Subtle heavyweights

Now then,

        over the last couple of weeks, as befits the cold wet slog of January, I've treated myself to one or two "luxuries" in the way of beers. Somehow the grim reality of coming back to work, the constantly wet feet and the dank wet washing aromas in your house, combine to persuade you that actually, you've bloody well earned a bottle - or more expensively a pint - of something strong. And recently, two such examples have particularly stood out.

The other night I was going home like a good boy to make some warming food and get an early night. No frol would pass my lips, no bar would see my money, and I'd be rested for another day pushing the dead-weight round the horse gin of failure. Or working for the civil services, as ts otherwise known. Despite these noble abstentions plans, I discovered Miss N and Matty were in the Sheffield Tap and it was suggested I might join them for one, on my way home. The Sheffield Tap is not on my way home. And one wasn't an option.

Matty had ordered me a delicious pint of Magic Rock High Wire NZ on cask so this was a pretty good start, and formed part of another night ending line up, like you see now and again at the Tap. The High Wire didn't hang around, and with my eye on the Dark Arts I was contemplating a slow, careful clamber up the ABVs to the Tapped Brew Co's excellent Roulette Imperial Stout. However, despite being able to have independent thoughts and make rational choices all of my own, when Matty asked me what I thought about the idea of having an imperial double vanilla stout at about a million percent. and despite my brain saying "No! That's madness!" my lips made other shapes and I seemed to have agreed.

I may have mentioned before that my initial opinion on Hardknott brewery was that, for whatever reason, they were weighed down by a lot of hype. I reckoned I ought to love their brews based on their excellent label designs, innovative brews and, well,  I admit, their repute among my peers, but it wasn't until last year when I tried their Infra Red that I started to "get them". That night, I done gone and got completely got. Because Hardknott Vitesse Noir, perhaps absurdly, is already looking like the beer of 2014. Nurse - the screens!

If I'm right, having read a few reviews and Hardknott's website I think that Vitesse Noir is a triple imperial stout with vanilla chocolate and coffee. Now, initially there were numerous aspects to this beer that made me cautious. Not least its 11% strength, and the fact I was buying it in the Sheffield Tap, but also the prospect of the vanilla or chocolate being too overpowering and making it syrupy or cloying, or there being a burnt coffee bitterness that would wipe out the subtle sweeter and softer flavours. Luckily, with the exception of the price. none of these concerns were realised.

It was an incredibly smooth well balanced beer. Not a jarring roast malt or an overly sugary vanilla or chocolate hint to be found, this was just layers of perfectly balanced flavours enjoying each other's company in a glass. A precision crafted beer jigsaw where every piece had been made with care and passion. It was very very good indeed. Even considering that it was £152.96 a third at the Sheffield Tap*

Having assumed that the bar had been set well beyond the reach of any other beer I was quickly reminded that in an ever evolving and in my opinion improving beer scene, bars don't stay at one height forever. This week, after a lovely meal, cracking red wine and some admirable dark beers, I decided to open my bottle of Spire brewery Xtinguisher, a 12% barley wine.

One of the interesting observations about barley wine is that its a beer that never seems to sound as tempting as an imperial IPA or an imperial brown or a triple stout. This is not just a language or aesthetic consideration, I think this is a refection of the fact that when I first started drinking beer, stronger beers were, if I recall correctly, a bit, erm. Dumb? Huge sledgehammer morasses of lumbering malt and overwhelmed hops with sugar obliterating any flavour in the desperate chase for alcohol. Barley wine came in nip bottles, was inexpensive and therefore the choice tipple of wannabee outdoor lager enthusiasts, and had usually undergone a label revamp in 1975. In short it was so-o-o-o-not cool. So what would a brewery proud of producing some fairly traditional styles in it's range, do with  a barley wine?

Well, the answer is succeed. With some aplomb.  Despite being a  few years old and starting off at a mere 12% the beer was disconcertingly easy to drink. Instead of the teeth tingling sweet honey flavours of other barley wines, there was a subtle Fullers like marmalade in the background which mingled perfectly with a sweet yet subtle mix of malts. Bottle conditioned, the beer was a great advert for why, when done right (must. not. discuss...crap...B.C.A.s.....) the conditioning can improve the beer brilliantly. The yeast added even greater complexity, and made the beer even easier to sup, and the carbonation was just right, creating a head the same size as you'd expect from a hand pulled pint.

The alcohol was also a factor, it was after all probably a smidgen above it's starting ABV, but the almost whisky punch was so delicate and sat so well with the marmalade and malt flavours in the body that not only did you feel like you were getting a treat, but you were able to tell that it was a strong beer commanding respect.

The above shows that even when you have a new beer at every turn and even when you have compiled a list of what you consider to be reliable breweries and beers, there are still surprises to be had, and expectations to be exceeded. There might not be huge similarities in terms of beer styles and online presence or even label designs to link Hardknott and Spire but both have created beers of exceptional quality which have illuminated nights where some very high quality beer was already being consumed.

Lets hope I encounter Vitesse Noir in a pub again soon - and that I can somehow get hold of another bottle of Xtinguisher  to put away for a grim January night in 2018....

Cheers!

Wee Beefy


*Of course that would be ridiculous. The Sheffield Tap don't sell beer in thirds.....

I don't get bored, get bored, in the Broad field

Evening,

       with recent rounds up of linked venues and breweries it's time to reprise my 2012 visit to the Forum Bars Broadfield Ale House on Abbeydale Road - conveniently situated next to the Hop Hideout, which you may remember from being a new specialist beer shop, and everything. My initial two visits heralded good and bad impressions but apart from a spate of visits later that year I've been a bit of s stranger. Lately, a flurry of visits have afforded me the chance of a re-review, thus...

back in the warm late September Miss N and myself had a day boozing in the Tap, grabbing a  coffee in coffee shop-cum-restaurant-cakery-cum-off license Sellers Wheel, before heading to the Broadfield for a beer in the garden. On that occasion the first two beers we spotted were ours for the session. Miss N waded in recklessly to several pint of the Hardknott Infrared and I switched between that and Ilkley Norseman. Both beers were well kept although they could perhaps have been a bit cheaper, and were perfect for the third quarter of our session. It was nice to sit outside and enjoy ale in the sunshine and there is a reasonable amount of space to do so.

The other Saturday was Nat's 40th - and we had "prepared" for it with a session in the Rutland as I reported last time. Reaching Abbeydale Road and hoping to catch the party of revelers as they headed down from Woodseats we nipped in the Broadfield for a beer and started texting the throng. Finding a space at the right hand side bar in the incredibly busy pub I caught the barman's eye and asked what other beers were on offer. Initially I was contemplating a Bradfield Pale but as soon as he said On The Edge Berliner my mind was set on that!

The former Sheffield beer festival award winner was every bit as good as I had hoped - eminently quaffable and utterly refreshing this ale was not to enjoy a lengthy life - probably lasting twenty minutes, and then only because we were searching for a seat instead of drinking. So good was it that, even having established that the party were not that far away, we had to stay for another to make sure. This visit showed up the minor downside to the Broady - that being that its undoubted popularity makes it claustrophobicly busy at times.

This weekend I was at a loose end twice whilst in the vicinity. After my drink at te Rising Sun Friday I was dropped off on Sheldon Road and popped into Vintedge for a sneak preview of Hop Hideout. Since they weren't officially open it seemed cheeky to hang around so I made my excuses and escaped to the Broadfield for a beer or two.  Finding a spare seat on a Friday night is a bit of a problem - but I managed it, and set about assessing my options. I opted for a pint of the Black Iris stout at 5.0% - alas I couldn't tell what the name was but it had a picture of a mans face on. So it was that one. And it tasted good. Next up I had a pint of Magic Rock Curious, and a half of Blackjack Dunkel on Keykeg. The Magic Rock offering was on good form and the Dunkel a nice chewy half to slow down my earlier rapacious intake.

Saturday I was back at Hop Hideout for the pzazz of the opening day, and hoping to be committed to celluloid as well - alas that leap into stardom never came about but I still found my way round to the Broadfield for an earlier and quieter visit. This time the Bradfield Pale was my starter of choice, which stood up well to the free taster of Northern Monk Imperial Stout that I'd had at the shop. It was also good value at £3.00 a pint. I then moved onto another half of the Blackjack Dunkel, along with half of their Texas Holdem on cask, a well rounded feisty bitter which came to £3.40 for the two. Both were once again in good nick, especially the Bradfield.

This shows that after an initially perhaps cautious start the Broadfield, not least because its an outlet for On The Edge beers, has adopted a policy of featuring interesting and varied guests which showcases some of the better upcoming and established microbreweries in the UK. Obviously as a drinker I'd prefer less space to be allocated to eating but that's the only gripe really, which means its always worth popping in if you are up at that end of town.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy.

Blue Feather Brewery launch Iintergalactic brew

      Hello,

         as mentioned in my previous post, I was off to a beer launch on Wednesday.  Straight from work, accompanies by Mr P, we headed for the Closed Shop on Commonside to relish the first tastes of an intergalactic beer brewed by "stellar" brewers. And other dire puns.

Before plunging into the collaborative kaleidoscope of hops we started on pints of the Welbeck Harley. It's perhaps testament to the quality of the Intergalactic that whilst I am certain that I enjoyed it, as did Mr P, I can't recall much else about this pale beer. I think session beer would be the fairest description. We were, however, there for the star of the show (etc)...

The Intergalactic is a gloriously hoppy beer brewed by Blue Bee Brewery and Welbeck Abbey Brewery - hence the name Blue Feather, Welbeck brewing Red Feather, and erm, Blue Bee, well, having Blue in their name.  Yet why no Bluebeck?  The beer is very well balanced, with lots of citrus and bittering hops but there is also that distinctive Welbeck base - the beer was Brewed at Welbeck's  premises, so maybe they used their particular strain of yeast (alas I forgot to ask).

The hops used are all space themed - Galaxy, Pilot, Stellar (a?) and Challenger. A beer made entirely of pun ingredients is a winner as far as I'm concerned - maybe they used maris otter malt, since it sounds a tiny bit like Mars? Either way, and in spite of any space theme, the blend works really well, and brewers James from Welbeck and Jon from Blue Bee can be proud of their creation. The return leg will see James and Jon creating something  a little bit different at Blue Bee in the coming months.

As the beer started flowing we were joined by Wee Keefy and Jambon and Mr Stephens, and the lovely Dave was behind the bar, amongst other things helpfully reading the dry monotonous passages from a student's text book on aviation engineering, in an attempt to make it seem interesting. As always, culture and education was clearly at the forefront of the attractions on offer at the Closed Shop. Along with the beer of course.

I had about three pints of the Intergalactic during my investigations into how good it was, and also decided to get one of the Shop's fab chip butties in an attempt to diminish the impact of yet more alcohol - am not sure this worked.

Possibly as a result of the above failure, on my way home I skipped off the 52 to drop in on the Bath Hotel for the first time in a good while. Mr E was behind the bar offering excellent beery advice as ever, but the beer of choice was a no-brainer - Hardknott Azimuth, 5.8% and £3.80 a pint. I'm starting to come round to the Hardknott style now - initially in a flurry of fan boy fawning it was implied that Hardknott were the future of brewing and there seemed to be very little bad press - not that you have to have bad press, but its omission creates a concerning lack of balance.

The recently enjoyed Infra Red, tried both on cask and in bottle, gave notice of the sort of flavours I could expect and the Azimuth did not disappoint. Even after the out of this world hop line up of the Intergalactic, Hardknott still managed to excite the taste buds with a biting but not unpleasant bitterness in a deceptively easy drinking pale ale. The Azimuth was perfect end to a night of great beer from some of the better brewers around at the moment.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy