Art-noo,
in the last week I have been out a few times. Well, to be fair, its more than a few. I remain, as well as have been, a very thirsty chap lets face it. Here though are details of two recent such ventures in libation, in sunny, snazzy Sheffield.
The first starts at a micropub. The Beer House on Ecclesall Road was Sheffield's second after Crookes Ale House and then Walkley Beer Co, and is very much symptomatic of its environs. That isn't a criticism, since Walkley Beer Co is as well. If anything its complimentary to recognize that a micropub manages to stick within the unwritten micropub "rules" as well as being popular locally. On this visit I had a pint of Bad Co Ace Gravity IPA and listened in on the conversations around me. Always a nice place to pop in, despite their Twitter claim of being Sheffield's first Micropub.....!
I walked from here towards town and then up to the Bath Hotel, where I met Tash. I bought her a pint of the Hopjacker Steel City Brewing collaboration End of Days, an American Sour Brown. It was odd. Not as sour as I like it, but not as sweet or malty as a brown. Tash liked it more. After trying a pint of Blackjack which was quite tasty I tried the Jaipur on Keg - it tasted of paracetamol and soda water so I swapped it - very generously for a pint of Cloudwater Porter at 6.5% which was lovely. Any ideas what has gone wrong with Jaipur?
We caught the bus to Walkley next and went to the Closed Shop for food. We had pints of Blue Bee Ginger for Tash and Into the Void for me and both got Fish and Chips. Absolutely cracking! The tastiest fish I have had for a long time, lovely and tender with thrice cooked chips and mushy peas. Went down perfectly.
We finished the crawl over the road in the Hallamshire House. We had pints of Thornbridge Melba and Crackendale, and sat on a table with young persons in the back. We also tried a half of Thornbridge Jaipur X, no doubt expertly kept aside for months by the Man of Ash - this proved that despite experiences in 2016, not all Jaipur now tastes woeful. We finished on a bottle of Cloudwater IPA that I espied in the fridge - it may have been a bretted version, I couldn't read the label, but it was still lovely. A fab end to the night.
The next crawl started in Shakespeares - why of course! Myself and Tash were on pints of the ultimate sour beer, the Celt Experience Llamass Harvest at 5. something and £4.20 a pint. We thoroughly enjoyed it taking the enamel off our teeth and making our jaws and palates ache - and that isn't sarcasm.
Off for a change to the Ship Inn next, we haven;t been there for a while so it was nice to have a revisit. The pub no longer does food, or pork scratchings so the only sustenance is crisps - a pack of chorizo each followed with our pints, BrewDog Punk IPA for Tash and a Titanic White Star for me. Not as busy as previously, although January and February weeknights are notoriously quiet, I was a little underwhelmed by the experience. I also didn't rate the beer range, as is often the case. A few older customers came in later and that livened the place up a little, but I think the next 6 months will be key for the Ship. Best of luck!
We went to the Kelham Island Tavern next and took advice on what was best and/or hoppiest. In a recurrent but unsurprising outcome I can't in fact remember what I had! It was however delicious. After I repeated Tash's pint order and we had devoured some delicious scotch eggs, we finished on a pint of the Kernel Simcoe Pale Ale on keg which was everything we hoped it would be. Fine hoppy goodness.
The above demonstrates the range of real ales and keg beers of all kinds available in just seven pubs in Sheffield, and we didn't even venture further than Ecclesall Road. Just a lovely way to spend a few hours each time chatting and catching up and generally putting the world to rights.
More information coming soon about a Saturday spent whiling away the hours in other Sheffield boozers.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
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