Ey 'up! Back in Sheffield, Again...

As I always do, whenever I visit Sheffield I eat at Mama's and Leonies (website), 111/115 Norfolk Street, Sheffield S1 2JE (0114 272 0490), just along the road from the famous, for snooker fans particularly, Crucible Theatre, and around the corner from the Winter Gardens. I've been eating at Mama's since the 1990s, and still many familiar friendly faces working there and pleasant discourse too. It's so good to be remembered, and my favourite Warm Chick & Bacon Salad, without the croutons, and a half carafe of red wine, or a bottle of Budweiser Budvar (website) in this instance, because I was soon meeting up with friends for a few. Always excellent with plenty of healthy stuff on the plate, a great plateful of salad (see below), many thanks folks!

My new regular (mostly) abode for Sheffield visits is The Crow Inn, 33 Scotland Street S3 7BS (website), which reopened 5 years ago after quite a few years closure, and has 7 en suite bedrooms. Sadly, no breakfast provided, but there are some very interesting bar snacks. Importantly, it also sells quite a few interesting ales and crafty keg beers! Open Mon-Wednesday 3pm to 12 midnight; Thurs-Saturday 12 noon to 1am; Sunday 12 noon to 11pm.

This is where I met up with Lindsay and Jeff, sadly, Peter and Will couldn't make it this time, and where I started with, as I tend to now, a pint from Sheffield based Abbeydale Brewery (website) Heathen (4.1%). This is an APA style ale, brewed with Mosaic hops, and dry hopped with Mosaic to make sure you appreciate the taste and aroma! As you'd expect from the hops, notably forest fruits and citrus, providing a bitter dry finish. Another clear pale vegan friendly ale, and on regularly at The Crow, so virtually its 'house ale' and deservedly so, nice one! 

We then moved on to Shakespeare's (facebook), 146-148 Gibraltar Street S3 8UB. This Georgian pub was closed for 18 months from early 2010 and reopened in July 2011, and since winning not a few CAMRA awards. They sell up to 9 real ales, many from local brewers, over 50 bottled beers, and a fair few crafty keg beers. I drank an extra special Abbeydale Brewery (website) Deception (4.1%) at £3.90 a pint. This 'New Zealand Pale Ale' is primarily hopped with Nelson Sauvin, but Amarillo, Chinook, Galaxy and Columbus hops are added too. An excellent pale ale, with citrus, grape and gooseberry in the flavour, refreshing, with a dry bitter finish. Indeed, even more flavour with this beer, as they had dry hopped with Nelson Sauvin this version to celebrate the pub's 10,000th ale, since 2011, I presume!

We then wandered around to the Kelham Island area to the Kelham Island Tavern, or KIT, 62 Russell Street S3 8RW (website). Built in the 1830s, it was a derelict building when Trevor and Lewis took it over, refurbished it, and reopening in 2002, when it soon it became the best real ale pub in the country, indeed, they won the National CAMRA Pub of the Year in 2008 and 2009, and have won many other awards before and since! Although now retired, I believe Trevor still owns the property, but the licencee is Josh now, and still winning awards. I drank the excellent Blue Bee Brewery (website) American 5 Hop Version 72 (4.3%), each version using different combinations of hops. 

The 72nd version uses Loral, Columbus, Citra, Cascade and Chinook hops from the USA! What can I say? 😁 Very hoppy, big citrus aroma and taste, pale golden, with a dry bitter finish, just as I like my session bitters, very good indeed! 👌

Jeff and I continued on to Shalesmoor, Lindsay having other business, and just after the tram stop is The Wellington (facebook), 1 Henry Street S3 7EQ. Originally built in the 1830s, it became run down during the 20th century, and was refurbished and reopened as a free house in 1993 renamed the Cask & Cutler (as I first remember it, although also called the "Bottom Welly" - the "Top Welly" being at the other end of Infirmary Road). Anyway, it changed hands in 2006 and returned its name to The Wellington, or Cask & Welly as we used to call it. In 2016, the pub was bought by the friendly Canadian, James B (another ex-brewer at the Kelham Island Brewery from quite a few years ago!), who has his own brewery now, Neepsend Brew Co (website). 

So I drank a couple of pints of their rather excellent 'New Zealand Pale Ale' Plancius (4.3%), brewed with 2 varieties of Antipodean hop, Southern Cross and Motueka. Basically, it does what it says, pale dry and bitter, just like me, and I should apologise, unless there was an obvious need to make notes, and I was pretty bad at it by now... Oh yes, and I included a cheese and red onion sandwich in a bread cake, as empty Calories had been entering my system for a few hours, with the first pint, also very tasty, and £4.80 the lot, thank you very much!👍

I then returned to my temporary home (The Crow Inn) after parting company with Jeff, and had a couple more drinks as it was still reasonably early, starting off with the 3.8% session blonde ale Jarl, from Scottish brewery Fyne Ales (website). It's a session ale brewed with Citra hops. what's there not to enjoy? I hadn't had it for quite a while, but still pretty damn good!

I also had a pint of the 4.5% Chop & Change brewed with Centennial hops in West Yorkshire by Vocation Brewery (website). Another pale ale heavy on the citrus, my brief note was "very flavoursome." Good enough for me! 😉

The next day, before going to football, I first had a rather good Hot Breakfast Ciabatta at Mama's and Leonies, I'd tried one on my last visit for breakfast, and it was still superb with bacon and mushrooms filling, great start before drinking ale!👌I had a pint at The Bath Hotel, 66-68 Victoria Street S3 7QL, thankfully back in the warm custodianship of the great man himself, Brian. Indeed, one of my favourite regular haunts when I lived in Sheffield, and I was greeted by the smiling face of Brian as always, and warm handshakes galore, great that he's back!

I had a pint of Derbyshire brewery Thornbridge (website) Jaipur (5.9%), typically brewed with Chinook, Centennial, Ahtanium, Simcoe, Columbus and Cascade hops. I was a wee bit disappointed, wasn't the usual hops in your face, maybe I was unlucky with a bad batch, it wasn't off, so not Brian's problem, it was whatever was in the barrel, anyway, I drank it, a person's gotta do! 😉 I met Noel and Jake at the Beehive in West Street, they wanted to watch the Premiership match on tv there, but no ale, just fizzy stuff! Had to cope with Guinness, oh well...😞

After the match we got split up, but we met up back at the Bath Hotel, where ale was available, of course, and I drank a few pints of an ale from, close by in Derbyshire, Collyfobble Brewery (facebook), their 3.6% T'inna Code Owt brewed with Amarillo hops and called by a Derbyshire colloquialism,  It was a very easy to drink 'Summer Blonde Ale' packed full of tropical and citrus flavours, I stayed on it until we left the pub. 😁

I caught the tram back to Shalesmoor and had another pint at the Wellington, another of their own ales Chupacabra (6.2%), brewed with Simcoe, Amarillo and Lupomax Citra hops; 'Lupomax'?!? I'd never heard of them, but it appears they are a concentrated Citra hop pellet, you learn something new every day. 😏 Billed as a 'West Coast IPA' style, and certainly packed full of fruit and spicy flavours, not bad at all.

I headed back to The Crow Inn and no surprise at all to see a dinosaur enter the pub not long after I got there (above), and this wasn't the result of my drinking too much, honest, but there was a young woman in this costume, all very jolly. I had a pint or two of something before I went to bed of course, and booked a room for my next visit, cheers folks!🍻

For excellent information on hops mentioned please go to hopslist.

A Weekend in London, and a Surprise or Two...

I visited my brother over the weekend, and, OK, this isn't just about ale, but ale does play an important part of the story, particularly noting the miles we walked between Friday afternoon and Sunday to get to pubs. Anyway, first to The Rocket (website) close by Putney Bridge and St Mary's Church, where the 'Putney Debates' were held during the English Civil War (website). Indeed, we think the pub could have a better choice of name, eg 'The Leveller' or something with 'Cromwell' in the title, and not just because of Oliver, but his great-grandfather Thomas Cromwell was born and lived locally. Anyway, The Rocket is the best pub for real ale in Putney, simples!

So, to Friday's ale, and Windsor & Eton's (website) Knight of the Garter, a 3.8% 'golden ale' as it says on the pumpclip, and pretty damn good too! This ale has a nice fruity grapefruit flavour, presumably from the Amarillo hops used in the brewing, with a slightly nutty bitter finish, Dan suggested 'slightly tart' and I couldn't disagree. We didn't drink anything else here but this ale, as I doubted we'd enjoy any other of their range as much, so we went back for more... And the price? Well, this is a 'spoons, so a mere £2.30 a pint, but for CAMRA members like me, another 50p knocked off the price, so £1.80 a pint, cheers muchly!

You'll have noticed by now that the miles of walking were between Putney and, well, it was to be Rotherhithe, and along the Thames Embankment. Consequently, we crossed Wandsworth Bridge from the Surrey side, then re-crossed Albert Bridge back, one of my favourite bridges!

We carried on past our later in the day visits on our way to Rotherhithe and  looking back up the Thames caught this view, with so many old and newer landmarks included.

Thence to the last boarding place in London from whence the pilgrims embarked in 1620 before heading for Southampton, then America! And why this pub's name was changed to The Mayflower (website), another old favourite pub, which I have been visiting since the 1970s.

Which glorious ale did we imbibe at the Mayflower in Rotherhithe? Well, it was very good indeed, though I can't rate Kent Brewery (website) highly enough, consistently good ales they brew! This was one of their 'single hopped' pale bitters called Citra, Citra being the hop used, in case they hadn't made it plain enough. You'll be aware I do love ales brewed with Citra, and this 4.5% offering didn't disappoint. With a lovely fruity aroma, this very pale golden ale had citrus, grapefruit and bitter orange, in the taste, and with a lovely dry bitter finish, Dan said 'tart' - extremely delicious and refreshing indeed, though a bit more pricey at £4.40 a pint!

We walked back to Borough Market, and I suggested we go into Southwark Cathedral (website), where our paternal great-grandparents were married when it was still a parish church, and Dan was very happy we did (so was I) as there was a rehearsal playing for a concert, and a favourite piece of music of his, ie Vaughan Williams 'Lark Ascending' (youtube example for your appreciation if, like me, you'd never heard it before).

We then walked the very short distance to The Rake by Borough Market (twitter page), a regular haunt when we are in the vicinity, and, despite the noisy young clientele (and Fagin!) at the time (they'd obviously been drinking too much during the afternoon!), and when we managed to find a seat inside, we thoroughly enjoyed the Fyne Ales Jarl (3.8% and £4.50 a pint).

Fyne Ales (website) are one of the breweries whose ales I have never been disappointed with, indeed, 4 years ago I placed their Jarl, which I first drank 6 years ago, as my 'champion' session  bitter (blog). OK, this wasn't the best I've ever tasted it, but still good... If you cannot be bothered to look back at the older blog here is how I describe it (if you can be bothered to carry on reading this 😉): "a crackin' dry, pale golden and hoppy ale, with plenty of citrus flavours, nice and bitter, and very refreshing" and brewed with Citra hops, what more can I say?!?

We then wandered another short distance to The Globe Theatre, a slightly smaller replica of the original Globe that Shakespeare used to produce his plays at in the late 16th/early 17th centuries, to see The Two Noble Kinsmen, written in collaboration with John Fletcher.

The Stage

I have to admit I'd never heard of this play, but Dan bought a ticket for me and, as groundlings (standing rather than sitting, but right in front of the stage, quality, and very much part of what goes on!), we enjoyed the play very much. There was so much humour, not to mention pathos, and with some fine performances, notably by the actors playing Arcite, Palamon, Emilia, and the Jailer's Daughter. I wrote my own review of this excellent play, but, unless it reappears, they don't seem to like what I said, which was very appreciative, oh well... Anyway, see their website.

We then caught 2 buses back to Dan's as it was late, cheers!

Old Favourites at The Tower

I've visited The Tower, 251 London Road, Bohemia, Hastings TN37 6NB (tel: 01424 721773) on a few occasions recently, last time a couple of days ago, when I enjoyed drinking a couple of old favourites!  In addition, I enjoyed chatting with the lovely landlady, Louisa, and with a friend, Darren, who's birthday it is today, so Happy Birthday Darren, have an excellent day!

There was a mild and a stout available too, but I'm going to be writing about darker ales very soon, so not in this instance, but, all the way from the beautiful west of Scotland, from Fyne Ales (website), was their refreshing 3.8% session ale Jarl. I've written about this before, and what can I say, it's a dry, pale golden hoppy ale, with citrus flavours, a slightly nutty flavour too, and a fruity aroma. Good old Citra hops are used in the brewing of this ale, and it finishes with a slightly sour bitterness, and at just £3.20 a pint, nice one!

And the ever excellent 5.7%, more than a session ale, indeed a 'revelation', Dark Star (website) Revelation! This is packed with hops, Warrior, Columbus, Crystal, Chinook and Cascade, and dry-hopped too, I seem to remember, so in your face hops! The Revelation is a deep coloured golden ale bursting with flavours with a fruity aroma, tasting of mango, peach and plenty of citrus too, plenty of body with a dry finish, and just £3.50 a pint... Yes, I do love this!

Of course, there are 6 ales in all, plus 5 or 6 real ciders and perry, and the two regular ales are also from the Dark Star Brewing Co. Their 3.8% Hophead, is the regular session ale, brewed with Cascade hops, with more flavours than you would expect for a session ale, indeed, one of my nicknames is 'Hophead Steve' and not just because I'm a 'hophead', but because I regularly drink this pale golden bitter, it is excellent, and costs just £2.90 a pint at The Tower. The other Dark Star ale regularly sold here, at only £3 a pint, excellent value, is their 4.7% American Pale Ale (APA), brewed with Cascade, Centennial and Chinook hops, obviously with more body than the Hophead, and with a greater variety of citrus and tropical flavours too, and a yeast strain from the USA is also used to create this APA style ale, again, an excellent beer!

Many thanks again to Louisa for keeping and serving up excellent ales, and a Happy Birthday again to Darren, cheers! 😎