Beers of Tramlines

Now then,

    Friday and Saturday (well, mainly Saturday) saw me dip my toe in the waters of Tramlines, the ever increasingly large Sheffield free music festival. As I mentioned earlier in the month, one of the advantages of the venues chosen was that a good deal of them served real ale, and of course there was the Snow Lane CADS blues and ale event which had its own bar. Against that backdrop, here's the details of some of the beers I managed to drink to accompany my Tramlines 2012 experience....

Friday - Shakespeares

I started before any bands were on at my regular haunt, not intentionally, I just blundered out of work after a crap day and headed pubwards. Here I had a pint of the excellent and uncompromising Kirkstall Dissolution IPA and a bottle of the Dupont saison. I figured if I was going t get my head round this style I ought to try a few, and although beer seeker T_I_B had suggested it was a bit strong (so presumably not a typical saison) I figured it would make a good start.

The brash hop bitterness of the Kirkstall probably suited the Dupont, which was strong enough to hold its own, and was a really nice drink, the cost of both being £6.40, which is not bad for half a night's drinking. Alas, given the Tramlines theme, I can't really claim to have seen any bands on Friday - I did stop around to see DJ unpeeled get set up and heard a track, but in the end I left just as the first band, who sounded OK, got started upstairs.

Three Cranes

Tramlines geeks might point out that there was no bands on here, and they'd be right - I only popped in for a half, this the excellent Welbeck Abbey Cavendish. However, I was fortunate enought to bump into Mr J so joined he and his friends for what turned out to be a number of Cavendish, and then some Blue Bee Lustin for Stout, whilst the DJ played a number of tracks that we wouldn't be hearing at Tramlines....

Shakespeares again, Saturday

This time I made a determined effort and started where and when bands were on. A combo, possibly called the rag tags, but possibly not, played outside in the smokers garage, and that seemed to be a very popular act. Having said that, it was rammed beyond belief, which was to be a feature of the whole event. Abbeydale Deception in here, before I had an appointment at Dada.

Dada Trippets Lane - Slow Moves gig

I met up with friends at Dada, which was also heaving with punters sat outside the pub and across the road outside the Grapes and the Dog and Partridge. Plastic glasses here alas, presumably a decision borne out of a mixture of practical concerns and licensing laws, but the beer was good. Whim Hartington Bitter was still more hoppy than I recall, but a decent drop, and it was nice seeing James, Emily and Jamie manning the bar at my (other) second home.

The Slow Moves set was brilliant and enjoyed by all, during which, as well as taking video and photo's, I was supping a pint of Keykeg Thornbridge Halcyon, and I don't mind admitting, it was really rather nice, if not a mite too cold. Christingpher very kindly bought me a pint and it was a good choice, especially as it gave me time to catch the sun outside after Slow Moves and listen to a bit of another band.

Red Deer - band setting up!

I popped in the Red Deer for some of the excellent Whittlebury London ale which I had tried on Wednesday, and the Beartown 2012, alas from a bands point of view there was someone just setting up, although the Red Deer gets extra marks for me being able to get a table.

Rutland Arms

I stormed off down the hill next to the Rutland where food and good ale was imperative - I had a fantastic bacon sandwhich as per always, and a delicious pint of Blue Bee Light Blue, whilst fraternising with luminaries from the world of music, which is neither an accurate nor sarcastic description. Unfortunately all this schmoozing and troughing needed to end all too soon as I had to be up in town at he new music stage.

No booze here (although I could have taken my own) but I had a very enjoyable hour watching Future of The Left before meeting up with Wee Keefy, Carlos and Paddington, and whilst Cads was mooted I wanted to head back to Shakespeares for more excellent ales.

Shakespeares part 3.

Of course, all that banging my head and screaming had made me forget that it was 10 deep at the bar here and a queue to get in so arriving with anti-queue Carlos was a debatable move. Not only that, but the beer range had been decimated, with only 4 beers left on when I arrived. I fancied more Deception but that was long gone, and wary of Clarke's offering I went with the excellent Kirkstall Black Band porter, due to inevitable glass shortages served in a Budvar and Becks glass respectively to me and Carlos.

At this juncture, waiting for the band the Crookes to come on, Wee Keefy had to call it a night and Paddington went with him, so me and Carlos went back to fight at the bar and watch beers going off before our eyes. Kirkstall Three Swords made an appearance so I had that and Carlos more Black Band, but in the time it took me to drink my pint and return to the bar the Three Swords had also gone!

Mayhem ensued whilst trying to get to see the Crookes - despite my having been brought up in Crookes and Carlos living there all his life, so we were clearly part of the entourage, the only way we were getting in any time soon was if several people died and had to be removed, so we let the waiting line increase and went and stood on the steps listening in and drinking.

A few more rounds of Black Band passed before last orders was called at near 02.00 so having sent Carlos off for a taxi I bade my time before heading off to catch the N52 night bus, and got home before 3AM.

Not maybe a classic Tramlines then in terms of the bands, but one enhanced by several commendable ales and many excellent venues which made for a very enjoyable day.

Here's to next year!

Wee Beefy

Some recent city centre drinking

Hello,

  here are a few details of some venues visited on Thursday with Chala.

Popolo

First stop was Popolo in Leopold Square, a chain of restaurant bars based mainly in the North and Midlands. Downstairs its all black and white lines and red lighting and classic film posters, upstairs is a separate small bar with the restaurant seating which is a little more traditional.

In days of yore (April 2011 to be precise) they sold bottles of Freedom Organic lager, both the standard and the dark. Although not labelled as bottle conditioned (instead unfiltered) they did seem to taste and behave like bottle conditioned beers (but in the better respects of the term, i.e not fizzing sour soup). Alas now there is no Freedom to be found, but they have at least got a couple of Brew Dog bottles in.

Interestingly, Sheffield CAMRA have for two years now included Popolo as selling real ale in their guide to city centre real ale venues. I admit that there is a small chance that the Theakstons bitter served through keg taps over the bar (one assumes the barrels/kegs are upstairs, which is a tad funky) but it seems really unlikely that this is real ale. It may be time perhaps for Sheffield CAMRA to reassess their list. Not that it impacted on the enjoyment of our visit, its just a bit strange to see them on it.

I started on a BrewDog 5AM saint, their ascorbic, bitter, dry red hop ale, whilst Chala had a cocktail, which came with free nibbles, which was a nice touch. The Saint was an interesting experience. This was my first taste of it since last year, and having since tasted the red hop wares of their brewing apostles in particular the excellent Magic Rock Rapture it seems a bit overly harsh and slightly one dimensional. Where Rapture has burnt toffee and a mix of complimentary malts in the second part of the mouthfeel the 5AM Saint delivers a big unwieldy slab of what I think is Simcoe, but offers no moderating flavours in support.

Next we had more of the same, except I switched to a half of Erdinger. All the drinks are discounted between 17.00 and 19.00 so the bottles of beer were about £3.30 and the cocktails were about a fiver, which is still expensive - if there hadn't have been an offer on I would have tried the Theakstons I think...

Our last drink was a bottle of Punk IPA for me and one last Godfather for Chala. The Punk was not a vintage example of itself, being slightly sweet in a way that it really shouldn't, possibly it had been light struck during some part of the process of getting to Popolo, but it was still a decent beer.

Old House

Our next port of call was city centre fave the Old House, selling both of the recent range of True North beers (i.e those brewed at Welbeck Brewery) and also the excellent Bradfield Farmers Stout and a couple of Kelham Island offerings.

I had a pint of the First Porter in here, which is a really nice beer, with just enough roast malt and plenty of body to carry off the flavours, and we also stopped for a meal, so we had a bottle of red wine to accompany. One of my only gripes is the table service idea. It doesn't quite work. As we were sitting down on arriving, we were asked straight away if we wanted to order food - we weren't sure at this stage, so were asked what we wanted to drink, but having not even made up our minds about food we didn't know if we wanted a couple of drinks to start or to order the wine. The lass told us we could order drinks from her and disappeared.

I nipped to the bar for my Porter shortly after and then after delibaerations and menu perusing Chala went to get the wine, since we now knew what we wanted to eat. Chala had trouble setting up a tab because we hadn't ordered food but we made it clear we were going to order, so returned to the table with the wine to await the waitress.

A while passed and it became clear she was otherwise engaged, and with the wine warming up I went to the bar to order food, but was told they couldn't put it in the till and it couldn't be ordered from there (Why? No logic was forthcoming...) In the end the waitress came to the bar to take my order and I sat back down again but that was a needlessly lengthy process to just order a meal. Why not use the magic of technology to enable the silly old till behind the bar to accept another reel of preprogrammed numbers, like you can do with every till on earth?

Anyhoo, ranting finished, we did enjoy a very lovely meal and some decent wine, and I also found time to have a pint of the True North First Blonde. This was a very pleasing blonde bitter ale with a lovely fruity aftertaste, which did carry off some of the characteristics of the originator brewery. Hopefully there will be more beers on the way.

Harrisons 1854

Our final port of call was another bar, so not really a traditional pub crawl for us. Here Chala was back on cocktails and I tried a bit of the Farmers Tramlines beer. Once again it managed to be quite bland and disappointing, though not as grim as the Sheffield Brew Co one last year. I completely understand the need for the Tramlines ale to have universal appeal but it tasted like an amalgam of some of the less edifying and more dreary characteristics of the Bradfield output, although having said that it had a nice initial burst of malt and bitterness which reminded me a decent Yorkshire Bitter.

Despite that I had a Farmers Blonde next, before finishing on a small glass of the excellent Hugo Cassanova Sauvignon Blanc, which was just as light and refreshing as I required.

All in all an enjoyable and varied crawl of some of the more modern bars in Sheffield selling decent beer, which proves that even if you don't set foot in a traditional pub all night you don't have to settle for  smoothflow or fake euro lager dross anymore.

Happy times!

Wee Beefy

Wee Beefy's beer bites

Afternoon

recent activity surrounding beer and pubs has been frantic so am going to give you a few small tit-bits to try and cover all that's been going on.

BrewDog vs Asda

Asda recently put up the cost of the reduced strength Punk IPA to over £2.30 a bottle. Responsible you might think - but its still in the 3 for £4.00 offer. Once more Asda's alcohol irresponsibility reigns supreme - the less you buy, and the weaker alcohol in the beer you buy, the more expensive it is. Genius.

Shakespeare Gibraltar Street Shalesmoor

Work continues on the interior and upstairs rooms in particular, bookings are now coming in for bands to play in the large upstairs function room, where a bar is hoped to be installed in the future. A good range of local beers has always been available on my 4 visits so far, last night I had Abbeydale Deception, Spire Dark Side of he Moon, and not so local but the best of the lot, Hornbeam Black Coral Stout. The new signage is half up - one is waiting to presumably go on the side wall; and this identifies the pub as Shakespeares Ale and Cider House.

Welbeck Abbey Brewery

Continue to get their beers into Sheffield, having been seen at the Harlequin, Shakespeares (to reflect their new signage and differentiate between them and the Olde Shakespeare on Well Road Heeley ) and the Old House. Their First Brew was very quaffable at the Harlequin, and their low gravity session beer Henrietta at 3.6% was the stand out beer of an evening at the Old House recently. Me and Davefromtshop caught a pint of the surprisingly heavy ruby biter Red Feather at Shakespeares last week as well. Although they have excellent mentors and distributors in the form of Kelham Island brewery, its noticeable how quickly they have created a recognisable brand, and found that crucial consistency and quality. See their blog on this site or follow http://welbeckabbeybrewery.blogspot.com/

Toad Brewery

The flip side of the Welbeck story is the demise of short lived Doncaster brewery Toad, who have gone into liquidation. I rarely found their beers and I have to say that when I did I was likewise rarely impressed. Perhaps their apparent intention to supply the unusual/one off guest beer market caught them out - an over ambitious beer roster maybe contributed to a lack of consistency and a prevalence at beer festivals. A shame for South Yorkshire to lose a brewery though.

Robin Hood

News of their impending conversion to luxury housing has drawn a few people together to visit - a friend of mine told me he'd met his now wife when she was working behind the bar there and was off for a final visit last week, meanwhile I have finally visited with Davefromtshop - his first visit, and let countless other people know through the debatable wonders of Facebook. Get to the Robin Hood before August Bank Holiday weekend and see what you'll miss.

Wick At Both Ends West Street Sheffield

Two recent visits have seen Sheffield Brewery Tramlines and Thornbridge Sequoia on hand pump, served in handled beer mugs as beer should be - top marks for that. As well as a decent range of music I was also able to experience some excellent bottles of Budels Alt and some offerings from Goose Island brewery. The only drawback is - no beer menu! Sort us a list out The WABe and more people will buy your range of beers.

Old House Devonshire Street

Table service is on offer at the Old House and some very very nice food at sensible prices for the quality provided. Flowers IPA, a beer enigma in that you can rarely be sure where its brewed or by whom, along with Bradfield Farmers Stout, seem to be regular features on the bar now, with the total number of handpumps increased to 5. Drinks offers on Weekdays until eight and large for small wines until nine mean it needn't be extortionate to drink their either.

Tramlines festival beers

I got to a few pubs at Tramlines - more pubs than I saw bands actually, and sampled some decent beer along the way. The Abbeydale Deception at Harrisons 1854 was in fantastic form, perhaps helped by its quick turnover with the venue 8 thick at the bar at times. The Red House was offering two beers including Hancocks HB and Marstons EPA, Shakespeares of course had the biggest range of those tried and I had a very nice pint of something low gravity and pale from Acorn, then there were about 5 beers at CADS in Shalesmoor for the blues and ale festival, including the Tramlines beer and Brimstone from Abbeydale. Our final stop was the Red Deer which was offering, from a range of 7, a very nice pint of Moorhouses Blonde Witch, and serving til gone midnight - showing you can get decent real ale after 11PM.

More news soon, and, I promise, more of my Scotland adventure...

Cheers

Wee Beefy