Tuesday 13 March 2012

Wee Beefy's pubs round-up (and some bottle news)

Ay up,

    its going to be a slightly shorter post than normal (who am I kidding? Every time I start a post like that its still a minimum 5 paragraphs long....) as it pertains to some brief pub visits over the past week, which I have lumped together into cumbersome slabs of gen.

Friday

After my Kelham visit on Friday evening I embarked on a tour of a few more local hostelries with Mr Robbery. First stop was the FAT CAT where we had an essential and excellent pork pie, and a half each of the Thornbridge Pica Pica stout. Mores the shame that I seem to have missed this years run of the Bete Noire, my favourite Kelham beer.


This was followed by a walk round to the SHIP INN (see wonkily lined up door plaque pic right) for a fantastic pint each of the Abbeydale Dark Angel. There was a distinct Sheffield slant to the beers but there was still a dark offering, which is a mark of thoughtful beer choosing, given the dominance of pale hoppy beers in Sheffield's Breweries output. Also of note, myself and Mr Robbery both like dark beers, which is a convenient situation when there is such a good range on offer in Steel City pubs. I have now taken 3 people to visit the Ship, and have yet to hear a word of criticism.


Next was a jaunt on the tram up to the UNIVERSITY ARMS. It was busy but not rammed and we again  chose the same beer (this may be open to question!). We both had pints of a Revolutions Brewery offering that could have been Beat Red or Devolution. To be fair, it could have been one of about 10 of their beers since my "innate" journalistic eye recorded the beer as "45". A quick look at their website proves the folly of this notation....

We also had time to pop in HARRISONS 1854 to sit in the beer garden with pints of Abbeydale Deception. It was getting late and I know we weren't in long. Mr R had designs on going to a number of places, but I was set on another dark brew....

Our final stop was in THE OLD HOUSE, for, you guessed it, Bradfield Farmers Stout (in unspecified quantities). This really was my last venue of the night. Reports of my having been "ready for bed" appear to have been greatly accurate, and it was therefore a night beer waggon for me at just gone 01.00.

Disgraceful...

Monday

Talking of disgraceful, its hard to be able to put a spin on going out for a goodly session on a Monday, especially if you have partaken of a "refreshing" weekend. However, this time I had the excellent excuse of taking Chala with me for an enjoyable riposte in a couple of venues. This involved ending up back in THE OLD HOUSE again for some Bradfield Farmers Stout, which was a bit tired, and some refreshing, pale, Spotland Gold from Phoenix Brewery. A few good wines were also sampled here, leading us to embark on a rash second venue...

So it was we ended up in DAda (daDA?) where the Pica Pica was once again available, and some excellent Magic Rock. Chala settled down on the comfy leather seat with an ominously large Pinotage and I had a pint of the excellent Magic Rock Curious. We Finished with a bottle of the Trappist Rochefort 6, principally as I had never seen it anywhere before (only their tiring 8 and their stupendous 11), and also because it was  meant to be a shared finisher. Not that Chala exactly partook, but it was a nice find, even though regrettably its carbonation and lighter flavour made it less god than the similar strength Westmalle Dubbel.

And finally some over the off counter news...

The ARCHER ROAD BEER STOP is selling some Dunham Massey bottled beers. Among those offered are Cheshire IPA (review coming soon) Cherry Stout and a new beer, Obelisk. Personally I rate the Dunham bottled beers very highly, I would recommend you give them a try (but remember that they aren't hop forward, all their beers to date have been traditional and more malty affairs - hopheads can always peruse the offerings from the likes of Summer Wine Brewery though...).

See. That wasn't too long.....

Wee Beefy

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