Thursday 28 April 2011

Toad Brewery - Doncaster

I and three friends had a fine couple of days away in Doncaster over the Easter weekend. Whilst the initial lure of weekend was a drab (Doncaster 0 Crystal Palace 0) game of football (with passing mention to the excellent passionate Palace supporters). We also realised the potential of a 'few beers' oop north. And we weren't disappointed either. My cousin and a couple of his mates joined us for the first evening so we had inside knowledge of the best real ale pubs too.

First stop was the Cask Corner: Serving a number of real ales but particularly a few from the Toad Brewery.

http://www.toadbrewery.co.uk/index.html

Toad Brewery:

These beers are quite hoppy and a couple of them were too 'burnt' flavoured for my taste. Blonde on Blonde and Golden Angel being those.

That said I really enjoyed the pints of Tadpole that i quaffed! Still quite hoppy but a fine beer to enjoy and at only 3.8% you can spend a whole evening on it if you want!

Their website says of it:
A Smooth enjoyable bitter with a delicate hint of fruit to liven the palate ending in a clean dry finish.  Hopped with three specially selected hops from around the world.

A special mention goes to some of the names which made me smile too:
Dark side of the Toad, The Da Vinci Toad.

Other pubs we frequented and well worth a visit:
The Mason Arms:
Again a nice old style boozer not spoilt by being modernized and long may that continue. As I remember I had Timothy Taylor Landlord in here and jolly fine it was too!
The Plough:
Quirky old boys pub with two rooms and "outdoor" lavs. Not changed in many a year and all the better for it. Beers from the Acorn Brewery (Barnsley) and also Kelham Island (Easy Rider)
Tut n Shive:
Lively and rocky and we watched more footy on the TV, but the beer was fine I had Tadpole in here until it ran out and then a not so good Greene King IPA.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express out on Catesby industrial park but the Woodfield Farm next door also served a fine pint of Tadpole and did great food too!

Thursday 7 April 2011

St Austell Brewery

I like West Country Beers!

And last Friday I was very fortunate to get a whole evening paid and I was also very fortunate to be in a pub that served Proper Job! That pub being the Horniman on the Thames, a Nicholsons pub, which had at least another 6 or 7 beers on offer that evening.



http://www.staustellbrewery.co.uk/beers/cask-beers.html

Its taste is quite distinctive but not so much so that I felt the need to go onto something smoother or easier on the palette.

In truth by the end of the evening I suspect taste was fairly irrelevant!

I've enjoyed Tribute and Tinners from St Austell both of which I would recommend.