ale house, previously known as the Sheaf.
The Ale House
Owing to the period between New Years day and the first proper weekend of the new year also being a weird time in terms of pub openings, we approached the pub with trepidation - partly because of its design, a modern possibly 1960's bungalow style estate pub making it seem dark and unopen almost all of the time during the day. Luckily and gratefully we spotted the door open and went inside for a look.
The bar sports 7 handpumps, but two beers had run out over the busy new year period. As Tony the gaffer pointed out, he is a massive fan of Saltaire beers so there were 4 of them, and one other, that being Gorlovka stout from Acorn. I tried the Saltaire Winter Tipple but despite it not being listed sniffed out some unwarranted spice shenanigans, so I went for a pint of the Cacscade, described as the Ale House beer of the year, and fully deserving the accolade. Dave had a half of the winter and the Triple chocolate. All 3 beers were very well kept, and having enjoyed a chat with Tony we decided to stop for an extra half - both of us had the excellent Gorlovka.
If you want to stay up to date with the pub and bands that they may be having on, or sometimes details of upcoming ales, you can find them on Facebook at Ale House Sheffield .
White Lion, Heeley
Next we took a walk down Cawthorne Grove out onto Archer road and down Little London Road to the White Lion at Heeley. This was reassuringly lit up, which was good news, since we had figured we had plenty of time to kill before we could be sure that our final destination was going to be open. A range of about 7 real ales was on, and to our delight, the bar snug was empty so we had chance to sit in there and soak up the atmosphere.
I had a pint of the Thornbridge Sequoia, which am warming to, and Dave the Ossett Silver King. Both were in good form, with the Sequoia perhaps edging it for me. It was also nice to soak up the sense of history in this redoubtable old boozer in the impressively retained original snug, a credit to Tetley that they took enough interest in the pub to retain its original layout (even if the rooms at the back are a recent addition).
The grim spectre of expectation
This visit allowed us chance to discuss and see in actinon the concept of expectation and opinion, in relation to pubs. Expectation, I think, plays a crucial and unavoidable role in your assessment of a pub or its beers. It also of course prevails in other aspects of daily life, which was manifest in the coming discourse, and in an interesting rule I noticed pinned up behind the bar. It advised that persons wearing a hoodie or baseball cap (and assuming not politely offering to remove them) will be asked to leave the premises.
Me and Dave both thought this was a rarely seen edict, and this is what started our discussion over two delicious halves of Thornbridge Jaipur. The rule was not one that either of us disagreed with - but then you have to ask yourself - why is this an issue? Well, because once more, expectations, perhaps here crossing over into prejudice, are at work.
I can only assume that the rule came about because of either perceived behaviour associated with persons wearing such attire, or actual encountered behaviour from the same. I have always found dress codes a contentious issue, but this seems to conveniently open apply when they affect me! I was once denied entry to a Wetherspoons in Ayr because I was wearing walking boots - behind the bouncer were people chucking fag ends and ash onto the floor, swilling from bottles and using a breathtaking array of middle English. Luckily, for the sake of humanity, none of them had stooped so low as to wear boots, thank God!
Curiously here though, I recognised that I like the rule writer had an expectation that a person wearing the above attire may well be one bringing trouble, and that's interesting - I don't own a hoodie or a baseball cap, because I am a mature adult not a 12 year old boy - but here was an expectation that I had, matched by the licensee, which quite blatantly painted a huge group of persons as being unsuitable visitors to the pub. I wondered how many other pubs carried out so specific a dress code,and what the reasons were - does anyone know of any others in Shiny Sheffield?
Our next study of expectations surrounded our final destination, the Broadfield Ale House on Abbeydale Road. I used to visit the pub a lot in the days when it was run by an experienced landlord, under the iron grip of Pub maniacs Sherwood Inns. I remember its faux antique furnishings, expensive beer, and odd layout, but also its excellent jukebox and the helpful bar staff who used to give us tastes of increasingly perilously hot chilli sauces that they kept buying. Meanwhile, I have been to the Old House and the York, and their shared ownership with the Broadfield meant I had a clear expectation of what I would find.
The snug was quickly filled up with drinkers returning from a visit to said pub. One was quick to provide a soundbite "shite" and was quickly backed by his companions who elucidated further. Choice comments included "its not how I remember it", "I had a lager served in a warm glass" and, tellingly "the stout was an OK drink of beer, but it didn't taste of chocolate at all, it was nothing like the description on the sign in front of the pump". This nugget was most interesting because the story changed when repeated to the licensee, to "I had two shit pints of beer", which could have been to appease the person dispensing their pint, but was a notable shift in recollection in just a couple of minutes. Notwithstanding the fact that I noted the complainants listed a Guinness and a Carlsberg in their menu of favourite drinks, it occurred to me that there were at least 3 faults which were likely tthe result of expectations not met.
If the lager is warm, use the magic of speech to convey this, and get it replaced - it only needs a slightly colder glass after all. If you expect a beer to taste of chocolate, firstly, that's a slightly odd flavour to desire, but if it doesn't, then advise a staff member, and maybe enquire if something similar is available (bearing in mind that the detection of flavours in beer is entirely subjective). Finally, if your overall expectation is that nothing will have changed, or if its made up of a series of expectations set in narrow parameters that must be met, take a step back! I myself am regularly guilty of making an assessment based purely on what I had expected not being so, rather than whether something is good in its own right. Its the devil on my shoulder all too often and am starting to realise now that it plays an important role in my and most oher peoples assessments.
Shakespeare Well Road
With our brains tired from our discussion, we left the White. Our penultimate venue was a brisk uphill walk from Ponsfords. Having decided that the Sheaf View would be rammed, and that the Shakespeare was likely worthy of a reassessment since I visited in the summer, we had decided to pop in here for a half. On entering up the steps I noted a cider handpump but no signs of real ale. Nervous disappointment spread across our faces as we contemplated having to sneak back out unnoticed - but I spotted the landlady and asked about the availability of the glorious drink, and the option was Doom Bar from Coors. We sighed and decided to stop for a half.
We sat as always (well, that is only twice) in the room that sticks out opposite the bar and overlooks the sheaf valley, and having secured the football results, enjoyed what was a surprisingly decent drink of Doom Bar. What the cellar person had done, was turn a drab market saturated brown beer and made it interesting. Not wishing to overuse the expectation concept, its worth mentioning our expectations that there would be a couple of real ales on at least, and that the Doom Bar would be crap. Neither were met, and our visit was still an enjoyable one. Time now to try and have them met at the Broadfield....
Broadfield Ale House
We entered through the right hand door which used to take you into the separate and far less salubrious right hand games room, but now it takes you into the left hand side, which, erm, well now isn't, its all one large albeit multi-textured and full of different areas, single room. Earlier in the day Dave had remarked that it was hard to find all the handpumps and this proved accurate, they were in 3 separate sections all round the bar and there was no indication that you needed to seek them out because there was no list of the real ales on sale. This was a flawed approach, but one we had expected!
My obvious beer choice was the Abbeydale Chocs Away stout - the unchocolatey beer maligned in the White. Dave had the equally dark and interestingly more stout like Springhead Leveller which was very nice, and both beers were £2.85, which is on par with other pubs nearby. And the stout? Well, it did taste of chocolate, but chocolate malt, not actual dairy milk. Perhaps the description should have made this clear (I didn't see one) but its subjective like I said. And honestly, who expects beer to taste like chocolate anyway? Beer tastes of beer and its inclusive ingredients, any similarities except in the case of an actual chocolate beer are therefore entirely co-incidental.
We found a seat in the busy pub over to the left of the pub facing the bar with the whisky selection behind - curiously, the visitors we saw earlier had failed to pick up on this incredible and impressive collection, although, with a beer tasting ahead, I neglected to try one. Although a couple of tables were reserved, which is incredibly frustrating if all you want is to sit down and sup a pint, a kind couple, Sadie and Gareth, let us squeeze onto their table, and even shared a taste of their food with us. It was now that I noticed teher was a delectable menu of comforting fare available. Lets face it, any pub with a separate pie and sausage menu is onto a winner..
We enjoyed our friendly company and our beers and despite being a little disappointed with the beer selling approach, its clearly a pub to revisit in the future. Alas, all too soon we had to escape to Handsworth for our tea, which afforded us a last pub expectation experiment on the way home.
White Rose, Handsworth Road
The White Rose, by virtue of being physically nearer to my house than any other licensed building, is therefore my local. However, apart from a brief mid noughties period where we often went in after work for a meal, I almost never go in, because its really not to my taste. A large modern bungalow style new build, but with none of the character attempted and achieved in the Ale House. A pool table, a restaurant, legions of smokers outside, massive noisy TV screens and a bar groaning with mass market dross. Despite this, it did seem to always at least sell one real ale. So we expected to fit in a quick half of whatever was on offer before we arrived at Beefy Towers (note - this is not a euphemism).
Tetley was the only cask on offer, and having been served and paid £2.25 for our 2 halves, we sat down at the table to discuss where we thought the Tetley's was brewed before simultaneously smelling our beers and pulling a face like a man biting into a mouldy sandwich. It was truly foul. Never mind that it was soupy in appearance, I had been in and had a half of soupy Black Sheep last year which was tolerable, but this was rank.
We took it back to someone who may have been the manager. "Your Tetley's off mate" I helpfully advised. Straightaway the man tried to discredit our claim, by saying it had been tapped for 4 days. Erm, what? This had nothing to do with anything since it was clearly rancid. Dave asked him to taste the beer but he insisted a number of times that it was against company policy, in fact I'm not even sure he accepted our invitation to smell it. He was quite happy to get us something else, but having established that there was no other cask on offer, we asked for our money back instead. The question that bothers me here is, how long has that been on sale, with no-one noticing its foul smell when pulling it through, even assuming anyone had bought any at all since it went on? And why had no-one thought to taste it at anytime? Does company policy forbid the cellarman to test if the beer is suitable for consumption, never mind sale?
Overall, the White Rose may well not be the most suitable pub to sell cask. I have heard staff comment in the past that it sells OK "because the older folks drink it" which is always a a nice thing to hear after you have just ordered it, but its clear that those punters are either staying away or switching to smooth. Once again, expectations kill an experience if they are, in this case so profoundly, not met. So best keep punters expectations to a minimum by making it clear that real ale is not available.
More details later of me and Davefromtshop's beer tasting...
Wee Beefy.
I have quite a lo to tell you about today so will do two posts in order to make the info more easy to digest. First, here are the details of my trip to West Sheffield yesterday, and some beer news from way back in December which eluded me.
Sportsman, Crosspool
Back in 2011 I was in here to meet up with Bobert, Coops, Big G and Mick amongst others, for a pre Christmas drink. The Sportsman, whilst never having been my hostelry of choice in the area (I used to go in the Bell Hagg in the nineties, and never really felt compelled to drink in the Crosspool Tavern at any time) and its a while since I was last in before this visit - I seem to remember it was early nineties and me and pathos Brian were in to share a half prior to meeting friends. It wasn't resolutely traditional then, but did at least have the now novel feature of separate rooms, as all pubs should.
It was with some dismay that I noticed the homogenised signatures of the Ember Inns chain, indicating to me that i would virtually know the much changed interior already : lots of pale wood, a big dark chunky bar, many dividing walls replaced with boxes of sawn down pine logs, and much soft furnishings. And so it was to be, my Mystic Meg predictions came true, but what I hadn't forseen was the beer range.
On the bar were Tetleys cask (now brewed in Northampton or somewhere ), Leeds Pale, Keltek King, Orkney Dark Island and another offering that I have managed to forget. Both the Leeds and the Orkney were tried, and were found to be in good nick, and not too expensive either - I think the Leeds came in at about £2.60 a pint. Round the corner of the bar, the upcoming brews were advertised by being on the furthest pump clips. This practice is guaranteed to wind me up as it creates a false expectation but at least I was intercepted en route to inspecting the pumps by a member of staff who made it clear they were coming soon (and on closer inspection there were small "flags " atop each pump clip attesting the same).
So, overall this was a surprising and quite pleasant discovery. I thank my lucky stars that i don't have to make a food pub my local, since its atmosphere vacuum means its a transient rather than a long comfortable session venue, but the beer range shows imagination and the pricing is logical and sensible. At least you can be assured of something worth drinking if you end up in the Sportsman.
West of Sheffield wander.
I went up to see Davefromtshop in his native Woodseats and we went on a brief but interesting crawl around some of the pubs that the area had to offer, starting on Fraser Road at the Ale house, previously known as the Sheaf.
The Ale House
Owing to the period between New Years day and the first proper weekend of the new year also being a weird time in terms of pub openings, we approached the pub with trepidation - partly because of its design, a modern possibly 1960's bungalow style estate pub making it seem dark and unopen almost all of the time during the day. Luckily and gratefully we spotted the door open and went inside for a look.
The bar sports 7 handpumps, but two beers had run out over the busy new year period. As Tony the gaffer pointed out, he is a massive fan of Saltaire beers so there were 4 of them, and one other, that being Gorlovka stout from Acorn. I tried the Saltaire Winter Tipple but despite it not being listed sniffed out some unwarranted spice shenanigans, so I went for a pint of the Cacscade, described as the Ale House beer of the year, and fully deserving the accolade. Dave had a half of the winter and the Triple chocolate. All 3 beers were very well kept, and having enjoyed a chat with Tony we decided to stop for an extra half - both of us had the excellent Gorlovka.
If you want to stay up to date with the pub and bands that they may be having on, or sometimes details of upcoming ales, you can find them on Facebook at Ale House Sheffield .
White Lion, Heeley
Next we took a walk down Cawthorne Grove out onto Archer road and down Little London Road to the White Lion at Heeley. This was reassuringly lit up, which was good news, since we had figured we had plenty of time to kill before we could be sure that our final destination was going to be open. A range of about 7 real ales was on, and to our delight, the bar snug was empty so we had chance to sit in there and soak up the atmosphere.
I had a pint of the Thornbridge Sequoia, which am warming to, and Dave the Ossett Silver King. Both were in good form, with the Sequoia perhaps edging it for me. It was also nice to soak up the sense of history in this redoubtable old boozer in the impressively retained original snug, a credit to Tetley that they took enough interest in the pub to retain its original layout (even if the rooms at the back are a recent addition).
The grim spectre of expectation
This visit allowed us chance to discuss and see in actinon the concept of expectation and opinion, in relation to pubs. Expectation, I think, plays a crucial and unavoidable role in your assessment of a pub or its beers. It also of course prevails in other aspects of daily life, which was manifest in the coming discourse, and in an interesting rule I noticed pinned up behind the bar. It advised that persons wearing a hoodie or baseball cap (and assuming not politely offering to remove them) will be asked to leave the premises.
Me and Dave both thought this was a rarely seen edict, and this is what started our discussion over two delicious halves of Thornbridge Jaipur. The rule was not one that either of us disagreed with - but then you have to ask yourself - why is this an issue? Well, because once more, expectations, perhaps here crossing over into prejudice, are at work.
I can only assume that the rule came about because of either perceived behaviour associated with persons wearing such attire, or actual encountered behaviour from the same. I have always found dress codes a contentious issue, but this seems to conveniently open apply when they affect me! I was once denied entry to a Wetherspoons in Ayr because I was wearing walking boots - behind the bouncer were people chucking fag ends and ash onto the floor, swilling from bottles and using a breathtaking array of middle English. Luckily, for the sake of humanity, none of them had stooped so low as to wear boots, thank God!
Curiously here though, I recognised that I like the rule writer had an expectation that a person wearing the above attire may well be one bringing trouble, and that's interesting - I don't own a hoodie or a baseball cap, because I am a mature adult not a 12 year old boy - but here was an expectation that I had, matched by the licensee, which quite blatantly painted a huge group of persons as being unsuitable visitors to the pub. I wondered how many other pubs carried out so specific a dress code,and what the reasons were - does anyone know of any others in Shiny Sheffield?
Our next study of expectations surrounded our final destination, the Broadfield Ale House on Abbeydale Road. I used to visit the pub a lot in the days when it was run by an experienced landlord, under the iron grip of Pub maniacs Sherwood Inns. I remember its faux antique furnishings, expensive beer, and odd layout, but also its excellent jukebox and the helpful bar staff who used to give us tastes of increasingly perilously hot chilli sauces that they kept buying. Meanwhile, I have been to the Old House and the York, and their shared ownership with the Broadfield meant I had a clear expectation of what I would find.
The snug was quickly filled up with drinkers returning from a visit to said pub. One was quick to provide a soundbite "shite" and was quickly backed by his companions who elucidated further. Choice comments included "its not how I remember it", "I had a lager served in a warm glass" and, tellingly "the stout was an OK drink of beer, but it didn't taste of chocolate at all, it was nothing like the description on the sign in front of the pump". This nugget was most interesting because the story changed when repeated to the licensee, to "I had two shit pints of beer", which could have been to appease the person dispensing their pint, but was a notable shift in recollection in just a couple of minutes. Notwithstanding the fact that I noted the complainants listed a Guinness and a Carlsberg in their menu of favourite drinks, it occurred to me that there were at least 3 faults which were likely tthe result of expectations not met.
If the lager is warm, use the magic of speech to convey this, and get it replaced - it only needs a slightly colder glass after all. If you expect a beer to taste of chocolate, firstly, that's a slightly odd flavour to desire, but if it doesn't, then advise a staff member, and maybe enquire if something similar is available (bearing in mind that the detection of flavours in beer is entirely subjective). Finally, if your overall expectation is that nothing will have changed, or if its made up of a series of expectations set in narrow parameters that must be met, take a step back! I myself am regularly guilty of making an assessment based purely on what I had expected not being so, rather than whether something is good in its own right. Its the devil on my shoulder all too often and am starting to realise now that it plays an important role in my and most oher peoples assessments.
Shakespeare Well Road
With our brains tired from our discussion, we left the White. Our penultimate venue was a brisk uphill walk from Ponsfords. Having decided that the Sheaf View would be rammed, and that the Shakespeare was likely worthy of a reassessment since I visited in the summer, we had decided to pop in here for a half. On entering up the steps I noted a cider handpump but no signs of real ale. Nervous disappointment spread across our faces as we contemplated having to sneak back out unnoticed - but I spotted the landlady and asked about the availability of the glorious drink, and the option was Doom Bar from Coors. We sighed and decided to stop for a half.
We sat as always (well, that is only twice) in the room that sticks out opposite the bar and overlooks the sheaf valley, and having secured the football results, enjoyed what was a surprisingly decent drink of Doom Bar. What the cellar person had done, was turn a drab market saturated brown beer and made it interesting. Not wishing to overuse the expectation concept, its worth mentioning our expectations that there would be a couple of real ales on at least, and that the Doom Bar would be crap. Neither were met, and our visit was still an enjoyable one. Time now to try and have them met at the Broadfield....
Broadfield Ale House
We entered through the right hand door which used to take you into the separate and far less salubrious right hand games room, but now it takes you into the left hand side, which, erm, well now isn't, its all one large albeit multi-textured and full of different areas, single room. Earlier in the day Dave had remarked that it was hard to find all the handpumps and this proved accurate, they were in 3 separate sections all round the bar and there was no indication that you needed to seek them out because there was no list of the real ales on sale. This was a flawed approach, but one we had expected!
My obvious beer choice was the Abbeydale Chocs Away stout - the unchocolatey beer maligned in the White. Dave had the equally dark and interestingly more stout like Springhead Leveller which was very nice, and both beers were £2.85, which is on par with other pubs nearby. And the stout? Well, it did taste of chocolate, but chocolate malt, not actual dairy milk. Perhaps the description should have made this clear (I didn't see one) but its subjective like I said. And honestly, who expects beer to taste like chocolate anyway? Beer tastes of beer and its inclusive ingredients, any similarities except in the case of an actual chocolate beer are therefore entirely co-incidental.
We found a seat in the busy pub over to the left of the pub facing the bar with the whisky selection behind - curiously, the visitors we saw earlier had failed to pick up on this incredible and impressive collection, although, with a beer tasting ahead, I neglected to try one. Although a couple of tables were reserved, which is incredibly frustrating if all you want is to sit down and sup a pint, a kind couple, Sadie and Gareth, let us squeeze onto their table, and even shared a taste of their food with us. It was now that I noticed teher was a delectable menu of comforting fare available. Lets face it, any pub with a separate pie and sausage menu is onto a winner..
We enjoyed our friendly company and our beers and despite being a little disappointed with the beer selling approach, its clearly a pub to revisit in the future. Alas, all too soon we had to escape to Handsworth for our tea, which afforded us a last pub expectation experiment on the way home.
White Rose, Handsworth Road
The White Rose, by virtue of being physically nearer to my house than any other licensed building, is therefore my local. However, apart from a brief mid noughties period where we often went in after work for a meal, I almost never go in, because its really not to my taste. A large modern bungalow style new build, but with none of the character attempted and achieved in the Ale House. A pool table, a restaurant, legions of smokers outside, massive noisy TV screens and a bar groaning with mass market dross. Despite this, it did seem to always at least sell one real ale. So we expected to fit in a quick half of whatever was on offer before we arrived at Beefy Towers (note - this is not a euphemism).
Tetley was the only cask on offer, and having been served and paid £2.25 for our 2 halves, we sat down at the table to discuss where we thought the Tetley's was brewed before simultaneously smelling our beers and pulling a face like a man biting into a mouldy sandwich. It was truly foul. Never mind that it was soupy in appearance, I had been in and had a half of soupy Black Sheep last year which was tolerable, but this was rank.
We took it back to someone who may have been the manager. "Your Tetley's off mate" I helpfully advised. Straightaway the man tried to discredit our claim, by saying it had been tapped for 4 days. Erm, what? This had nothing to do with anything since it was clearly rancid. Dave asked him to taste the beer but he insisted a number of times that it was against company policy, in fact I'm not even sure he accepted our invitation to smell it. He was quite happy to get us something else, but having established that there was no other cask on offer, we asked for our money back instead. The question that bothers me here is, how long has that been on sale, with no-one noticing its foul smell when pulling it through, even assuming anyone had bought any at all since it went on? And why had no-one thought to taste it at anytime? Does company policy forbid the cellarman to test if the beer is suitable for consumption, never mind sale?
Overall, the White Rose may well not be the most suitable pub to sell cask. I have heard staff comment in the past that it sells OK "because the older folks drink it" which is always a a nice thing to hear after you have just ordered it, but its clear that those punters are either staying away or switching to smooth. Once again, expectations kill an experience if they are, in this case so profoundly, not met. So best keep punters expectations to a minimum by making it clear that real ale is not available.
More details later of me and Davefromtshop's beer tasting...
Wee Beefy.
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