Haven’t got long as I’m off to IndyManBeerCon soon; I know you’re all jealous, it’s gonna be awesome.
Say hello if you see me in my Banks’s sweatshirt. Or sponsor me to ask “Which one tastes most like Doom Bar?”.
Back in Sheffield, we left the red light district for the bright lights of the city.
Some pleasing fonts and heritage remain.
Mrs RM and James left me at this stage to buy shoes while I sought out vinyl and ticked pubs.
Starting at Bar Stewards, opposite the magnificent Shakespeare. Now I know I was only in here a fortnight ago, but some of you thought buying a can of murk for Mrs RM shouldn’t count as a tick, and I hate to break the rules.
Firmly in the small craft bar camp of micro pubs, it’s about as busy as any bar on the edge of centre would be at 3pm on a Saturday; a mixed bag of blokes with CAMRA mags, mums and beardies (the last two may not be mutually exclusive).
You’ll recognise the styling, and the beer range, from Bradford or Halifax or Chorlton.
I go for Blue Bee, which is local and reliable, and enjoy it a lot (NBSS 3.5) while wishing I’d had the keg Wylam.
Friendly, polite, inclusive, good beer, proper seating, great soundtrack (Phosphorescent), strong murk to take home for Mrs RM. What more do you want ?
A bit of Sheffield grit, that’s all.
retiredmartin 
Ward’s was a proper beer until they were bought out and it was then made by Vaux, at which time it became shite and just not the same beer (head always seemed to cake). I would contend that all beers that ‘were originally made in one place but are now brewed elsewhere by another company’, are pale imitations of their former selves.
Nice to see you going into places that you wouldn’t let me go into – just confirming I can sniff out these potential GBG entires eighteen months off.
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But I thought Wards had been owned by Vaux since 1972 and so none of us on here will remember their beer from before the buyout. I don’t recall any Wards beer from Sunderland after the Sheaf Brewery closed in 1998.
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No, never produced at Sunderland. Both breweries closed on the same day. Wards was always a favourite of mine and never seemed to be affected by the generally piss poor Vaux brewing influence.
I do agree that displaced beers generally lose their original character though.
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How about all the craft breweries that have moved from one industrial unit or railway arch to another?
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You’re right in principle, but it wasn’t open when we passed, was it ?
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No, but we could have gone back to the Kelham Island and waited!
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… entries!
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Much better 🙂
Looks like the sort of place that gets very loud due to lack of soft furnishings, but will definitely call in when I’m next near the Shakey for that beer range. I mean, quality.
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Saved yourself there, Chris.
NB I will endeavour to revisit the Station House when next up in Durham ticking pubs in Darlo.
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Surely your question at Indyman has to be “Have you anything as good as Doom Bar?”.
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Nothing is that good, though the 12.5% cask aged sour may have been close if served in a pint glass.
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