Not always better at home

I enjoyed my day out in London on Saturday. Wary of the weather, I was up well before dawn to get the earliest possible train. Even with a 40 minute delay I stepped on to Euston concourse at 09:30 and after a quick bite to eat was in the Harp, Chandos Place soon after its opening time of 10:30.

A couple of quick pints from Harvey's and Sambrook were good if expensive to a northern lad at £3.60 and I was off to meet some London friends in Cask, Clerkenwell. I was very impressed with the beers from Redemption and was far from surprised to be told the next day that they have the same brewing consultant, Dave Smith, as my excellent local brewery Brimstage.

Much as I wished to linger the main point of the trip was to watch Tranmere Rovers at Brentford so a train from Vauxhall was required. There was just time for a pint of London Pride from a plastic glass in the Griffin before kick off. The lads 'done well' as they say and three points keep us top of the league. Seven minutes injury time were unwelcome but a supreme effort meant that I made it to Brentford for the 17:00 back to Vauxhall and from there straight on to a tube to Euston. It was now 17:40 and even though my ticket was valid for any train to Chester or Liverpool a quick scan of the delays and cancellations on the destination board made my mind up that I should head north on the first available train.

I just had time for quick pint in the Euston Tap. Marble Draft on the blackboard was a no-brainer for me and it was the right choice. In fact, it was in better condition than I've ever found in the Marble Arch. I don't know if it's because the beers on sale in the Marble are very young. That's a pure guess and I may be wide of the mark. Whatever the reason it contradicts the 'Landlord is better in Yorkshire' and 'Adnams is better in Suffolk' type of comments that we hear so often.

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.