New Barrack and Kelham Island Tavern's beer festivals

Evening,

    I must start by clarifying a few points from my last post. Firstly, the outside bar at the Kelham is covered, also the beer from Ascot Ales was their "standard" Anastasia stout, which means their imperial version may well be pretty awesome. Also, I kind of took it as read that the decade beer festival related to the Tavern's first CAMRA award or beer guide entry. Speaking to Trevor Saturday night it appears its a decade since the pub reopened. I honestly thought it had been open far longer than that!

So to business, I had intended to get myself to the New Barrack Tavern for midday to have a good go at the ales on offer. As it turned out, I woke up in the afternoon. So started a day of "flexible" arrangements....

Shakespeares

  I chose to start proceedings at my regular haunt since I needed to get some change for the bus. Even at this late stage in the afternoon I wasn't completely convinced that I was in the mood for more beer. From the range available I ummed and aahed about having a low gravity starter, but when I spotted the Hornbeam Black Coral Stout my mind was made up. I have seen this beer in here a few times and its never let me down. I took the opportunity to escape the throngs of visiting CAMRA types in the front rooms and sit in the "school room" in contemplative peace before stirring myself for the next part of my trip out.

New Barrack Tavern

I have to admit that I rarely get to the NBT. Even though its not that far from the Double H it seems too much of an undertaking for some reason. Hence I have visited only once in the last 12 months, one evening in the summer en route to the Blake. It was dead, although the beer was nice.

The extremes of business and quiet are nowhere better illustrated than the Barrack Tavern. There was a beer fest on, it was a pleasant almost warm Saturday, and there were 3 people in, plus 4 in the beer garden. I took the opportunity to take a few pics whilst I supped a half of the Prescott Seasons Best, described as a winter warmer and a ruby stout and somehow being neither. As I was getting my snaps the barman commented that this would be a good time since it would be rammed in 10 minutes - a fact reiterated by Mr M in the beer fest snug.

And so it was that at 17.00 the pub was flooded with football fans and 3 extra bar staff appeared behind the bar! One minor problem was that the bar in the snug selling the festival beers was accessible only from that room. So in the initial rush no-one could be spared to work on the festival bar for quite some time. Ironically when someone did arrive, I had already got a beer from the other bar and said barman was distinctly under utilised.

My second beer was the Harbour Brewing Co Harbour Amber at 4.0%. Having rashly started on two stouts I wanted to calm things down a little. I knew that I should expect a sweetish malty Cornish beer and that's what I got. It was described by Mr M as  "not unpleasant" and by myself as "inoffensive". Their weaker Harbour Light was still in the cellar, perhaps one best enjoyed in its locality.

I also had a half of the Andwell Porter from Hampshire which was very easy to drink, but surprisingly dry for a porter - the flavour was more suited to a dry stout but it was a nice drink and a beer from a brewery I've never tried before. New and unusual brewery offerings was going to be a feature of today. Next halves drunk were Woodlands Red Squirrel, a 3.9% beer that didn't suit being served by gravity, and a tasty Bristol Beer Factory Number 7, which was memorable mainly for some interesting fruit notes in the initial taste.

Interspersed between 2 excellent pork pies was my favourite beer of the festival the Craddocks Stout, which had just the right level of balance and strong roasted flavours I was after. My final beer was a half of the Triple F Comfortably Numb, which was a pleasant enough ale which could have done with a few more hops.

This was my first New Barrack Tavern beer festival and overall  it was an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. Its interesting to compare the range there with that at the Kelham. Broadly the NBT had a much more adventurous beer order but apart from the eggy Ashover I didn't find a bad beer at the Kelham. That said there seemed to be a few beers at the Barracks that were very competitively priced. If I am really lucky I may be able to pop in in the next few days to to try the Castle Rock Hebridean stout.

Back to the Kelham next and I had only a couple in here. A half of the Yorkshire Dales Colt Park Wood couldn't match the brilliance of the Bleak House, but I really enjoyed my half of the 5.5% American Blonde from Brewshed in the outside bar. Alas this was quite a brief visit and when I left about half 6 the place was rammed. I had to leave, since I had a dream about salami bites at the Fat Cat.....

The Cat

Alas on arriving it transpired that the dreamlike promise of salami bites was likely to remain so as they had not sold them for a year or two now. So I had another excellent pork pie and a very interesting Kelham beer called Big Black Blue Sound, Kelham's take on a Black IPA. This was a very satisfying beer, but not as hoppy as I was expecting. I didn't mind though, and it was a nice accompaniment to my snack as I sat outside in the beer garden.

Shakespeares again...

I also popped back to Shakespeares, this time for a half of the Summer Wine Brewery Zenith IPA. This was one of the best beers of the night so far. Even though it was served a trifle cloudy, it was fresh tasting and bursting with all the hops and critrussy zest I was hoping for.

Harrisons 1854

I ended up at the 1854 much earlier than I had planned. In fact, I was going to go from there to Nether Edge to try out a few pubs but that really wasn't feasible since it was getting late, and also, my chosen attire of a T-shirt and shirt was not having the insulating effect that I was expecting. Here, with the bar busy with a private party, as is often the case on a Saturday, I ended up having the best beer of the night. The Abbeydale Deception was bursting with flavour and served in perfect condition. Had I not been a trifle tired by this stage, I reckon I would have sunk another (few).

My final port of call was the Bee Hive. The Blue Bee beers were on sale as always, as was Sequoia from Thornbridge, but I had a pint of Abbeydale Dark Angel, 4.7% and, I think, £2.60 a pint. Granted the Hive is not exactly a great place to sit drinking by yourself in but the beer is very good value and on my 3 visits has always been well kept. A great way to bring the days wandering to a close!

Wee Beefy

Wee Beefy's (March of the) beer bites

Good evening,

    my first news regards some recent and planned ale related openings.

Spoon fed

News via a reliable sources comes of a Wetherspoons discount grog warehouse opening at Handsworth, near the Asda. There is a lot of work going on creating what I understood was to be a retail park. One wonders how this would fit into the area's drinking options, especially if it was offering much cheaper alcohol than its nearest neighbours?

Handsworth is blessed with four pubs; (I am not including the White Rose, although it is 200 yards inside the boundary, because its not really part of the original Handsworth village).

These include some older more traditional ones; The Old Crown, Cross Keys and Turf, and two of those sell real ale. And there is also the New Crown, which sold real ale last year, and is admittedly a newer (looking at least) pub, which is why it differs slightly (and perhaps because it has suffered from being the first choice port of call for the local tweenies).

Its safe to say that any new build pub would struggle to match the atmosphere of a venerabl;e haunt (no pun) like the Keys, but in these hard times that counts for little. And that's pertinent, because one thing that does link the Handsworth establishments is that irrespective of ownership, prices are roughly the same in each - i.e. normal. In isolation this is no cause for concern, but Wetherspoons of course sell real ale and other drinks at a consistently lower price than the "normal" rate. I remember baulking at a £2.00 pint in a Wetherspoons last year, but then thought, wait a minute, this is still a good 50p a pint less than anywhere else (in town, not to mention the suburbs).

So if we accept that retail park (if even that is what its to be) visitors are likely to lap up discounted ales and lager, and that a Wetherspoons will open up, what impact would this have on the pubs of Handsworth ?

In my recent experience The Cross Keys struggled during its change of ownership but on my last visit seemed steady if not soaring, The Old Crown has a recent CAMRA award to its name and a good range of beers food and clientele, The New Crown is potentially popular but not necessarily for the right reasons, and the Turf Tavern is almost always rammed, no doubt credit to being managed successfully by Aidy.

I can imagine that your "floating voter" imbiber would quickly ditch any of the above, but the Old crown and Turf seem to have a loyal following. If we interpret that to mean the other two fail, then no matter how good the Spoons spoon fed offerings are, I consider that would be bad news.

The first off license to sell own beer wholesale to the on licensed trade?

According to essential brewery info site Quaffale (see : off license to brew own beer by Quaffale ) the Real Ale Corner in Chesterfield is brewing its own beer, albeit at Raw (an on premises brewery would make the above novelty headline all the longer). I think there may previously have been a tie up between an offie and a Brew pub in Newcastle but certainly this would have to be the only off license I know of retailing its own brewed products.

In my time working at Archer Road Beer Stop customers often came in expecting us either to sell home brew supplies, which wasn't exactly outlandish, or, not recognising the beers on the pumpclips (especially those written in marker pen on white paper) expected that we brewed our own.

Dave was always very modest about his brewers potential and reassured enquirers that he had neither the ability or intention to do so, but it happened enough times for me to think that the Real Ale Corner have happened upon a really canny idea.

In the past, Threshers, Booths supermarket in the North West and Wine Cellar (and other brands owned by Parisa Group) have all had beer brewed for them or been involved in the ownership of a separate brewing arm (I think Parisa fits that bill) but I can't recall hearing of an off license brewing its own. More details can be found at Real ale corner, and everything  .

Pub News

Just a quick note about pubs and beer this time!

Shakespeares number beers

I was in the above recently and sampled two excellent beers. The first was from the cask, and was the excellent Steel City Brewing "9" (based on Xiberia). This was easily as good as the aforementioned ale, and again I think its gravity dispense takes an edge off some of the less conciliatory hop flavours that sometimes arise in their brews. I also think it was a little hoppier than the Xiberia, and perhaps better for it. Maybe the alcohol being 4.8% also helps calm down the flavour. Either way its a cracking pint.

I also tried a pint that i had read about in the world of beer blogging. I had never come across any Five Towns beers before except at Oakwood so seeing their "65" beer I thought I would give it a go. I had read about it on the following blog earlier in the week so was keen to try it for myself  (see a review at Timbo writes about Five Towns beer ). I think his review covers all of the taste features but I would mention that I was surprised by the sweetness on display. It crept into the taste after every mouthful and if it hadn't been riding the crest of a hoppy wave it would have ended up tasting like a far less appetising beer.

As it was this ws a really enjoyable (worryingly) easy to drink 6.5% pale beer which wins my praise for having the potential to be ascorbicly dry yet ending up being almost unsettling mellow and of course quaffable as a result. Hopefully there are a few other Five Towns Brewery ales in the cellar so I can get to try some more of their output.

Upcoming Events

There are two beer fests this week in Sheffield pubs - the Kelham Island Tavern one starts tonight I think, and there is one at the New Barrack Tavern. This is a little confusing however since K-cott reports the festival beers in the left hand snug room were available on Tuesday night prior to the Wednesday match. If this is so, I would assume the festival runs all week? Their website says it starts tonight though and runs til Thursday so will head down Saturday for a peak I hope.

That's all the news I have for now, happy slaking!

Wee beefy