Fresh green hops at the Hop

Evening,


         yesterday was the highlight of the Green Hop festival at the Hop, West One, Sheffield. As well as sampling some of the excellent beers on the bar (the beer festival ran from Thursday until today) customers paid a little extra to listen to a talk by Paul Corbett from Charles Faram, Ali Capper from Stocks Farm hops in Worcestershire, and Paul Spencer the Ossett head brewer, about hop plants and specifically British hops.

Its perhaps easy to forget what with endless mention made of Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy, Centennial, Amarillo, Ahtanum and the like that whilst they may not be as high alpha, there are a large number of different hop varieties grown in the UK with a wide range of different subtle flavours and strengths.

To make the most of this zesty tingling celebration, I started with a couple of beers from the bar. Treboom First Draft Houblon Nouveau (Fuggles) was a very strong tasting herbal green hop beer which was a good pint to start on. I also tried halves of Irwell Works Green Manalishi (with a two pint crown), also brewed with Fuggles, and Worth Brewery Sovereign. The Irwell won prizes for probably the best name but was an off mix of dry burnt like hoppinness and an unfortunate caramel flavour which blended unpleasantly, the Worth on the other hand was far better with just enough bite to work.

I also took another pint into the talk itself, my favourite beer of the festival, the Brecon Brewery Green Beacons, brewed using fresh Fuggles from Little Lambswick Farm Tenbury Wells. I was blown away by the pungent herby edge and refreshing bitterness that this beer produced.

The talk was very interesting, although the slides were near impossible to read on the screen high above the stage. Hops, I discovered, are part of the cannabis family, and are mainly grown in the wine growing regions of the world - Germany is the biggest producer but to my surprise South America is also up there. The centre of the hops cone produces lupulin which is a resin, and they (can) grow on hop strings from the ground up in their search for sunlight - hops are very susceptible to sunlight.

We learnt about hop picking, previously very labour intensive, now slightly less so with machinery taking the strain, new dwarf varieties like Pioneer, First Gold and Herald, also how organic hops are grown with the help of flowers planted down the middle of the rows to attract pest eating predators, and how, once picked, the hops need to be quickly dried to a level of just 12% moisture.

Next up was Ali Capper, who with her husband Richard grows hops including Endeavour, Target and Admiral on 100 acres in Worcestershire. Ali went into some detail about the subtleties of aroma and flavour in British hops, and by this stage samples of Great Newsome Autumn Bounty, 4.1% and brewed with green AKA fresh Pilgrim hops, were being passed round. Throughout the talks there was also a table of hops to rub and sniff, aroma and bittering varieties, the pungent smell of which was wafting over us as we sampled the beers. The hops were quite sticky and incredibly flaky, but it was difficult to resist rubbing them in your hands.

There are 1000 hectares of hop growing land in the UK, down from considerably more back in the 1950's. And there are 20 different varieties commercially grown in the UK, although it was pointed out that once you plant a hop seed and grow it from scratch you are in fact growing a new variety. For more info see here.

Other free tasters came from Fernandes (Green Gold, 3.8%, a pleasant but not assertively "green" hoppy ale brewed with Sovereign), Big River Hop3 (2.8%, using East Kent Goldings and Northdown) alas this was a poor brown beer which failed to highlight the hop flavours, and finally the excellent Hop Harvest, a gold coloured 4.0% extremely quaffable beer from Green Jack brewery in Suffolk, hopped and then dry hopped with fresh Bodecia hops, with the addition of field fresh wheat, which I concede I had quite a bit of.

This was largely because once the talk was over and Paul had launched his new range of beers for 2013 we were informed that the 10 pints or so left in each of the polypins was free and needed to be supped. Well, it would have seemed terribly rude to have turned the offer down...

Mind you, a word of caution, 3rd pint measures are incredibly easy to empty!  And also make it far harder to keep track of how much you are drinking. There was consternation when a bloke started filling his pint glasses, but only to the half pint line as he said, and actually, it probably meant he consumed less in the end. Meanwhile, myself and Simon from the world of the internet bought another pint from the bar to provide us with a more suitable receptacle for our lovely free beer which seemed not to last as long each time we got some....

In the end, the amazing Brecon brewery Green Beacon proved just too nice and despite being tempted by the Hopstar and the Hop Studio Beerjolaise (plus the Marble Quantum IPA, but that had run out) I thought better of staying for more beer and headed to Betty's for some essential sustenance.

This was a really interesting event, and a great wake up call to brewers and punters alike to the fact that there are British hops to be found and they can go into making really enjoyable beers. Target, Admiral and Pilgrim have a higher alpha content than most British hops so the citrussy dry bitterness of American and New Zealand hops could perhaps be matched, albeit with a heavier load than your average English beer.

I noted with interest the other day that Dark Star had produced an English Hop IPA. That we are in a position where this is considered a niche or experimental beer highlights nicely the extent to which British hops have fallen out of favour (I say British, but in reality no commercial crops are harvested in Scotland, and the most northern hop farm, East Yorkshire Hops, is based near Brough (Humber Bridge) so nothing is harvested north of the Humber).

Lets hope we'll see more British hopped beers, and, crucially, information for punters about which hops are actually used in making their beer.

Wee Beefy

Wee Beefy's October beer bites

Hello,

what with fannying around drinking remarkable aged beers behind off licenses, attending festivals and leaving do's and the like, I've actually been unable to report on having been to quite a few pubs in the last fortnight, and drinking some fabulous beer along the way. Here's my attempt at giving you some info about those experiences, on a pub by pub basis...

Shakespeares

Starting at one of my usual haunts, I have been to Shakespeares a good few times lately. I was even in there practising for the beer tasting at the end of last month, supping the excellent Mallinsons Mudtopper. On other occasions I've been in I've sampled excellent beers and no more so than last week when I had a half of Rat Brewery Queen Rat and the excellent Hop Studio White Rose.

I sampled four of their beers at the Sheffield Tap on their launch night and enjoyed them, without being overly smitten, but you have to give a brewery time. A quick half at a beer festival a month or two ago was OK, but the White Rose was quite simply brilliant. A nice hoppy bite with lovely fruity hints and soft balancing malt made it incredibly easy to drink, so I had two pints of it, just to be sure.

This was also the occasion that I met young persons from the University of Sheffield (the proper one - only kidding!) Real Ale Society. I spoke to a bloke called Tom (isn't everyone?) and his mate but it so nearly didn't turn out well at all. After queueing at the bar whilst 743 of the party arrived simultaneously, I returned to find that my seat had not just been taken, but consumed by the mass of youth. I had to locate and liberate my half full pint glass, my open packet of crisps, my coat (which someone was sat on, for fucks sake) and my bag. Without wanting to seem harsh on what may have been fledgling drinkers, what more exactly do you need to see in addition to the above to work out that someone is sat there? Aaaagh!. I swore under my breath dear readers. And felt old....

DAda

Talking of feeling old, without even consulting me, The Da have gone and recruited a new member of staff, who's not even 38 like what I am, potentially upsetting the delicate balance between my rambling grumpiness and the boundless enthusiasm of James and his staff. Luckily, the world continues to turn after it turns out that proper Yorkshire lass Annie is a great addition to the team., being particularly talented at guessing games...

On recent visits theres been a Thornbridge McConnells and Halcyon vibe going on, and I've even mixed the first in the same glass as some fruity Black Isle porter, which is an interesting mix. My latest visit, on Friday, saw the abject horror of huge numbers of customers, the thought of which nearly drove me to seek solace in a church, but this was offset by the stonking good idea of having four Dark Star beers on!

So it was that I found a small space to hang and not be in the way and tried a pint of the excellent Espresso Stout, plus a half of the APA, and some necessary Halcyon, from a range including Dark Star Old Chestnut, a beer that prompted quite a few wry smiles - and surreptitious puns from Steph. The Espresso was brilliant, but the APA may even have been better. An impeccable range.

Harlequin

The Friday of the beer fest I went out on the second of two leaving do's for a colleague, this time at lunch. I had a very enjoyable pint of Revolutions Clash London Porter, and a lightly spiced Autumnal or similar, porter from Brew Company, which was a very nice contrast.

Common Room.

I went to the Common Room. Yep. I really did. I was the oldest person there. It was very bright and full of youthful sweat and shrieking. I had Welbeck Abbey Red Feather and it was very cold and tasted almost like it may have had more water in than it should have. I'm going to assume they don't rinse the glasses properly though, rather than accuse them of a more heinous dispensing crime.

Bath Hotel

That same night I ended up in the Bath (insert pun here) and had some very nice Dark Star there as well. Being so long ago I appear to have managed to forget which one it was but I suspect it was the Hophead. Either way it was very nice indeed. I got that, a hard won copy of Beer Matters, and a half of Halcyon, and was quite happy.

Harrisons 1854

Long time no see for me and the Harry bar, and not a particularly lengthy visit either, just time to grab a pint of Farmers Blonde, and chat with Bob and barkeep extraordinaire Dave, who had kindly and somewhat inventively provided a cake stand festooned with delicious slices of pork pie - and the were free! The mans a genius.

Three Cranes

I popped in for a change from my usual Tuesday menu starting at Shakespeares, and was drinking a pint of the burnt bitter flavours in Blue Bee Brown Street, along with their Lustin for Stout which was on great form. I also got to chat with Brewer Rich about the Brown Street, but I couldn't extricate any brewers secrets that would help explain that smoky edge....

Hop

I probably mentioned already that I didn't stay for a beer but I have a ticket for Saturday at 2PM when its the Green Hop event. Saturday looks like being another busy day since also the cathedral beer festival is on. Hopefully some of you will also wander down to the event, where I hope I can keep quiet and pay attention for once.

So that's all the news I have for now, looking forward to another sojourn into Staffordshire this Friday with WF and WK, and maybe a beer in a pub inbetween times.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy.

Looking forward to a pint

Hello,

    if you are, then I have a few morsels of info, from the immediate to the further ahead. But first, some info from the last couple of days.

Recently I have sampled Abbeydale Chocolate Stout and their Dr Morton's Break Fluid at Shakespeares. The Break Fluid was an unusual but enjoyable mix and the chocolate stout was good, and satisfying, perhaps better for not having an overtly chocolate taste, although it was more pronounced than I imagine a beer with just chocolate malt in normal quantities would taste. I also tried a half of Oldershaws Cascade, a beer I'm sure they were making long before the current fascination and desire for hoppy single varietal brews. At £1.25 a half this was also a decent price as well.

DAda was serving up a slightly different range to that of late with Thornbridge Black Harry and Kelham Island Easy Rider. It was a bit busy so I didn't hang around but had an enjoyable pint of the Harry, and a pleasing half of the Schlenkerla.

I also popped in the Dog and Partridge on Trippet Lane, open since August I believe. There are 4 handpumps, the GK IPA was off, but there was Black Sheep best, Courage Directors and Taylors Landlord on offer. The Courage sample I had tasted a little sharp but the Landlord was quite nice. Alas, in a terrible faux pas, I had arrived with no money as I was planning to go straight to DAda and pay on card. So I had to make my excuses and leave without buying anything!

Those of a venerable age will remember rock DJ Les from, er, the 80's at least, and he is doing a set/gig/night there next week. Meanwhile the interior doesn't seem radically different, although I didn't get in the amazing snug, and there is now a pool table...hmmmm...must pop back to actually buy something!

The Hop had a less than salubrious line up when I called into purchase my ticket to the Green hop festival. A stellar line up of brews and brewing types is promised along with tastings and hop taste and sniff (my words) sessions showcasing different varieties. I would have stopped for a  half but even buying a £5.00 ticket and that would take me below the preposterous £10.00 limit and I would be charged 50p. What? I have no idea how this instills any determination to visit, but am duty and financially bound to attend in October now (link here ) for their celebration of hops.

My final stop was the Bath Hotel where excellent if cloudy (none the worse for it) Dark Star Hophead was on at £2.80 (or 70?) a pint which is a decent price, plus the Kelham Back to Black which was a decent half as well. Thornbridge Topaz and Beadecas Well are promised so there should be a few treats on the bar soon, although the Hophead will take some matching.

This weekend, indeed, Thursday onwards, the Ripley beer festival is on at Butterley station, AKA the Midland Railway Centre. Scene of recent music fest off the tracks (?), this promises t be an interesting venue for a festival, with a pretty large beer list, and excellent hostelries in nearby Ripley Waingroves and Alfreton nearby. See link here .

On the 19th til the 21st October is the Sheffield Cathedral beer festival as reported in Beer Matters, and everything. Probably the first time this has happened I understand though cannot confirm that this is the handiwork of the Kelham Island Brewery team. See Beer Matters or the Sheffield CAMRA website for info.

Sheffield beer festival happens soon as well! No shit Sherlock....blog will follow as early as feasible.

Next up, those lovely folks at Shakespeares Ale and Cider House on Gibraltar Street Shalesmoor are having another beer festival starting Friday 16th November (although this may need confirming, only in that it may start Thursday). This promises to be another excellent do with a cracking range. Look out for the staff brewed real ale on the bar soon at the pub as well.

Finally, Cropton beer and cider festival is on once again at the end of November at the New Inn Croptn, North Yorkshire, when the weather is great. Nut cases like me and Wee Keefy can camp, and erm, well, no doubt yer can shell out for better accommodation than us! If you missed it last year its well worth a visit - see their website, which does not yet appear to confirm the dates, so you'll have to take my word for it - for details.

So, that rounds up beery treats here and now and further ahead.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy

A return visit to properly assess The Hop at West One, Sheffield's newest real ale venue.

Now then,

   after my pitstop visit on Friday i was determined to head back to the Hop at West One to take a pic or two and see if I could find out a bit more, like, for instance, where the bands play....

The Hop lowdown

I got in just before 19.00 last night to discover, to my joy, that they were indeed serving pies, as promised in their blurb. I would have been pushing it to have ordered but wasn't looking for a meal so decided on a pack of Ox flavour crisps and a fantastic and all too quaffable pint of Riverhead Sparth Mild. This was demolished in about 6 minutes, including time spent trying to take a decent photo in a dark pub with a phone camera that has no flash. (apologies in advance for the crapness of pictures in this post)

In terms of its layout, to the right of the door is a very high wall showing a mural, I'd like to persuade myself it 's of steelworkers but I couldn't be sure - maybe it shows men lowering a giant Ossett Brewery sign into place? The mural overlooks a spur of seating at the right hand side as you enter, this is replicated on the left. In the meain body of the pub are a number of tables with fixed seating and chairs on the left, then a dividing wall, and another round table and seats. The entrance to the stage area is here on the left, with yet more seating inside, and a large blue edged raised area which I think, must be the stage. This is essentially the front of the building looking out over Devonshire Green, although am not sure if the glass is frosted - otherwise a cold, free gig could be found?

The wall dividing the stage from the bar area is made up of bricks and probably masks, quite well I concede, the fact that its made of less than traditional pub materials. Similarly the beams look like wood but are most likely girders. However, one worthy nod to an old fashioned pub is the splendid bar. In front of the long down lit counter with patterned wood panels along its length is a pleasing and striking carpet of tiling not unlike the great mosaic works of Leeds' finest gin palaces. Above the bar are green lit panels containing bottled beers, hopefully, they are empty, otherwise thats a real waste of ales.

As well as the incongruous drinking lobby I mentioned last time there is the entrance to the disabled loo and the stairs to the others and more seating. Its dark upstairs, one imagines intentionally, but its a nice idea and i hadn' realised there was one on my last visit! The decor is not helpful for the rubbish visioned but there are seats on what are in effect balconies overlooking the stage and the seating in the music area and down below, as well as a cosy room on the end of the upstairs area to your right which looks like its filled with shelves of VHS videos. (alas, too dark, so the below pic is looking directly above the stage)

Back downstairs, there are the regular Osset Ales, and 4 guests on the bar, and the Pyder is obviously on a guest pump as it has now changed into Broadoak perry. My delicious and well kept Sparth Mild was a not unreasonable £2.80 at about 3.5%, and my half of the tremendous Fernandes Hop Master (complete with pump clip displaying fresh green hops) was probably about £3.10 a pint. It was a shame that the Golden Pride had gone as I'd have liked to have tried that, and of course noted its price.

The bottle range includes Timmermans fruit beers, Erdinger and Sierra Nevada amongst many others, and I think the barmaid said the that was only £3.00 a bottle which would make it a very decent price. Overall the bottle range is average but acceptable without being too expensive. Lastly, the wine list is, erm, well, not really so, just a bottle of each style plus an extra white I think. I didn't see what brands they sold but persuaded myself that there would have to be exemplary choices if the one per grape colour plan was going to tempt me to a glass.

Overall they have tried hard to create a traditional feel in an empty retail unit and as far as that's even possible have succeeded, whilst also making it feel comfortable and relaxed, whilst includinga a commendable nod to its musical intentions.

The Hop promises much and at the moment delivers a very good range of real ales, along with a full looking roster of bands to come. The availability of food (especially if the pies form part of the same offer available in Leeds) will be an extra draw, and it always nice to get some decent traditional pub grub in one of the trendier areas of the City. Just knock 30p a pint off the Ossett prices and I think we could have a new contender for best real ale pub around West Street (come on now, there's too much competition to put it that high across the whole of Sheffield).

Hopefully I can get in again soon and sample some more beers, perhaps even trying the Silver King and Excelsior from Ossett, both of which I haven't had for a good while.


Wee Beefy.

Rumour Mill potential win, Three Cranes, Henrys, Browns, Ship Inn and Shakespeares.

Hello,

   another short entry am afraid as its late and I need to get to bed!

The Hop at West One
Rumour Mill Success on cards

I note from the latest copy of Beer Matters that the much anticipated and by me, feared dead in the water bid to open a new bar at West One has finally got the all clear and the venue should be open about today! Ossett brewery have got permission to open The Hop, a real ale bar, specialising in casks, pies and bands. The article I saw stated opening late November which by my reckoning means I could have gone tonight - watch this space for more info very soon.

Browns. Literally very.

After a taxing trek to Abbeydale and Nether Edge (finding the Union Inn in darkness, which I am sad to hear is apparently due to the landlord's ill health) and the Broadfield lit up but being refurbished, me and Chala arrived in town thirsty and fancying a change. I had campaigned for a trip to the Rutland but was rebuked, Chala was warming to my Henry's suggestion but en route decided that the sparkly lights and pastel darks decor of Browns at the top of Union street and the Peace gardens, was worth a look. I had heard it sold real ale but it was well down my list of preferences but I decided to acquiesce.

It was busy inside, with many people annoyingly sat in two's at 4 seat tables, and there was a prevalent, if unused waiting staff desk on entering, that threatened to scoop you into a dining area instead of allowing you to indulge in a sit down and a sup. Chala headed off to find a table whilst i ordered a pint of York Terrier and a half of Peroni for her. The staff were uniformed, but not exactly exuding character or personality, and laboured long over pouring the drinks, mid way through which Chala returned to report a surfeit of seating. So we asked if we were OK to sit upstairs, which the barman confirmed.

Beers in we headed off upstairs but spotted a table downstairs near the window was free so sat there, crucially taking up only a half of the available 4 seater space. Minutes later a waitress asked if we wanted a menu, upon the refusal of which she insisted that we move as this was an area for diners only.  So we suggested we moved upstairs, only to be scalded for our ignorance, given that this was also the restaurant. Pointing out that we'd been assured this was OK fell on deaf ears even though there was no-one hovering for our seats so she could have let us stay there for the time it would take us to finish our drinks.

So like second class citizens we traipsed back to the bar area and found a place to stand at a high table, to be joined by a lady who bemoaned the grim quality of her spritzer and looked, like me, as if she would rather have been in Henry's or Platillos. As soon as the drinks were gone we gratefully headed off for Henry's, with ample seating, kind and friendly staff and barely audible music.  Browns, I think, is a restaurant which begrudgingly provides drinks. I would stay well clear unless you are going in about 15.00 and can snap up a  seat at one of the four tables for drinkers. Very poor.

Henry's

Further to the above we spent an enjoyable evening in Henry's stopping for a bite to eat and some nice beer - I had a Fernandes bitter, and halves of Riverhead Liquorice porter and Castle Rock Black Gold mild. One word of warning though - the Bacchus  Frambozen is an excellent example of fruit beer, and no doubt attracts some hefty import duty, but without a price list on show, charging £5.50 a pint is just plain cheeky. You need to sort that out Henry's - do that and get a better wine list and I'll be in once a week rather than once a month.

Three Cranes

On a couple of recent visits there have been 2 Blue Bee beers on again, and the magical seemingly never to happen Stones cask has appeared on the bar at a reasonable £2.55 a pint. On my last visit the range also included the fantastic Blue Bee Lustin for Stout. The appearance of two dark beers in the last few weeks maybe suggests they are able to shift the darker brews, which most publicans baulk at.

Ship Ahoy

Talking of which, the excellent Ship Inn at Shalesmoor had no such problems with the Spire stout, and this time when I visited they were offering Thornbridge Brother Rabbit, Bradfield Belgian Blue and a Sheffield beer which sounded like Abbeydale Daily Bread but looked like a Kelham clip. Either way I didn't try it, but the Blue was excellent. Its well worth making time for a visit to the Ship to remind yourself what having a free hand in beer selection can do for consumer choice, (especially real ale fans) and what difference an experienced landlord  makes to a boozer. It doesn't open til about 19.30 in the evenings though - just to note.

Shakespeares news

A few recent visits have included offerings such as Hornbeam Black Coral Stout, and Kelham Island Stockwell Rocker, a 4.0% stout, to name but a few. Alas, I missed their recent beer festival but with 6 to 9 neers on all the time its unlikely you'll be unable to find a brew to suit your tastes. Look out for regular offerings from Summer Wine Brewery, who's excellent offerings can often be found on the bar, often with biro on paper pump clips.


That's all for tonight am afraid, but I'll be on again in the next few days to tell you about the New Inn beer festival at Cropton, amongst other beery details.

Happy supping

Wee Beefy.