An Abundance of Cask Ale in the Steel City

Another day of work, another plan for the evening (yes, it does include beer).  This time it was the Sheffield Beer Festival, and our friend Robin (a loyal CAMRA member) was interested in stopping in and offered to drive us to Sheffield.  So with our chauffer at our service, we headed north to the festival.  We parked at the train station, because it was being held nearby, but there wasn’t any advertising, and all I could remember was that it was being held at a center on Pond Street.  We asked directions, and figured out that the only logical place was the Ponds Forge Sports Centre, but looking in the windows all we saw were people working out on exercise bikes.  We were about to give up (a disaster of biblical proportions for me), when I noticed several men with work clothes and huge beer bellies (I don’t think they had ever seen n exercise bike before) walking into the center and into a back room.  We followed the men and my instincts were right, we found our destination.

The 38^th annual Steel City Beer & Cider Festival had over 100 different cask ales to sample, and offered you a choice of sizes.  Your admission got you a souvenir glass that held a full pint (that’s a big sample), as well as lines for ½ pints and 1/3 pints.  I stayed with the 1/3 pint sizes so that I could sample more.  And with three friends with me, there was a good chance that I’d be able to sample even more beers (I was able to try 23 cask ales at the event!!!).  Some of my favorites were:

-       Spire Sgt. Pepper Stout: Obviously a tribute to the Beatles, this stout was flavored just right with ground black pepper.  Really deep and rich, with a hint of liquorice.

-       Wentworth Chili & Chocolate Stout: This beer wasn’t well balanced; the chocolate was sweet followed by the chili flavoring burned the throat on the way down.  But it did it so well, like horseradish on steak, that I LOVED it.  Easily my favorite beer of the evening.

-       On the Edge Berliner: A Sheffield brewery producing a style that is hard to come by.  Light, tart, and refreshing, a great beer to cleanse the palate.

-       Abbeydale Dr. Morton’s Clown Poison: I loved this beer for the name (although I would never advocate poisoning clowns), this golden ale apparently uses a touch of black malt for coloring and flavor.

-       Rudgate Viking: This bitter was not stellar, but the name does give tribute to the Norsemen that occupied northern England in the York area.

-       Revolutions Clash London Porter: Brewery chooses names that pay homage to British pop culture, and in this case it is the Clash.  There London Porter (was London calling?) was appropriately malty.

Lots of beer, but not much food (the beef tongue jerky definitely didn’t cut it), so we headed back to the train station to a local bar that is in the book, the Sheffield Tap.  The Tap is a Thornbridge pub, with many casks and a great bottle selection.  The food menu was limited, so had a foot long ham and cheese sandwich (premade and difficult to screw up).  I had the Thornbridge Brother Rabbit, a well balanced English bitter to wash it down, and chatted about our evening while waiting for our train ride.

It was hard to believe that my trip was coming to end.  I had the opportunity to see a lot and sample a lot of great beer.  It was especially nice to be able to share the experience with some friends. – 6119/12975

“It’s a fair wind that blew men to ale.” – Washington Irving