Sheffield Uni Beer Fest 2010, also Mayweather wins boxing match shocker

Ooh, huge amount of no time no post. Haven’t really been watching too much MMA over the past few months, lack of good fights being a key factor – will watch Shogun/Machida next week as that promises to be awesome, but with Silva looking invincible at 185 and GSP the same at 170, we’re left with 155 (which might be somewhat interesting now that Penn is no longer champion) and heavyweight (with no Lesnar, who cares). Still, we had some boxing the other day, and for the first time in basically forever, the judges got it correct, clear 119-109 to Mayweather. Looked like it might be mildly interesting after Mosley rocked him in the second, but that’s basically as close as he got and the only question would be whether PBF could finish the fight or not.

Beer festival was quite fun, apart from the rubbish weather for a large chunk of it. Having an extra day was somewhat worrying, but holding some of the ale back until the Saturday (to the annoyance of some claiming that it basically goes against the whole first come first served point of a beer festival) and having Sunday as a designated cider day (which I ignored as moron Wednesday fans were breaking anything that moves, enjoy Rochdale away) ensured a good selection throughout, even of some of the stronger stuff. So the beer:

256 – Brewdog Physics (5.0%) – 8, typically robust

257 – Kelham Island Night Moves (4.0%) – 7, advertised itself as a “chocolate orange mild”. Mild – yes. Chocolate/orange – not really

258 – Green Jack Mahseer (5.0%) – 8, sharp and somewhat fruity IPA

259 – Orkney Red MacGregor (4.0%) – 8, ruby bitter that doesn’t disguise that it’s only 4%, still good

260 – Funfair Chaos (5.0%) – 7, pale and fruity, but seemed weak for the strength of it

261 – Cathedral Magna Carta (5.0%) – 9, very rich and warming golden ale, best thing I had all weekend

262 – Brew Company Brewers Gold (4.0%) – 7, more or less standard, perfectly drinkable

263 – Allgates Weapons of Mass Destruction (5.7%) – 8, good beer to get you drunk, hints of old ale about it

264 – Thornbridge Brother Rabbit (3.7%) – 8, a ronseal beer, said it was a crisp golden ale and did exactly what it said on the tin

265 – Dunham Massey Choc Cherry Mild (3.8%) – 8, had this before, didn’t seem particularly well kept in contrast to other beers available

266 – Saltaire Dark Dragon (4.0%) – 7, good maltiness to this darker bitter

267 – Abbeydale Restoration (4.2%) – 8, not sure if I’ve drunk this before like I have with everything else they do, had a good refreshing flavour to it

268 – Acorn Darkness (4.2%) – 8, nice mild with fruity hints

269 – Burton Bridge Maschine Man (4.5%) – 7, very dark for a supposed amber ale, with almost barley wine hints

270 – White Horse Village Idiot (4.1%) – 8, good solid beer with lager hints

271 – Funfair Big Wheel (3.9%) – 8, good standard bitter

272 – Brew Company Hop Ripper IPA (4.3%) – 8, more golden and varied than your typical IPA

273 – Williams Brothers Fraoch (4.1%) – 9, lovely clean crisp heather beer that needs to be tried if you’ve never had it

Some beers I’ve briefly had which I don’t have a quick review of that I can recommend are Moorhouse’s Amber Rambler and Everard’s Flourish, two very different beers but both worth a try if you see them (particularly given that I tried them at a Spoons and they normally keep crap beer). Other beers that I’ve been on whilst out and about:

274 – Slaters Why Knot (3.6%) – 7.5, pleasant golden ale, slightly light but not so much given the strength

275 – Titanic First Class (3.8%) – 5.5, somewhat irritating and nondescript bitter

276 – TSA Golden Heather (4.2%) – 8, nice light ale with strong lemony citrus flavours

277 – Williams Bros Gold (3.9%) – 7, nice light beer with interesting kick to it

278 – Elgoods Cambridge Bitter (3.8%) – 7.5, darker beer with good malty taste

279 – Millstone Tiger Rut (4.0%) – 7.5, nice lighter ale, slight lemony flavour

280 – Blue Monkey Evolution (4.3%) – 7.5, very good golden ale, nice strength to it, initial spicy hints

281 – Cottage Hurricane Jack (3.9%) – 7, agreeable lighter golden ale, touch hoppy