A quick half at the Wellington.

After leaving the Harlequin, my drinking companion had a need for a pale hoppy number from the Little Ale Cart Brewery. So off we scampered to the Wellington at Shalesmoor, where they make these fine ales on the premises.

This is perhaps my favourite pub in Sheffield. It is at the other end of the spectrum to the likes of the Harlequin. The Wellie is a cosy pub where one can have some of the finest beer in the country in intimate surroundings. I was really pleased to see they had a Blue Monkey ale on tap, which I felt compelled to order.

Blue Monkey brewery Nuts (4.6%). A dark mahogany coloured best bitter with a thin head. This tasty beer has a slightly fruity nose – tones of prunes and lovely full bodied character. Nuts has a complex flavour with great length and a lovely woody flavours. A smashing beer from one of my favourite breweries – 7/10  

Little Ale Cart Brewery Hertfordshire (4%). There is a very fruity nose from this pale ale. Grapefruit and apricot flavours make this a really easy drinking and pleasurable ale. 6.5/10

Johnson Arms Beer Festival Day 1.

I trundled down to the Johnson Arms with three friends in tow for the first day of their beer festival. The first days beers focussed on the Blue Monkey brewery, which is one of my favourite breweries. It was good to see that the Johnson Arms was very busy including a large contingent of the University of Nottingham Real Ale society.

Here is my brief review of the Blue Monkey beers that were available.

Blue Monkey Original (3.6%). It is a dark amber/copper coloured ale with a thin head and sweet nose. Fruity chestnut flavours can be tasted in this smooth drinking beer, which finishes with some tobacco. It is perhaps a bit too sweet to drink lots of and I would like a bit more bitterness at the end. A nice beer, but usually I expect more from Original - 6/10

Blue Monkey BG Sips (4%). BG sips is a pale golden beer with a thick creamy head. It is a lovely hoppy ale with very nice floral and citrus (grapefruit) flavours. The body is light and it is very easy drinking. 8/10

Blue Monkey Evolution (4.3%). Light amber colour with a malty nose. Grassy flavours can be tasted as can floral tones. It has a good bitterness, but is not as complex as the batch I tried at the Notts beer festival. 6.5/10

Blue Monkey 99 Red Baboons (4.2%). Dark ale with malty gingerbread, and slight coffee flavours. It is a very smooth beer which has a warming character. 7/10

Nottingham Beer Festival day 2

Thinking it would be very busy at the beer festival tonight, we decided to go early to ensure we could try some of the ales on our wish list. It was 4.30pm when we arrived and it was busy! By 6.30pm it was extremely busy with everyone packed together like sardines. Of the two days I preferred the Thursday as it was less hectic.

Here are some of the beers I tried:

Fyfe Nagnum IPA (4.5%). This Scottish IPA had a pretty poor nose of sweaty socks and the taste was no better as although it was quite malty it was bland and dull. 3/10

Blue Monkey Infinity (4.6%). So it was then that I went to one of my favourite breweries. Infinity is a very light golden beer.  It has a floral nose and lovely citrusy flavours, which combine with a nice bitterness to make this a great easy drinking ale. 7.5/10

Blue Monkey Evolution (4.3%). Evolution is darker than Infinity and has a subtle nose to it with hints of grapefruit. It is more malty compared to Infinity and has a lovely complex flavour with great length. Slight caramel and violet flavours make this a perfectly rounded ale. 9/10

Blue Monkey Infinity (Left) and Evolution (Right)



Poachers Lincoln Best (4.2%). This is a dark brown bitter with lots of roasted malt and coffee flavours. It is easy drinking and would be nice on a winters day. 6/10

Allgates Motueka Gold (4.2%). Light golden colour with a thin head. The New Zealand hops used make this a really refreshing beer with citrus and floral flavours and a nice bitterness. 7.5/10

Vale VPA (Vale Pale Ale) (4.2%). A well balanced golden beer with a citrus nose, good body and nice bitterness to it. 7.5/10

Strathaven Aleberry (4.6%). This Scottish beer is infused with damsons and you can really tell as it has a very fruity taste. It is easy drinking, but it is a bit too dominated by the fruit. 5.5/10

Backyard Brewhouse Nipin (4.6%). Light golden American style pale ale. It has a slight citrus nose and almost vegetable flavours. Initially it seems a sweet beer, but it is bitter at the finish. 5.5/10

Botley Gringo’s Gold (4.5%). Light golden beer with a thin frothy head. It has a sweet nose with flavours of nectarine. It is very easy drinking due to the sweetness, but it is not complex enough. 5.5/10

Hogswood Broken Piston (4.2%). A nice brown beer with sweet coffee flavours. It is easy drinking and settles nicely in the stomach. 6.5/10

Loddon Ferrymans Gold (4.4%).This amber beer has a floral nose/taste and a good length. 6.5/10

Great Oakley Tailshaker (5%). Another amber ale with a frothy head. It has nice malty and floral flavours and is very smooth to drink. 7/10

Green Mill Zenith (4.5%). Golden ale with a complex nose and hoppy citrus taste. It is a well balanced drinkable ale with good length. 7/10

Blue Monkey 99 Red Baboons (4.2%). This very dark beer has a slightly sweet nose and raisin like flavour. An unusual and really tasty beer. 8/10

Once again the beers had been superb. The highlights had to be the fantastic beers from Blue Monkey. Well done to them.

A trip to two ale houses in Beeston, 30th September 2010.

It is another walk from the University Park into Beeston, but this time with the spectator and another acquaintance in tow. Bellies are rumbling, and the perfect antidote is a combination of dinner and a beer at the Victoria. In the Vic we are claim our seats before ordering refreshments. To me the Blue Monkey Amarillo leaps of the blackboard into a handle glass.

Drink 1. A pint of Blue Monkey Amarillo (3.9%). Amarillo is an orangey gold beer with a thin head. The nose is sweet with honey accents. It is easy drinking but has a great balanced bitterness to it. The Amarillo hops give a nice citrus and floral flavours. A another great beer from a great brewery 8/10.



Blue Monkey Amarillo

Following our refreshments at the Victoria, it is the short 5 minute dash to the Crown Inn. The Crown is a lovely pub that was recently refurbished. The interior is of a very ‘traditional pub’ style. A great selection of beers are on offer, normally at least 12.We approach the hatch at the side of the main bar and after tasting about half the ales available we take our chosen drinks into the parlour.

Drink 2. A pint of Peakstones Crown ING glory (4.2%). It is a red brown colour with a thick head. The nose is toffee and upon tasting coffee and roasted malt flavours come through. 5.5/10

Drink 3. A pint of Leatherbritches CAD (4%).The Leatherbritches brewery has been going since 1993 and is based in Ashbourne at the back of the Bentley Brook Inn. This is a bargain ‘house beer’ at £2 a pint. The beer is dark brown with a thin head. It is a tasty bitter with smoky tobacco flavours as well as hints of raisins. 6.5/10.



Leatherbritches CAD



A trip to the Victoria Hotel in Beeston

Victoria Hotel Beeston 26^th Sept 2010.

7.30pm on a Sunday evening the 2 mile walk in a South-West direction starts from University Park. It is is a well trodden path which helps build up an anticipation and appetite for what awaits. As I walk into Dovecote lane I see the Victoria at the end of the road and a train pull into Beeston station next to it. The Vic is traditional 19^th century station hotel opposite the old Beeston brewery. On entry to the Vic I take a right turn into the cosy taproom. The interior obviously has a ‘classic pub’ feel to it, but the walls are covered with ancient brewery paraphernalia.

                Next to the bar is the list of drinks available, which includes 13 real ales – decisions, decisions. In the end it is quite an easy decision for the first drink, as I am a big fan of the Blue Monkey brewery from nearby Ilkeston.

Drink 1. A half pint of Blue Monkey 3.6% Original. Blue Monkey started brewing in 2008 and I have always been a fan of everything they have produced. This combined with the relatively local nature of the brewery meant a half of Original was an obvious starting point for the night. Colour-wise Original has a dark amber or aged-oak look to it. It is wonderful session ale, with warming malts along chestnut tones balanced beautifully with a slight hint of citrus. It has a great length which leaves you wanting another sip immediately. Hop-wise it contains Pilgrim and Styrian Goldings.  It is an extremely satisfying drink for any occasion. A finer bitter as you will ever find. 9/10.

Drink 2. A half pint of Nottingham Rock bitter (3.8%). Wanting to keep to local breweries it was to the Nottingham brewery which is based in Radford at the back of the Plough Inn. Rock Bitter is a different beast than what most first time drinkers would expect from a bitter. Rock bitter was first brewed in the 19^th century as an easy drinking ale for Nottingham factory workers. It is a light gold in colour and was a forerunner to an IPA (Indian Pale Ale) style of beer. Upon tasting the Rock Bitter is drier or greener and more bitter than the Blue Monkey Original. It has very little nose at it is first served. It is very drinkable, but doesn’t have the cosy nature that would want to make you drink it on a winter’s day sat by a roaring fire with a steak pie – what a good bitter should do. Flavour-wise, you get hints of caramel and floral notes. It is a solid easy drinking beer, but I feel it lacks character. One point to note that as the drink warmed up it improved remarkably. I feel it was served at too low a temperature. As it warmed a sweeter nose came to the fore which made it a far more enjoyable drink. 6/10.

Drink 3. A half pint of Oldershaws Regal Blonde (4.4%). The Oldershaws brewery is Grantham based  and has been running for nearly 15 years now. Regal Blonde is very light in colour with a hint of a floral nose. It is brewed with Czech German hops to make a larger style of beer. I very much liked the beer when first tasted, but was left slightly disappointed as I would have hoped for some hop excitement at the end. It is an uncomplicated larger style beer, which would be a great introduction into real ale. 5.5/10.

Drink 4. A half pint of Hopback GFB (3.5%). The Hopback breweries history goes back to 1986. I normally associate drinking beer from Hopback with my trips to the New Forrest normally within a few miles of their Downton brewery. GFB stands for Gilbert's First Brew and was first made in 1996. GFB is a very golden beer. It is blonde but with bitterness. It has that very distinctive Hopback character, which I associate with a dry finish to their beers. In GFB’s case, it comes from the use of Kent Goldings hops. The beer has an unusual slightly smoky character to it. 5/10.





Fullers ESB



Drink 5. A half pint of Fullers ESB (5.5%). ESB is a dark amber colour and has a fruity nose; most notable on the nose is prunes. On the palette dates and prunes continue with tastes of bonfire toffee to make a wonderfully complex warming bitter with hints of sweetness. The length to the beer is fabulous. It is no surprise that ESB was originally brewed in 1971 as a winter brew. At 5.5% it is not a session beer, but it is very drinkable and something that you will stick to once you have started drinking it. It also strikes me as a beer that would be wonderful to cook with, for example a rich stew.  It is a lovely unusual dark beer which has a Christmas or wintery nature to it. 8/10.