The Grove, Huddersfield

I'd intended to report on a pub crawl yesterday of Huddersfield's excellent pubs. However, the Sportsman  showed total disregard for prospective customers by by disregarding its publised opening time of 11:00 a.m. I gave up waiting at 11:25 and took in a quick pint of Leeds Pale at Wetherspoons (please forgive me) en route to The Grove which opens at noon.

Once inside I realised that it would be very hard to to leave. The cask and craft beer range matches anything found in the trendy metropolis bars. Highlights of the cask range included the new Magic Rock brewery's hoppy, Thornbridge Hall Summer Ale, a collabaration brew from Gadd’s andd the Italian brewery Revelation Cat called Back to Basics Pacific Double IPA (9%) was a very impressive ultra-strong hop bomb. Buxton Moor Top was also very acceptable. Also, the Tim Taylor's lanlord was the best I've tasted in a many a year and reminded me why it was so highly regarded before it appeared it so many pubs round the country that don't really care about beer quality. The beers I've listed are just a smattering of the full range available which you can view here.

I tried a number of craft beers as well: Beer Here Dark Hops IPA (Denmark), Nøgne Ø Pale Ale (Norway), Flying Dog Raging Bitch (USA) and Brewdog’s Hardcore IPA. I didn’t get round the De Molen’s Op & Top (Netherlands) but there will be other opportunities during my trips to Belgium.

Chloe and Kerry provided friendly, fast and knoweldgeable service. A great pub.

I saw you coming.

The title comes from the 'Harry & Paul' sketch where an unscrupulous shyster takes advantage of home counties women with far more money than sense.

I'm start to wonder if we drinkers are also being taken for a ride by the new generation of craft beer bars. I made my first visit to the Port Street Beer House last week. The cask beer was in excellent condition, there was an enviable range of world bottled beers and the staff were friendly and knowledgable. The price to be paid for this excellence was ........the price.

A pint of Dark Star Hophead was £3.40. That's way over the top in the north west for a 3.8% beer. A half of Odell IPA came in at £2.60. The bottled beer menu should be sponsored by American Express. There were numerous beers over £10 with a few approaching £20. Thornbridge Bracia was £15. it's a great beer but Dominic Driscoll nearly had a fit when I told him the price.

Is this a case of  'Emperors New Clothes' persuading us that high prices are acceptable or even desirable?

Thornbridge beers in Waitrose

I'll re-post this one. It was lost in the Blogger problems overnight.

Waitrose have stocks of Thornbridge Jaipur and Kipling at only £1.60 each. The offer may only have few days left so check out your local store PDQ. I got mine from the store on Anglesey frequented by Her Royal Poshness the former Kate Middleton. I'm not sure if she took advantage of the offer.

Alvinne Craft Beer Festival

It was two beer festivals in two days for me. A bit greedy yes, but why not? The Alvinne microbrewery's festival (ACBF) takes place on the Friday before the larger festival organised by Zythos, the Belgian equivalent of CAMRA. This year the brewery felt confident enough to introduce a second day in direct competition with Zythos.

The festival was held in an old farmhouse complex that was now used for hospitality and banqueting. A good description would be 'In the middle of nowhere'. This being Belgium transport had been considered with a shuttle coach service to and from Kortrijk railway station. Coach and entrance tickets could be purchased in advance on the Internet.

A hall  with an ancient open timbered roof plus a pleasant courtyard and adjacent restaurant building contributed to a superb rustic setting on a beautifully sunny day. A small open air swimming pool would no doubt not escape unscathed at a British bash awash with strong beer but there was no problem here.

Crooked Moon from Denmark

Belgium can be slightly introspective when it comes to beer festivals. In a small country with at least 500 different beers that's no surprise. ACBF is refreshingly different. Not only does the host brewery display it's own eclectic range of brews, there were also another 18 brewers from the Northern Hemisphere exhibiting their expertise in brewing.

 Old friends Struise were the only other representatives from Belgium. De Molen and Emelisse made the short drive from the Netherlands. Others came from further away. Norrebro, Crooked Moon, Mikkeller and Fano from Denmark, Ganstaller, Braustelle and Freigeist from Germany and BFM from Switzerland. The expanding beer culture of Italy had Del Ducato and Revelation Cat. Stillwater crossed the pond from U.S.A. and Grassroots are part Danish part American I think. Finally, Thornbridge were proud representatives from Britain. There was the added bonus of beers from the cherished lambic blenders Drie Fonteinen.

Cheers Sebastian! Isn't that Dominic Driscoll on the right dispaying his new team's shirt?

Over 100 beers in many styles and strengths. IPAs, Porters, Rauchbiers, Bocks, oak-aged beers with the weakest 3.5% and the strongest that I saw a whopping 26.0% barrel-aged Imperial Stout from Struise.

There were plates of cheese and meat plus crisps on sale in the main hall. The restaurant building had soup, stew and salads to sustain the drinkers with tables providing a chance to relax from the action. A beer shop had an amazing choice even if some of prices were eye watering.


Thornbridge get everywhere. Smile for the camera Nigel.

 It was good to see how friendly the brewers were, all willing to talk at length about their beers and obviously please to be part of the event. Highly recommended.

Thoughts from Liverpool Beer Festival

The CAMRA Liverpool Beer Festival is hugely popular and I've already said how difficult it is to obtain a ticket. The venue is superb. It's the crypt of the Metropolitan (R.C.) Cathedral which was built before the 2nd World War as the first stage of a project to build a grand traditional cathedral to match the Anglican edifice at the other end of Hope Street. The was intervened and plans were scaled back with designs for an ultra- modern glass and steel building taking its place. 'Paddys Wigwam' was controversial and unloved at first but is now accepted affectionately as an integral part of the Liverpool skyline.

It's as bit dim down there for photos

All stonework and Gothic arches it's a great place to drink beer with seating in the main hall for those who arrive early. There seems to be simplicity in planning the beer order. Quality is the watchword rather than rarity with 200 of the countries finest brews on sale. That's a lot of different beers for a mid-sized festival which means some have sold out by the final day. Liverpool has a number of great pubs, many of which have taken the opportunity to piggy back their own festivals onto this weekend to offer the drinker even more choice.

Brimstage, Hawkhead and Yates. What a line up!

The beers themselves are excellent. Most are £1.00 per half/£2.00 per pint even up to and above 5% with only the real rocket fuel brews at £1.50 per half which is still good value. Local breweries get pride of place near to the entrance with 17 of them represented. I obviously sampled the offerings from the wonderful Brimstage Brewery first just to check that they were as good as ever (they were). Their Rhode Island Red must be a winner one day soon at Earl's Court.

Those 'flavours of the month' Brewdog, Thornbridge and Marble were well represented. I have to say that on this occasion I found the Punk IPA to be overpowering, all sweetness and grapefruit. I was much happier with Dark Star's more modest Hophead.

Marble's Manchester Bitter and Ginger went down well but again I felt the Dobber was a little sweet. Maybe these strong hoppy beers are better with the sharpness of keg !! The new Galaxia from Thornbridge suited my palate better. The citrus notes balanced by good bitterness. This one uses Australian hops.

I'd drank a number of hoppy beers in the first few hours do it was time for a change of tack. Sarah Hughes Ruby is always a winner and I was recommended Liverpool Organic's Russian Imperial Stout. The tasting notes state Liquorice, Dark Chocolate and Coffee. Decadence in a glass indeed. This is a top class brewery with a fine range of cask and bottle conditioned beers. Their version of the much missed Higson's Bitter caused a lot of interest but it's a difficult taks to match that pungent, bitter, headache inducing brew.


One rare that was available was Hawkshead Tripel XBP. I cleansed my palate first with a glass of their Bitter which is one of my favourite beers  but the XBP was a disappointment. A strong and dry old ale there was no distinctive flavour evident. I'd even say it was bland despite the strength.



Spelling lesson needed

Good food is on offer too. The Everyman Bistro provide upmarket fast food and there is also a pie and pasty stall and a huge range of farmhouse cheeses with bread. Ideal ballast for a beer festival.

A justifiably popular festival and a good excuse to spend a weekend in Liverpool. After all if you can't get a ticket for each session there are plenty of good pubs.

Sheffield Tap

For any beer lover arriving in Sheffield by train their first and probably last (only?) port of call will be the Sheffield Tap. Adjoining platform 1 - no access from the platform at the moment - It has fast become a 'must do' bar to rank with any found elsewhere in the country.

The cask beers are impressive. The core range of 5/6 Thornbridge ales are supplemented by 4 guest beers usually from the same brewery. Brewdog were featured during my visit. I tried the new recipe Punk IPA which I must admit was excellent.

However, there is more to this bar than cask beers. There are some interesting keg beers and I risked eternal damnation from the CAMRA gods by sampling the Odell IPA. Very impressive, the expected hoppiness nicely balanced by some malt.  It was nice to chat to a couple of Thornbridge brewers on a busman's holiday.

Nigel and Caolan from Thornbridge. Photo by Michelle.

The bottled beer range is superb. Over 100 Belgian beers, numerous from the U.S. plus Czech, Italian, Scandinavian and other countries. it would be quite easy to stay here all day and ignore Sheffield's other beery gems.

There are now three additional rooms with seating but that is not enough at times as the Tap's reputation spreads far and wide. As a Tranmere Rovers fan the possibility of Sheffield United (no offence), Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United all playing in our division next season means that I could have three visits to the Sheffield Tap next season. Not that any excuse is needed.



Ridiculous beer names

I can't be the only one who's noticed the proliferation of daft beer names. I'm not talking the puerile and sexist names from our domestic breweries that we 'Carry On Camping' loving Brits enjoy so much.

I was more thinking of the output from our foreign friends with their penchant for those so pretentious 1st release this and oak aged that. Others are just weird. Anyway, I've spent an hour or two dreaming up some ridiculous names listed below interspersed with some real ones:
 
Lawnmower
Abbaye de St-Bon Chien 2010
Cuvée Alex le Rouge
Affumicator
Fone 50
Caulfield - Not Just Plain Vanilla
Beer Geek Brunch Weasel
BA Big Worst Bourbon Edition
Texas Ranger w/Vanillabeans & Cocoabeans
Spontanframboos
List & Bedrog
R. Woodhouse
Cuvée Freddy batch 2
Viola Sofia
Dirty Horse 2005

What do you mean they're all real beers? Get off my blog and back to Ratebeer immediately you geek! In fact, this is just a small selection from Alvinne's superb festival in Kortrijk on 4th March, the day before the start of the annual ZBF event in Essen. We're talking Belgium for my slower readers. Will I be there? Of course!

 

Not interested in obscure beers from the U.S., Italy, Denmark or Germany? Well Thornbridge are there as well. That got you interested didn't it? No? Oh well, suit yourselves.

2011 Poll

You've no doubt seen the end of year polls on all the other beer blogs. If you're like me you find it hard to remember what you drank yesterday never mind last January. What do you mean "Don't you keep a record on your smartphone thingy complete with marks out of ten?"

So here's my easy peasy Best Brewery of the Year 2011 Poll. Complete it now and save valuable drinking time next December. As any fule kno there are now only four breweries anyone is allowed to vote for. You would be open to ridicule from the Beer Cognoscenti for thinking otherwise. So the nominees are:

1. Brewdog
2. Thornbridge
3. Marble
4. Stinking Sheep (U.S.) This one's a made-up name but if you all disseminate it round the interweb their 23% Balsa Aged Quintupel IPA will soon be name-dropped in the Euston Tap and The Rake.

Happy New Voting!