July 2026. Sandbeds. Keighley.
Two hours into Day 6 of the Cask Camino; time for a posh pub break on the very edge of Riddlesden,
technically in Sandbeds though I can’t see that on the canal walk map. In fact, ChatGPT told me it was the best pub in Keighley, and you’ll know that ChatGPT is infallible.
I’d been to the Airedale Heifer just after COVID but obviously couldn’t be bothered to write about, which makes it almost unique among pubs visited since I started blogging.
Just as well we have Kentish Paul to elegantly write about it, and that wire sculpture of the UK’s heaviest ever cow out front.
Perhaps my phone had died (in my arms tonight), and I couldn’t then capture what still feels like a Brunning & Price with performative shiny brewery.
You’re greeted with a flight of Mini Mout ciders, and a quick peer over the bar reveals not one of the cask taps dripping.
Until the gent before me orders the strong Holy Cow,
and when I follow his lead he bellows “Good choice !“, which it is, though not for the reason he thinks.
Mrs RM just wants a soda, rather than the tonic water I often order her by accident, but her first sip of my 5.6% pint reveals she’s picked the wrong day to go sober.
I thought there homebrew was a bit “meh” (CAMRA approved beer sommelier term) on my visit, but this was cool and rich and gorgeous (VERY GOOD).
And then I heard the cow MOO, probably to signify a plate emerging from the kitchen, and I remembered with horror what the Heifer had done to offend me back then.
retiredmartin 