A month ago it looked like Leeds was going to lose one of it’s best independent retailers, and the world was about to lose one of it’s best beer shops.

Cue bearded beer expert Zak Avery and now beery business owner, who stepped in with a joint management buy out to rescue the famous Beer Ritz from the brink of limbo.

For those who thought they’d never get to go again, and those who thought they’d never have the privilege, rejoice, because Beer Ritz is open and we hope it’s back for good!

Sing it from the mountain tops, Beer Ritz is back!

Both Fletch and myself are big fans of the American TV show The West Wing, highbrow TV covering a range of international issues and actually really funny in a QI rather than Little Britain kind of way. During an episode leading up to the end of 1999 two of the show’s characters, Sam Seabourne and Toby Zeigler, can be heard arguing about the turn of the new millennium. Sam argues with the more senior Toby that, rather than being the turn of the new millennium, the 1st of January 2000 was actually the start of the last year of the old millennium, with the new millennium beginning in 2001. This is due to the fact that there is actually no year zero in the Gregorian Calendar. Real Ale Reviews (or at least this part of it) is therefore looking forward to this ‘last opportunity’ to make a mark on what is becoming dubbed the noughties.

The last week has been something of a fresh start for me Read the rest of this entry »

On Ilkley Moor: one with hat, one without hat

If you read about my special beer night a few weeks ago, you might remember that my usually varied and brimming beer cupboard was running a bit low, with only a few beers left, most of them bottles I was saving.

So with pay day just gone it was time for a stock up, so the weekend just gone I nipped to Ilkley for a few hours out on the moor with Sam Lanes, stopping at Booth’s supermarket on the way before a quick wallet burning session in Beer Ritz.

I’d gone with the intention of stocking up on pale ales, it’s been a while since I had any staple favourites in and I fancied some strong hoppy numbers, the likes of Halcyon, EIPA, Goose Island, St Lupulin and co. But I ended up leaving with a surprisingly English ale selection, as the Booths stock was very focussed on Northern numbers and I got distracted at Beer Ritz by  a few ‘new ins’.

Beers from Booths

Booths has a good selection of ales, although nothing was really grabbing my attention at first. After a few minutes scanning the vast array of brown bottles I picked up a Williams tayberry beer which I remember being good, a Joseph Holt as not only was I tempted by the Lowry label and because 1849 Champion had been good.

A few people had told me to try Chalky’s Bite, whilst I couldn’t resist a beer local brews (thinking a bit ahead of myself for beer swap round 2?!) particularly Withens IPA which I (think) I tried at Keighley & Worth Valley festival at Oxenhope. Read the rest of this entry »

A Trip to Beer Ritz  to Restock the Cellar

As the title suggests, I have taken a trip to Beer Ritz this evening to restock my Beer Cellar. On the lead up to my big run last Sunday I couldn’t really trust myself to have too many quality beers around the house in case I let my training diet slip (limit was max 1 beer a day, max 4 days out of seven!)

I picked up 17 bottles tonight, in no particular order…

BrewDog Punk IPA x2

Leeds Best

White Shield

BrewDog Zeitgeist

Brooklyn EIPA

Bradfield Farmers Brown Cow

Orval x2

St Austell Tribute

Crown Brewery Unprenounceable IPA

Bradfield Farmers Pale Ale x2

Meantime Pilsner

Brooklyn Lager

BrewDog Trashy Blonde

Leeds Pale

What does anyone think of my selection????

Are there any big names you would have put in your cellar restock that I’ve missed? (I will probably be going back tomorrow to pick up all the ones I’ve forgotten!!!)

Fletch is going to be turning in the grave that is the house we used to share for two years but I have formally bastardised IPA Monday in order to have a cider night. Basically the reason for this is that I have a pack of chops in the fridge left over from Saturday’s BBQ and I’ve decided to make that the theme of the night.

First things first, this is the recipe that I am cooking, passed to me by my mate Jack but changed a little but by me  (I have used Leeks in favour of Onions)…

3 x Leeks

6 x Pork Chops

1 1/2 x Jars of Apple Sauce

1 x Bottle Medium Sweet Cider

Knob of Butter

Salt and Pepper to Flavour

Method – Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed stew pot in order to sweat off the leeks (which should be roughly chopped). Once the leeks are soft, brown off the chops before adding the cider and apple sauce to thicken, simmer for 10-15 mins on the hob and then bang in the oven for 45mins at 180-200 degrees.

Moving on to more important things, I had headed to Beer Ritz to grab a few bottles of cider on the way home from work. My housemate Jim is a big fan of Aspall’s and, although Cider is my weakest area (in University Challenge terms) I am aware off Aspall’s to be a good brand and expected to see it on the shelves of Beer Ritz. It was not, but they were stocking Weston’s and Sheppy’s. I selected Sheppy’s as my brewery of choice for the evening as Fletch is something of a Weston’s fan and has reviewed before I believe. The advice of Beer Ritz’s always helpful management was at hand to ensure that I had the right options for cooking. We selcted three Sheppy’s ciders, Kingston Black to go in the food, a couple of bottles of the same to go with andbottles of Cider with Honey and Falstaff Cider for some experimental tasting with the housemates.

Cider with Honey, 5.4%

This cider was exactly what the label suggested. The honey came through as the first taste with the subtle taste of the cider coming through after. The honey carried this golden cider off an absolute treat, it was readily drinkable and, even at the bottom of the bottle, not at all sickly in it’s sweetness.

Not being a regular cider drinker I’m not  sure how this would be received by the hard core scrumpy faithful but I am sure that other dabblers such as myself could do a hell of a lot worse.

Kingston Black, 7.2%

This cider was far stronger on the tongue than the honey one I’d just put down. It was livelier than the honey cider and drier but was still palatable.

Coming straight after the honey cider there was a danger that this would be too dry but it actually reined in the sweetness to just the right amount and provided the more robust body necessary to accompany the food, without allowing my flavoursome efforts to be overridden. The Kingston Black apple is dubbed as being prized for it’s full bodied aromas and this blend is certainly testament to that fact.

I would note that, at 7,2%, while the flavour and body of this cider suggest that you probably could drink this all night, the likelihood is that you wont!

Falstaff, 5.6%

Returning to the a more reserved abv of 5.6% this cider was also sweeteer than the Kingston black, but crisper and clearer than the honey cider. The Falstaff cider perfectly fills the gap between the Honey Cider and the Kingston Black and completes the set of sweeter ciders for tonight’s reviews.

I had not been forward thinking enough to arrange a dessert to follow the main course but this slotted into the gap really well. I would like to give a more comprehensive analysis but, as it’s the third cider of the night, I have run out of adjectives! I apologise and all I can really say is that if I had to select one of these to drink all night, it would be this one.

Conclusion

Aided by my housemates, Jim and Kat, we have rated the three ciders as follows…

1. Cider with Honey

2. Falstaff

3. Kingston Black

Although I have to say that this was on initial tasting only and that my favourite of the night was probably Falstaff. The important lesson here though is that, while I walked into Beer Ritz looking for Aspall’s, I was directed towards a cracking brewery producing a range of ciders suitable for every palate. It’s not an area I know well and the evening has taught me not to be blinkered and to experiment with what’s about. Who knows, next Monday could be cider night with Weston’s and could be just as much fun…