Long Time Coming...

So as you all are very aware, it's been over 2 years since my last post! Disappointing I know and so much has developed in the real ale and craft beer scene in Leeds since. Luckily I have picked up a few very knowledgeable friends over the last two years and I try to learn all I can from them obviously in the process of drinking some amazing beers.

What I thought I would do in the next few posts is recommend some amazing new and old pubs that I have been spending far too much time at in the last two years.

As most of my friends know I can be quite often found at my second home, North Bar and if I didn't start with this one I think a fair few people would mock me. With an amazing beer selection covering all price ranges and a wide variety of characters visiting there is always something for everyone. 

It can be quite helpful that I have made fantastic friends Erin who has been working at North Bar for quite a while, she is one of most passionate women I have ever met about beer. I have learnt so much from her and she has introduced me to so many different beers and taught me about the different beer styles. This is what I love about North, the approachable staff will always jump to suggest a beer and usually always have a fantastic eye for what their customers may be looking for.

As I am there quite often, my friend Sam and I frequent North Bar's own brew. Prototype (3.8% at £2.90 pt), this one of their most in-expensive beer and brewed only for the North Bar chain (I'll talk more about that later). 

The staff went to Kirkstall Brewery and made 5 different prototypes of ale that they wanted to showcase North's style and appeal to their customers. They tested the 5 prototypes and got their customers to vote for their favourite. If I remember rightly I voted for their Prototype 5 but Prototype 3 won (booo).

Even so it's a lovely pale to amber, easy drinking beer and a good start up beer for when you arrive. This gives you time to peruse their wide selection of cask and bottled ale!

As I have changed job recently I don't find myself in the city centre any more so I needed to find another amazing local for me to pop into. The second I would like to mention is Arcadia in Headingley,  this pub, like North is also mentioned in the Good Beer Guide every year.

 I also have made another fantastic friend called Brook who is another very clever lady when it comes to all things beer (I'm collecting girl beer drinkers like Pokemon cards!), she also works at Arcadia with a few more beautiful ladies who you can go visit. Now don't get put off by the potential dreaded 'Otley Runners' (18 pub, student pub crawl, messy messy messy), Arcadia has put strict rules in place to avoid the fancy dressed students or even any groups arriving for that matter, so we can still keep the peace for all the regulars (you can still prebook a group visit if you wanted).  

Graham the manager is another of my new found friends who is fantastically knowledgeable about beer and I love how particular he is about what beers he does have in stock, he is so willing to pass any trinkets of information to any customers that goes his way.

 I find in Arcadia the turn over of beers is brilliant, even within the hour of you arriving two of the pumps have already changed over. With Timothy Taylor Landlord and Black Sheep as a standard on the taps the variation for known breweries to unknown breweries always keeps the drinker on their toes.  

For instance I tried Black Sheep's Russian Imperial Stout for the first time and my goodness it was delicious, dangerous but delicious, Also Magic Rock Brewery's (swiftly turning into on of my favourite brewery) Magic 8 Ball. Neither are for the feint hearted with a very high percentage but delicious beers all the same!

Also you find with Arcadia, there are some interesting characters. For instance I had one of the most compelling conversations with Michael, who is a regular at Arcadia and we were having a drink and a very in depth discussion about beer (he used to work at the head quarters of Bass beer when it was located up north in Leeds!!). He brought over a pint for me and told me

"So this is my beer".

To which I replied "oh thanks, this is the beer you're drinking?"

"Oh no no, this is my beer. I am the head brewery at Elland Brewery and this is my beer I have been developing. It should taste of passion fruit and almonds what do you think?".

I was in shock!

Not only had I been blabbing on about beers but I was completely oblivious to whom I had been talking to. Not only that, he had asked my opinion! So we sat there as I have done on many occasions with lots of people dissecting and critiquing the flavours, clarity and colour of the beer. Not only this time could I sit there and make these comments but he was going to take my suggestions and correct this for the next batch he made! Once in a lifetime experience and I enjoyed every minute of it!

So, not that I am biased or anything but I would highly recommend the Elland Brewery's Beat A created by my new friend Michael and obviously tweaked by yours truly.

 (I'm under no illusions that he actually went and made the changes i suggested but in my head he did and the beer will taste better for it HA!)

Next on my list is a new pub to Leeds and it's called Friends of Ham, located just next to the train station in Leeds city centre. Its deceiving entrance looks like it's going to a bit of a squash but as you venture downstairs the is a lovely, homely seating area. It has been open for about a year and a half and it's quickly pushing its way through onto the food and beer scene in Leeds.

 They specialize in charcuterie so lots of nibbles to go with the beers. They have a wider selection of bottles than tap and some fantastic wine but still a lovely way to spend a cold winters day tucked away to forget the miserable weather. One of my favourite new pubs in the city centre.

There has been such a change in Leeds these are just 3 that are some of my favourites and I shall continue writing about the others that have caught my eye. 

Next to come....

The Reliance

Social

The Adelphi

Alfreds

Whitelocks

Brewdog Leeds

The Grove

East of Arcadia

The Botanist

Tetley

The Bridge

Brew-denell Beer Fesitval

Middlesbrough side

Dr Phil's Real Ale House

and more that I am sure I have forgotten and any others that you may suggest?

Let me know in the comments below!

  

Guest Post - Peter Bland - Hartlepool and the best pub next to the station!

Real ale, real football and real good company

The 12.30pm train from Middlesbrough to Hartlepool pulls in to the station and we board in high spirits, the Westwood Wanderers are marauding again!

The Wanderers are a close knit local community whose neighbourliness on this occasion extended to indulging the passion of an expat from New Zealand for football and fine ales who, starved of experiencing both in their purest form, needed a fix before returning down under.  

Conversation on the train revolved around the delights likely to be served up on the football pitch, given Hartlepool’s recent poor form, and the stark contrast likely to be served up in the pub before the game.  We had prior knowledge of our chosen destination and the “little gem” known as the Rat Race Alehouse had, due to a previous expedition to Victoria Park, provided our beer taste receptors with sufficient memory to have us salivating in expectation.  For those who have not had the pleasure of visiting the Rat Race in Hartlepool and wish to do so and experience the full surprising effect, then read no further as this text contains spoilers. The experience will have best effect if you visit the place blind but safe in the knowledge that if you do and like real ales, you are in for a treat.

The Pub, if you can really call it such, is a converted waiting room accessed directly off the station platform at Hartlepool.  From a small hut, in the corner of one average sized living room, the barkeep serves real ale of exceptional quality given the cramped nature of his facility. On one wall beermats ingeniously fixed to plastic pipes act as place holders to the multitude of choice in real ales either as past, present or future delights. You can’t help browsing the array and saying to yourself “I’ve sampled  that, hmm that one was nice, that one sounds good.”

On the opposite wall the menu for the day was proudly displayed on a traditional chalkboard with the following on offer :-

1. Great Heck - Life Begins - 4.0%Pale ale with Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand (believe it or not given our company) , brewed specially for the York Beer Festival 15^th 17^th September 2011 Organiser’s 40^th birthday. Went down very swiftly!
2. Gundog - Gundog - 4.5%

Described as a traditional bitter, amber in colour with a crisp bitterness and spicy aroma to finish, Nice!

3. RCH - East Street Cream - 5.0%

Full bodied and fruity chestnut bitter with a good combination of malt and hops. All the way from Somerset to Hartlepool, well-travelled! 

Plus but no description notes

4. Bartram's - Captain's Stout - 4.8%

5. Oliver's - Medium Cider - 6.5%

6. Broadoak - Premium Perry - 7.5%

An evening (or afternoon in this case) visiting a real ale establishment is much more than a visit to the pub and this trip to the Rat Race did not disappoint.  Sampling new ales, finding a new favourite or revisiting an old favourite brew, always makes for a memorable occasion. Sharing first thoughts on your chosen tipple, having a sip from a neighbour’s glass, discussions of colour, texture, flavour and smell ensure worthy homage is paid to craft of the brewer and make certain the ale and conversation flows. 

There’s another trip across the water in the offing but I have asked if we can stay in the “pub” rather than going to the game!

Blandinio

Guest Post - Curtis Radcliffe - St. Bees

St.Bees is a small quite village located on the coast of West Cumbria. It's probably most famous for being the starting point of the Wainwright Coast to Coast walk or maybe for being the place Edmund Blackadder himself Rowan Atkinson was educated, but more importantly it has 4 pubs which all serve real ale and it's this last fact which helped me decide to choose the sleepy little town as the subject of my post. So last Saturday me and my good friend Chris headed down to St.Bees to try a couple of choice ales from a couple of the local pubs.

The first pub we went to was the Queens. The Queens used to be somewhat of a regular haunt for me and my friends during our sixth form days, it was a little run down, but always had friendly atmosphere and good ale to spare. The Queens is now under new management and they seem to have done a reasonably good job of renovating the old pub, while still hanging on to the traditional feel of a real ale pub. We did note however the flower vases on tables, which were clearly not in the dining area and a rather cheap looking coffee print which looked like it was bought in Wilkinson’s were a bit out of place in a real ale pub. The Ordinance Survey maps and walking guides on the wall along with the roaring fire more than made up for those shortfalls though.


Anyway onto the ale, we both decided to start with a pint of Banks's Fine Fettle. It was a light, fresh ale that you wouldn’t normally associate with winter, it certainly seemed an ale more suited to a summer afternoon than a cold winter evening. On first taste we both agreed on a citrusy flavour, not that of lemon or lime, but something a little sweeter more like orange and a strong woody finish, something akin to walnut. At this point I feel I should point out, neither of us have any experience or knowledge of ale tasting so we might be talking complete rubbish, but I can safely say it was one tasty pint.

The next pub we visited sits across the road only 7m away from the first. The Manor House unlike the Queens has not been recently renovated and in all honesty is all the better for it. It has a much more traditional pub feel, you know the exposed beams, copper wall ornaments, beer mats hanging behind the bar and all that. The atmosphere in the Manor was notably more friendly as soon as you stepped through the door, which is why we stayed for two pints rather than the scheduled one.

For our second drink we both went for a pint of Adnams Explorer. It was a less complex ale than Fine Fettle and lacked the depth of multiple flavours, it was also slightly stronger than any of the other ales we had that day. One notable flavour we both detected was honey. Not the runny, syrupy stuff you normally see in bear shaped bottles on American tv, but real old man honey. The hard kind, which you have to dig out with a knife and although its undeniably sweet, there is a slight bitter taste that comes with it.


ooking back on our notes for the last two ales, I think the conversation had begun to flow quite freely and we had become slightly distracted from our task at hand as or analysis had become a little lightweight. I chose to end the trip with Thwaits Wainwright which I thought would be quite fitting considering our location. It was far lighter in colour than the previous two ales I tried and was notably bitterer, almost tart. Chris went for a pint of St. Austall's Tribute Premium Cornish Ale, no doubt chosen for the brilliant name. Looking back at his notes all he managed in way of a description was “creamy” but having checked back with him for clarity he assured me it was a delicious pint.

After our three ales we decided to head back home, both thoroughly satisfied and reasonably amused as we read through our attempts at describing the alcoholic beverage that we both love.

Guest Post - Martin 'Me Da' Deacy - Car free day

So after giving up alcohol for the month of January I wanted to keep the post coming in. So I've asked a few family members, friends and family friends in fact to doing me massive favour of going out...having a pint or 5 .... then writing a little bit about it! As you can imagine friends have already voiced their jealousy about my perfectly good excuse to go have a swift pint for research purposes (not that you need a reason!). So I thought I would lend the excuse about for a month, so first up my Dad's submission!  

Organising to get to Whitby on the train and taking in the wonderful Birch Hall Inn at Beck Hole sounds complicated, but in the end it was a “walk in the park “ or should I say a walk on the Moors . Leaving Middlesbrough at 10.38 and arriving at Grosmont at 11.44, then walking the 2 easy miles along the old cinder railway track gave us plenty of time to build up a thirst. A herd of 15 deer crossed our path and made a great start to the New Year. At the Birch Hall Inn we got the usual friendly welcome from the bar staff and the locals. A pint of “Beck Watter” from North Yorkshire Brewery kicked the day off. It reminded me of Cameron’s No 3 (If you can remember that far back) but with a lighter, less “darker” taste as the other half described it. Young’s Winter Warmer (5%) soon followed, a more complex and fruiter offering with a bitter aftertaste but just as distinctive and well kept. The dogs and the locals came and went and soon it was time for us to retrace our steps back to Grosmont and finish our outward journey to Whitby.

Decisions, decisions, decisions, where to drink in Whitby.? Local or tourist, new or old, off the beaten track or hidden gems? After the ubiquitous fish and chips we opted for the Award winning Black Horse on Church St and refreshed ourselves with a Whitby Abbey, a light and tasty beer from Black Dog Brewery. The easy drinking nature suited everyone till the Winter Tyne, a darkish bitter ale from the Mordue Brewery called out to be sampled. This full bodied nature didn’t suit the better half who returned to the Abbey (if only).

Over the market square to the spacious Shambles with the best view of the Esk in all of Whitby. Loads of seats as it’s out of season, so we sat with a 5 Wold Rings, from the Wold Top Brewery, an easy, citrusy drink with bags of taste.

Oops look at the time, the trains due in 25 minutes, and just enough time to visit one more pub.? Our local Sam Smith's pub doesn’t sell real ale, so when we saw Old Brewery Bitter hand pulled in the Jolly Sailors on the harbour side we had to have a go , and it was well worth it After that rarity we raced for the train making it with ease in the end. After a strange game of cards with floating rules we arrive back home, a stress free day with no driving and lots of great memories. Looks like it’s going to be a yearly fixture now.   

Another Deacy Family York Day Out.

We have always done this in the Deacy family, go to York for a day in the run up to Christmas. It's always freezing but as we have gotten older and wiser we have discovered that less Christmas shopping works best! Only because it involved Dad standing outside shops for a few hours on his own (I brought along the "Whats Brewing" CAMRA newspaper to keep him occupied for the few shops we went into this year.)

Now we do less Christmas shopping and more real ale drinking as there are thousands of real ale pubs in York.So where to start??

First stop the  Blue Bell on FossGate. 9 pumps on. I had Rooster Highroad Treason Treacle Ale. Dad got a Whispa IPA from the WharfeBank Brewery which was a really deep amber with a very fruity taste. Mum got an old favourite, Timothy Taylor's Landlord and Ella our resident cider drinker got a Westerns Cider which was as clear as water but at 7% she was very happy with!

The bar itself was amazing, tiny but amazing. It has such an impressive bar it just seems to take over the whole front room. The cozier, warmer back room was clad with a dark wood and it felt really homely. The corridor between the two rooms even has it's own drinkers lay-by with a fold away seat! Worth a visit if your in the city centre.

After a bit more shopping the warmth from the beer was wearing off so we had another stop to grab some food. We passed the home of York Brewery, as mentioned before the only brewery inside the castle walls and the pub was called The Last Drop Inn. The name actually comes from the hanging of infamous highway man Dick Turpin, who it was supposed was hanged in the building. There is lots about the history on the walls of the pub. Goodness, I wouldn't like to be in there on my own on a dark night..... actually what am I thinking with all that beer? I'd love it ghost or no ghost (they did actually have York Brewery Ghost Ale on...was it a sign?).

I got a pint of YB festive ale  Humbug which had the taste of dark burnt toffee and Dad had a pint of the  guest ale Ptamigan from the Moles Brewery . There was a bit of a mix up with the food but the sausage advertised that if you bought two portions you got a pint of ale free sounded amazing, but alas they had none left so we were forced to get a couple of their delicious roasts! Also they do 10% off with your CAMRA card, it was the first chance I had had to use it. so it took our bill down quite a bit I was very excited to use it!

Again we went to get some shopping done Mark & Sparks style, and that was just a nightmare with people everywhere, we were starting to get tired and what usually happens with tiredness in York is we end up at The Maltings. I have made my mind up on that pub. I don't want to feel scrutinised when I go for my 'I'm tired' sit down drink so Dad thought of somewhere over the river in MickleGate famous for it's stags and hens infestation but well worth the wander over on a Sunday afternoon to the oasis that is Brigantines. Not far from the station and preferable to the other previously mentioned pub.

There were 8 casks ales on  and the beer we drank was very well kept. It was really roomy with lots of seating, their Sunday lunch was coming to the end so there were tit-bit's left over on the bar. I managed to bag myself a nifty little fishcake. Really Tasty! So we had some Leeds Best from the Great Heck Brewery, and dad got a Black Sheep's Wooly Jumper which both were really nice, even went down easily when we realised we were late for the train!

Anway that is my story about the 'shopping' in York and I still need to buy mum some slippers. Oh well another day, finally getting into the Christmas spirit after we have got our tree up in Leeds. I can only assume there will be a few beers over this festive period.... any suggestions just let me know!

North Bar Pop Up Bar.

So i read about this pop up bar North Bar were doing in Kirkgate Market especially for the christmas shoppers.

So I went down with my friend Francesca from work who was up for trying something new so we arrived and to be honest nearly missed it! It was set up in one of the stalls and if you know Kirkgate Market when you go in the left hand side front entrance.

They had two drinks on, either Fullers German Pilsner or a mulled cider. The Fullers actually tasted quite good despite the fact it was from a transportable pump. Fran decided there was hints of citrus and honey and for a none ale drinker it went down very quickly!

I had the mulled cider which was a godsend in the cold market, he even stuck a cinamon stick in it for me! It tasted alot like a baked apple. Which was nice but a bit too sweet for me.

Also they had some pork pies from the yorkshire pie company which is on butchers row accompanied by so local chutney from a company called Pudsey Pickles they had an array there but my favourite was the one with jalepenos in it! YUM. Along with the black pudding and pork, pork pie it was a pretty tasty hour or so.

I really want to go this week, they promised singers and entertainment this week and with a few more bodies I think it is a really good idea!

Dry Bar

So I've just read an article in the Guardian about a new bar that has just opened in Liverpool for recovering alchoholics but it has also become quite popular with the Muslim community which I think is really great. Anyway have a look at the article and see what you think.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2011/nov/07/liverpool-alcohol-free-bar?INTCMP=SRCH