Thornbridge exposed at The Sheffield Tap

Thornbridge beers at the Sheffield Tap

The Sheffield Tap is arguably one of the best stocked pubs in the North of England, with a regular range of Thornbridge beers on cask (the venue is a joint venture between the Derbyshire brewers and the chaps behind Pivo in York) and an inventory of bottled beers that make most beer cabinets look like a beery footnote. It’s a case of any excuse will do to persuade me to hop on the 42 minute train from Leeds, and last night the excuse was the chance to meet the team that brew Thornbridge’s beers who were hosting a Meet the Brewer session in the former first class refreshment lounge of Sheffield’s main station.

On arrival the tiny bar was busy – not quite heaving but certainly a far cry from quiet. A bustle of artisan beer fans, jaded commuters and groups of talkative drinking buddies crowded over the small tables and lined the restored bar. Tucking our elbows in we (Rob from HopZine, Tom from Reet Good Leeds and me)  joined the fray to admire the array of beers on offer, a veritable beer geeks heaven.

Thornbridge Lord Maples

We started as we meant to go on, diving into a beer I’ve heard lots about – Thornbridge Exposed – and one I’ve not heard anything about – Thornbridge McConnells – two different takes on stout. Exposed poured with little foam and was sweet and peppery, with subtle complexities that you could easily not notice  because it’s that drinkable, but on closer inspection at sophistication and allure. McConnell’s on the other hand retained a creamy head and laced the glass with foam, was thicker and carried a blink and you’ll miss it vanilla essence. Both very well polished stouts and were eminently drinkable.

Before we’d finished our halves of the dark stuff Kelly Ryan kicked off the session. There were 20-ish people crammed in the far corner of the bar (almost all under 25) and all were delighted when the first of a number of free tasters emerged.

Kelly Ryan and the unbearded beer crowd

First up was Wild Swan, a super pale straw coloured beer, bitter beyond it’s 3.5% ABV tag. For something that light the hop aroma is remarkable, all pine needles, lemon and herbs. A great session beer, if slightly lacking in body compared to the beers that followed.

Lord Marples is Thornbridge’s best bitter and best it is. I had this at Keighley & Worth Valley beer festival last summer and it was conspicuous by it’s inconspicuousness. This time round I found it had a lot more to it (perhaps the lack of body odour and diesel fumes from the heritage train the beer festival was on helped) fuelled by waves of caramel and hints of seeds and honey (similar tastes that can be found in BrewDog’s Dogma or Oxfordshire Ales Marshmellow ale).

In the midst of the beers coming out a variety of hops and malt husks were passed around. Chinook was sharp and citrus and one whiff of it crumbled up in your fingers is enough to imagine it’s bittering potential. Nelson Sauvin came out with our tasting glasses of Kipling and its presence in this beer is dominant. Grapes and leaf sap in your fingers and zingy tropical kick in the beer.

Hops!

By 9pm Kelly had wrapped up a fact-packed session to a round of applause and an eager audience jumped straight into Raven, a ‘black IPA’ mixing hops and chocolate.  Nomenclature and taxonomy aside, I’ve a taste for well-hopped darker beers and Raven is, as is a common theme with Thornbridge’s beers, very easy to drink: roasted and bitter and pretty darn tasty!

Thornbridge Saint Petersburg

At this point I had a half of Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout still to go (we’d been sampling this between the taster beers, for no other reason than we could and it made a nice breaker between the paler ales). On top of that I knew I couldn’t leave without one beer in particular. We’d all been eyeing up different beers throughout the night but for me my nightcap had to be Saint Petersburg, Thornbridge’s 7.7% Russian style Imperial Stout. This is a beer style that I can find equally fascinating and wonderful as hideous and undrinkable and I’ve yet to put my finger on what it is that I like/dislike – one thing for sure I can’t get enough of having it to finish my beer drinking sessions at the moment.

Saint Petersburg was a pussy cat. It had the dark, soy, roasted malt-fest characteristics of imperial stout but you’d barely notice it was alcoholic in comparison to some examples and the 2 pint take home didn’t last long on the train back to Leeds.You can drink this like water and it’s good. Even the curious students who asked what the hell we were doing drinking from a tetra-pak on a train enjoyed it. “That’s quite nice actually!”said the female variety of student summing it up simplistically but honestly.

Something for the way home...a Saint Petersburg nightcap

Thornbridge Brewery put this event on as open invite and for free, to thank you to Kelly and the team for a great way to spend a Tuesday evening. Educational, fun, beer and trains, lovely stuff. Dom from Marble Brewery popped in on his way home too, a fan of Saint Petersburg and evidence that it can improve productivity amongst other things. Nuff said!