Hello my #beersaturday friends 🤪

I’m back after a short break from blogging and that means I have a months worth of beer tasting to tell you all about!

During the past month I’ve found a brand new boozer owned by the most knowledgeable landlady who is so passionate about craft beer it’s scary! And of course, I’ve also been tasting researching plenty of new beers, some of which belong under the sink next to those pink rubber gloves that barely fit, and others that I almost find it sacrilegious to drink because it means there’s one less fantastic beer in the world.

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Let’s go right back to start of the month when I decided to make a long-overdue visit to a boozer I pass by everyday on my return from work.

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Now, The Sawley Junction is a fantastic example of a micro pub. It’s small, cosy, has tons of beer related paraphernalia, and last but not least, it serves great beer. And if all that isn’t enough for have you rushing out the house leaving the kids at home with pack of digestive biscuits for dinner, then wait until you meet the landlady…

Let me introduce to you, The Budica of beer! The First Lady of the froth! The Pious puller of pints! The Minister of Malt! The…OK, OK, I think you get the point.

During my visit to the Sawley Junction I must have spent a good half hour chatting to this brilliant lady. We spoke about how she came to buying the property and turn it into a micropub with the help of her husband. How she knew nothing about beer to begin with but then put herself through a crash course, again with the help of her beer-loving husband. And then we spoke of the beer itself, which is where this lady really started to set herself apart and prove her passion for, not only the industry, but, more importantly, for the patrons who fill her pub on a nightly basis.

As we spoke about the beers we liked and the many micropubs that had recently popped up to serve a better calibre of ale, I interjected to mention how even Tesco had begun to cotton to the craft beer market and are beginning to stock some pretty good beers. On mentioning this the landlady’s demeanour changed and one of those disapproving frown lines appeared on her brow and at exactly the same moment she began to vent her frustrations…“Yes, I’ve spoke to a few breweries that have sold out to Tesco. It’s places like this that got them recognition and then they run off to the supermarkets and allow them to undercut us all! That’s why you won’t see any Northern Monk beers in here, and I’ve told the brewery that too!”… Bloomin heck. I’m simultaneously impressed and scared in equal amounts. What a lady! I tried to reassure her that there are plenty of folk like myself who are always willing to pay a little more for the sake of being able to drink my beer in a traditional micropub. And moreover, there just isn’t a substitute for having a hand-pulled pint of beer. At this point the frown line on her head started to dissolved and so I carried on steering our conversation away from the supermarket hustle.

Another thing that came to my attention while speaking to the landlady was that when I pondered what beer to have next she didn’t start waffling on about “pine notes” and “fruity aromatic hops”. The new bartender at my local does this and it just makes me want to wind him up and ask for a bottle of Budweiser. I mean come on, my nose is about as sensitive as a rhinoceros backside so telling me that a beer has a pine note makes as much difference to my choice of beer as if he were to tell me the brewers name is Ted and he secretly plays strip-backgammon with the vicars wife.

Anyway, back to our landlady. She keeps it real. She takes note of what I’ve previously ordered and then mentions the beers on tap that have a similar taste. Now that’s more my style. And with my beer in hand and our conversation all wrapped up, I’m allowed to make my way to comfy seat where I can sup my beer in peace while daydreaming of such things, like, what my dog would look like if I shaved off all his fur, or a world where they teach sign language in every school so no matter where we are in the world we can all communicate with each other…

Now that’s a perfect beer and it’s a near perfect micropub too! Only problem for me is it’s a pain in the arse to get to without a car, and who’s dumb enough to mix craft ales and driving? I suppose it’s just another good reason for me to start my own micropub, and when I do I’ll probably borrow a few idea from the way The Sawley Junction operates and looks.

Time to bring out the beer!

I mentioned at the beginning of this post how I’ve been away from blogging for a month but during that time I’d been sampling some tasty beers. Well, let’s take a look at what I found!

Lervig NZDDHDIPPA

First up is this lovely beer produced by the Lervig brewery. It has a pretty stupid name but when the beer tastes as original as this who cares what they call it 🤷‍♂️

What sprang to mind while drinking this beer was how I felt as a teenager. Remember a day when you went to a pub on a sunny afternoon and you have one of those pints that just tastes really refreshing. Well, add to that the fact that your now drinking a proper beer and not some piss-water pint of Fosters and you can get an idea of how good this beer is. This is a real banger of a beer and at 6.9% it comes with that distinctive heavy taste.

Lervig NZDDHDIPPA gets an 8 out of 10 from me and I’ll be buying all there is in stock while they’re available.

Cassels Nectar Double IPA

Regulars to my beer blogs will know how I love my beer can art and with that in mind you’ll understand why I bought this beer. Unfortunately, the can-art was where the joy ended. This wasn’t at all my cup of tea. Too bitter. Not enough depth. One dimensional in flavour. Just a fizzy, heavy, larger-like ale.

I give this a 4 out of 10 and most of the points are awarded for the artwork.

Northern Monk 8th Anniversary DIPA

Unlike the landlady from the Sawley Junction, I will not be turning my back on Northern Monk brewery and when they produce beer like this I’m more than happy to support them. My god this is without a doubt one of the best beers I’ve ever tasted, an absolute peach of an ale! Just look at that colour. Depth. Depth. And more depth. It’s actually quite difficult to describe this beer and do it justice. The balance of bitterness, fruitiness, smoothness, and carbonation is just unimaginable. You have to taste this beer to believe how good it is.

No shock to see me give this beer a 10 out of 10. Bravo Northern Monk.

Deya Saturated in Strata

Deya are one of my favourite brewers and I love the effort they put into their can-art. Bright, punchy, whacky designs and more often than not their beer follows a similar path. On this occasion I was slightly underwhelmed and noticed a distinct watery element to the beer, which at 8% is a massive surprise. Maybe that’s something to do with the Strata hop, I ain’t sure. Great colour and nice head but I’m not here to stare at my beer all day, and at some point I’m going to have a good old swig. It’s at this point where this Deya falls flat.

A 7 out of 10 for this Deya.

Northern Monk collaboration with Overtone and Neon Raptor

Well, this is really going to piss the land lady off, because not only is this another Northern Monk beer but it’s also one that I picked up at Tesco 😬 Sorry, not sorry is all I have to say. At a price of £3.50 this 7% double dry hopped IPA is a real treat. Now I may be a little biased here, being that Neon Raptor are a brewery from my hometown of Nottingham, but Neon Raptor have really helped to push this beer up the rankings. This is a beer is something I’d expect to pay twice as much for and it’s certainly not something I’d expect to find in a supermarket.

Pure class yet again from Northern Monk. I give this beer an 8 out of 10.

Black Iris Good Morning Heartache

Another Nottingham brewery that puts out a fine brew is Black Iris, and this New England IPA is a good example of their work. Nothing to go mental over but still a very solid beer. Also, Black Iris add some of the best can-art to their product, minimalist but bold and very eye-catching. This beer was a great all rounder with good flavour and depth. I’d happily buy another and it’s made me want to try more from this brewery, which says plenty in itself.

I give this final beer a solid 6.5 out of 10.

And now it’s time for a reading from the good book of beer…

Image taken from The Pocket Book of Craft Beer, written by Mark Dredge.

Thanks for joining me for another #beersaturday and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this weeks beer blog. See you all next time!

Before I leave I’d like to mention that it’s great news to hear that @detlev has collaborated with #haveyoubeenhere to join the #beersaturday community with the travel community. I’m sure folk are drinking beer in some great locations and it’s seems to me to be a great step to take for our beer loving community. Below you will find my link to my #pinmapple page and there you will find all my other travel blogs. Happy trails guys and gals!