Too many beers, not enough liver.

Hello people,

                Tonight I've gone radically off message and decided not to consume any alcohol. I'm enjoying the palpitations and the lovely welsh unicorn asleep in my mug, which I can see as I rock backwards and forwards in stinking breathlessness, but in all honesty I'm very annoyed with my liver for being such a big girl's blouse and needing a rest. I mean, at least my cognitive functions are still hyssop..

To be fair though, old yellow eyes has put in quite a stint of late - so in testimony to the indomitable work rate of my put upon organ I'm going to pay tribute to some of the excellent liquids it has helped me process in one of Sheffield's famous beery hostelries, over the last few days.

Friday is traditionally a day of refreshments. As an ultra traditionalist, I felt it would be tantamount to digging up the graves of my ancestors not to partake in an after work tipple (see part 792 of "frankly absurd excuses to go to the pub here). On this occasion I was meeting Miss N in the Sheffield Tap for some pre meal libation, and discovered the excellent Anarchy Brew Co unfiltered Grin and Bare it, a 5.0% hybrid IPA, which impressively, their website claims hasn't been released! Still, I expect that's to ramp up the anticipation....

Not that much of that matters - the main thing is it was a very easy drinking beer with a subtle hop flavour and started the evening nicely. In fact, we had two pints of it in tribute. Despite this being a gentle precursor to my cooking, we couldn't resist finishing on something a little stronger - and what a spot! Having bemoaned its "kegularity" since I first tasted it in cask in the Tap a few years ago, the excellent Thornbridge Raven was suddenly and without precedent available on cask once more! So we had to have a pint. And it was absolutely fantastic. Beer of the week, except for the people's porter of course.

Mind you, we'll just not talk about the price. Move away from the price. Don't look at it. Simply accept it was a really good beer. Its OK. You are safe now....

Days later and a return trip revealed  the obvious consequence of the Raven having run out but that disappointment was tempered by there still being plenty to go at, during a pleasing three hour plus session. I started on a half of Peak Ales DPA, a sweetish but not unpleasant 4.6% chestnut (euphemism for mainly brown) beer that went down really well. I followed this with a much less sensible pint of Anarchy Brew Co Quiet Riot, a complex surprisingly fruity IPA at 6.6% which was also very drinkable. Far too drinkable, arguably.

A pint of the rather more sensible Tapped Brew Co Bramling followed, if nothing else to stop me keeling over, before I had a second pint of Quiet Riot. I'm starting to really like the Anarchy stuff. I've probably tried about five of their beers and really liked every one. The sublime breakfast stout was amazing, but I enjoy some of their lower gravity perhaps more "mainstream" beers as well. Here's to seeing them in Sheff more regularly.

Alas the downside to this is that it was the precursor to another eye wateringly expensive but very enjoyable beer - this time the Buxton Wyoming Sheep Ranch double IPA on Costkeg. I probably wouldn't have entertained the idea normally, especially having asked the price first, but I think the Quiet Riot had disabled my thinking button so I purchased a half of this sensationally hoppy monster of a brew. To be fair, its massive wall of spicy hops and the aftertaste it unleashes probably suits keg better than cask, but I'm sure I would have enjoyed it by either method of storage and serving.

So, either side of the weekend the Tap provided two sessions with some frankly amazing beers. It remains a contradiction - a frustrating obstacle to sensible pricing which simultaneously provides some of the best beers you'll see on any given day in Sheffield - I can't emphasis enough just how good that Raven was. Overall, it seems that as long as I keep going on my own terms I can probably continue to enjoy the pub.

Just as long as I don't spot any Dark Star Porter....

Cheers!

Wee Beefy

Pints with Fluff

 

Me: "This is my mate Fluff"

Fluff: "Scott"

Me: "Fluff"

Fluff: "Scott"

Me: "You are called Fluff. Geoff needs to know your name"

Fluff: "I think he'd rather call me Scott..."

So went the chat in the Sheffield Tap brewery room last night. Given the obvious annoyance that Fluff (for short, Fluffy in formal company) feels towards his nickname, it's important for me, as a mate, to give a mature and proportionate response to his preference not to not be called Fluff. The post title is that response....

We were catching up on a pub crawl starting at the Sheffield Tap, since we'd not met at the Hop. I was first to arrive, and Geoff was stood at the bar whilst the barman was serving a bloke, who's every choice of beer, of which he wanted 3 pints, ran out, so it was taking quite a while to serve him. There was another member of staff, but she had prioritised cleaning up over the 10 customers not getting served, and when she abandoned that to serve someone, she went straight to a bloke who'd just arrived at the bar at the other end. Well done.

Anyhoo I finally got to buy something - two halves. One was Tapped Brew Co Bullet, which due to my amazing eyesight I'd misread as buffet (I suspect there isn't a buffet hop, but it is brewed in a former dining room so its not as daft as you think!). The other was a half of the Karha, a beer brewed at Thornbridge by Sheffield Hallam University real ale society and brewer Ben Wood. This is the first of the Varsity Brewing Challenge beers I've tried, the other being Brearley from the Sheffield University folks.

Am not usually a fan of spiced beers, and so was disappointed that the brew was going to have bite - I loved Ilkley Chipotle Chocolate Porter, because heat in dark beers can be complimentary - as proved by chilli chocolate. Heat or spice in light coloured beer is rarely successful though. Against which backdrop I can report that it was actually OK. Not setting the world alight, but an enjoyable drink. What I will say is, Brearley best not be spiced.....

Next up I had a pint of the Tapped Brew Co Bramling, which I'd enjoyed at the Hop beer fest. It was just as good now, and nice to see a beer showcasing a British Hop, and also about £2.80 a pint which isn't bad at all. And don't forget, there's a beer launch for a Magic Rock (innovative) and Kissmeyer (overpriced) collaboration brew on Tuesday. Alas I will be fannying about in the West all day, so will miss it, but it sounds like a good do.

Off to the Rutland next, where I haven't been for a while, and straight onto halves of Magic 8 Ball from Magic Rock for me, and Brewdog 5AM Saint for Fluff. The 8 Ball was £5.50 a pint, and even being a 7.0% Keykeg that is a little steep (I initially thought it was good because I thought it was 8%, thus over the HSBD), but the Brew Dog was virtually the same price, and nowhere near as strong. Outrageous! The 8 Ball was OK, but it seems to have never matched its early quality and balance, although it improved on warming.

We were joined by Commonside Crawler Simon (although that sounds like a criminal nickname!) and he went straight onto the Double Top Brewery Madness Porter at 5.2%, £3.20 odd, and worth every penny. I had the porter next as well, and found that by adding its silky smooth richness to the remaining 8 Ball I got a far better beer! Like I said, 8 Ball lacks the balance of its early appearances.

We walked up to the Bath Hotel for our final pints, and in here it was really a no contest as to what we'd drink - pints of Halcyon all round! Fluff may well be a new convert, but to be fair, if anyone had any other beers later on I have absolutely no idea what they were because the Halcyon finished us all off. Even at over £4.00 a pint (which is steep for cask below HSBD) we weren't willing to miss out on Halcyon. It really is the ferret's fingers. Or something.

So ended a great night out with good friends, great beers and not so great nicknames. Ideal preparation for next weeks SIBA BeerX.

See You all there!

Wee beefy

Room with a phew.

Hello,

     last night I got to the new brewery room at the Sheffield Tap (formerly a dining room, situated to the far left as you look from the outside). Having become convinced it was a fairytale or trick to frustrate me, I was relieved to discover that you really could just walk in, sit down, soak up the fab vistas, and, one assumes had I arrived earlier, watch beer being made.

 Meanwhile I had two fab beers to keep me company - half a Marble Stout, which was excellent, like almost all Marble beer is, and a Junionaire (most probably not the name, but Sheff Tap FB page deactivated so no idea what is on!) from Thornbridge, brewed by young people. Somewhere. Admittedly this paucity of detail is a reporting failure, but I assure you I was too mesmerised by the grandeur of the brewery room to care.

Interestingly, it was surprising how many people seemed to arrive and then immediately walk out - but then, yer can't ignore the fact that there's nowt as queer as folk.

One slight downside to my visit was the much vaunted arrival of Kissmeyer beer in keg, and a forthcoming meet the brewer event. Not that meeting a fermenty spargey chap is a bad thing, just that the beer from said brewery took the piss in terms of price.

Of course, one could suggest that the fault of the heinous over pricing should lay fairly and squarely with the retailer, but am not so sure. In a pub where people wee themselves at the chance to buy the "latest" and most talked about (dear God, trending?) beer, no matter what the price, you can't blame the Tap for putting on something unusual even if its cost is astronomic. However, I wonder how much of the eye watering cost is profit, especially if the producer is taking the piss?

Lets face it Denmark's craft beer isn't cheap - but the argument for buying Mikkeller is that its renownedly  excellent. So it could be a country thing. I realise Carlsberg isn't expensive, but then, the likelihood is, any you buy in the UK is brewed in the UK.

I like to think that Thornbridge and Magic Rock are a great example of brewers setting the bar higher than most of us would like to jump. Recent excellence in a bottle has made me less begrudging of that ethos regarding Thornbridge; likewise the stupendous Bearded Lady and Human Cannonball offerings from Magic Rock have done the same. Thornbridge in particular though seem to trade on an "our beer is simply excellent so you should pay more than the going rate for it" business outlook. So maybe Kissmeyer think they are likewise uber fantastic?

I say they, but the blurb on the Tinternet is all about one guy, Anders Kissmeyer. He could still be incredibly certain of his own brilliance though.....

The final puzzle is that being keg, I don't think there is an expected extra cost that would come with a Keykeg. I don't think continental kegs are single use, yet, I don't know for certain that this was in a conventional continental keg.

For info, the beer was called (I wrote it down as  "f*ck that" but sense I may have been having a giraffe), was 7.%, and was £4.40 a half. Making it as, or possibly more, expensive than Magic Rock Bearded Lady - yet being 3.5% weaker, and below the HSB duty limit,  and not definitely being in a single use container.

Lastly, Mikkeller and Magic Rock and Thornbridge have a really good reputation. I am willing to be wrong here, but I suspect Kissmeyer doesn't have the same enigma. Perhaps if it did (bearing in mind no tasters were available), I might have been willing to fork out for a half.

Wee Beefy