TheNoiseThatWeMade

Sheffield is a spectacular place to live if you love your beer – heaps of characterful pubs with good quality and great ranges plus abundant first-rate local breweries. Every day in Sheffield is a beer festival!  Hop Hideout frontage An emerging and growing beer shop scene has now sprung up - Hop Hideout opened in November on Abbeydale Road (next to The Broadfield pub). Housed within a thriving independent shop community at Vintedge , an arcade of vintage clothes, furniture, records (King Biscuit Time), Electric Candlelight Café and Purdy’s sixties styled salon. Focusing on a handpicked selection of beer from UK independent breweries from Yorkshire and beyond with rotating stock to keep up with the new beer.  Saltaire goodies Staples like Kelham , Bradfield and Thornbridge alongside Magic Rock , Buxton and Ilkley breweries sit on the shelves. London and Manchester are healthily represented by – The Kernel , Partizan , Weird Beard , Marble ,

During the darker months when you spend time shuffling around in layers of clothing trying to keep warm whilst leaving the house when it's dark and returning when it's still dark I usually have an urge to drink dark, strong, spicy, robust ales. Imperial stouts, Belgian strong ales, barley wines, black IPAs, porters and stouts are usually the beers on my winter check-list. As December draws closer Brewerys pull out all the stops and jump into the festive spirit often using ingredients associated with Christmas (think pine needles or nutmeg) and choosing associated festive namesakes. It's nice to indulge but often I dip into Christmas beers as most do based on name then dip out again driven by the urge for darker and warming brews.  Abbeydale Brewery  it has to be said do a good job and have a bit of a laugh at the same time - fair play I say; "If you don't drink it, a penguin dies" apparently (would have liked some more dark beers though!). Check o

Never one to say no to a beer (call it a weak point) I'd been interested in trying Box Steam brews since I'd seen their traditional bitter - Tunnel Vision nestling on the shelf at Sheffield's blues and booze mega emporium Rhythm &  Booze .  Founded in 2004 down in Wiltshire this family owned microbrewery brew all their beers using a steam-heated copper vat. Shame it's not in my locale as I'd love to have a tour round this kit.  The engineering feats of Isambard Kingdom Brunel have inspired many of their beers' names - including the two above.  Funnel Blower the 4.5% dark beer out of the pair seems to be inspired from one of Isambard's large scale ships, the  Great Eastern, which set sail in 1859. An iron five funnel steam powered ship with a capacity to carry 4,000 people.     Funnel  Blower  was labelled as a dark vanilla porter at 4.5%. A traditional looking ale (historical reference, trains, erm say no more) with a tempt

John Wright from River Cottage posted his Mulled Cider recipe recently... so just sharing this one: To make enough to serve 4, pour 1 litre still cider into a saucepan and add a glass of  good apple juice if you like.  Add 6 cloves and 4 cinnamon sticks, cover and bring slowly  to the boil with the lid in place.  As soon as it starts to simmer turn off the heat and add 200ml sloe gin (optional, but  highly recommended) and 1 or 2 sliced oranges.  Taste, and add a little honey or sugar if  you want.  Serve straight away.

Go read...... WAX POETICS "Janelle Monáe  eschews the prosaic biographical trappings in favor of the science fiction of alter-ego android Cindi Mayweather, believing that robots represent an  otherness . She is seemingly at odds with current R&B radio, yet she was signed by Diddy and has found crossover success.  Jody Watley  did not want to be an industry puppet. She broke free, joined forces with like-minded superfreak André Cymone, and established herself as an artist who took control of all aspects of her public persona from songwriting to style.  Todd Rundgren  embraced all styles. Butterfly-wing eyelashes and feather boas. Rock and roll and rhythm and blues. And he often did everything by himself. Songwriting, playing all the instruments, engineering. He even produced other outcasts like the New York Dolls, and went on to influence countless modern misfits.  Souls of Mischief  busted out of Oakland with their own style. Surrounded by gritty streets and street pla

        The Reader : Sally Mastin, Proprietor at Vintedge , 444 Abbeydale Road. Why is this ‘Your Local’?   “The bar staff are friendly and it’s a great place to take the kids. I’m looking forward to Christmas there again as last year they had reindeer and played old Christmas films. The pork pie and piccalilli with a pint is a winner too.”     Favourite tipple: Belgian fruit beer like Lindemans Kriek 3.5% The Local:   A thriving pub since the mid 1890s when dairy farmer Albert Twigg built the Broadfield Hotel as it stands today. Re-opened by Forum Café Bars Ltd in December 2011; adding to their ever-growing portfolio of bars and pubs taking pride in serving quality food and drink. With a strong beer emphasis having nine hand pulls including their individual house ale First Blonde (using Maris Otter malt and Cascade and Willamette hops) cuckooed down at Welbeck Abbey Brewery . Local hard to find pico brewery On The Edge count ‘The Broady’ at their local a