Hello,
on Saturday, which is officially less than a whole week ago, I was at the Sheffield SU's Beer Festival 2018 in the student union, Interval Bar and Interval gardens. It was the first time I have been for many years, especially since the last time I had tried to go they had ran out of beer on something like Friday night. No such problems this time however. And this, back in 1994, which is in the past, was the venue for my first ever beer festival, aged less.
Its a sign of how little I knew about beer that almost all the breweries were new to me then, and also that there was only one beer which I really wanted to try. Having previously been out locally and drank quite a lot of Wards, Kimberley, Stones, and sometimes Websters, apart from fledgling trips to the Fat Cat and the Cask and Cutler my beer exploration was pretty restricted. This lengthy caveat supports my suggestion to Geoff Macdonald or Dave Daykin behind the bar that I should start on a half of the strongest beer at the festival. Despite their attempts to warn me otherwise, I ignored them and went ahead having a half of Orkney Skullsplitter. At 8 point whatever it is. Followed by a half of Arkells 2B. I had a lot to learn....
Funnily enough this year I also started on a plus 8% ale. Weird Beard Cardinal Wolf (I keep thinking it needs an e....) was an 8.4% DIPA served on keg, where hops are best, and was rather bloody delicious. Having bumped into club Lycett and Ally and Malc, I wandered up into the bright sunshine to join Clan Cawthorne and their birthday celebrations for Richard. Or another male human name with an A in it. The sun was baking, the company was ace, I hadn't needed to piss away any of my meagre funds on a festival glass so had enough for a few beers, and I was happy as a puppy with two cocks.
Up next came another Cardinal, and further sunning whilst I chatted to the assembled throng of folk and soaked it all up. I then decided to have a break from DIPA and went for some Neepsend and Regather Tilamook IPA at 6.2% on cask, which luckily was a little chilled. This also proved to be a good way of restraining myself from plunging into hapless inebriation.
I may have moved onto a half of the Tiny Rebel Can you smell what the Bock is cooking, a gloriously hoppy beer which I can remember the taste of but not the purchasing. I then moved onto Abbeydale Lost Souls 2017 stout at 10% on keg. Drinking Bearded Lady Rum barrel on keg in the Tap was what first woke me up to the idea that keg had merit and value and the same criteria applied here - on cask, even lightly chilled, this beer would have warmed up far too much by the time you had sat in the sun supping it for an hour. On this occasion it was perfectly easy drinking, and the warmth of the sun merely served to release some of the more balanced and smooth characteristics.
I may have slipped in a further Cardinal but finished on a half of the Abbeydale Nelson Sauvin DIPA at 9% on cask. Far hoppier than their other cask DIPA, the only thing that let this down was a slight alcoholic sweetness. Mind you that perhaps necessarily buffeted you against the sledgehammer hit of the sauvin hops.
Now sober I realise there were far many other beers that I could have tried but actually, whilst the beer I tried was exceptional, this fest for me was about the excellent company of friends, baking in hot sun and feeling almost knowledgable about beer and what to taste. The whole experience wasn't even let down by the bizarre claim that I couldn't get money back for my unused tokens unless someone in the queue wanted to buy the same number. Luckily they did, but isn't that ever so slightly retarded?
I finished the night in the University Arms with the Clan Cawthorne and a pint of Abbeydale Black Mass, at 6.6% nearly the weakest beer I drank all day. I liked the SU beer fest, especially the weather, but also the lack of rigmarole and restriction on what I wanted and how I wanted to buy it. I returned my plastic glass when I left and felt happy that I had spent the afternoon with some fine folks. And also a trifle refreshed....
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
Showing posts with label Weird Beard Brewery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weird Beard Brewery. Show all posts
Wednesday, 9 May 2018
Saturday, 25 March 2017
Weird Beard Tap takeover at Shakespeares
Morning!
am late with this as always since it was last Friday, but am going to tell you what I experienced at Shakespeares on the day when people wear hats and act like twats (mostly, but not all). I never like going out on St Patrick's day because of the twat in the hat element. Luckily, with Thrash band Regulus (I think?) launching their new album and playing upstairs, along with the Tap takeover, Shakespeares was T.i.T.H free all night....
Arriving about 18.00 I was not all that shocked to find it absolutely chuffing rammed. I spotted Dan H, Ian and Richard in the clock room which, of course, I own, and having failed to get a seat went and stood with them. Richard loved the Weird Beard Boring brown beer, a brown non boring beer on keg at 9.6% which he was sampling, and went back for another. I meanwhile was on a half of Holy Hoppin Hell on cask at 9.5% and a pint of Mariana trench American pale ale at 5.3. This was going to be a night of hops!
I was soon joined by my friend Mr G and he had a drink whose identity escapes me, whilst I went for halves of Fire, a smoked chipotle Rauchbier, and another half of Holy Hoppin Hell. This is one o the hoppiest beers I have ever had and only just escapes having a paracetamol flavour in the background - there is sufficient fruity tropical notes in the mix along with the giant slabs of bitter hoppiness to make this a beer to savour.
Mr G had a pint of the Little things that kill next, a viciously hopped pale at 3.9%, brilliantly showcasing the, am guessing, astringent US hops used at a very quaffable volume, whilst I had halves of Fade to Black Black IPA and Five o clock Shadow, a 7% American IPA.
By this time we had managed to grab some chairs and a table to sit at, and were enjoying the buzz, and loud thrash coming form upstairs - we even toyed with the idea of going up to watch the band play, where I would have bumped into my mate but in the end we decided about 20.30 to leave and head across the road to the Bar Stewards. It was slightly more quiet here....
I returned on Sunday for another pint of he HHH, and also a half of the Double Perle imperial coffee stout (this and the Five o clock may be the wrong days round by the way....). Given the number of excellent strong stouts available this was an amazingly easy to drink strong stout although the coffee was slightly lost in the overall flavour.
Once more Shakespeares pulled off another Sheffield beer week supershow, and although I did not get to meet the brewers (who may or may not have been there) it was still an excellent showcase of one of my favourite London breweries. Well done to the staff at Shakespeares for a brilliant night and line up of beers and music.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
am late with this as always since it was last Friday, but am going to tell you what I experienced at Shakespeares on the day when people wear hats and act like twats (mostly, but not all). I never like going out on St Patrick's day because of the twat in the hat element. Luckily, with Thrash band Regulus (I think?) launching their new album and playing upstairs, along with the Tap takeover, Shakespeares was T.i.T.H free all night....
Arriving about 18.00 I was not all that shocked to find it absolutely chuffing rammed. I spotted Dan H, Ian and Richard in the clock room which, of course, I own, and having failed to get a seat went and stood with them. Richard loved the Weird Beard Boring brown beer, a brown non boring beer on keg at 9.6% which he was sampling, and went back for another. I meanwhile was on a half of Holy Hoppin Hell on cask at 9.5% and a pint of Mariana trench American pale ale at 5.3. This was going to be a night of hops!
I was soon joined by my friend Mr G and he had a drink whose identity escapes me, whilst I went for halves of Fire, a smoked chipotle Rauchbier, and another half of Holy Hoppin Hell. This is one o the hoppiest beers I have ever had and only just escapes having a paracetamol flavour in the background - there is sufficient fruity tropical notes in the mix along with the giant slabs of bitter hoppiness to make this a beer to savour.
Mr G had a pint of the Little things that kill next, a viciously hopped pale at 3.9%, brilliantly showcasing the, am guessing, astringent US hops used at a very quaffable volume, whilst I had halves of Fade to Black Black IPA and Five o clock Shadow, a 7% American IPA.
By this time we had managed to grab some chairs and a table to sit at, and were enjoying the buzz, and loud thrash coming form upstairs - we even toyed with the idea of going up to watch the band play, where I would have bumped into my mate but in the end we decided about 20.30 to leave and head across the road to the Bar Stewards. It was slightly more quiet here....
I returned on Sunday for another pint of he HHH, and also a half of the Double Perle imperial coffee stout (this and the Five o clock may be the wrong days round by the way....). Given the number of excellent strong stouts available this was an amazingly easy to drink strong stout although the coffee was slightly lost in the overall flavour.
Once more Shakespeares pulled off another Sheffield beer week supershow, and although I did not get to meet the brewers (who may or may not have been there) it was still an excellent showcase of one of my favourite London breweries. Well done to the staff at Shakespeares for a brilliant night and line up of beers and music.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
Saturday, 17 January 2015
Show of force in Sheffield pubs
Hello,
I used to go to DaDa a lot, and I used to also go to Harrisons 1854. I loved the Rutland, Closed Shop and Hallamshire House. Recently, my go-to favourite pubs have changed slightly. I'm almost always in either the Three Tuns, Bath Hotel or, as has been the case for a few years, at Shakespeares. There is no failure on the part of the earlier mentioned pubs, just changing circumstances.
By way of illustration, here, as experienced on Tash's birthday, are a number of reasons to drink in the current top 3......
I was meeting Tash, having got the day off specially, at 12.00. We eventually plumped to meet at 15.00. Arriving at 15.10, I called Tash to explain I was there - to be told to "get inside and keep warm" as she was only just about to leave. Following this advice I nipped in the Tap and Tankard on Cambridge Street. Sill finding its feet I think , but the pint and a half of Hand Drawn Monkey IPA at 5.0% shows much promise.
Me and Tash met up and did some birthday shopping before heading up to the Bath Hotel. I always like going in before 17.00 because its quiet (although in a change from what I put in my Exposed article there is music), there's few people in and ts warm and relaxing . Perfect. There was excellent Crouch Vale Brewers Gold on cask (amongst others!) and the unusual Rouge Red Ale from Summer Wine Brewery on keg. As it was Tash's birthday, and this was a pricey pint, I bought us a pint and a half of this.
We sat on a large table behind the screen, opening cards, seeing The Child of Ash and Beccy, supping our unusual but beautiful red ale, and enjoying the surroundings. A great start.
Next we walked down in the howling wind to the Three Tuns. We met Matty in here and he was already on his traditional dark pint, which alas my memory has hidden the name of. Stand out casks here were from Blue Bee, their Natural, a hoppy 3.5% session pale ale, and their slightly stronger Reet Pale. Me and Tash had a couple of pints of that, Matty another dark offering, and we ordered food. Being a greedy guts and 1.5 pints ahead, I had the baked belly pork with mash to myself, and they opted to share a cider pig sandwich and chips. All the food was, as is now the case, matchless, as was the Reet Pale.
Off down the hill we made a terrible discovery - it appears that legendary curry supplier West Bar Tandoori has closed down. Speaking to Dave Unpro, it trans[ired the rent they were paying was extortionate, which is a bit harsh for a block of shops with only one now open, and they had to sell something like 60 curries a day just to make ends meet. Their excellent food - especially the Biryani and Saag dishes we used to get, will be sorely missed.
The only thing that could cheer us up was some good beer - and in Shakespeares, by eck three was plenty. I think the Brewsmith 6% IPA was the starter for me and Tash, and Matty had the unhoppy but quite burnt roasted milk stout from HopCraft. We had something else next - and I have to admit that by this time details were becoming slightly less important than keeping up with the conversation with Tony and Matty, so I can't remember what it was, but it was no doubt enjoyable.
This lack of detail however pales into insignificance against the important next beer - a pint of the Weird Bear Holy Hoppin Hell, an astonishingly tasty Double IPA at 9.2%. And worth every penny at £5.10 (or lightly less or more to the power of 20p) a pint. This admittedly, slowed me down. I did however soon regain my thought processes sufficiently to buy another two halves to share with Tash on her birthday. Holy Hopping Hell is easily the best beer I have had in the last few years. Its...amazing - well balanced, gloriously hoppy, bitter but with citrus and orange notes to balance. Impeccable.
I then discovered that in the cellar was the Beavertown, Siren and Magic Rock Rule of Thirds! I was now, officially, in hop heaven. Although on Thursday this was cloudy in the cellar, it should be clear soon and hopefully on the bar soon as well. Chris made an interesting observation by the way - that none of the three beers used to make rule of thirds is more than (I think) 5.6% - so how odes it get to be 6.4%? I suspect there is an explanation, but we did not arrive at it.
By the way, Chris is apparently going to write a beer blog - Mr Bamford, would you share the address? The other, keener and more important observation, is that it will sell for £4.00 a pint. Significantly, I am sorry to say, less expensive than at the Bath.
So, above is a taster of the quality brews encounter in just one day in January in Sheffield. A tale of hoppy crapulence to warm even the chilliest soul in this wintry 2015.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
I used to go to DaDa a lot, and I used to also go to Harrisons 1854. I loved the Rutland, Closed Shop and Hallamshire House. Recently, my go-to favourite pubs have changed slightly. I'm almost always in either the Three Tuns, Bath Hotel or, as has been the case for a few years, at Shakespeares. There is no failure on the part of the earlier mentioned pubs, just changing circumstances.
By way of illustration, here, as experienced on Tash's birthday, are a number of reasons to drink in the current top 3......
I was meeting Tash, having got the day off specially, at 12.00. We eventually plumped to meet at 15.00. Arriving at 15.10, I called Tash to explain I was there - to be told to "get inside and keep warm" as she was only just about to leave. Following this advice I nipped in the Tap and Tankard on Cambridge Street. Sill finding its feet I think , but the pint and a half of Hand Drawn Monkey IPA at 5.0% shows much promise.
Me and Tash met up and did some birthday shopping before heading up to the Bath Hotel. I always like going in before 17.00 because its quiet (although in a change from what I put in my Exposed article there is music), there's few people in and ts warm and relaxing . Perfect. There was excellent Crouch Vale Brewers Gold on cask (amongst others!) and the unusual Rouge Red Ale from Summer Wine Brewery on keg. As it was Tash's birthday, and this was a pricey pint, I bought us a pint and a half of this.
We sat on a large table behind the screen, opening cards, seeing The Child of Ash and Beccy, supping our unusual but beautiful red ale, and enjoying the surroundings. A great start.
Next we walked down in the howling wind to the Three Tuns. We met Matty in here and he was already on his traditional dark pint, which alas my memory has hidden the name of. Stand out casks here were from Blue Bee, their Natural, a hoppy 3.5% session pale ale, and their slightly stronger Reet Pale. Me and Tash had a couple of pints of that, Matty another dark offering, and we ordered food. Being a greedy guts and 1.5 pints ahead, I had the baked belly pork with mash to myself, and they opted to share a cider pig sandwich and chips. All the food was, as is now the case, matchless, as was the Reet Pale.
Off down the hill we made a terrible discovery - it appears that legendary curry supplier West Bar Tandoori has closed down. Speaking to Dave Unpro, it trans[ired the rent they were paying was extortionate, which is a bit harsh for a block of shops with only one now open, and they had to sell something like 60 curries a day just to make ends meet. Their excellent food - especially the Biryani and Saag dishes we used to get, will be sorely missed.
The only thing that could cheer us up was some good beer - and in Shakespeares, by eck three was plenty. I think the Brewsmith 6% IPA was the starter for me and Tash, and Matty had the unhoppy but quite burnt roasted milk stout from HopCraft. We had something else next - and I have to admit that by this time details were becoming slightly less important than keeping up with the conversation with Tony and Matty, so I can't remember what it was, but it was no doubt enjoyable.
This lack of detail however pales into insignificance against the important next beer - a pint of the Weird Bear Holy Hoppin Hell, an astonishingly tasty Double IPA at 9.2%. And worth every penny at £5.10 (or lightly less or more to the power of 20p) a pint. This admittedly, slowed me down. I did however soon regain my thought processes sufficiently to buy another two halves to share with Tash on her birthday. Holy Hopping Hell is easily the best beer I have had in the last few years. Its...amazing - well balanced, gloriously hoppy, bitter but with citrus and orange notes to balance. Impeccable.
I then discovered that in the cellar was the Beavertown, Siren and Magic Rock Rule of Thirds! I was now, officially, in hop heaven. Although on Thursday this was cloudy in the cellar, it should be clear soon and hopefully on the bar soon as well. Chris made an interesting observation by the way - that none of the three beers used to make rule of thirds is more than (I think) 5.6% - so how odes it get to be 6.4%? I suspect there is an explanation, but we did not arrive at it.
By the way, Chris is apparently going to write a beer blog - Mr Bamford, would you share the address? The other, keener and more important observation, is that it will sell for £4.00 a pint. Significantly, I am sorry to say, less expensive than at the Bath.
So, above is a taster of the quality brews encounter in just one day in January in Sheffield. A tale of hoppy crapulence to warm even the chilliest soul in this wintry 2015.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
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