Cannonball Run 2018

Hello,

      many pubs in Sheffield, and, no doubt Huddersfield and elsewhere, did the Cannonball Run this year. I certainly tried the new Neo in Hop Hideout and I know the Rutland also ran the three if not all four.

In case you are lost, the Cannonball Run is having all four, or in this case the three stronger, Magic Rock Cannonball beers. I don't think there is an order, or prescribed quantity. Its just a way of enjoying the Magic of the Rock and their excellent but boozy beers Cannonball, which I recall is a 7.4% American IPA, Human Cannonball, which is a 9.3% DIPA, Neo-human Cannonball which may also be 9.3% and a New England DIPA and the big sick daddy monster of them all, which is Unhuman Cannonball, a TIPA at 11.0%. This may at least explain the lack of insistence on quantity.....

On Saturday I got to Shakespeares, my second home, about 15.00 and bought a third. Not of Magic Rock mind. Of Cloudwater Citra DIPA at 8.5%. It was very very easy to drink, and its soupy orange hue looked wonderful against the dark green succulents (not sure of name) in the pot in the garden, splashed in glorious sunshine.

Next I took advice on my second beer - and had a third of the Cloudwater and Veil Brewing Chubbles TIPA. Although not doing so well at the Cannonball Run thus far, Chubbles is a simply fantastic beer. As I relaxed in the hot sun, waiting for the couple on the bench on which I must sit to get the last two hours of sunshine to leave, Vikkie turned up with a half of Human Cannonball, and soon bought me the same. So began a lengthy and fabulous run of frankly insensibly strong beers.

On my recommendation she had half a Chubbles next and myself half a Neo Human, followed by a half each of the absurdly quaffable Unhuman. The beer got louder, redder, and stronger, and the rays got hotter as we chased the sun to its final resting place on the wall on the left, and had another two halves, of unspecified potation.

We lost the sun soon after and headed for more ....sun, at Bar Stewards. V had a half of beer (am sorry, I can't remember what) and I had a half of the Lervig IPA at 7.something. We sat in the yard in the last of the bright sunshine and talked beer and barbecues and then went to purchase a can of Verdant DIPA Howl to share.

This features a few lines from her fave poet Allan Ginsberg (or one of many other human poets) and their poem Howl. As expected, Verdant had pulled out all the stops in making this a fabulous and stupendously easy drinking hoppy DIPA which went down far too easily.

We wandered back to Shakespeares not long after where we had halves of the Unhuman, or the Neo, or indeed any one of the beers we had already consumed. It was 20.00. We were sunned and tired. And we were thirsty. After a period of time the winged warrior arrived to magically spirit me away home and the next thing I knew I was getting up to do overtime......

For many reasons May has been a good month, notably the hot sunny weather, which has baked me nicely, the compny, which has treated me so well, but mostly the ale, which has stewed me similarly. The Cannonball Run is an excellent idea, and when accompanied by the quality of beer on offer at Shakespeares and Bar Stewards over last weekend, its quite impossible to resist.

Huzaah!

Wee Beefy

More goldener pints

Hello.

          last year, or rather at the end of the last year before last, I "went mad" and completed my list of the Golden Pints of 2012. My first foray was notable for my having not paid $4.95 to Google to increase my image storage limit so I didn't have a logo. And this year is no different. They can keep their lousy storage limits....

Anyway, having experienced almost incalculable pleasure in compiling a list of things which were good, I felt I should perhaps have a stab at it again. So I have :

Best UK cask beer - um. Is this a top twenty? God this is difficult! How does one choose? Am thinking somewhere between the bestest, and the most often tried, with a sprinkling of consistency. Revolutions Demo unfined(imfiltered) was a beauty, Thornbridge Melba was high up there, and most Mallinsons should feature but for outright consistent brilliance Anarchy Brew Co Sublime Chaos gets my vote. Just delicious.

Best UK keg beer - well, this has to be a tie between Magic Rock Human Cannonball and Thornbridge Halcyon. Possibly the ball edged it.

Best UK bottled or canned beer - Thornbridge/Dark Star EDIT - sorry, it was Brooklyn! Alliance 2007. And any of the different reserves. All were impeccable.

Best Overseas draught beer - Anchor Old Foghorn. A very very complex and powerful strong ale without raspberry, fir-cones or mace in it.

Best Overseas bottled or canned beer - Santorini Crazy Donkey IPA. Mind you, it bloody wants to be at that price.... (see here for a review of all 3 donkey beers)

Best Collaboration brew - Steel City Brewing/North Riding CC. Alas, not a beer dedicated to the gentle pursuits of county cricket, but a far ruder acronym. Lots and lots of very complimentary citrus hops combine to make this a very quaffable strong pale ale which I had far too much of.

Best Overall beer - that is Burning Sky Saison. The only way of improving on Dark Star's excellent saison from 2012 was...to have the brewer leave and set up his own brewery and brew an even better saison.

Best branding, pumpclips or label - Magic Rock, mainly because thy have a lot of material, but if it were bottle labels alone then I think Beavertown and Weird Beard Brew Co both have brilliant designs.

Best UK Brewery - Aaah. Another top 20. I'm going to say Art Brew, just because everything they brew is ace.

Best Overseas brewery - having become enlightened and joined the saison appreciation society (and continuing to be a member even though I'm supposed to like sour and gose) I'd suggest Brasserie Fantome.

Best new brewery - Burning Sky. Not just because of their saison.

Pub/bar of the year - Shakespeares ale and cider house, Gibraltar street, Sheffield. My home from home which just so happens to feature a magnificent clock, an impeccable range of whiskies, great staff and an excellent range of beer - not to mention order in curry from across the road.

Best new pub/bar - The Closed Shop Commonside - I know it was already a pub but it has no connection in terms of qualities, with it's previous incarnation.

Beer festival of the year - SIBA Beerex. Especially for Unpro and Katedave. Hugs....

Supermarket of the year - can I say Booths even though I've never shopped there? Otherwise it would have to be Waitrose, beer wise.

Independent retailer of the year -  a bloody strong field in Sheffield, impartiality means I shouldn't nominate my former employer - but I will, if only because I haven't (apart from buying two bottles on launch day) sampled the three newcomers yet. So its Archer Road Beer Stop. Go there!

Best beer book/magazine - I rarely read beer books but this year I am in the process of reading Pete Brown's Three Sheets To The Wind - however, since I haven't finished it, I perhaps ought to give the award to Doghouse magazine....

Best beer blog or website - Dimpled Mug. More nepotism, since Mr M is a friend of mine, but I never miss any pics he posts on his pub photo blog.

Simon Johnson award for best beer twitterer - Can he win his own award?

Best brewery website/social media - it is rare that I actually like reading a brewery website - since most of them are out of date misleading or written in poor English. However, I like the Revolutions Brew Co one for having useful info on,like what their beers are called, and Kelham Island's for the same reason.

Food and beer pairing of the year - Blue Monkey Marmoset with Moroccan chicken and saffron casserole. I just made that up.

NEW CATEGORY ALERT !
Next beer fad - OK, its got to be a popular continental style, possibly with a twist, or an obscure one which only a handful of beer geeks will have tried, having paid £15,000.00 to travel to the other side of the world to sample it. So...I dunno. Black gueze. Lemon mai bock. Unfiltered cask rauchbier (actually, that sounds lovely!)

So, that's it. That is what rocked my world in 2013. Lets hope 2014 can bring a similar cavalcade of quality cask and keg, and that I'll be struggling to single out winners in most of the categories once again in 12 months time.


Cheers!

Wee Beefy

My first Twissup, by Wee Beefy, aged 38 and a half

Hello boys and girls

    when I first joined Twitter I quickly noticed that Twit-savvy folks were organising meetings, almost exclusively to drink, via Twitter. Being a man of letters (in so far as the postman delivers em and I read em), I was quick to understand that this was a popular phenomena. People were Twissing up left right and centre.

With my recent MeetIRL hobby coming along slowly, and fearing I may have missed out on the rapacious expansion of this practice, I was delighted to be invited to a Twissup with folks from the Internet. So it was I met in the Rutland Arms (where else?) with redpola, nimrod777, FeastAndGlory, and malv173 for a meal, a chat, and beer. Lots of beer.

Having got there a minute early and found everyone seated and slaking, I quickly got myself a pint of actual OnTheEdge brewery beer. For real! It even had a pumpclip and everyuthing, like what actual beer not for sale in a school does. . It was called Sovereign Gold and it was fantastic. I had a good few pints just to make sure. Meanwhile irregular beer slaker F&G was on Ilkley Chief, and some poor soul had bought a metallic tasting thing that I think was returned.

Food was scoffed (although the menu items were being picked off one by one...) and then we went on to far stronger beers - F&G insisted she didn't want anything too strong so malv bought her a Magic Rock Human Cannonball (I think! It was strong that's for certain) and I know that others had the Chief, and me the Raw/Steel City Responsibly, which was on cracking form.

As we neared half ten the Twissup split (is this a twiss out?) and myself, nimrod and redpola went to the Sheffield Tap whilst the others probably had cocktails in the Great Gatsby, I never did find out...

The Tap was once again teasing me with the rumoured "big room" being in existence. I was told on a Friday that it didn't open Friday or Saturday, but then my boss was drinking in there the following Friday, this time, on a Thursday, it was steadfastly closed again. I'm starting to think its not actually there.

I started sensibly with halves of Sheffield Toolmakers Ripsaw, which was weak and watery,  and a refreshing Scottish beer, whilst red and nimrod supped Bernard and Magic Rock Magic 8 ball. This became our combined tipple of choice for the final round, and it still seems to not live up to my expectations. I've never seen it on cask so its not a Keykeg thing, but it seems to lack the balance of that first brew and remains a slightly askew beer fighting to balance its strong flavours out. Still a nice int though despite all that.

Off next to find a pub open late, which isn';t that easy in fine old Sheffield. The Rutland, Henry's and other venues were shut but hats off to the Old House for serving til 01.00. I had a couple of pints of True North(Welbeck Abbey) First Porter in here , and I can confirm that I have precisely no idea what my companions were supping.

What I do know is that this was a great night out, notable because I knew all but malv173 prior to my joining Twitter. Definitely something I'd like to do again, and as long as, like we did, you pick cracking folks to go supping with, I can highly recommend the idea.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy (@WBeefy) 

Beerollercoaster

Good afternoon,

     the title doesn't relate to a rather stomach churning film shown on Jim'll Fix it (although discerning which clips would make you gip nowadays is quite difficult), instead its a nod to the strange tumult of highs and lows I had last night.

I was meeting Fluffy after work, traipsing up to West Street in snow and slippery pavements, with all bathed in off yellow light, and snow forming a frothy head in my hair. I arrived at the Bath Hotel early, and looking like a badly poured Guinness. Luckily, there was beer to drink whilst I waited, and the whole place was coat dryingly warm.

I tried standing at the bar, as if I was in DAda, but to be fair there seems a bit more footfall in the Bath so I retired to the corner next to the radiator and got settled with my pint of the excellent Amber Ales Derbyshire Gold. They also had the Amber Jasmine IPA, but, not exactly surprisingly, this tasted of jasmine.

So when Fluff arrived I had another pint of the Derbyshire Gold, as did he and he got sat next to the lava hot radiator to get dried. I once again had one of their fantastic hot roast pork sarnies (thanks Steph!) and this filled me up perfectly for the night of drinking ahead. The only downside was the dire predictions of upcoming beers - selling 5 of my least favourite Thornbridge beers, including Kipling, Brother rabbit and Puja, it looked likely that the pendulum of popularity would swing back to DAda. These last two weeks have been a great example of soaring and falling fortunes in terms of the beer range at the Bath. Perhaps I was spoilt by Red Willow, Amber and aged Beadecas Well....

We walked to the Hop next, still in the snow, and decided to only stop for a half. There's something I just can't get on with about the Hop. I loved the green hop festival and there is always a mild on the bar, but its so transient - I always feel like I'm filling in ten minutes when I', in there - this time we literally were! Halves of Rudgate Ruby Mild fr me and Ossett Treacle Scott for Fluff, to prepare us against the snowy wind ahead.

Eschewing the charms of the Dev Cat we headed into Henry's past the promising looking frontage of the Brewery proclaiming its imminent opening. Its strange that Henry's never seems to be busy because the beer is fantastic in there, and well priced. I had a pint of sumptuous Dark Star Revelation, whilst Fluff had a half of the same, and a rather earthy Bridestones Chocolate Stout, from a range of about ten. A pub crying out for a session.

Off down to the Sheffield Tap next to be annoyed, disappointed and elated in equal measure. Initially our eyes lit up at the range, Magic Rock casks plus Human Cannonball on Keykeg, a Tiny Rebel beer, and a cask Sierra Nevada beer - Heaven! I had a half of the Cosmic Daze from S.N and a half of the Steel City Hop Cluster from the other night. And this is where it all started to go wrong...

Firstly, the tiny Rebel beer was about 4.5% and yet cost £5.00 (based on the cost two halves - note, this is according to Fluff, I didn't see the price myself). Not only that, it lacked significant noticeable flavour to overcome the carbonation and pointless coldness. It was like a shandy made with half a lager and some sparkling water. And why in the name of Christ was it £5.00 a pint?! Given that Keykeg was its most unsuitable serving style, it was galling enough to pay the infamous extra Keykeg cost at possibly a pound, but it was still £4.00 without! Is it made with gold? Mores the shame we couldn't remember the name of the brew.

The Sierra Nevada meanwhile was ace and lots easier to drink on cask than it usually is on keg or in bottle. However, the Steel City tasted of furniture polish and cucumbers. That is not how that beer should taste I assure you.

I took it back to complain and the lass behind the bar finished my sentence with the word furniture polish - so why on earth was it even on sale? She went to check with the manager if I could have it replaced with drinkable beer, a puzzle in itself, and I had a Rapture instead. To be fair they also took the beer off, but I can't begin to think what had happened to it to make it taste so bad, and however briefly, be on sale.

We cheered ourselves up with halves of Magic Rock Human Cannonball which is amazing, plus a half of the excellent Oakham JHB. The Human Cannonball was a great example of a strong beer that works well when sold on Keykeg. Joyous though this was, it just highlighted how bad the Tiny Rebel beer was.

Off to the Rutland Arms last and they also had Human Cannonball on - but, and I thought I'd never have reason to say this - at a pound more expensive than the Sheffield Tap. I love the Rutland but that's a slap too far! Luckily, they had Magic Rock Dark Arts on cask, so I had a pint of that and Fluff a rather ill advised pint of a Revolutions Christmassy spiced ale. Oh dear. What have you done to your image Revolutions Brew! Spiced ale is almost always unfailingly bad.

Luckily I bought Fluff a half of the Dark Arts, which he didn't finish as is usually the case in the last pub, so I had that, along with another pint of the absolutely excellent beer again. I love Dark Arts, and its a beer that needs to be on cask a bit more often I think. Probably the beer of the night.

So there you go, an up and down beer journey in the snow. A greatly enjoyable if frustrating way to spend Friday night - and what a great excuse for me to cancel my trip to Leeds today. A dry day inside with no costs involved is much needed I think!

Cheers

Wee Beefy

The week in Utopian beers.

Hello,

      despite my rather bold forays out soon after I contracted an illness which had clearly intended to steal my internal organs via my throat and break my ribs from heaving (sorry for the graphic description!), its been an otherwise quiet week, during which I have been out and about only twice, but with excellent beers found on each occasion.  Here's what happened either side of the ebola virus.

Drinks for the workers

On Tuesday a wearying exercise in work based indoctrination made me and Mr C remember that alcohol is a great soother of sore brains, even if ironically, its also the path to making sore their housing. So we escaped from work and headed for Shakespeares. You know, for a change. Bearing in mind that I mentioned my surprise on Friday at discovering that the beer festival was on, its worth admitting that Robin and Chris were actively preparing the line up just 2 days earlier, on the Tuesday. Clearly the inner head sieve wasn't up to retaining that.

One salient piece of info however was that having sorted Mr C out with a lager, I immediately found myself awash on a sea of hoppy goodness. Without even first checking which brew it was, as so often happens when I spot a Mallinsons pumpclip, I went for a pint of that. Which was Chinook, a fantastically well balanced fruity, hoppy, delight with layers of perfectly matched sweet, dry,  and citrus hops and complimentary malts.

On arriving on Friday night it was no surprise to find that the Mallinsons Bramling Cross had been the first to go. If it was even a patch on the Chinook it would have been surprising if it lasted  more than a couple of hours. Whilst here, I also had a half of the tasty Blue Bee 5o'choc shadow, and, inevitably, more yummy Mallinsons.

Off to DAda next and it was time for pork pie and olives and beers, with Mr C going for a Bernard Light, myself a pint of the Blue Bee Bees Knees, followed by an entire pint of Thornbridge Halcyon. Despite a mishap with some slippery bush fruit and an unforgiving incline, we had a fantastic hour or more talking nonsense sat on a leather settee at an impossibly low table. Just as a night out should be.

Next on our route was the Red Deer, and it was halves only, and mine possessed mind altering, or more precisely mind wiping qualities. Sorry for the umpteenth time to the Red Deer for failing to remember, in this case even the slightest bit of information about my visit.

Harrisons 1854 beckoned after that and it was nice to pop in for a pint after quite a spell without attending, I was on a very enjoyable jar of Abbeydale Deception. We had a good catch up here and a brief chat with Dave, before heading off to the Bath Hotel. I know this, because I had Thornbridge Brock on the understanding that it was better than usual. I was assured it was. Alas, owing to the late hour, the parameters of said thermometer of quality were undefined....

On Sunday, myself and my soon to be Giant amongst Chinese men, met in the Rutland for a pint or few. I was meeting at 18.00 and had enough time to pop in the Sheffield Tap for a "quick one". Choosing halves of the excellent Truefitt Ironopolis Stout (nice to see its brilliance first time out wasn't a flash in the pan) and Arbor Yakima Valley American IPA, I was a bit surprised, even at Tap prices, to be charged £3.95 for the privilege, so belatedly looked at the Arbor pumpclip. It was 7.0%. Good.

Despite this we converged on time at the bar in the Rutland and after initial disappointment at the mild running out my companion Mr J opted for a pint of Marstons EPA to start, and I a fantastic dry, bitter pint of Blue Bee Shake Rattle and Roll. I was surprised to find this on (ahem, someone was supposed to let me know...) but was glad I did, and had two pints. Mr J on the other hand made a slight climb in ABV in his unbounded youthful recklessness, buying a half of Magic Rock Human Cannonball. This was so incredible that on the next round, he had a further half, and I followed suit, despite its strength.

BOOM! And the doubts are gone...*

Human Cannonball, brewed to 9.3%, is probably about 10 times better than the Magic Rock Cannonball, and represents the better aspects of UK American influenced super hopped pale ale brewing. Whereas Cannonball has an awkward dryness fighting throughout with a needless sweetness, making me think it was neither what I had wanted or expected, Human Cannonball is so well balanced as to almost be a lesson in strong ale brewing.

And, whilst it may pack as much alcohol into a pint as three of session beer, its not difficult to drink. Indeed, really the only thing to slow the drinker down is advisable and understandable caution. Were it 4% I think both of us could happily have drank it all night.

Human Cannonball has a tantalising aroma of spicy, floral hops. It delivers everything you could want from a strong pale ale by unleashing wave after wave of juicy zesty bitterness that mingles on the palate, lingering long in a heavenly aftertaste, before joining an understated but formidably well executed mellow, balanced malt in the background. Its bittersweet, potent and rewarding, and theres no jarring sweetness or ascorbic bitterness in there to spoil things, just a seamless procession of glorious flavour.

Once again, Magic Rock, who's output I have been disappointed with quite a lot of late, have produced a superlative strong beer. And the fact that it was a strong UK brewed pale ale, served from Keykeg with a nod to the USA style of pale ales, and which I really loved, made it all the more pleasing.

Next, if only to prevent us succumbing to the cost and impact of yet more Human Cannonball, we headed to the Tap to get the end of the Arbor Yakima Valley IPA, which was a shame, since I had made quite a job of recommending it. I also had a half of the Ironopolis again, whilst my companion had a half of some fearsome sounding Hardknott offering on Keykeg. Its not really fair to offer any kind of specific details of any of the post Human Cannonball beers - because there was no way they could match it.

So, a great way to spend four hours on a Sunday, and a perfect way of wiping away the memories and feelings of dread experienced during the middle of last week. I might have had to drag my sorry arse into work the next day but the buzz of the Human Cannonball kept me going, as I thought about whether or not I could persuade Mr P to go to the Rutland on Wednesday instead of our usual Wanderiains route...

Cheers!

Wee Beefy.   

*please note, this is in no way intended as a subtle endorsement of a well known branded product, neither is it meant to claim that "all of a sudden" Magic Rock are back to their very best. That said, it goes a damn long way towards doing so....