Hunt for the Driest Cider #1 Savanna Premium Cider - Mini blog

When I'm not in a beer mood I am normally in a cider mood. Now I like all my drinks (apart from beer) really dry. Now I wasn't in the mood for an ale tonight so I opted for the only cider in the shop which didn't say Medium dry cider. It just said Dry.

It has a dry cider smell. A dry but sweet taste and a dry aftertaste. I would still only call this a medium dry cider. The hunt continues.

Bamber out

Cheshire Brewhouse Visit 22nd January 2017 - Mini Blog

I was doing some cover work in Congleton on Sunday and on the way in I saw a chalkboard saying brewery tap this way. I thought I must try that sometime. After work I was driving back when I saw the sign again. I quickly turned around and thought. Why not? Lets try it. I followed the signs for about a mile when I finally made it to an industrial unit with 'Cheshire Brew House' on the front.

I go through this door and a sign says upstairs for bar. I get half way up the stairs when this young enthusiastic boy bounds up to me. Informing me his dad isn't here at the moment. I carry on up the stairs where I am greeted by a lady who informs me that the brewer is not here and that she can't do the bar, But she can sell bottles. I thought I would get some bottles for when im home.

The bar was like an attic with wooden tables with a few pumps. Nice and cozy. Because it is on top of a brewery it had a lovely brewery smell. There were lots of different bottles. Mostly from themselves with a couple of exceptions. I chose 3. A strong one and a couple of average ones. All sensibly priced.

After I buy these I get talking to the lady who tells me all about her husband the brewer and things happening with the brewery with their son enthusiastically chirping in at points. After about 20 minutes of talking I had to go so could not wait for the brewer to return. A really enjoyable experience and a cracking find. I look forward to my next visit where hopefully Ill be able to stay for few more drinks and to meet the brewer.






Bamber our.

Stockport 15th January 2017

My turn to drive today :( But we decided on a Pub crawl around Stockport. It was quite late when we started (around 6pm) so we were not expecting to get many pubs done. But we still got round 4 pubs.

First pub of the day was the Red Bull. We were desperate for food as we had not eaten all day and from past experiences we know that the food is excellent here. So it was to our horror that when we arrived we were told we had missed last orders for food. My dad had a pint of unicorn which he says was well kept. I was on coke. The joys.

After driving around countless pubs only to be told there full or they have stopped doing food. Determined not to end up at Wetherspoons like normal we eventually found a space at the Golden Hind in Offerton next door to Stockport. This is a big sports pub owned by Greene King. After having ran out of most things we wanted to order we settled for 2 chicken burgers. They were very tasty. There was no real ale on and dad being faced with either smooth flow or Cider opted for a Cider. Which he said was nice but cold. For a pub company such as Greene King who have Many a decent cask ale in the back catalogue you would think they would be able to get at least one on in this pub. Especially if its that busy it runs out of most things on the menu.

After this we drove back into Stockport for some real ale. It was my round so I thought I would take us to the cheapest, smallest but one of the best pubs in Stockport. The Queens Head. This is a Sam Smiths pub and only sells Sam Smiths products but there always cheap and tasty. I have been told the bar is both listed on the inside and out and anyone who would want to change it must be mad. It has the original bar pumps with the new ones they are using neatly slotted around them and a nice old wooden bar. In the back there is a small room with a fire, its all very nice and cozy. and for 2 drinks you get a considerable amount of change back from a fiver. Very impressed

To finish the crawl we went to my favorite pub in Stockport. The Remedy Bar & Brewhouse.
Remedy is set out in a steam punk style with a bar at the back middle. with a room on each side. There is an amazing floor made of pennies around the bar and there are plenty of pumps with lots of beautiful beers for you to drink. In the corner there is a Window which gives you a great view of the brewery. There is often live music on but not while we were there. I had my one and only pint of the night. Black Perle by the Weird Beard brewery which was lovely and sweet. One of the guys behind the bar (not mentioning any names) is a great laugh as well. He also has a great taste in beers (most the time)

Bamber Out

Leeds 7th January 2017

Very spur of the moment decision to book a cheap hotel and do a ale crawl in Leeds. Quite a few people have suggested Leeds so I thought. Why not.

We stopped in the ibis in the center and while chatting to the guy at reception he said there was a pub with a microbrewery just up the road. So we set off up the hill and round the corner found the Fox and newt. I decided to try the beer from the Burley Street brew house (the microbrewery on site) and had a nice pint of 'the brickyard beer.' we checked out the menu on the table and decided we would eat here. I had the burger and it was beautiful. And cheap.  A very nice pub my only complaint would be the music was to loud to have a conversion.

Next we decided to walk into the center. Walking past lots of different pubs we finally settled on the Bowers tap. This is a modern Craft ale bar. A tad chain pub like. Beer was very good. Had a pint of the Raven Bourbon Milk by the Sonnet 43 Brewery. Very sweet and very tasty. The main problem with this pub was the heat. It was boiling. After 10 minutes we downed our pints and left because of the heat.

After this we decided to trust the Good Beer Guide and walked to Whitelocks. My favorite thing about Leeds is how you have the main shopping street with lots of alleyways and Ginnels with lots of backstreet pubs. Whitelocks is one of these pubs . Whitelocks is a very old and fantastic real ale pub with lots of pumps and a very old interior. It was very busy so we opted to sit outside. I had a lovely pint of Mary Jane by the Ilkley Brewery.

The next pub we went in what just up the next ginnel. It was called the Packhorse. Apparently this is the oldest pub in Leeds. It is tastefully decorated with a mix of old and new. I had a pint of the Saltaire Brewery Blonde. which is very light and tasty. Again my only complaint about this pub was the music was to loud. Especially the fact that there was not that many people in the pub at the time.

The final pub for us was the ship inn. Again up another ginnel. There were lots of cask pumps and lots of great beers. Which I tried them all. Unfortunately my phone was out of battery at this point so I don't know exactly what beers I had. I know there were a couple of Leeds beers on. There was an guitarist on who was ok for some songs but murdered some others. I got a cracking t-shirt from the ship inn.

Leeds has so many different real ale pubs I have the feeling we didn't even scratch the surface. I think we will be visiting in the future.

Bamber out.

Stockpory 2nd January 2017

Little pub crawl round Stockport.

We started the day at the railway near the peel center (I think there are 2 pubs called the railway.) This is a strange pub as there are no signs on the outside telling you it's name and it looks slightly abandoned on the outside. But when you walk through the door you are greeted with a glorious site of 8(ish) real ale pumps. After a look at the pumps I decided on trying a pint of the kelham island beer called crazy. I picked it for it's name but it's was a beautiful pint. A very tasty mild.

We were both feeling a bit hungry at this point and we had heard good things about the food at the Arden arms so we thought we would try there. A historic pub which is tied to Robinsons brewery. I ordered a pint of the sessional Robinsons ale but it tasted very similar to unicorn. Not a great pint to be honest. It was here I received a tweet staying that one of my favorite pubs in stockport (the remedy bar) was shutting in an hour. Since the food didn't take our fancy at the Arden arms we thought we would quickly eat at wetherspoons and then catch last orders at remedy.

At wetherspoons I had a pint of the stonehenge brewery's pigswill. 2 things ruined the experience in here. Firstly the bar man could have smiled. He was a miserable sod. Then the food took ages to arrive so I missed my visit to the remedy bar. I was gutted. 

All pubs seemed to be shutting at this point. We walked past the closed the petersgate tap. So we thought we would end the crawl in the old Vic near the station. It has 6 real ale and a junk shop feel. Friendly landlord and beer is always top quality here. We had 3 pints here. 2 from the mallisons brewery. Very very nice and 1 from the salopian brewery which had a strange plasticy taste.

A very nice day with lots of quality beer. Stockport is one of my favourite local ale spots

Bamber out!

Sheffield 28th December 2016

Welcome to the Bambers Beer Blog. In this blog I am going to be posting about the different places we drink and what Beer we had when we were there. I have been doing this for a while on Twitter and thought it's time to expand the amount of characters I'm aloud to use. So we start in Sheffield. My old uni ground.

On future blogs I will put pictures on but I was practically phoneless when I was in Sheffield so pictures weren't going to happen on my spare.

First pub we go to is the fat cat. Brewery tap to the kelham island brewery. There is nothing bad I can say about this pub. I had the kelham best bitter which was cheap and really tasty. A nice session ale.

The plan was to go to the kelham island tavern next but it was just too busy. We would not fit in.

So the second pub we went to was the Shakespeare. This is another old fashioned pub with plenty of real ales on. Again very busy but we managed to grab a seat this time. I have a pint of the Barnsley bitter by the stancill brewery. After it was poured I heard either one of the regulars or bar man call it Barnsley sh****r which put me off slightly but it tasted fine. Not to much substance to it though.

At this point we were getting hungry so headed to the Benjamin huntsman spoons pub. It was typical spoons. Very busy but the food was what you expected and nice and cheap.

After this we had a quick pitstop at the hotel. It was my first time stopping in an ibis and was very impressed.

We then headed to the Rutland arms. When I was at uni I really liked this pub but I found it was trying a little too hard. Trying to be hipster that is. I had a pint from the yeovil brewery. There Christmas Beer which was very tasty. But the super loud jukebox playing random music when no one was touching it was winding me up a little.

Fifth pub and still my favourite in Sheffield was the bath. An old fashioned pub owned by the Thornbridge brewery. Stayed for 2 beers here. First being the amber ale by the pig and porter brewery and the second was the chop and change by the vocation brewery which was way too fruity for me.

Sixth and final pub of the day was the 3tuns. An interesting shaped building. A gem with all the concrete crap offices around it. I started with a pint of the kelham brewery easy rider which is a fantastic pint then I tried a pint of the blue bee brewery beer which was tasty but a little cloudy. Not sure if it was ment to be. Didn't say on the clip.

I love Sheffield for real ale and missed a couple of pubs so will definitely be back

Bamber out.