Carnival (4.3%) by Magic Rock

Time for a quick one? Yes, yes, yes.

A swift visit to The Broadfield can yield a decent beery bounty these days (although it still manages to avoid any real recognition from CAMRA). Personally, I tend not to bother too much with the Black Iris and True North stuff that is usually available, ditto the Acorn and Abbeydale, but that still left some crème de la cask in the shape of Arbor and Magic Rock!

 

My indecision was noticed by the attentive and well-informed bar-keep (another asset of this Abbeydale Road Ale House). I chose the Arbor Single Hop offering which was Moteuka, I believe. Arbor are among the best in the South West but I`d forgotten that the hop wasn`t the tops to my tastebuds. A nice enough tipple and below 4% ABV but the Magic beckoned!

Carnival is super Summer sup. It`s labelled as a Golden Ale but it appears a bit more of a hazy orangey colour than you`d expect. It really reminded me of another beer but it took me a few days to figure out that I think it`s Dark Star`s Sunburst that is along the same lines; Both well worth a try. Carnival is a fruity fellow with a balance of sweetness and citrus sharpness making it quite easily drinkable and carrying an amiable ABV of 4.3%. Aromas here are of Summery stuff sure enough and the bitterness is pretty subtle. So I had another.....

 

Time was short but I did appreciate the taster that the bar-man gave me of a Harbour DIPA (ABV of 9%+) that was interesting; really tasty and no big, over-powering alcoholic hit.  Maybe save that one for a rainy day though…..!

 

Mike`s Magic Number - 7 / 10

The Cricket Inn (Thornbridge), Totley, Sheffield

Over the past few years, Bakewell`s Thornbridge Brewery have put together a sizeable portfolio of ale houses around the Steel City and its `better` suburbs. A usual part of their recipe for success is top quality pub grub to complement excellent ales and The Cricket Inn is surely the jewel in the crown.

Located on the absolute limit of the city boundaries, The Cricket is a very popular eatery and drinking hole for the folk that reside in this desirable district of Sheffield but it also draws clientele from further afield (nice stroll from the 97 or 98 bus too!). Ramblers, runners and horse riders readily use this spot as a place to refresh or regroup thanks to its glorious aspect. At the foot of Blacka Moor and with a sprawling cricket and football field at the rear, this place is idyllic on a nice day.

Sure, most people visit the Cricket Inn to eat, and it is very family-friendly but there is plenty of space for those merely seeking a scenic pint. Prices are `top end` but the selection and quality is usually pretty decent. Suffice to say that the food is spot on (won`t add further detail as there are plenty of brilliant bloggers better at foody facts). When we visited, beergeek favourite Kipling was on making selection easy but there were three other Thornbridge classics (Jaipur, Lord Marples and Wild Swan) on offer too alongside two quality kegs including the reyt tidy Reverend and the Makers American Brown plus a range of bottled beer. The Kipling was good, not as zingy and zesty as it is at The Coach and Horses but still a fine pint admittedly augmented by the vista.

 All of Thornbridge`s houses have their merits and their champions who will proclaim their local to be best: Greystones for gigs, The Bath for a proper beer-drinkers` bar or The Coach for comfortable cosiness but the Cricket is just special in the sunshine. Try it while it lasts, the sunshine that is!

 

Great Heck Treasure IPA (4.8%) vs. Hand Drawn Monkey IPA No.1 (5%)

Now then, a few years ago it was pretty tough to get a decent IPA even in Britain`s beer capital but now it is a surprise if you visit a decent bar and they can`t offer you at least one. The Sheaf View is widely regarded as a premier league pub although it houses League 1 football fans on a regular basis (is there a better `walkable from ground` real ale boozer in t`football league?!), and it recently, and briefly, was host to two top notch IPAs. But did North Yorkshire or West Yorkshire prevail in err, South Yorkshire? (Btw, does East Yorkshire still exist or is it just pure Hull (City of Culture) now?)

Make no mistake, these two ales are Heavyweights. Both breweries consistently knock out top tier beverages from the Republic of Yorkshire. Thankfully, we get Great Heck pretty regularly in the likes of The Harlequin but Huddersfield`s HDM are rarer than a Blades` cup run… And so, both appear simultaneously just off the A61.

Great Heck are at their greatest producing hoppy hits with a pale bite and Treasure delivers just that punch. At 4.8%, it is on the milder end of the continuum of IPAs and it presents itself in a confident orange hue with a creamy off-white head. Very drinkable and bags of summer fruits; Yum.  5-a-day and then some!

 

 

The Hand Drawn Monkey IPA is a fair bit paler but still with bags of bite. The citrus lemon bitterness is complemented with a faint sweet touch which is super refreshing and well quaffable. Although `only` 5%, this ale tastes like a deeper, higher ABV,  IPA and it disappears from your pint pot pretty damn quickly. Thankfully, due to Sheaf View`s canny use of social media, we got the `heads up` about these ales in time but they disappeared quicker than a Sheff Wednesday play-off bid. The HDM brew popped up late on a Tuesday and was gone by tea-time the next day; the Sheaf View is defo a drinkers` pub and their regulars are discerning but dedicated and persistent types. Blink and you`ll miss a beer.

 

Hopefully, the HDM heavyweights will return but Great Heck are here to stay with Powermouse imminent in Heeley`s best boozer and, pound-for-pound, that is a difficult beer to beat!

Scores

Treasure IPA

Mike 7.5 / 10
Danny 8 / 10

IPA No.1

Mike 9 / 10
 Danny 8.5 /10

Bass No. 1 (4.4%)

Rose-tinted beer goggles maybe but a pint of Bass was a thing of beauty back in t` day. Supping Tetleys at Uni (OK, Poly) was fine and I could just about endure a pint of Boddingtons on visits to Manc, but they all paled in the shadow of Bass. That red triangle pump clip heralded bliss in a pint pot served up in The Loggerheads or Welsh Harp (R.I.P.) in Shrewsbury, not too far from beer base Burton, I guess. But how does this stuff taste 15-20 years on?

About the only advantage of being taken over by a mega conglomerate type crew (InBev UK / Marston`s, I believe) is that costs can benefit from the economy of scale; make more and so make it cheaper (thank you Geography A-Level!). Bottles of Bass are probably no more expensive now than they were in the 1990`s and they can be found around the globe. I found mine in Mitchells at Meadowhead and it cost me all of £1.25. Bargain!.....?..errr, um..

 

This brew is commercially haled as `nutty, malty, complex with subtle hop undertones`. I got kind of a biscuit, malt mouth and it looked OK to the naked eye. However, my other half summed this up best saying that it, `tastes like shandy`. By the end of the bottle I was thinking more `insipid yet soapy`. There really isn`t a great deal of taste in there, especially when the twenty-first century drinker has got used to the big citrusy hops that prevail nowadays, but then maybe the Bass (Tetleys, Stones, Boddies, et al) taste was so simple that it facilitated drinking more heavily; quantity not quality, if you like. Sure, there are drinkers who still love a `traditional` bitter but they are outnumbered now by discerning drinkers happy to have their hoppy palates bashed about by the likes of a Double IPA or a Sour.  Nostalgia? It ain`t what it used to be! sob, sob.

Mike`s Score - 3 /10

Storm & Averij DIPA (10.2%) by De Molen

Despite living for 10 years in Huddersfield, The Grove was one of the (very) few pubs that I never visited. Now this Spring Grove hostelry is a destination boozer must-do for ale enthusiasts far and wide. Whenever I`m back in West Yorkshire, I make a b-line for this bar.

As usual, The (Holy) Grove was really busy with a nice array of discerning clientele supping steadily and keeping the half dozen bar staff very busy. I began with a lovely Buxton beer `Spa` (4.1%) which was eminently quaffable, packed with Citra, and it is always great to see them on cask; we don`t seem to get that honour often over in Sheffield! Next more cask with the Curious as was which is now renamed `Ringmaster` (3.9%) after some apparent shenanigans with another brewery over its original name. Still a tidy tipple only a mile or two down the hill from the Magic Rock brewery. I was hoping to get a dry-hopped Jaipur which the Grove stock but I didn`t see it on the (substantial) beer blackboard. It can be a problem choosing an ale here as there is literally that much to go at! Also I had spent enough time gawping at the list and there were two ladies perched in front of it who probably thought I was staring at them!

Wanting to finish this short session with a flourish, I then opted for a De Molen special. Storm and Averij (damage in Dutch?) is a Double India Pale Ale weighing in at a hefty 10.2% and a fair £3.75 for a half pint.

Not what I expected to be honest. This one is full of flavour and a very dark orangey brown colour with an inviting white head. However, it does not give the bitter hoppiness that I had expected / wanted rather the fruit sweetness comes through with a fair dose of spices on top. It is a fair old mixture, interesting and complex but thankfully not, for a 10%+, alcohol-dominated. Don`t get me wrong, I did enjoy this one but it was not a patch on the De Molen Vuur & Vlam I had on a previous Grove visit but that still rates as one of the very best ales I have ever had on keg!

The Scores

 

Buxton Spa  - 8.5 / 10

Ringmaster - 7 / 10

Storm & Averij - 7 / 10

Beerkeepers (5.3%) by Thornbridge

 

 

Us Steel City citizens do proudly like to think of Sheffield as Britain`s beer capital and never has this been more pointedly true than this past week. The world famous Sierra Nevada brewery took over DaDa`s on Thursday whilst our Hudd heroes Magic Rock did similar over on Division Street at the newly opened Brew Dog. Meanwhile, out-of-town SIBA based their BeerX festival at Ice Sheffield, of all places, and charged enthusiasts err enthusiastic prices. The launch of Beerkeepers, Thornbridge`s latest ale, was far less publicised but free and held in a much more amenable venue than the other three events, The Coach and Horses, Dronfield.

 

Amongst other collaborations, Thornbridge have invited staff from their multiple pubs to visit the Bakewell brewery to concoct their very own beer with mixed results. We disagreed about Baize, enjoyed Kacho and rejected Rattlesnake but how would Beerkeepers fair?

Hot-footing it from work to procure one of the first pints, I did not hold out much hope as honey and beer work together as well as a er, um, a Con-Dem coalition. However, Beerkeepers hits the spot. A slightly cloudy golden-blonde body with an unexpected creamy top presents itself and the first taste is a pleasant lemony / fruity mix which cannot help but remind you that it is no longer Winter! The honey only appears in the aftertaste and it is subtle enough to balance well with the fruit sweetness. At 5.3% this brew is hoppy and citrusy but far subtler than most Bakewell brews. It could possess a sting but it certainly does float like a butterfly and you could easily go a few rounds with this Coach special. Very moreish and very quaffable, fair do`s this is the first honey beer I have ever enjoyed! I only wish the fish `n` chip Friday we had planned had been in operation because we`d probably have still been there now with a host of other ale goodies to go at (cask St Petersburg, Otto, Biere de Garde). This Coach creation is a keeper!

Mike`s Score  - 7 / 10
Danny`s Score 6 /10

NB - Having re-sampled the Beerkeepers, it is fair to say that the taste develops further down the barrel. Trying the ale 4 days later, the honey really came through resulting in sweeter supping. Danny tried Beerkeepers at The Cross Scythes but preferred the Endcliffe ale. I also had the chance to try the Biere de Garde which is 7.4%, I think, and is a very nice Spring / Summer beer.

Cimmerian Breakfast Stout (Thornbridge) & Unholy Trinity (Steel City +)

Whilst the fabled 53 bus route pub crawl is pretty much unbeatable (Sheaf View, Tap, Harlequin, Gardener`s, et al), the 43 is tidy too and its major merit is that it stops right on the doorstep of The Rutland Arms on Brown Street.

This place is a real dichotomy; the off-hand bar-staff do their best to put you off the place but the beer keeps getting better. Swerving the Marston`s and the Blue Bee bumblings, you are usually left with tidy tackle from the likes of Hudds` heroes SWB and Magic Rock plus they maintain a crafty connection with Steel City Brewing and South Walian offshoot Hop Craft. Prices are premium to be sure but the quality is evident, usually. Unholy Trinity is a 6.66% stout that represents a collaboration between Shakespeare`s, Raw and, of course, Sheffield stalwarts, Steel City. With this one, think breakfast beer with a bitter bite and a tan top. The ABV is the devil`s own work (probably good that my subsequent bus wor late because it gave me time to freeze my proverbials off and to sober up) and it is possessed by the hoppy hallmark of Steel City. Unholy Trinity is bitter. Yep, we have posh sugar in there somewhere and coffee, but the caffeine kick is certainly a bitter one amongst the obligatory hops, hops and hops that we so love.

 

 
And beer bus types needs to know that, in addition, the 43 also stops about 17 yards, give or take, from The Coach and Horses (btw on the 53 you end up at Sammy Smith`s Mother Redcap in Bradway, eek!). However, this place was Thornbridge`s original (and best) Tap and, although it is located a good half mile, give or take, out of the RePUBlic and into the woolly pit shaft that is North-East Derbyshire, it has been responsibly adopted by civilised Sheffield and is conveniently adjacent to the World`s first football club. Here we found hearty fare. Cimmerian is a breakfast stout weighing in at a hefty 6.2%. Although it kind of tastes like a pimped-up Pollards (no bad thing), this one relies on French Coffee for its `je ne sais quoi`, apparently, and it sure hits the spot.

Cimmerian is named after a gothy 90`s track by Rosetta Stone I am reliably informed (thanks Carlton Town fans!) and it`s certainly dark but is creamier and sweeter (so maybe McConnells maxed?) than the Trinity tipple and consequently is easier to sup but still surely a big breakfast. For the record, the Arbor ale here was nice to see (the C & H doesn`t do many / enough) guest beers although it was not one of their best but Kipling at the Coach is one of the very best ales you can imagine, on any bus route!

Oh Yeah, Match report? 0-0!

Other Scores

Unholy Trinity 7.5 / 10

Cimmerian 8 / 10