April 2024. Sheffield.
After a week away from cask and a morning among the bluebells I was keen to enjoy some lovely “fresh ale” again, and left Mrs RM to her abstinence while I headed towards the station.
Looks a bit of a mess, doesn’t it ? But there’s load going on there, and the building site that is Sheffield Hallam Uni seems finally to be coming together.
I thought about the Tap, but on a whim headed in the Globe, the student pub closest to Hallam.
A year ago they had a superb Doom Bar to soften the blow of City’s annual defeat at Spurs (come on, Spuds !), a year ago it had been heaving. But then Stonegate turned it into a Craft Union, generally A Good Thing, and took the Doom Bar out.
This Sunday, deadly quiet, with barely a student at all. Are they studying or summat ?
Big screens were showing Wednesday keeping survival hopes alive at Blackburn,
the Globe were keeping the UK flavoured cider industry alive on the bar. Oooh, a blend of cider and perry.
“Pint of Cheeky Pig please“
“A pint ! It’s 7.5%“
“Of course ! A pint’s a taster.”
The barman laughed, nervously.
Well, it was spectacularly good, smooth and chewy. My only complaint is that the Globe then put on some competing screens showing Everton with full Goodison roar to compete with the muted screens with Wednesday on. Not pretty.
Back home, I excitedly let the estimable local CAMRA branch know the sad news about the demise of cask, and almost instantly got a reply confirming my fears that those Lilley flavoured beers aren’t REAL cider.
But what is “REAL”, as Descartes might have mused, if he’d attended the CAMRA AGM in Dundee.
retiredmartin 
I can do without all the TV screens covering the walls in Craft Union pubs, but at least they always seem to be busy.
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Some are worse for screens than others. It’s the competition between screens that I can’t cope with, Morten !
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I’m off to the excellent Sheffield next weekend for the snooker finals (not watching, just for the atmosphere). The weather’s turning warmer right on cue so sitting outside the Head Of Steam will be part of the plan. Definitely the Globe too for nostalgia as I first went there 20 years ago.
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Have fun.
Report from the Crucible coming up very shortly, coincidentally.
Half a pint deduction for “right on cue”.
Let us know on here when you’re there and I’d join you for a pint in the Head of Steam if you want. The Brown Bear next door just reopened.
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They just had the one, Pride, on when I last visited, and when it was gone it was gone.
Is this a different, policy thing, then?
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Not that I know of. Plenty of Craft Unions with cask and without.
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The Globe, a rehearsal for life. Nearly 50 years ago it was Stones on electric pump with a Sheffield head that would shock a Burton boy.
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The new CAMRA definition of “real cider” seems to be completely ridiculous and ends up alienating everybody.
That’s unusually traditional-looking Craft Union signage. Were any keg ales available beyond the “usual suspects” smooth bitters?
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I think they had Camden on from memory, but I tend to think of Camden (and Beavertown) as the usual suspects.
I agree on cider. This was still and tasty, with none of the carbonation I used to associate with fake cider.
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I’ve occasionally done blogposts about cider, but it’s not really my field of expertise and commenters always tend to jump down my throat. The basic criterion of “real ale”, than it continues to ferment in the container, just doesn’t apply to cider, so you have to come up with something else.
I sometimes drink bottled ciders at home, but never in the pub apart from at the Stockport Beer & Cider Festival.
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There’s probably 3 or 4 occasions in a year when the cider looks like the better bet, generally when it’s a cider pub of the year with a token cask on.
The Mason’s in New Mills was last time, think that was Lilley’s.
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Does it have to have bits in it?
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Everything should have bits in it.
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I’ve ticked the Royal Exchange in Worcester (Craft Union) unlikely to go back as the TV screens were too dominant and the best option to drink was Staropramen!
Staropramen = Old Source
*shrugs*
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Hi Martin, How’s the gammy leg? Are you still walking like a pissed-up armadillo?
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Pissed up, certainly. I’m looking for those leg support bands if you know what I mean but I need them in blue and white.
Thanks for your concern.
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“But then Stonegate turned it into a Craft Union, generally A Good Thing, and took the Doom Bar out.” That surprises me as last autumn I was in a Craft Union pub and told that it was contracted to sell Doom Bar. They had it in bottles as cask DB couldn’t compete with their two highly regarded real ales. From this spring though Carlsberg Marston are Stonegate’s main supplier and so we can expect Wainwright and Hobgoblin and not necessarily cask now.
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I was surprised as well, Paul. There’s two handpumps serving cider, we’ll see how long that lasts.
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