Memories - what do they mean? Like, birds, we'll never know........

 Afternoon

     just to point out that when I say birds I mean the Avian ones - am not being crude.

I realise that I might have pointed this out already but just to remind you that in 2019 I had a brain injury. Without going on, it was when I started taking Tresiba, a more effective Background insulin that am still on. My then diabetic nurse encouraged me to switch from possibly Novorapid Long  Acting or worse still Humalog, which I was taking twice a day, and to take just one injection in the morning, of Tresiba. She suggested I take 40 units, but that would have been nearly twice what I was already taking so I went for just 30. I still had an overwhelming hypoglycaemic attack, and leaning against a pillar eating chocolate I blacked out, fell forwards and split my head open. I was in hospital for 6 weeks, and upon returning to the pub world I initially struggled to remember names, and actually tolerate drinking strong beers. After a whole year of testing and memory training, they said it would take a minimum of 6 years to retrieve my memories, and those of you who see me regularly, will know that I continue to often forget persons names.

Its interesting however that if you read my pre brain injury, more prolific blog posts, I was already a bit "memory light" not least about beer names - so without overexaggerating, its sadly been a slow decline......

However - I recently reminded my Lancastrian chum about Sheffield's numerous off licences, and I mentioned the Dram Shop and this, reminded me about Brendan Dobbin at West Coast Brewing in Manchester which, after its closure, it, or Mr Dobbin, moved to Marble, brewing behind the Marble Arch. I think I got 4 different bottles of West Coast Brewery beers from there before it closed, and the Dram Shop was also the first place that I spotted Fraoch, then brewed by Heather Ales.

I remember that the three Wee men visited the brewery in the early thousands - then likely at Strathaven, and it was lovely to take away 4 pints of their Scottish fruited beer which was likely Grozet - not to mention what may have also been their kelpie seaweed ale.

They gave me 12 bottles of that and asked me to give a bottle to ten of my favourite Sheffield pubs with their email address - most of which were warmly received, except the guy at the Sheaf view who said he was offended by my giving him a free 500ml bottle of beer and their email address - um - what now?

The final memory I have of the still open Dram Shop is a full bottle of 1953 (or similar) whisky stood alone on a high shelf sticking out possibly from a support pillar? I wonder what happened to that?

More (or less) memories next time!

kind regards

Wee Beefy

Commercial, Chapeltown, Queens 60th Jubilee beer festival

Good afternoon,

    its not all gallivanting about in North East Derbyshire, there are beer festivals to be found in Sheffield as well. On Friday afternoon I was invited to the Commercial at Chapeltown for their beer festival. This one had obviously slipped under  my radar somehow, but Mr Robbery, Ally and Malc were off out so I decided to join them for a few. The festival started on Thursday and runs through until Tuesday if you fancy popping down.

Getting there has always been a bit of a spoiler for me - I was thinking only last week about how it was years since I'd last been, and then immediately started to remember how much of a ball ache journey it was. Mind you, I should have considered all the options. You can catch the First bus 75 from Sheffield, which stops a ten minute walk away from the pub, or the train (also stops at Meadowhall, and much much quicker) or the 265 from Waingate which actually stops across the road, so its not so bad. And to my surprise, I got there in less than 40 minutes from town.

The Commercial is on the right as you walk up Station road from the railway bridge, and retains a traditional layout of separate rooms inside. The entrance corridor leads straight to the bar, with a narrow corridor running its length, with doors at the end for the loos. On the right is an archway into a lounge room, with another entrance further up, and there is also a games room on the far left past the loos. This also leads to the very tiny bar snug, which is a great place to end up in on a cold night, or indeed any other time of year. Last time I was in it was festooned with hundreds of pumpclips.

Being the festival weekend the pub was packed at 18.00 on a Friday and stayed busy for the whole of the three hours I was in. There were 40 beers on over the whole festival, along with 6 real ciders - in fact, some probably haven't been on yet with two days to go. I bought 6 different beers, but this included 3 pints of the excellent West Coast Brewing Riptide Black IPA, surprisingly light in alcohol for a beer of this style, but very drinkable, hoppy and refreshing.

The other beers I tried were :

8 Sail Jubilation, 4.0%

Kelham Island Hoppy and Glorious, 5.0%

Oakwell Dark Mild, 3.4%

Pennine Street Party IPA, 4.8%

York Legacy, 4.0%

And I had tasters of :

TSA Red Bush Raspberry Ale, 4.8%

Durham Redemption, 10.0%

Caledonian Coffee Porter, 4.3%

Talking of some of the above, its probably a good idea not to buy a pint of Redemption, let alone a half, but Ally had two halves I think - I would have been asleep! As it was I left around 21.00 in full working order, to head back into town and the Sheffield Tap, more of which to come tomorrow.

There are other beers still to come like I said, and its a shame I can't get back again because there were a couple I really wanted to try. Along with the excellent food, which looked very tempting. Theres more details at the pub's website here including a list of beers on the bar. The Commercial is a great place for a drink if you are in the area. Highly recommended.

Wee Beefy