BEERS #2 - Beyond the Pale

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

All the growler systems I've seen in the UK have been about buying one sturdy vessel to keep for refills.

This is one area the Czechs (and Lithuanians, funnily enough) do a lot better, as people who desire tapped beer rock up with a load of cheap ass brown 1.5L PET bottles that can be sterilised and reused or fully recycled. Low cost all around. They actually have a distinct culture too, I saw this happening in most towns I visited at least at one bar.

Growler culture hasn't taken off in the UK yet, the one nearest me kept the name but gradually shelved the concept. Can machines have been another gimmick (Crowlers) not to take off.

[phes]

I think quite a lot of places have ended up selling and delivering in milk carton type growlers during the pandemic. Definitely seen a lot more photos of them appearing amongst friends

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Oh yeah, that's true. Prematurely wrote that off as a covid thing. Let's see what happens.

[king_tubby]

I love the can machine at the Cardigan Arms - afternoon pint then take a couple home for the evening, a miracle of man's (and woman's) ingenuity!

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

It produces quite a strange smell doesn't it, steamy disinfectant and something a bit more industrial.

When pubs are open I try to only buy beers I can't really get in a pub, so never been tempted.

[Ferris]

I've only ever seen one crowler, seemed like a solution looking for a problem really, especially compared to the humble milk jug.

[Chedney Honks]

Y'all can't not fuck with Schneider Weisse Aventinus. Seems to have everything. Realised just now it's a cross between a dubbel and a Weisse, and more. Feel like doing a Kinga and shoving the bottle up my arse.

[purlieu]

Technically, it's a cross between a doppelbock and a weissbier. But yes, it's just about as good as beer comes really, isn't it?

[Chedney Honks]

Absolutely superb beer. I get a lot of the dried candied fruits and gentle baking spices of a Westmalle Dubbel, but I totally get that it's not actually that, just how it presents to me. I kind of wish it came in closer to 6% because more than a couple slow me right down but I also think it's something to luxuriate in rather than quaff. I'd just enjoy quaffing it, too!

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

A treasured style, Weizenbock, or dark weizendoppelbock if you like.

My absolute favourite German style. Aventinus is totally magnificent.

But still, do try Hopf Bockfotzn, Erdinger Pikantus. Weiherer Weizenbock, Thornbridge Otto, and apparently Gutmann's Weizenbock

[purlieu]

Absolutely superb beer. I get a lot of the dried candied fruits and gentle baking spices of a Westmalle Dubbel, but I totally get that it's not actually that, just how it presents to me. I kind of wish it came in closer to 6% because more than a couple slow me right down but I also think it's something to luxuriate in rather than quaff. I'd just enjoy quaffing it, too!

It's not the same, but a dunkelweizen would be a potential quaffable alternative.

But still, do try Hopf Bockfotzn, Erdinger Pikantus. Weiherer Weizenbock, Thornbridge Otto, and apparently Gutmann's Weizenbock

+ Kössel Brau's Mariator, which basically tastes like a glass of chocolate and banana pudding. Rare as hen's toothed-beaks in the UK, but if you ever see it, grab ten.

[phes]

Fresh cask of dissolution IPA on at the bridge last night. Very good, really impressed. Bit of a cross between an old English dark bitter and West coast IPA. Great to have a really fresh quality cask beer. Looked around the garden, couldn't see a single other person drinking it but us. Apparently Kirkstall's keg beers are much more popular. Bit of a surprise when their best beer is also one of their their cheapest beers and one of the stronger beers

[Chedney Honks]

Cheers for the Aventinus alternatives, folks.

[king_tubby]

Fresh cask of dissolution IPA on at the bridge last night. Very good, really impressed. Bit of a cross between an old English dark bitter and West coast IPA. Great to have a really fresh quality cask beer. Looked around the garden, couldn't see a single other person drinking it but us. Apparently Kirkstall's keg beers are much more popular. Bit of a surprise when their best beer is also one of their their cheapest beers and one of the stronger beers

I do like a Dissolution. A lot more to it than Three Swords. My other half is pissed off that Brexit means they won't be serving their Framboise any more.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/16/trouble-brews-between-trappist-monks-and-belgian-mineral-empire

[Chedney Honks]

Looking forward to trying their new beer! Did you see that?

Hopefully it's a DDH milkshake IPA.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

It's a Triple, their first ever pale beer, widely available in the UK now. Not had it yet though cos I suck arse.

[Chedney Honks]

Oh, I've had that. I didn't even realise that was new because I'm such a noob. I can't remember what it was like, probably like every other very good Tripel.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/300322/hallertau

In case anyone wanted a hop growing board game.

[Ferris]

My hops as of this morning. The other rhizome has finally sprouted, and it looks like I'm getting a second cluster of shoots on this plant as well. I think I need to trim them back at some point but I'm not really savvy enough for that yet. Will have to do some reading.

[king_tubby]

We tried to join a community hop growing project with a local brewery last year but sadly our plant was fucking shite.

Just had a pint in a pub. Felt a bit emotional, to be honest.

[Ferris]

I'm a plant-cretin and I've managed it. Buy one online and stick it in the ground then take photos. Sort it out.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Yes mate, out in York at Blue Bell and The Swan. Great cask pints in both, busy atmospheric. Be the death of us one way or t'other.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Certain sense of mid-refurbishment at Pivni, York, though.

All the Czech beer is absent for the time being, remarkable absence of interest. It is usually a honeypot.

Shambles is deserted too.

[king_tubby]

I've not been to Pivni for years. Do they still have the demon urinal?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I will be finding out shortly.

Meanwhile I will sit here listening to a man wondering why a Porter is called 'Plain' and slagging it off.

[Norton Canes]

Just came here to ask about York, me and Mrs Canes are off there this weekend. Pivni good huh? Where else?

[phes]

As mentioned recently, the bluebell is a cracker if you can get a seat. Great pub great beer. If you're arriving by train then York tap at the station is worth a look beerwise, but I always find it a bit bleak compared to the Sheffield version

[Norton Canes]

Oh we like bleak.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Ok, some York help incoming:

Don't miss:
The Blue Bell. It is tiny, you may have to try a couple of times to get a seat. It's special. Some people's favourite pub in the country, in my top 10 at the minute. The closeness makes everyone really social and chatty, and the reddish tint in the gloom is bunker like and atmospheric.

House of Trembling Madness. Both chains are an institution now and each are distinctive, high chance you will like them.

Community Pubs with very good cask ales, lovely atmosphere and no tourists:
The Swan (Unhelpfully there are a few. Not the Black swan or the White Swan)
The Golden Ball
The Phoenix

Beer above all else:
House of Trembling Madness. There are 2, the one on Lendal is bigger and you have a chance of a seat. Stonegate's is cosier but you will be a lucky bastard to get a free table.
Sheffield Tap (though has very nice decor)
Rook & Gaskill
Brew York Beer Hall
The Maltings
The Market Cat (Thornbridge pub)
Pivni (though at the minute they are having supply issues)

Some ok fallback options
Snickleway Inn
Minster Inn
Ackhorne
Three Tuns
Volunteer Arms

Be wary there are lots of Sam Smiths venues in York, a seriously high amount. One, The Wellington, is remarkably nice considering the Humph-Factor that kills those places. The one that floods all the time is the Kings Arms which can be rough and won't be worth going during social distancing either, though there are lots of riverside tables.

There are also a lot of 'historic' pubs that are touristy and a bit tacky like Ye Olde Starre Inn and The Golden Fleece. They can be underwhelming despite brandishing tales about their haunted past.