Other beers are available *

What-o!

                 all is looking good in the Beefy camp, since you ask, so much so in fact that I have ventured beyond the best pub in Yorkshire to other hostelries. With quite excellent results...

Sunday we ventured to Crookes to see a wall of horizontal water smash against us in a drenched descent to the Closed Shop. Tharrul learn us to visit the wilds of Crookes. It pains me to say, but in the interests of this being a blog not about the people's porter, that this was what we had - although in fairness we drained the cask. Miss N also had a pint of Enville Kasitra, a laudable attempt to produce a lower gravity hoppy beer that somewhat floundered, whilst I helped mop up the last of the Pilcrow.

Next up we stayed dark with a couple of pints of the Blue Bee Lustin for stout, before undertaking the arduous trek to the Hallamshire House. Here, after a few droughty visits with only the staple range to choose from, we were spoilt for choice! A 3rd each of the Heather Honey Stout, about which I was given an informative poster to make my write up more accurate in terms of details, yet which I haven't read, was an absurd £3.00, but incredibly tasty - almost a fruit cake taste predominated, like the honey had mellowed into the other ingredients. A memorable brew.

Also brilliant was the Thornbridge Kacho, a flavoursome and complex rum porter with a pleasing colour and a really smooth finish. If the Imperial Russian Stout hadn't been on Keykeg I think I may have tried that. And moaned about the price (which is out of the hands of the pub to an extent, given that the funding for the beer has to have been stolen from the infirm and disabled. Allegedly)

A wander down the hill brought us to the Rutland and pints of Blue Bee Pilcrow Porter were enjoyed once more. Good to see it still in bars around Sheffield, albeit briefly. A great end to a fab night of drinking.

Tuesday I was in All Bar One, for my sins. Eschewing the delights of cask Doom Bar and Black Sheep I ended up having a couple of expensive pints of the Meantime Pilsner on keg. Mind you, it was on cracking form.

Meanwhile DAda had the excellent Pollards Stout on at £3.00 a pint so I had a half of that and half of the ever excellent Halcyon before a trip to the Red Deer heralded a rare lengthy stay. Mind you, part of that length came from my chips being served to another table who, demonstrating a reprehensible lack of moral turpitude, claimed them for themselves, rather than confessing they hadn't ordered any. I agree with the idea of not having food take over but some form of receipt for the delivery of food may have stopped this, and prevented my waiting 50 minutes for something to eat. That said, the excellent Springhead The Leveller Belgian Ale on cask at £3.30 was well worth a go.

Final pints came at the Bath with Buxton Bitter the star of the show, despite the usually desirable attractions of an Oakham beer - a brace in fact. The Inferno was tried but it was wiped out in terms of taste by the admirable efforts of the Buxton.

Finally, a brief sup took place in Shakespeares tonight where the mostly admirable rejection of modern comforts became a pressing concern rather than a feature - put some chuffing heating on! The visit saw me and Dave Howard from the world of music both having a pint of Rat Dunkel Rat, which was possibly a bit too sharp, before I had an excellent pint of the Steel City 7% or something Black IPA that I didn't catch the name of (to be fair, Unpro was hardly forthcoming about its nomenclature**) and a brace of Great Newsome Jem Stout. The night was completed by a half of Pixie Spring Golden Pixie and Five Towns Yorker, from the cellar. The Pixie Spring was possibly the best of the beers listed, with the Buxton and Lustin a close second and third, if only because it (Golden Pixie) packed so much hoppy goodness into a sub 4% beer.

All in all a great demonstration of the variety of real ales available in Sheffield in a handful of venues. A pleasing geographical coincidence!

Cheers

Wee Beefy

*that said the Pilcrow, or "People's" porter from Blue Bee, went on sale at the Travelers Rest at Apperknowle Tuesday night....
*turns out it was Swansong at 7.5%, according to Facebook....