A short post on the rest of Tuesday’s return to the Valley of Beer, which proved a few points;
- You can get high quality beer in pubs on a Tuesday afternoon
- CAMRA get 92.7% of their Beer Guide selections right
- Sheffield is a wise choice for your University
- That orange scarf suits Simon
The last of those may be most subject to debate.
Next stop was the Kelham Island Tavern, which some of you may have heard of. In the 2000s it won “Best Pipers Crisps Outlet” two years in a row. The certificates are still on the wall, and rightly so.
It’s another gorgeous multi-roomer, with proper bench seating, beer mats, and professional drinkers at 3pm midweek.
Another great place for #PubMen to talk about the remotest pub* we’d been to, the status of the Cooper’s Tavern and other “stuff” only Richard will remember.
Last time here I had a half of Nutty Black (don’t ask); this time I was definitely going for something hoppy and local.
“Ugh, who’d have that Jamaican Stout with rum in it ?” said Richard.
So I had the Jamaican Stout from That Leyton. It was cool and magnificent, NBSS 4.5 if I’m honest.
Richard enjoyed a lengthy conversation in Yorkish with the landlord, a jolly man.
Another pub as good as it ever was. As was this one;
I scored The Shakespeare highly for beer when it reopened 5 years ago, and just as highly now. Astonishingly, it was also as busy as the Fat Cat and the Kelham, which is quite a shock when you’re used to being the only customer in a pub at 4pm.
I think we all had the “new” Barnsley Bitter, which showed you just how a good a beer you can get for £2.50 these days (NBSS 4). I think this discovery prompted some rare nostalgic memories of the Strawberry in Anfield, run by much missed Oakwell brewery.
Simon missed the upstairs music room, which features 3 classics from Pub Curmudgeon’s collection. Perhaps.
Top pub clock too.
And so back to the station and the SheffieldTap. Not my sort of place, far too many beers on etc. etc.
But finding a table dead on 5pm cheered us up, and you can’t deny it’s an attractive place, even if folk are brushing past you all the time looking for the loo.
Opinion on the Bristol Beer Factory varied, but I reckoned it better than 80% of the ale I’ve had in the last month (NBSS 3.5).
My notes are a little hazy at this point. I wish they’d said “STOP NOW. DON’T GO TO THE RUTLAND“. But there you go.
Finally, here’s a sneak preview of Richard’s notes. Hope they’re not as controversial as the notes Dick and Dave took last year.
*Have a guess. Go on.
retiredmartin 
My notes are never controversial. It’s what I write from them that is controversial!
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Nice to see a Dundee United fan getting out and about
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Stockport is a much more a seat of controversy.
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Nope, none of those three in my collection, although I do have “Can’t Buy a Thrill” and the Dan’s Greatest Hits collection “Reelin’ in the Years”. I did have a vinyl LP of “Katy Lied” but never rebought it on CD.
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I have (had) “Pretzel Logic” on LP. Big “Dan” fan. 😎
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Bought a collection of ’60s and ’70s vinyl (1,000 odd) off an old hippy at work in the late ’80s, included all the Dan LPs. All signed by the old hippy oddly.
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Pretzel Logic really deserves to be better know, don’t you think? Every track a winner. I especially enjoy “With a Gun,” as it sounds entirely different from anything else they recorded– almost like a Rubber Soul-era Beatles song.
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Excellent scarf wearing from Simon, properly wrapped round with none of this larks footing that most scarf wearers seem to go in for nowadays.
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Enjoy the way you always use such precision on the stats. Are you sure this crawl didn’t last 3 days?
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It feels like it when you’re on a pub crawl with two Yorkshiremen ;-(
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Love the photo of Richard having “a lengthy conversation in Yorkish.” I confess I’m not sure if the bit about winning “Best Pipers Crisps Outlet” was a joke or not!
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Pipers no laughing matter !
It did win CAMRA National pub of the year twice in a row, which may be better known.
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I loved the Kelham Island when I went there, it was a darn site busier though as I went on a Sunday. Well done for having a go on the Brodie’s Jamaican Stout, one of my favourite breweries, love their pub Soho
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Enjoyed your Sheff post.
https://ladysinksthebooze.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/a-few-drinks-in-sheffield/
I loved their Soho pub, and the King William IV in Leyton. Stout needs to be spot on to be good, and it was at the Kelham.
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Hard to say how controversial our notes are when you cannot read your own handwriting. Richard does use a much more stylish pen that we do.
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That’s right, blame the pen !
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