Hello there,
as you may know, my consumption of frol has been limited severely for the time being whilst I recover from my stroke. However, so as to not miss out on social drinking in pubs altogether I have been out a few times in the last two weeks.
On Tuesday I made my way to Hillsborough to meet Tash and Matty and Tash and I went to the cafe in Wortley to sing some carols with Mumraah and Martin. Not very rock and roll I hear you say, but we did sing Fairytale of New York, although my Mum went to the loo for most of it, bless her. Arriving back in Hillsborough we were cold so although I had suggested heading for the New Barack a god ten minutes walk away, we headed instead to the Queens Ground.
This is my fourth visit, the first being about 2010 when they didn't serve real ale, and the other two in the last year or so where I have enjoyed the real fire and numerous original features. Indeed, these are detailed in the new free to download Sheffield Heritage Pubs guide from the Sheffield CAMRA website .
They currently serve four or five cask real ales and from the choice on offer I decided to have a few pints of the Bradfield Belgian Blue. I noticed its strength has dropped to 4.9, and am sure it was over 5% when it came out ten years or so ago. Its taste changed about four years ago and it has lost its deep warming notes a little, and am not sure why the strength has decreased. Five or five point five percent is standard strength for many beers theses days and I can't imagine they save that much money by brewing it weaker. No comparisons can be drawn with Whitbread reducing the strength of Tennants Gold Label and changing from gold foil to silver foil to save a few quid prior to stopping brewing it. It remains a mystery.
That said it wasn't a bad drop (I did have three pints after all) and cost about £3.10 a pint. I sat with my back to the roaring fire which they kept stoking and which remained at a good temperature throughout, and looked at the seating in the bay window where Tash was sat drinking wine. There was a shudder and rumble as the tram went past and I noticed that the Wards Wheatsheaf in the excellent Wards bay windows looked a lot like a mushroom....
We were joined by Matty and got chatting to the barmaid and one of the customers, whilst the fire kept me warm, and I went to the bar and toilets without my stick in order to build up my strength. The pub had a steady trade but was peaceful, mainly because it was about 15.30 when we got there.
The ales I have had on my recent visits have been well kept and sold at a good price and although they don't sell viciously hoppy or London opaque DIPAs like I love its still a cracking spot to nip in for a relaxing pint. Lets hope the pub continues to sell decent real ale and maintains its excellent interior features for many years to come.
Wee Beefy
Showing posts with label Bradfield Belgian Blue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bradfield Belgian Blue. Show all posts
Sunday, 17 December 2017
Thursday, 29 November 2012
New faces in Sheffield
Hello,
despite the title, regrettably I haven't managed to snare a fresh faced buoyantly optimistic newly arrived student to write this post. It would no doubt be an interesting idea, but I find that even had I not used the word "snare", approaching persons 20 years my junior and asking them to look at my prose/help me out with a blog could be misconstrued, especially in a loud bar. Not that I particularly frequent such places, but...
Anyhoo, this is just a little bit of news really, and the first info surrounds a new pub, or rather a pub reopening, in the city centre. For years there seems to have been no life in the Sanctuary on St James Street, between Vicar Lane and the Cathedral. I rarely recall seeing it open, and before that its name escapes me, but I know I never visited it. So the fact that its reopening tomorrow as The Church House means I may be setting foot inside, finally, for the first time.
Details are, to say the least, sketchy. I photographed the pub walking past but I can't read the Facebook address on the sign, although I did find a page which might relate to the pub (but I won't share it in case it transpires to be some dreadful religious organisation). Oh, and there is nothing on it but a photo. And it aint of a pub. I also could only find one reference on the Twatter, so have had to make do with dieing of boredom reading the planning application.
In short the application relates only to some external signage and entrance lights, and that the proposer is Scottish and Newcastle (pre Sanctuary, in the mid nineties, it was Sherwood Inns). Add to this some rather overly technical architectural details I found on the British listed buildings website, and that the sign proclaims real ales and free Wi-Fi (plus irrelevances such as coffee and "food", whatever that is) and you now know as much as I do.
So, erm. Wooh! Yeah! A new pub run by Heineken in disguise is to open in Sheffield. Oh, and by the way sign writers, announcing that the pub will open on Friday the 29th November does not fill me with confidence. Just saying....
In other news, Harrisons 1854 has staged a bit of a coup by getting hold of some of Bradfield Brewery's perennial winter favourite Belgian Blue. Despite its gimmicky colour its actually a very pleasing and suitably seasonal offering and a Bradfield brew that I usually look out for. Barkeep extraordinaire Barraharri tells me (and, erm, Facebook) that it will be on the bar this weekend. So get thi sens darn theer and try it.
Meanwhile DAda, who are people, have news of some Thornbridge Yule coming on soon, and also a couple of casks of the excellent Fullers Bengal Lancer. Fullers Past Masters and seasonals don't seem to make it oop North, not to Sheffield at least, so in addition to this being a very competent exploration of the brewing styles of the past this is also a quite unusual beer for the area. No specific dates for its appearance, but you could always go in and sup the absolutely excellent Thornbridge Evenlode Brown Porter whilst waiting for the Fullers to appear.
Finally, Black Lurcher, a beer brewed for the Three Stags Heads at Wardlow Mires by Abbeydale brewery, has appeared in bottles, and everything. Intrepid explorer Wee Keefy returned from a recent visit with a bottle for us to sup. Some confusion surrounds its antecedence since I have a sneaking suspicion that its bottled at the pub, although, am not sure how long it would last if that was the case.
I know from my days working at Archer Road Beer Stop that Abbeydale weren't keen on bottling of any kind so I'd be interested to know the story behind this bottle, but to be fair, I haven't got round to asking them yet!
So, that's all for now, hopefully with payday arriving in a couple of hours I will have a bit more news to bring you over the coming week.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
despite the title, regrettably I haven't managed to snare a fresh faced buoyantly optimistic newly arrived student to write this post. It would no doubt be an interesting idea, but I find that even had I not used the word "snare", approaching persons 20 years my junior and asking them to look at my prose/help me out with a blog could be misconstrued, especially in a loud bar. Not that I particularly frequent such places, but...
Anyhoo, this is just a little bit of news really, and the first info surrounds a new pub, or rather a pub reopening, in the city centre. For years there seems to have been no life in the Sanctuary on St James Street, between Vicar Lane and the Cathedral. I rarely recall seeing it open, and before that its name escapes me, but I know I never visited it. So the fact that its reopening tomorrow as The Church House means I may be setting foot inside, finally, for the first time.
Details are, to say the least, sketchy. I photographed the pub walking past but I can't read the Facebook address on the sign, although I did find a page which might relate to the pub (but I won't share it in case it transpires to be some dreadful religious organisation). Oh, and there is nothing on it but a photo. And it aint of a pub. I also could only find one reference on the Twatter, so have had to make do with dieing of boredom reading the planning application.
In short the application relates only to some external signage and entrance lights, and that the proposer is Scottish and Newcastle (pre Sanctuary, in the mid nineties, it was Sherwood Inns). Add to this some rather overly technical architectural details I found on the British listed buildings website, and that the sign proclaims real ales and free Wi-Fi (plus irrelevances such as coffee and "food", whatever that is) and you now know as much as I do.
So, erm. Wooh! Yeah! A new pub run by Heineken in disguise is to open in Sheffield. Oh, and by the way sign writers, announcing that the pub will open on Friday the 29th November does not fill me with confidence. Just saying....
In other news, Harrisons 1854 has staged a bit of a coup by getting hold of some of Bradfield Brewery's perennial winter favourite Belgian Blue. Despite its gimmicky colour its actually a very pleasing and suitably seasonal offering and a Bradfield brew that I usually look out for. Barkeep extraordinaire Barraharri tells me (and, erm, Facebook) that it will be on the bar this weekend. So get thi sens darn theer and try it.
Meanwhile DAda, who are people, have news of some Thornbridge Yule coming on soon, and also a couple of casks of the excellent Fullers Bengal Lancer. Fullers Past Masters and seasonals don't seem to make it oop North, not to Sheffield at least, so in addition to this being a very competent exploration of the brewing styles of the past this is also a quite unusual beer for the area. No specific dates for its appearance, but you could always go in and sup the absolutely excellent Thornbridge Evenlode Brown Porter whilst waiting for the Fullers to appear.
Finally, Black Lurcher, a beer brewed for the Three Stags Heads at Wardlow Mires by Abbeydale brewery, has appeared in bottles, and everything. Intrepid explorer Wee Keefy returned from a recent visit with a bottle for us to sup. Some confusion surrounds its antecedence since I have a sneaking suspicion that its bottled at the pub, although, am not sure how long it would last if that was the case.
I know from my days working at Archer Road Beer Stop that Abbeydale weren't keen on bottling of any kind so I'd be interested to know the story behind this bottle, but to be fair, I haven't got round to asking them yet!
So, that's all for now, hopefully with payday arriving in a couple of hours I will have a bit more news to bring you over the coming week.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy
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