Permanent Jaipur

I've been hearing rumours for weeks that Thornbridge Brewery's near-legendary Jaipur IPA (at a walloping 5.9%) was to be made permanent at The Grove in Huddersfield. I couldn't/wouldn't believe them of course - but now it's happened I fear my life expectancy has just been halved as I'll be resigned to spending most Fridays, Saturdays and no doubt Sundays too (for the rest of my pitiful existence) totally messed on the stuff! Some earlier thoughts on Jaipur.

Mild Festivals

Mini mild fests are suddenly all the rage! Indeed I have three to attend this coming weekend so here are some details. The two Ossett pubs (see flier below) will not be totally duplicating each other's beers so there's plenty of incentive to get to both. Batley & Huddersfield are actually combination festivals with cider & perry featuring at the Rat whilst the Cellar Bar in Batley has five 'Wild' (or silly strength) beers in it's line up, including the wonderful Thornbridge Jaipur IPA and awesome Pickled Pecker from Fernandes.

Cellar Bar Menu

Mild
Elland Brewery, First Light -3.7%
A light Yorkshire Ale with delicate hop flavours balanced by underlying malt sweetness. An excellent example of a Pennine light mild.
Old Bear, Bearly Mild? - 3.5%
Copper coloured, smooth on the mouth slightly fruity aftertaste. 2 english hops including Fuggles. O.G 10.35%
Saltaire, Dark Mild - 3.8%
Aclassic Dark mild with a hint of sweetness moderately hopped with fuggle hops
Acorn, Darkness - 4.3%
A deep ruby coloured traditional mild from Barnsley
Wentworth – Gunpark Light Mild – 3.8%

Wild
Anglo Dutch, Sarah Barnes Stark Raven Wild - 6%
A mildy hopped very dark ale
Church End, Rest in Peace - 6%
Light amber in colour, bitter with a good nutty mouth feel and a well balanced sweet finish
Fernandes, Pickled Pecker - 6%
Strong black stout, excellent winter warmer
Sarah Hughes, Dark Ruby Mild - 6%
Thornbridge, Jaipur IPA – 5.9%
Soft and smooth but builds to a crescendo of hoppiness accentuated by honey, powerful but pleasant bitter finish (and now permanently at The Grove in Huddersfield - what a bonus!)
Notes courtesy of Sarah Barnes at the Cellar Bar, apart from the bit about the Grove - that was mine!

All three festivals are destined to be successful as the predicted crappy weather will certainly not inspire a mass exodus to the seaside! I hope to have some pics and a report for a change to make up for the acute lack of content on here in recent weeks!

London Tied

Ossett Brewery's latest deal has seen them replace Timothy Taylor's with Fuller's at all ten of their West Yorkshire pubs. This surprising move will ensure plenty of outlets for their own beers in 'the smoke', though just what our southern brethren will make of these sparkler-dependent brews remains to be seen.

In the meantime I'm very much looking forward to enjoying Pride, ESB and London Porter on a regular basis and moreover Fuller's should prove more popular with locals than the recent addition of Greene King. The loss of Landlord though (a permanent ale at all Ossetts until today) will disappoint many.