Bertie Booze Face

Yep. I am him.

         yet it's tragic to consider that today is my birthday and not only have I been to work, but I'm also not out drinking tonight. And to properly dub my bowed head with a turd crown, now I'm writing a blog post about the celebrations attached to my aging anniversary.. What, in the name of Satan, am I thinking of?

Still, yer cant't learn nowt when tha dunt se nowt. As no-one has ever said. Ever.

Sunday was Fathers day, sandwiched somewhat inconveniently between two raucous birthday related drinking events, but thankfully not the day after my annual barbecue (although, it looks like its going to chuffing piss it down all day this coming Saturday so that plan has backfired) so me and Wee Keefy whisked Wee Fatha off to the Ouse Estuary to gawp at birds. In a strictly ornithological sense. Via a bacon butty in a sinking church opposite a closed pub called the Angel in Reedness, (as yer do) we headed to Blacktoft sands for a few hours. We then repaired to nearby Eastoft for a Sunday lunch at the River Don Tavern.

The lunch is £6.95 and doesn't scrimp on the meat. There was loads, and it was cooked to perfection. You then got yorky puds, 2 types of stuffing and as much tatties and veg and gravy as you could fit on the plate. Ours was washed down with halves of Fulstow Northwood IPA, at 4.3% and £2.80 a pint for Wee Fatha, whilst WK had a pint of, and I two and a half pints of, the rather excellent Wold Top Tenner, brewed to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Served mercifully slightly cool, on a belting sunny day, this was a great advert for the pub.

On Tuesday I was meeting Chala for "either" a coffee or a pint. Whatevs. We headed for Shakespeares where the Muirhouse mild dark type affair didn't really tempt Chala so she had a pint of Blue Bee Lustin for Stout, whilst I had a pint of the Roosters Wild Mule. I have to say it was a somewhat underwhelming beer, but I had my eyes on sterner stuff. I soon moved onto a half of the Blue Bee, thus confirming it's excellence, and a half of Ska Brewing Modus Hoperandi.

Obviously as a fan of modern hop forward brews its a prerequisite that I have to actually achieve orgasm at the very mention of Modus Hoperandi, and though it was good, it could probably have benefited from a smidgen more balance. As all too often demonstrated by hop clumsy lupuliholics, a splurge of hops is not everything in a beer. That said, it was still very nice. I finished on an equally very nice bottle of Anderson County Barney Oatmeal Stout at something around the £3.50 mark, which was incredibly full flavoured but in a canny, subtly layered way.

Off next to the Fat Cat so we could "eat food" (nope, I don't understand that either) and sup beer of course. Here I had a pint of something dark that I have forgotten the name of. It was from a Yorkshire brewery. Probably. It was OK. The food was very nice as always though. And it was god to catch up with Stephen.

Round at the Ship we were literally the only customers - for a whole hour. Not even the advent of 21.00 provided any company. Chala ordered and abandoned a worryingly sweet Staropramen (I'm certain its not supposed to taste like that) but moved onto a house brandy and coke for a very reasonable price, whereas I had a pint of Abbeydale Brimstone. Am not sure Chala was taken by the Ship as much as I am but it was still a good place to sit down and catch up.

A hop on the tram brought us to the end of West Street and Chala sensibly went home, whilst I went to DAda. Behind the bar was Jamie - on it was his Peach IPA, Melba. Oh my good God. That is a fantastic beer. Absolutely exactly what I wanted and needed, not overly sweet like Timmermans, since its a peach IPA, just very refreshing. Annoyingly though it ran out so I opted to move up an ABV. Or 6.

I had a half of Thornbridge Imperial Russian Oatmeal Stout, which had been maturing 6 months so could have been stronger than 11%, at £3.15 a half. It was brilliant. Pretty soon, having texted a few mates to tell them about this delight, I was joined by Clare and Gav, along with Adam and Lofty, and things took off somewhat from there.

As we all moved onto the stout I bought half a Chiron and then shared a bottle of Kernel Export Stout 1874 or something. The same beer that I am drinking now,  in a curiously restrained birthday undertaking. After this happened I'm not clear on a few points, but I remember suddenly running out at 23.25 to get a bus, actually not falling asleep on it, and getting home. To fall asleep on the settee. Classy.

Tomorrow and Friday I am out and about at pubs and stuff so may see some of you, before Saturday heraldss the barbecue to end all barbecues. Or possibly one that you just wish would end. In a dismally English wet upper lip washout. Only 18 pints of a pale bitter beer will ease the pain (and that's not all for me I hasten to add).

Cheers!

Wee Beefy

Reopened Closed Shop brings period of closure to a close

Yep.

Petty much. Just that. The central tenet of my statement is already clear, but there are subtleties to reveal, and details to unmask.

The Closed Shop used to be quite good. It stood opposite venerable establishment the Hallamshire House, run for approximately 125 years by Les, with its unfailingly traditional, down to earth "pubinness", atmosphere, charm and interesting internal features made it a worthy competitor for the custom of locals. The Closed Shop was a Tetley House with a different cientele, it seemed.

Whilst I always used to feel like I was welcome in the Hallamshire, the Closed Shop may as well have been called the Closed world.

I ventured in the 'shop whilst Les was still at the helm of the Hallamshire and was annoyed by grumpy arsed service from behind the bar. An admirable choice of beers was available, possibly better than the Hallamshire, including a fantastic pale ale from the Darley Brewery. But the arsey mein host stuck in my craw, and the next time I visited a few years later the pub was standing at the top of a slippery slope. With an admirable and valiant lass behind the bar trying to run a pub single handedly with two week old Taylors, insufficient stock, and training. Then it closed.

Am not sure when; it was certainly closed at the end of January and possibly at New Year. Now its got a new lease of life.

Mr Stevens, from the Death Star Canteen sketch (also the Rutland, for lovers of facts) has taken it on. I won't venture to say bought because they seem to still have the "hilarious" idiosyncrasies of pub vampires Punch's lease to deal with. But hey, its trading again. So much easier to visit.

It reopened 17.00 yesterday 20th February, and had a decent if by Rutland standards tame line up of beers. To be fair to Andy, and his co-conspirator who may be called Chris, its really not fair to compare the two. The Rutland is a freehouse. The Closed Shop is not. Its likely that he has simply bought or signed up to run the premises and buy the stock from Punch. Tribute to which is that they only have one guest pump of choice at the mo.

Beer range was Tetley Dark Mild, Castle Rock Pale Ale, Kelham Easy Rider, Leeds Pale, Adnams Broadside, Black Sheep and guest ale Acorn Old Moor Porter. The Tetley was surprisingly ace, and , since I hadn't managed to find it in Leeds (although, is that surprising now?) was a welcome return tasting for me. £2.40 a pint and the ideal starter or session beer. I had two so that's virtually a session. And, for added irony, a Leeds Pale. I went to 2 of their breweries pubs and had none of the beer in Leeds....

Decor wise it seems little changed. A man repaired the Jukebox, Paultous used his teenage powers of optimistic youth to blow a light bulb, people played Pool, Brewer Rich and the Author K E Page drank beer, and me, Wee Keefy and Jambon sat in a bay window which may as well have been open - it was chuffin perishing...

Still, its going to be closed again in 8  weeks to receive a proper refurbishment and a kitchen, after which there will be 4 guest ale pumps. Assumedly Punch insist you have to spend thousands of pounds of your own money to secure more freedom of ale choice.....

It will be interesting, say 3 months down the line, to see how this development affects the Hallamshire House. The man of Ash keeps a fine pint but it aint arf expensive in the Thornbridge Boozer. They aren't going to start serving food, so it seems inevitable there will be an effect. Mr Ash had a quite optimistic outlook, and not without a modicum of merit. If Commonside (extending to the Blake, which it doesn't, but in terms of real ale pubs may as well) has potentially 4 pubs with a maximum 21 real ales on, that can only be good for the local beer scene. I think he may be right - now there's even more reason to travel to the area.

Finally, talking of which, after half an excellent Leeds Pale, I headed over the road to the Hallamshire and to my unbridled delight discovered Thornbridge Imperial Oatmeal Stout on draught - on cask. Oh. My. God. I told Wee Keefy and Jambon at once.

Despite the price (eek! Can't even bear to admit to it...) I had 2 halves of the monstrously easy to drink mega stout. Probably the best cask of the year bar none, but also the most night shortening. Luckily my former colleague Ian from the ARBS was in to direct me to a much needed chippy, before I popped down to the University Arms for  half of Titanic Mild (very nice) and finally two halves of Saltaire, Pacific Red (or similar!) and South Island Pale, and a chat with a guy called Bleddyn, who was a man of science, and a thoroughly decent chap.

I wish the Closed Shop all the very best and look forward to many nights sat in there, preferably once double glazed, supping decently priced ale, and, without promising, possibly using it as the starting point of a brilliant new Commonside Crawl.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy

Beer tasting 2013 - night of the imperial stouts.

Hello

         last night I managed to finally get together 3 friends to help me sample a range of bottled beers, some bought over the past year, some in 2006 and in between, and all promising to be rather good. Postponed from November when I caught housemaids knee or similar, not even the snow and ice could scupper our plans, and since everyone brought along contributions of their own it was clear that we'd need a good go at getting through what was on offer.

We started low with a bottle of O Hara's Irish Red, a 4.3%, erm, red ale that was exactly that. Recognisable red malt made an interesting comparison between this and the more hop forward reds I have seen, meaning you could taste the malt a bit better.

Up next was a Bottle Conditioned Beer (BCA) from Ilkely Brewery, their Holy Cow Cranberry Milk Stout. There was much anticipation but little agreement on what we would find in this beer - in the end it was a pleasant milk stout with a fruity flavour, but not really cranberry (although Steff insisted she could taste it). Odd but enjoyable.

Anchor Brewing 2012 Christmas Ale followed. A reliable old favourite with a good blend of spices which I understand changes every year. An enjoyable reliable Christmas beer that was true to style.

Up next was the first disappointment. Kernel India Brown Ale, 5.6%, initially started well by being incredibly brown! Having been brought only an hour earlier the sediment couldn't be separated, but if anything slightly improved the flavour. The let down was, this was just a decent brown ale with a shit load of hops thrown in. Much debate followed about the laziness of taking an ordinary beer and ramming it full of hops, and also the important element of balance. This was not a balanced ale. We hoped the two Kernel stouts wouldn't be ruined by the same process.

Up next was disappointment number 2. I was looking forward to introducing my fellow drinkers to the delights of Dunham Massey brewery, since its not often you can buy it in Sheffield, and the Porter, which is usually excellent (and which I had already drunk 6 bottles of) was off. That's now the 3rd Dunham Massey BCA that's been off in a row. Not an impressive display, all yeast and sour acidity, but with plenty of date on the bottle. Quite a bit didn't get finished.
 

Next up was a slight ABV hike, what with two pale hoppy beers still to come before the dark monsters appeared, we tried a bottle of Thornbridge Imperial Russian Stout. This 9% beer is a recreation of an 1850's Courage recipe, no doubt similar to the Courage Imperial Russian Stout which they brewed until the mid nineties. It smelt of that beer straight away, but to be fair the taste was much more complex and intense, with a good balance of traditional imperial stout roasted malt and a licorice like flavour in the after taste. Excellent.
 

Flying Dog Raging Bitch was next, at 8.3% we figured it could stand up to the stout, although Ems passed on this one as she knew she didn't like it. I had reservations, but it was quite a pleasant Belgian style IPA, the Belgian yeast being prominent in amongst the punchy hops, but reminding me of the one flavour that I dislike about American IPA's, that sweet, yeast heavy background. Not bad.
 

The last "weak" (!) beer of the night was the Dunham Massey East India Pale Ale at 6.0%. I intended it to be an interesting comparison in IPA styles, and it was certainly that, but mostly because it was not well conditioned and again slightly off. I think the stronger alcohol perhaps carried it through, and it tasted better than it smelled, but this was another disappointing show.
 

A slight climb in ABV accompanied our tasting of the Kernel Export Stout (London 1890), a 6.7% stout with an amazingly smooth and satisfying burnt toffee aftertaste, which swiftly allayed any fears we had about any needless hoppyness, although, there was hop flavour in there. The sweeter malty aftertaste melded with the burnt roast malt flavours brilliantly. A really well executed beer.
 

From this point on, with the exception of the saison I'd put aside for cleansing our palates later, it was all very strong beers. Our next beer, Thornbridge Imperial Oatmeal Stout was 11% and quite simply stunning. Incredibly easy to drink for its strength, full of glorious roast malt and a milk chocolate almost burnt sugar aftertaste made all the more palatable by the oatmeal. Much debate ensued following the claim of a hint of coconut by Steff but nothing could detract from how brilliant and accomplished this beer was. Fantastic.
 

We then tried Fullers Vintage 2008, which nicely demonstrated that in some ways the earlier aged bottles highlighted more of the hops that are showcased, this time being Challenger and Northdown. That said though, this was an immensely well balanced orangey (Fullers yeast I reckon!) beer with a detectable alcoholic nose and satisfying malted barley aftertaste. Only Ems had tried this before, Jamie and Steff were new to it, and everyone seemed to agree that it was a fine beer.
 

Kernel Imperial Brown Stout London 1856 quickly showed up the holes in their India Brown brew sheet. This was a fabulously smooth roasted malt and bisucuity sweet stout, with some hoppyness and a fabulous vanilla aftertaste. At 10% it shows a heck of a lot of alcohol in the mix but is perhaps less easy to drink than he stronger Thornbridge Oatmeal. An excellent satisfying beer.
 

With tiredness setting in and weary palates, I introduced the Fantome Saison to give us a refreshing break. In the fridge for some 5 hours now it did exactly what it was supposed to - and, whether as a result of the beers tried prior to it or not, was as refreshingly lemony as I had hoped. Very little of the odd orangey bitterness that I had noticed before was present. All agreed that this was a much needed and highly enjoyable diversion. My faith in Fantome is restored!
 

The snow was falling faster now so we agreed to select the last two beers from quite a lot that were left. The first was the 2007 Thornbridge and Brooklyn Alliance PX Strong Ale Reserve. I had tried an Alliance not long after it was brewed and was disappointed by its fairly clumsy, overly sweet face-smash of unsubtle flavours. Now, after more than 5 years in the bottle it was simply stunning. The sherry cask flavour came through on a sumptuous base of malt and hops, with a sweetish, but not overly so, finish, perhaps reigned in by the massive alcohol present. The best bit is - I have two bottles left!
 

The final beer of the tasting was the Thornbridge 2006 St Petersburg Islay cask reserve at 10.2%. This was quite a strange one really, after so long in the bottle the massive peaty malt and phenols of the Islay whiskey had muscled in on the flavour. The stout seemed to have slightly disappeared in terms of the overall taste but was still offering a conciliatory roasted malt smoothness in amongst the huge alcohol present. Its interesting to note that I had the Highland Reserve only a few months ago and that was far more a stout, far better balanced and probably more enjoyable. Maybe over time, the mellower whiskies used provides a better balance. Still an excellent beer to end on though.
 

My fellow tasters departed through the snow in a taxi soon after and I decided to grab a bit more food and to finish on a beer of my own. The 2009 De Dolle Stille Nacht (12%) was the smallest I could find but was still so massive in flavour that I would probably have been better off sharing it. Its not a subtle beer, hence its an ideal finisher, but it was obvious from some of the other amazing beers we had tried that it lacked their poise and character, not to mention the subtle balance that made them so enjoyable.
 

So, a great night spent drinking really good quality (with a price to match) beers finally happened. My clear favourite was the Thornbridge Imperial Oatmeal Stout, but The Kernel Imperial Brown, the Alliance and the Fantome Saison were all out of this world. Can't wait to plan my next one for 3 years time!

 

Wee Beefy