Our trip was drawing to an end, but there was still time to fit in country number 11, Moldova. The quick way from Bucharest to Chișinău would have been to fly, taking just over an hour. Being as thrifty as ever, we opted instead for the 10-hour night bus instead. This was as fun as it sounds, but eventually we made it to Chișinău, a mere seven hours early for our hostel check-in. Luckily, they let us drop off our backpacks and we set off exploring. Walking around Moldova is almost like stepping back in time 30 years or so. The Russian influence is still strong here, with grey concrete buildings and orthodox churches dominating the skyline.
Now Moldova probably isn’t the first destination on most beer drinkers’ radars. This is unashamedly a winemaking region. In fact, just a few kilometres outside the city is Milestii Mici, the world’s largest wine cellar with almost 2 million bottles (well worth a visit by the way). Nevertheless, we were determined to find some beer worth writing about.
Our hostel gave us a handy map of the city, marked with dozens of bars and restaurants. We picked out the Smokehouse, an American-style BBQ joint also promising a range of local craft beer. It didn’t disappoint: on the extensive beer list were plenty of local breweries. Poppy went for the Elvis Coffee Porter (7%), while I went for LaBREWtory Merge (4.2%), a delicious session IPA showcasing juicy Mosaic hops not often seen in this part of the world. The food was alright as well!
Smokehouse
Just next door to Smokehouse was the pun-tastically named Taproom 27: A Hoppy Place. Actually, the two have the same owners and much the same beer range. However, the vibe is completely different and if it’s just beer you’re after, you can’t go far wrong at the Taproom. We decided to stay for a couple, my favourite being the fiery Tenemu Lemur Ginger Ale (4.6%).
Anyone who’s read these articles over the past months will know how much I love a brewery visit, so you can imagine our delight at learning that the LaBREWtory Brewery was just a short bus ride from town. We hopped on the charming number 5 trolleybus – a true bargain at just 2 lei (10p!) per person – and arrived at the brewery, a fairly typical-looking building in a small industrial complex. It seemed strangely quiet, but we ventured inside. We entered a small room with a desk and a door but nobody in sight. We thought we must have got the wrong place and were just about to turn around and leave when I felt a tap on my shoulder and heard an American voice: “You’re not from around here, are you?”.
He led us through another door and suddenly we were in a warehouse with a bar and seating at one end of the room, and a full brewery setup at the other. Our American hosts introduced themselves as Bill and DeEva and guided us to the bar. There were 5 beers on offer; the Merge IPA I had enjoyed at the Smokehouse, alongside a pale, an amber ale and even a Belgian-style grisette. The best of the bunch though was the Brut IPA 3 (6.4%). It’s not usually my favourite style, but this was a really good example, pale and dry but still with the fruitiness you expect from an IPA.
LaBREWtory brewery
We got chatting to the owners and they told us how they had originally moved to this part of the world for Bill’s work. Bill, a keen homebrewer, dreamt of starting his own brewery and in 2016 the couple found two locals to help them get started. While showing us around the brew-kit they told us of their trials and tribulations with the Moldovan authorities, especially getting their brewing vessels into the country from neighbouring Ukraine. All’s well that ends well though, and the pair are now regularly crafting beer styles never before seen in this corner of Eastern Europe.
There was still time to squeeze in one or two more beers before our night bus back to Romania. We hopped back on the trolley and headed to the Botanica district in search of Craft Baza, recommended to us by Bill and DeEva. This was a good find, a classic craft beer bar with bare brick walls and 18 taps offering different local beers. Poppy, still loving the dark beers, went for the Elvis Porter (5.4%), while my beer was at the opposite end of the spectrum. Litra Smoozik Blackcurrant Sour (3.5%) was decent but could’ve been a bit sourer for my liking. Nevertheless, it was great to see the local breweries branching out to new styles. Who knows what they’ll have by the time we make it back?
It’s been a pleasure writing these articles over the last few months – thanks for reading and hopefully we’ll have some more adventures to bring you soon!
Dominic Nelson
Ingoldmells a village 3 miles from the beer desert of Skegness. A village which surprisingly has a brew pub and great real ale.
Jenny Chamberlain’s family have owned the Countryman pub in Ingoldmells since 1960 and Barry Good has been there since 1974. Originally the Countryman was the Ingoldmells Social Club. Later, the name was changed to the Ace of Clubs (still a members-only establishment) and then, in 1988, it transmuted into the Ace Inn, a fully fledged public house. The Countryman we know today was created when the original building was altered and enlarged at a later date. Looking at the front elevation, you can be forgiven for thinking that the building is wholly a product of the 1960’s or 70’s. The secret history is revealed when you check round the back and spot the brickwork of the original Leila Cottage, reputedly an eighteenth century building. By the middle of the nineteenth century the house was occupied by James Waite, a famous and successful local smuggler. This may seem a fanciful idea now but the Lincolnshire coast between Boston and Mablethorpe was notorious for such clandestine activity and old Ingoldmells was at the heart of the trade. Indeed, Tom Paine (1737-1809), the famous author and revolutionary (and formerly an excise officer) was based at nearby Alford between August 1764 and August 1765 for that very reason.
Scott Colebourne with the half barrel plant The idea for a brewery came in the summer of 2007 after Barry had spotted an advertisement in “The Publican” for a half-barrel plant. He and Scott Colebourne (who was working at the Countryman at the time and became head brewer) decided to experiment with a “hobby” brewery and were easily persuaded by the manufacturer who also supplied a simple recipe and brewing kit. Fortunately, the pub had previously stocked beers from the Fugelestou Brewery (Louth) and Phil Ellis provided free and friendly advice to the Countryman team. The first principle Barry and Scott agreed upon was to keep things simple. Honey, coriander and hedgerow weeds were definitely off the menu! Ace Ale (a mid-brown session bitter at 3.8%) duly emerged and was eventually accompanied by a light-coloured summer IPA (Leila’s Lazy Days at 3.6%) and a dark ruby autumn/winter beer (Lincolnshire Life at 4.2%).
Success bred success and Barry purchased a 2.5 barrel plant from Poacher’s Brewery in Lincoln which had downsized production. A stable on the Countryman site had become vacant and this was converted and the plant installed between December 2008 and March 2009. By summer 2010, brewing was sufficiently advanced to have all three beers permanently on.
At present, Leila Cottage has to use informal arrangements (the backs and boots of cars!) to supply beer festivals and the odd pub. Although there’s no official delivery system, casks can be collected and Fugelstou, Oldershaw’s and Small Beer at Lincoln have assisted at one time or another. Advance notice will allow you to see the brewery and there is a large car park as well as facilities on site for caravans and camper-vans. So, if you are holidaying in the area or just passing through, both the “Countryman” and Leila Cottage Brewery should be on be a must visit if your in this area.
From Skegness Platform A take the Number 1 bus which takes 20 minutes and is every half hour. Alight at St Paul church and The countryman is a minute walk away.
Philip Brown
It’s been a while since I’ve written of my beery adventures, then just as I was thinking to pen something Dom & Poppy went on their adventure and wrote about all the places I’d been… however, I think I may have beaten them to this one!
I’d been planning a trip to the Caucasus region for a while, in fact I went as far as booking a trip in 2014… only for Russia to invade/liberate (depending on your viewpoint!) Crimea and eastern Ukraine days later, from which I’d booked to fly – by the time of my planned trip my departure airport Donetsk was literally rubble.
Since then, Wizzair and Ryanair have introduced more cheap routes to the region, and Azerbaijan has massively simplified (and cheapened!) their visa requirements (Armenia and Georgia require no visa). The trip was thrown together at short notice following the collapse of a planned Far East trip due to Coronavirus, but I was able to find cheap flights mere days in advance. I flew from Doncaster to Debrecen for the princely sum of £8.99, then next night from Budapest to Baku for £32 and a week later I flew Kutaisi to Milan for £7.49 (all with Wizzair). Travel between the cities was by train, I booked Baku to Tbilisi online and bought my tickets to and from Yerevan at the respective railways stations as they have no online sales platform. Each leg was approximately £27 in two-berth sleepers.
Landing at Baku around 6am meant I had a wait for beer o’clock, especially as not everywhere even opens at noon, so I did the tourist bit first, wandering along the Caspian ‘sea’ front, then as the funicular didn’t start ‘til later I walked to the top of the hill to look down over the city, before descending to the Old Town and greeting some of the many street cats. I then checked into the hotel and had a nap, having barely slept on the overnight flight, then it was beer time!
First port of call was Paulaner, a subsidiary of the Bavarian brewer, and with the same beers but brewed on site. The beers were decent but not exciting, and around £3 for a half litre so expensive by local standards. As I had two days I decided to call it a night and tackle the rest the next day, and adjourned to my hotel.
Next day I had a lie in then set about the rest of the beer scene, starting with the NZS brewery, the largest independent brewery in Azerbaijan, which has an onsite restaurant serving their one beer, a fairly standard lager (the menu advertises an unfiltered version, but it wasn’t available on my visit). I blagged a tour of the brewery, being given a bottle of the beer fresh off the bottling line at the end. I jokingly suggested a collaboration brew next time I’m over, but I’m not sure Azerbaijan is quite ready for what we think of as craft beer! From there, it’s a short 13p bus ride to Mala Praga, a largish brewpub serving 4 beers – filtered and unfiltered pale lagers, a honey beer and a dark lager. Again the beer was expensive by local standards but average to us. I also had a bowl of merji shorbasi, a local lentil soup, served with a quantity of bread more commonly associated with the feeding of the 5000.
The other brewpub, Beerbasa, is at the opposite end of town, though easily reached using a metro then a bus, at 26p for the journey. The three beers here, a light, a dark and a red, were all fairly average, and halfway through my second beer the waiter put down an unsolicited bowl of pistachios on the table, which then appeared on the bill for about £6! Fortunately some brief remonstration got them removed from the bill, but it’s something to watch out for.
I had a couple of other leads as coincidentally a mate was going a couple of weeks later and had done far more research than I, my own efforts being limited to the Ratebeer places lists. The Brewery has closed down and been replaced by a fancy cocktail bar, Mesopotamia brewpub seems not to exist, at least not where it was purported to be, and Hops turned out to have nothing but macro beer and football fans shouting at the tv. My last port of call did exist though, Beer O’clock, and unlike the brewpubs is a proper locals’ pub rather than a tourist trap, both beer and food being less than half the prices I’d paid in the brewpubs. There’s no craft beer as such but independent breweries are served including Stara Praga and Falken.
The train from Baku to Tbilisi is very sociably timed, leaving at 2330 and arriving at around 10am, with the border formalities being 7-9am. I’d opted for ‘Spalny’, two-berth sleeper compartments, and fortunately nobody else was allocated in my compartment. Like Baku, not many bars open at lunchtime, so I did the touristy bit first. Unfortunately a combination of the late opening of bars and early departure of the train to Yerevan meant I only had time to visit three places in a little cluster of bars near Liberty Square, my mate’s research has another couple of bars nearby, and another little cluster in another part of town.
9MTA is a modern craft bar, with 18 taps serving a few Georgian beers plus imports from the likes of Warpigs, Mikkeller and Brewdog. Four of the beers are from their own brewery, I tried the red ale and the IPA, both of which were pretty good, and then a Cherry Tripel from Lost Ridge brewery and a milk stout from Megobrebi. I didn’t try any imports due to time constraints, though unusually in my experience they were cheaper than in the UK. Also unusually for outside the UK, a 150ml measure cost exactly half the price of 300ml, no ‘ticker tax’!
The nearby Black Dog Bar has six beers from Number 8 Brewing, no small measures are served, so I just had a Zulu Run IPA before moving on. It was a decent IPA although nothing exciting to someone used to the UK beer scene. My last stop, sadly brief as it didn’t open until 1900, was SMA Bar. 6 Georgian beers on tap, plus usually a Belarussian lager, sadly off on this occasion so I had a raspberry blonde from Underground brewery and an IPA from Lumberjack brewery. I also acquired some takeouts for the train as they have a good bottle selection. I particularly enjoyed the Breccia, a gooseberry and tkemali (a tart berry native to Georgia) sour. I also had a cucumber kolsch from Megobrebi, and from Underground brewery a coconut IPA and a coffee stout with 20 grams of coffee per litre, possibly not the best idea just before bed!
A combination of the train to Yerevan only running every other day in winter, and cheap flights from there being only twice a week, meant the only way to fit it in was to make a return trip from Tbilisi on consecutive nights. The outward journey is earlier than ideal, leaving at 2020 and arriving just before 7am. The border crossing was relatively painless though you can expect a bit of questioning if you have Azerbaijan stamps in your passport. Again I took a touristy wander, but at least here the bars mostly open at lunchtime, so I was in Dargett on the dot of 11am. I spend several hours here, during which I tried all 16 beers on offer – fortunately they offer three different flights of four beers each. I started with a barrel aged wild ale, before setting about the flights including everything from lager to IPA to stout along with fruit beers. I then finished up with a Double IPA and a very good Imperial Stout.
From Dargett I headed south to Dors Craft & Kitchen, another modern craft bar serving 8 of their own beers. Two different flights of 4 are available, I went for the one including a farmhouse ale, a cherry ale, and APA and a DIPA, the latter being a tad weak for style at 6.5% but packing a respectable 80IBU. Again all well brewed and refreshing. 4 x 100ml was about £2.
Next up was Labeerint, an underground bar with a selection of their own beers. Their Lager and Munich ale are available from self-serve taps at your table, while the bar has others including a Helles, a Weissbier and a Dark Lager along with another lager Kilikia brewery. Finally, Beer Academy is another ‘brewpub’ though it seems the brewery isn’t actually on site, serving about half a dozen of their own beers, sadly on my visit these included a ginger brew, which the brewer insisted I try.
My final day was in Kutaisi, the city I visited on my one very brief previous visit to the region. The pseudo-brewpub (the beers actually came from the sister pub in Tbilisi) I’d visited then is long gone, but a new pseudo-brewpub has opened since, namely Bagrati. The waitress spoke no English, but via google translate I established the brewery is not on site but is ‘nearby’. The one beer is a fairly standard lager.
I found English was spoken in almost all the craft bars visited, but otherwise not widely spoken, Russian unsurprisingly being the second language in all three countries. Getting around the cities is easy and cheap, all have metros and frequent buses. Baku uses a ‘Baku card’ which can be loaded with any amount or disposable 4 ride cards (available from machines, which I only saw at the airport and at metro stations), these are the only way to pay for metro and red bus routes, while white bus routes are cash only. Tbilisi has a similar card system for the metro but bought in person from a ticket booth, I didn’t use any buses. Yerevan metro is cash based, again I had no cause to use any buses. Baku metro and bus schedules are loaded into Google Maps meaning it’s easy to plan getting around, I didn’t check in the other cities but the metros run frequently. Wi-Fi is fairly widely available, but to be sure I downloaded all three countries in maps.me for navigation while offline. www.ratebeer.com/places has most of the visited places listed, and handily has a map feature to assist planning.
Overall a fascinating trip. Yerevan, Dargett in particular, had the best beer, but Tbilisi had the most bars worth a visit. Azerbaijan and Armenia I think can now be filed under ‘been there, done that’, but I will go back to Georgia in the not too distant future.
Dave Unpronounceable
After the unexpected delights of Serbia, we headed into Romania with renewed optimism. Both of us had friends in the country who had warned us there might not be much in the way of decent beer. Luckily, they were wrong!
Our first stop was Timisoara, about 40 miles from the Serbian border. As we were strolling through the Fabric district, an interesting little place caught our eye. TapRoom was tiny with its pop-up bar and no more than half a dozen seats. It turned out that it was actually the main outlet for one of Timisoara’s newest breweries, OneTwo Brewing. In fact, the brewery was so new that none of their beers were ready to drink yet. Well, not officially anyway.
Being the only customers on a quiet Wednesday evening, we got talking to the owner, Alexandru, and it turned out that we both had a love of sour beers. Sours haven’t caught on yet in Romania, so he was excited to meet a fellow fan and conjured up a bottle of one of his own as-yet-unnamed creations for us to share. I must say I thought it was excellent, with just the right level of sourness. However, by the look on Poppy’s face when she tried it, I don’t think she’s a sour fan just yet!
Enjoying a Bereta beer in Timisoara
Easily the best place in town, though, was Bereta. Another local brewery, they are a bit longer established and have gained themselves a reputation for excellent and varied beers. We’d tried a couple of their offerings at TapRoom and been suitably impressed, and their own bar didn’t disappoint. The 16 taps were brilliant enough, but it was the bottled range that really excelled. Poppy’s Hopdrops Northern Raven (10.5% imperial stout) was so good it literally brought a tear to her eye.
Next up, a six-hour minibus journey away, was Sibiu, one of Transylvania’s seven ancient cities. The city has a long history of German occupation and the influence was certainly evident on the beer front. Now, it’s not often you come across a craft beer bar in the middle of an open-air ethnographic museum, but that’s exactly what we found at Astra. We were treated to an hour or two of traditional folk dancing while sipping a bottle of Urban Brewery’s Oktoberfest-style Märzen (5.5%).
Back in town, the best option beer-wise was probably St Andrew’s Scottish Pub. Despite the name, there wasn’t a Tennent’s lager in sight. There was, however, an excellent selection of Romanian craft on offer. Big names such as Bereta and Hop Hooligans made an appearance alongside smaller local breweries like Bere Sibiu and Nembeer.
Having been pretty impressed so far, we were by now especially excited to visit the capital Bucharest. There are no fewer than 15 permanent breweries here (not quite Sheffield standard, but not a bad effort!), as well as a handful of gypsy brewers. Romania’s biggest craft brewery, Hop Hooligans, are technically based just outside the city limits, but they dominate the Bucharest beer scene – not a bad thing as they are generally excellent. One of the biggest selections of their offerings was at Zeppelin Pub, a British-style bar with a (possibly overly) friendly resident cat.
Local beers in Bucharest
As you’d expect, many of the Bucharest breweries have fancy modern tap rooms, and it would have been rude of us not to visit a few. Ground Zero, located at the back of a car park in the business district, had a good selection of big, hoppy IPAs, while Zăganu and Sikaru’s brewery taps in the city centre both had decent ranges too.
By far and away our favourite pub in Bucharest though was Bere si Bere. The friendly owner was passionate about craft beer and the bottle list stretched to almost a small book. It’s safe to say that our daily budget took a bit of a hit as we treated ourselves to all sorts of beers from around the country. Berea Clujenilor (8.5% double IPA) was the pick of the bunch, a collab between Hop Hooligans and three breweries from Cluj.
Cluj was actually our ultimate destination, but there was time for a couple of nights in Sighisoara en-route. This isn’t a beer city by any means, but we did arrive just in time for the town’s “Oktoberfest”. The name somewhat oversold the actual event, which was confined to one pub and didn’t even have any German beer. The oompah music and free bratwurst were nice touches though!
Finally we arrived in Cluj, home to breweries such as Hopdrops, Blackout, Player One and Kutuma. We were surprised walking around town to hear lots more British accents than we expected. It turns out that the city has some of the lowest tuition fees for medical students in Europe, and is very popular with Brits in particular. The vibrant Sisters Bar in the city centre was the best place to find the biggest range of beers, and it was evidently popular with the student population too.
Private beer tasting at Hophead Brewery, Cluj
My friend Robi had managed to arrange us a personal tour of another local brewery, Hophead. The tour itself didn’t take too long (there were only two small rooms!), but we ended up staying a lot longer for the tasting session afterwards. The head brewer, Darko, guided us through the full selection of the brewery’s beers including the unique Othervice (5.8%), an American IPA at heart but with Belgian and German yeasts thrown in for good measure. The result was a hoppy pale with hints of banana-y wheat beer in the background – I can honestly say I’d never tried anything quite like it.
Sadly, Cluj was the final stop of our whole trip but don’t fear – there’s still one more Hopping Around article to come next month about our visit to Moldova, a truly fascinating little country. Now we’re back I’m hoping to start adding some more articles about beers closer to home to the blog (hoppingaround.co.uk) – at least until we’ve saved up to go away again!
Dominic Nelson
The first trip of the New Year was to explore some of the numerous pubs along Nottingham Road between Kimberley and Eastwood using a Derbyshire Wayfarer and a Trent Barton Zigzag day ticket. I travelled to Derby and then caught the Red Arrow limited stop service to Nottingham Victoria Bus Station to change on to the Rainbow One service which connects many of the places along Nottingham Road with a ten minute frequency for much of the day.
Half an hour after leaving Nottingham I arrived in Giltbrook and the Hayloft. This was quite a large multi-level Greene King pub with 7 hand pumps although only four were in operation, dispensing three cask beers and one cider. I chose a half of Olde Trip to start the day.
A couple of minutes walk away was the Caught & Bowled micropub with five cask beers available. This was the first micropub of the day and was in the long narrow style with the bar on the right and seating along the left wall. My selection was Hawkshead Gold.
Across the road to the same bus stop at which I had alighted and another Rainbow One took me the three stops to the Hilltop area. The first pub here was the Greasley Castle which is the largest traditional pub in this particular area. From the three cask beers available I chose a half of Ashover Poets Tipple. Nearby was the Tap & Growler (CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2020 entry). A small micropub but serving a very pleasant Anarchy Brewery Skin Deep which was in the ‘very cloudy orange juice coloured style’. Around the corner to another micro – the Pick & Davy. A complimentary homemade chilli sausage roll accompanied the Grasshopper Devil’s Horse Irish stout.
Two further bus stops along Nottingham Road deposited me in Eastwood. First call here and nearest to the bus stop was the Gamekeepers. This was a slightly larger micropub and I had halves of Pentrich Blank Maps stout and Blue Monkey Primate best bitter. Nearby was the Mellor’s Mews, just set back off the main road with some outdoor seating at the front. This had a more modern almost wine bar feel to it although the six hand pumps were dispensing four cask beers and two ciders. I had Oakham JHB. The Lady Chatterley was the only Wetherspoons pub visited today and two Dukeries beers were sampled – Santa’s Beer’d and S’no Wonder.
The last pub visited in Eastwood was the Dog & Parrot. Although there were several of the former in attendance I didn’t encounter the parrot. This was larger than the other micropubs I had visited today and had a larger range of drinks. From the cask selection I had a very enjoyable Muirhouses Tick Tock Boom and Cotswold Spring Godiva. It was then a very short walk back to the bus stop and a Rainbow One back to Victoria Bus Station.
I had a little wander around before getting a Red Arrow to Derby and found the Rose of England. A street corner local offering a pleasant Home Ales Apollo Orange to finish off with. I didn’t go for a drink in Derby on the way back but instead called in the Sheffield Tap (GBG 2020) for a half of Brew York Maris The Otter and then to the Old Queens Head (GBG 2020) for halves of Thwaites Good Elf and Little Critters Incubator Series New England Pale.
Some of the pubs visited today have restricted opening hours especially early in the week so it is advisable to check these before visiting. There are still quite a number of pubs in this area to visit but these will have to wait for another day. As a footnote I would like to thank both Richard Norris and The Didler for providing the inspiration for this Grand Day Out.
Andy Morton
It’s spring time again. Time for us to get our boots on and go for our drinks further afield. Sheffield has many great pubs and green spaces within its boundaries. But looking further afield there are many villages in the easily reached surrounding countryside which have great pubs in them too – all worth visiting. We are also lucky to still have within the city a public transport system that will get you there and back.
Although we as a Branch have organised mini-bus trips to many of these pubs (usually on our way to present one of them with a well deserved award) these are limited.
To supplement them we are continuing our RambAles – a series of roughly monthly led walks in the countryside surrounding Sheffield visiting a number of pubs for a drink whilst enjoying a not too strenuous walk.
We hope that people won’t find the walks either too long or too strenuous and most will feature a number of drop-out points, as well as pubs, where people can leave the walk and make their own way back, by either bus or train, to Sheffield if they don’t fancy doing the whole walk or want to stay for another drink in a particular pub. These will also provide joining points for any latecomers. Some timings and fares will be given in the walks listing (but it pays to check these yourself).
Dates haven’t been given for our later walks as we have to fit them round other events such as beer festivals and football matches. But all such changes will be published in leaflets, future editions of Beer Matters or on the Branch website (sheffieldcamra.org.uk), or by contacting the walk leader on 0784 253 0128.
Everyone is welcome to join us on one of these walks but they are advised to come suitably equipped for the day’s walking, which may be rough, wet and muddy in places. You should also come prepared for the possibility of changeable and inclement weather. In most cases you will also need to bring (or be able to buy) sufficient food and drink for yourself for the day.
2020 RambAle 01:- Saturday March 21stA chance to Walk to the Dams via the 51 bus route again. We tried to do this walk last year but got rained off. Hopefully the weather will be better this year (OL1 OS map)
catch the 51 bus from Sheffield City Centre (Arundel Gate, by the Lyceum theatre) at 11:28 to the Shiny Sheff pub by Crimicar Lane, getting there for midday.
After a drink, we’ll walk along the conduit path to Redmires Dams then back to Lodge Moor for the Three Merry Lads and Sportsman pubs
51 bus back from Lodge Moor terminus into Sheffield Centre.
The cheapest bus ticket is a Sheffield day ticket for First bus – £4.40 from the driver or £4 from their app.
2020 RambAle 02:- Saturday April 25thA walk from Denby Dale to Penistone led by Dave Pickersgill (who will join the train en-route from Sheffield)
catch the Northern train from Sheffield at 10:35 to Denby Dale
Pubs for potential refreshment stops along the walk to Penistone include the George (Upper Denby), Crystal Palace, Huntsman (Thurlstone) and various in Penistone.
Trains set off back from Penistone to Sheffield on a roughly hourly frequency.
A return train ticket costs £6.80, buy from the ticket machines or ticket windows at the station. Alternatively a Connect+ pass is available for all public transport in South Yorkshire priced at £8.80.
2020 RambAle 03:- Saturday May 2ndA meander around the parish of Holmesfield combining the Sheffield suburb of Totley, Gillifield Woods and Derbyshire countryside.
Meet at the Cross Scythes on Baslow Road, Totley, at 12:15. There are a choice of buses to get there, route 218 from Sheffield Interchange at 11:40 or route 97 from Sheffield High Street at 11:43
We’ll walk to the small village of Millthorpe, home of the Royal Oak pub, then up to Holmesfield where there are a choice of 3 pubs.
We then head down to Totley Rise (Wave at cider maker Dick Shepley as we walk past Woodthorpe Hall!) and the Shepley Spitfire pub, before continuing up onto the main road for a bus back into Sheffield Centre.
Best bus ticket is a Citybus all day pass at £4.70, valid on all buses in Sheffield. Buy from the bus driver or on the First bus app.
2020 RambAle 05:- Saturday July 18thA walk from Deepcar to Wortley, to visit the the beer festival at Wortley Club.
Meet at the King & Miller, a Bradfield Brewery pub in Deepcar, at 12:15. Get there using the Yellow route tram from Sheffield Castle Square at 11:35 and connecting Stagecoach link bus at Middlewood
We take a pleasant 3.5 mile walk to the village of Wortley and visit the beer festival there
TM Travel bus 29 returns direct from Wortley to Sheffield at 16:38 or 18:44
A South Yorkshire connect day pass includes all buses and trams in South Yorkshire for £7. Buy from the tram conductor or on the Stagecoach bus app.
2020 RambAle 06:- Saturday August TBCA walk from Bents Green to Totley via Ringinglow (OL1 & OL 24 maps)
We meet at the Hammer & Pincers pub at 12:15. Get there on bus 83 or 88.
Walk up Ringinglow Road to Norfolk Arms, Houndkirk Road to Fox House and over Totley Moss to Totley for a choice of the Cricket Inn, Crown and Cross Scythes.
Buses 97 or 218 from Totley back into Sheffield Centre
Best bus ticket is a Citybus all day pass at £4.70, valid on all buses in Sheffield. Buy from the bus driver or on the First bus app.
2020 RambAle 07:- Saturday September TBCGreat Hucklow to Bradwell
Catch the 65 bus from Sheffield Interchange out to Queen Anne pub in Great Hucklow, we’ll then walk down to Little Hucklow to visit newly reopened & refurbished 12th Century Old Bulls Head pub.
We’ll then walk back over the Dales to Bradwell, a village boasting a choice of pubs.
The 272 bus will take us directly back to Sheffield
A Derbyshire Wayfarer pass covers both buses, however single tickets are likely to be cheaper.
It may be 2020 now but there’s still a few more countries from last year’s beery jaunt around Europe for me to get through yet. I hope everybody has had a relaxing festive break and is embracing the Tryanuary spirit. What better way to spend the long, dark winter nights than with a hearty stout or two?
Our journey to Serbia was an eight-hour train ride from Budapest. How they managed to make it take quite so long I’m not sure; the train crawled through the unwaveringly flat Serbian sunflower fields at a snail’s pace, but eventually we arrived in Novi Sad tired yet otherwise unscathed. Neither of us really knew what to expect from Serbia, but what we found was a beautiful, charming city nestled on the banks of the River Danube.
We spent the first morning exploring the town, but exploration is of course thirsty work and soon enough it was time to stop for a beer. My only previous experience of Serbian ale was a Dogma Hoptopod IPA that someone had brought to a Beer Central bottle share last year. I remember thinking it was decent enough, if nothing too exciting, so I had fairly limited expectations for the Serbian beer scene.
How wrong I was. The first place we came across was Mazut Beer Shop. It’s an unassuming place from the outside but step in and you find a beer lover’s paradise, with half a dozen taps pouring local beers, as well as a wall of shelves full of bottles and cans from all over the world, from Sweden to South Africa. One of the best local craft breweries is Kabinet, and we both opted for one of theirs. Interestingly, both were collaborations with some very big names: I went for the Vista Milk Stout (5.8%), a joint effort with Mikkeller, while Poppy sampled the De Molen collab Perfectly Imperfect (8.0%), an intriguing dark ale brewed with dark chocolate and roasted sesame seeds.
Our hopes raised, we set off around the city in search of more excellent beer. We weren’t disappointed; Beer Store, Brick Bar, Tehnolog’s, Škripa and Toster (the latter also serving wonderful Serbian-style hamburgers) all offered interesting local creations from breweries such as Dogma, Salto Pivo, Crow and 3Bir. While we were in Škripa, the barmaid informed us it was the last day of a free music and beer festival at Petrovaradin Fortress on the other side of the river.
Now, the fortress itself is stunning enough, but add in a beer festival and you really have a winning combination. There were stalls from breweries of all descriptions, from the bigger names we’d tried in town to tiny local nano-breweries like Libeeri, RazBeerBriga and Premier Beer. It was a wonderful way to round off a great start to our Serbian adventure.
Soon enough, it was time to leave Novi Sad and head to the capital city, Belgrade. Eventually we figured out how to use Serbian bus stations (they have a bizarre system where you have to pay not only for a bus ticket, but for a separate token to enter the platform too) and got on our way. Belgrade is a fascinating city where old meets new; the ancient citadel on one side of the river in stark contrast to the seemingly endless tower blocks of New Belgrade on the other.
It’s also a city with plenty of choice for the discerning beer drinker. There are craft bars and taprooms dotted all around the city, but we went for a different approach and decided to explore Belgrade’s bottle shops. Right in the city centre, we found 300 Čuda. Part bottle shop, part comic book shop, it offered a good range of beers from Serbia and beyond (whether the comics were much cop, I couldn’t say). We picked up a bottle of Dogma Plutonium (7.5%), a zingy orange milkshake Double IPA. The bar upstairs, Samo Pivo, was also pretty impressive, its horseshoe-shaped bar lined with dozens of taps.
Meanwhile, in Vračar district we found Pivodrom, a tiny shop with a surprisingly varied selection of beers, where we sampled 3Bir Shake (5.0%), a tasty milk stout. Nestled down a nearby alleyway was Pivski Zabavnik, a growler-fill shop which also sold beer by the glass to drink on their small outdoor terrace.
By far the best bottle shops, however, were to be found in the urban sprawl of New Belgrade. Thrifty as ever, we decided to walk the 4 km journey to Pivopija, located in the imaginatively named Blok 21 district. Luckily, it was well worth the hike. We found a couple of beers from breweries we hadn’t seen before, Dilemma Hefeweizen (5.9%) and Crna Ovca Black Sheep (6.5%) dark IPA – no relation to the Masham version! Beerville, situated at the bottom of a block of flats over in Blok 67, was great too, a modern place with yet more new breweries for us to try. This time, Academia’s Dirigent Porter (6.5%) was the takeaway of choice.
The last stop of our Serbian sojourn was Subotica, a small town in the north of the country with one of the few bus routes back to Hungary. It may be home to the third-largest synagogue in Europe (and possibly the continent’s fanciest branch of McDonald’s), but sadly there was precious little on the beer front. We made do with enjoying our purchases from Belgrade as our brief visit to the Balkans came to an end. We’ll certainly be heading back to this part of the world in the future!
As I mentioned earlier, there’s still a couple more countries to write about, starting next month with Romania. Or as always, you’re welcome to head to our website, hoppingaround.co.uk if you can’t wait until then.
Dominic Nelson
A group from Sheffield CAMRA jumped on the tram train to Parkgate to visit Chantry Brewery on Friday 10th January. We were also joined there by some of our beery friends from Rotherham and Barnsley.
As well as having a bit of a nosy and seeing their 20BBL brew kit and 4 fermenting vessels used by head brewer Mick Warburton, we were able to test drive the still under construction tap room upstairs, which they expect to have completed around Easter time with the intention of having monthly brewery tap events through the summer with a full bar open to the public. Things have been expanding there since the brewery first opened in 2012!
Thanks to team Chantry for the hospitality, we enjoyed three excellent cask beers on the evening – Hop Thief, Hoppy Road and Rebel Chocolate Stout.
Following the brewery visit, we had a walk the short distance up to the Little Haven micro bar where a choice of three more Chantry beers were available along with a great welcome! Our festival organiser Paul also attempted to demonstrate his guitar playing ability but thankfully that moment was short lived…
The final call of the day saw us get off the Sheffield bound tram at Rotherham Central station and walk up to the Three Cranes Inn on Rotherham High Street with a choice of 4 cask ales on the bar and a range of flavoured ciders.
Unfortunately time ran away and we didn’t have time to visit the two Chantry pubs in Rotherham town centre – the Cutlers Arms and New York Tavern, however they are easy enough to get back to and Chantry also now have a Sheffield pub in Handsworth.
The tram train dropped us back at Sheffield Cathedral and some of us found that very convenient to drop in the Church House to catch the end of the live band’s set there!
On Saturday 9th.November, 39 of the many volunteers at SCBF45 had a day out. This year we went to Harrogate.
An initial hour long stop at the recently opened Roosters Brewery and Taproom was followed by a few hours in Harrogate. Roosters were founded in 1993 and quickly developed a reputation for brewing ground-breaking, hop-forward pale ales that showcased (then) new hops from the USA. Earlier this year, they relocated to Hornbeam Park in Harrogate. Their taproom is open Wednesday – Sunday and is well-worth a visit.
We then moved into Harrogate and small groups visited many of the venues on our pre-prepared list – plus a few extras. For example, the ‘Disappearing Chin’ micropub. A good day was had by all – personal highlights include Cold Bath Brewery Tap, the Harrogate Tap and Major Toms. Key beers included Silent Assassin (Roosters), Harbour Little Rock IPA (Little Ale House) and Nightjar Zolo (Major Toms Social).
It was great to be back in Sheffield again for a few days in October for the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival. Once again, it was a really successful event and credit goes to all the volunteers who work hard throughout the year to make it so enjoyable. Poppy and I have now been back in the UK for a month, but there’s still plenty of countries to tell you about, so here goes…
August Bank Holiday rolled around and we were back on the move again. Our destination this time was Budapest, the capital of Hungary and fast becoming one of Europe’s foremost craft beer cities. The perfect place for two young beer bloggers to spend a long weekend.
We were staying a little way out of the city centre in Ferencváros, probably better known for its football team. However, the district is also home to Élesztő, one of Budapest’s famous ruin pubs. These bars aim to bring old abandoned buildings back to life, and of the 20 or so in the city, Élesztő has the biggest focus on quality beer from local breweries such as Monyo and Horizont. They actually opened a cask ale bar here a couple of years ago – Roger Protz was invited to the opening – but sadly it apparently didn’t take off. Just around the corner, Pepin also had a great selection of local bottled beers, including Fehér Nyúl White Stout (5.2%), a collaboration with London-based Hackney Brewery.
Hedon Bazilika tap room
A couple of days later, we headed into the city centre intending to spend the afternoon on a free walking tour, learning more about Budapest’s history and architecture. About half an hour in though, we decided that it wasn’t for us so we made our excuses and left. Coincidentally (or not), the point where we left the tour happened to be just around the corner from the Hedon Bazilika brewery tap room. The beers weren’t especially memorable, but the concept was; there are 32 taps lined up on the wall and you simply put some money on a card, then go up and serve yourself as much or as little as you like!
We visited some of the other brewery taps around the city too: the Monyo tap room next door to the Great Market Hall was a cosy affair, a small bar with only 6 beers on draught but an extensive bottle list. The décor at the Legenda tap room was rather retro, but the beers were reasonably priced, especially given the strengths. I tried the double IPA, Snakebite (8%), but Poppy was even braver with her Bitumen imperial stout (12%), both of which came in at around £1.40. Meanwhile, Ogre Bácsi a couple of blocks away presented beers from Szent András microbrewery in a comfortable cellar bar setting.
Ogre Bácsi
If we’d had room in our backpacks, Csak a jó Sör (“Only Good Beer”) would have been the perfect place to stock up on some of the local bottles. This huge shop in the Jewish district offered hundreds of beers from Hungary and beyond to drink in or take away, as well as a handful of taps. Sadly, with luggage space at a premium we moved on to Hopaholic, where I tasted probably my favourite beer from our time in Hungary, the delicious Mad Scientist Szilvas Gombóc plum pudding gose (10%).
Hungary was an anomaly on our travels as we actually left for a couple of weeks to visit Serbia. Serbia actually had a surprisingly thriving beer scene, but that will have to wait until the next issue. When we arrived back in Hungary, we stopped off for a few days in Szeged, a beautiful city filled with Art Nouveau architecture.
Csak a jó Sör bottle shop
We’d planned to spend an afternoon checking out some of the craft beer bars in the city centre. Sörök Háza (“House of Beers”) and Maláta both looked promising, but unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side. As we were strolling through town a huge gust of wind appeared from nowhere, bringing down trees and flinging roofs off buildings. We arrived at the bar to find tables and chairs strewn around the beer garden; unsurprisingly they weren’t open for business that day. Instead we made do with spending the evening in our accommodation with a bottle of wine from the supermarket.
As promised, I’ll be back next month to tell you about our adventures around Serbia. I must admit that as we’ve been working at various beer festivals since getting back, we still need to write the last few articles for our blog but we’re hoping to get them done in the next few days. If you’d like to check them out, please head to hoppingaround.co.uk – thanks again for reading!
Dominic Nelson
Scott Colebourne with the half barrel plant The idea for a brewery came in the summer of 2007 after Barry had spotted an advertisement in “The Publican” for a half-barrel plant. He and Scott Colebourne (who was working at the Countryman at the time and became head brewer) decided to experiment with a “hobby” brewery and were easily persuaded by the manufacturer who also supplied a simple recipe and brewing kit. Fortunately, the pub had previously stocked beers from the Fugelestou Brewery (Louth) and Phil Ellis provided free and friendly advice to the Countryman team. The first principle Barry and Scott agreed upon was to keep things simple. Honey, coriander and hedgerow weeds were definitely off the menu! Ace Ale (a mid-brown session bitter at 3.8%) duly emerged and was eventually accompanied by a light-coloured summer IPA (Leila’s Lazy Days at 3.6%) and a dark ruby autumn/winter beer (Lincolnshire Life at 4.2%).
Success bred success and Barry purchased a 2.5 barrel plant from Poacher’s Brewery in Lincoln which had downsized production. A stable on the Countryman site had become vacant and this was converted and the plant installed between December 2008 and March 2009. By summer 2010, brewing was sufficiently advanced to have all three beers permanently on.
At present, Leila Cottage has to use informal arrangements (the backs and boots of cars!) to supply beer festivals and the odd pub. Although there’s no official delivery system, casks can be collected and Fugelstou, Oldershaw’s and Small Beer at Lincoln have assisted at one time or another. Advance notice will allow you to see the brewery and there is a large car park as well as facilities on site for caravans and camper-vans. So, if you are holidaying in the area or just passing through, both the “Countryman” and Leila Cottage Brewery should be on be a must visit if your in this area.
From Skegness Platform A take the Number 1 bus which takes 20 minutes and is every half hour. Alight at St Paul church and The countryman is a minute walk away.
Philip Brown 
First port of call was Paulaner, a subsidiary of the Bavarian brewer, and with the same beers but brewed on site. The beers were decent but not exciting, and around £3 for a half litre so expensive by local standards. As I had two days I decided to call it a night and tackle the rest the next day, and adjourned to my hotel.
Next day I had a lie in then set about the rest of the beer scene, starting with the NZS brewery, the largest independent brewery in Azerbaijan, which has an onsite restaurant serving their one beer, a fairly standard lager (the menu advertises an unfiltered version, but it wasn’t available on my visit). I blagged a tour of the brewery, being given a bottle of the beer fresh off the bottling line at the end. I jokingly suggested a collaboration brew next time I’m over, but I’m not sure Azerbaijan is quite ready for what we think of as craft beer! From there, it’s a short 13p bus ride to Mala Praga, a largish brewpub serving 4 beers – filtered and unfiltered pale lagers, a honey beer and a dark lager. Again the beer was expensive by local standards but average to us. I also had a bowl of merji shorbasi, a local lentil soup, served with a quantity of bread more commonly associated with the feeding of the 5000.
The other brewpub, Beerbasa, is at the opposite end of town, though easily reached using a metro then a bus, at 26p for the journey. The three beers here, a light, a dark and a red, were all fairly average, and halfway through my second beer the waiter put down an unsolicited bowl of pistachios on the table, which then appeared on the bill for about £6! Fortunately some brief remonstration got them removed from the bill, but it’s something to watch out for.
I had a couple of other leads as coincidentally a mate was going a couple of weeks later and had done far more research than I, my own efforts being limited to the Ratebeer places lists. The Brewery has closed down and been replaced by a fancy cocktail bar, Mesopotamia brewpub seems not to exist, at least not where it was purported to be, and Hops turned out to have nothing but macro beer and football fans shouting at the tv. My last port of call did exist though, Beer O’clock, and unlike the brewpubs is a proper locals’ pub rather than a tourist trap, both beer and food being less than half the prices I’d paid in the brewpubs. There’s no craft beer as such but independent breweries are served including Stara Praga and Falken.
The train from Baku to Tbilisi is very sociably timed, leaving at 2330 and arriving at around 10am, with the border formalities being 7-9am. I’d opted for ‘Spalny’, two-berth sleeper compartments, and fortunately nobody else was allocated in my compartment. Like Baku, not many bars open at lunchtime, so I did the touristy bit first. Unfortunately a combination of the late opening of bars and early departure of the train to Yerevan meant I only had time to visit three places in a little cluster of bars near Liberty Square, my mate’s research has another couple of bars nearby, and another little cluster in another part of town.
9MTA is a modern craft bar, with 18 taps serving a few Georgian beers plus imports from the likes of Warpigs, Mikkeller and Brewdog. Four of the beers are from their own brewery, I tried the red ale and the IPA, both of which were pretty good, and then a Cherry Tripel from Lost Ridge brewery and a milk stout from Megobrebi. I didn’t try any imports due to time constraints, though unusually in my experience they were cheaper than in the UK. Also unusually for outside the UK, a 150ml measure cost exactly half the price of 300ml, no ‘ticker tax’!
The nearby Black Dog Bar has six beers from Number 8 Brewing, no small measures are served, so I just had a Zulu Run IPA before moving on. It was a decent IPA although nothing exciting to someone used to the UK beer scene. My last stop, sadly brief as it didn’t open until 1900, was SMA Bar. 6 Georgian beers on tap, plus usually a Belarussian lager, sadly off on this occasion so I had a raspberry blonde from Underground brewery and an IPA from Lumberjack brewery. I also acquired some takeouts for the train as they have a good bottle selection. I particularly enjoyed the Breccia, a gooseberry and tkemali (a tart berry native to Georgia) sour. I also had a cucumber kolsch from Megobrebi, and from Underground brewery a coconut IPA and a coffee stout with 20 grams of coffee per litre, possibly not the best idea just before bed!
A 
combination of the train to Yerevan only running every other day in winter, and cheap flights from there being only twice a week, meant the only way to fit it in was to make a return trip from Tbilisi on consecutive nights. The outward journey is earlier than ideal, leaving at 2020 and arriving just before 7am. The border crossing was relatively painless though you can expect a bit of questioning if you have Azerbaijan stamps in your passport. Again I took a touristy wander, but at least here the bars mostly open at lunchtime, so I was in Dargett on the dot of 11am. I spend several hours here, during which I tried all 16 beers on offer – fortunately they offer three different flights of four beers each. I started with a barrel aged wild ale, before setting about the flights including everything from lager to IPA to stout along with fruit beers. I then finished up with a Double IPA and a very good Imperial Stout.
From Dargett I headed south to Dors Craft & Kitchen, another modern craft bar serving 8 of their own beers. Two different flights of 4 are available, I went for the one including a farmhouse ale, a cherry ale, and APA and a DIPA, the latter being a tad weak for style at 6.5% but packing a respectable 80IBU. Again all well brewed and refreshing. 4 x 100ml was about £2.
Next up was Labeerint, an underground bar with a selection of their own beers. Their Lager and Munich ale are available from self-serve taps at your table, while the bar has others including a Helles, a Weissbier and a Dark Lager along with another lager Kilikia brewery. Finally, Beer Academy is another ‘brewpub’ though it seems the brewery isn’t actually on site, serving about half a dozen of their own beers, sadly on my visit these included a ginger brew, which the brewer insisted I try.
My final day was in Kutaisi, the city I visited on my one very brief previous visit to the region. The pseudo-brewpub (the beers actually came from the sister pub in Tbilisi) I’d visited then is long gone, but a new pseudo-brewpub has opened since, namely Bagrati. The waitress spoke no English, but via google translate I established the brewery is not on site but is ‘nearby’. The one beer is a fairly standard lager.
I found English was spoken in almost all the craft bars visited, but otherwise not widely spoken, Russian unsurprisingly being the second language in all three countries. Getting around the cities is easy and cheap, all have metros and frequent buses. Baku uses a ‘Baku card’ which can be loaded with any amount or disposable 4 ride cards (available from machines, which I only saw at the airport and at metro stations), these are the only way to pay for metro and red bus routes, while white bus routes are cash only. Tbilisi has a similar card system for the metro but bought in person from a ticket booth, I didn’t use any buses. Yerevan metro is cash based, again I had no cause to use any buses. Baku metro and bus schedules are loaded into Google Maps meaning it’s easy to plan getting around, I didn’t check in the other cities but the metros run frequently. Wi-Fi is fairly widely available, but to be sure I downloaded all three countries in maps.me for navigation while offline. 
A couple of minutes walk away was the 
Two further bus stops along Nottingham Road deposited me in Eastwood. First call here and nearest to the bus stop was the 
How wrong I was. The first place we came across was Mazut Beer Shop. It’s an unassuming place from the outside but step in and you find a beer lover’s paradise, with half a dozen taps pouring local beers, as well as a wall of shelves full of bottles and cans from all over the world, from Sweden to South Africa. One of the best local craft breweries is Kabinet, and we both opted for one of theirs. Interestingly, both were collaborations with some very big names: I went for the Vista Milk Stout (5.8%), a joint effort with Mikkeller, while Poppy sampled the De Molen collab Perfectly Imperfect (8.0%), an intriguing dark ale brewed with dark chocolate and roasted sesame seeds.
Our hopes raised, we set off around the city in search of more excellent beer. We weren’t disappointed; Beer Store, Brick Bar, Tehnolog’s, Škripa and Toster (the latter also serving wonderful Serbian-style hamburgers) all offered interesting local creations from breweries such as Dogma, Salto Pivo, Crow and 3Bir. While we were in Škripa, the barmaid informed us it was the last day of a free music and beer festival at Petrovaradin Fortress on the other side of the river.
Now, the fortress itself is stunning enough, but add in a beer festival and you really have a winning combination. There were stalls from breweries of all descriptions, from the bigger names we’d tried in town to tiny local nano-breweries like Libeeri, RazBeerBriga and Premier Beer. It was a wonderful way to round off a great start to our Serbian adventure.
Soon enough, it was time to leave Novi Sad and head to the capital city, Belgrade. Eventually we figured out how to use Serbian bus stations (they have a bizarre system where you have to pay not only for a bus ticket, but for a separate token to enter the platform too) and got on our way. Belgrade is a fascinating city where old meets new; the ancient citadel on one side of the river in stark contrast to the seemingly endless tower blocks of New Belgrade on the other.
It’s also a city with plenty of choice for the discerning beer drinker. There are craft bars and taprooms dotted all around the city, but we went for a different approach and decided to explore Belgrade’s bottle shops. Right in the city centre, we found 300 Čuda. Part bottle shop, part comic book shop, it offered a good range of beers from Serbia and beyond (whether the comics were much cop, I couldn’t say). We picked up a bottle of Dogma Plutonium (7.5%), a zingy orange milkshake Double IPA. The bar upstairs, Samo Pivo, was also pretty impressive, its horseshoe-shaped bar lined with dozens of taps.
Meanwhile, in Vračar district we found Pivodrom, a tiny shop with a surprisingly varied selection of beers, where we sampled 3Bir Shake (5.0%), a tasty milk stout. Nestled down a nearby alleyway was Pivski Zabavnik, a growler-fill shop which also sold beer by the glass to drink on their small outdoor terrace.
By far the best bottle shops, however, were to be found in the urban sprawl of New Belgrade. Thrifty as ever, we decided to walk the 4 km journey to Pivopija, located in the imaginatively named Blok 21 district. Luckily, it was well worth the hike. We found a couple of beers from breweries we hadn’t seen before, Dilemma Hefeweizen (5.9%) and Crna Ovca Black Sheep (6.5%) dark IPA – no relation to the Masham version! Beerville, situated at the bottom of a block of flats over in Blok 67, was great too, a modern place with yet more new breweries for us to try. This time, Academia’s Dirigent Porter (6.5%) was the takeaway of choice.
The last stop of our Serbian sojourn was Subotica, a small town in the north of the country with one of the few bus routes back to Hungary. It may be home to the third-largest synagogue in Europe (and possibly the continent’s fanciest branch of McDonald’s), but sadly there was precious little on the beer front. We made do with enjoying our purchases from Belgrade as our brief visit to the Balkans came to an end. We’ll certainly be heading back to this part of the world in the future!
As I mentioned earlier, there’s still a couple more countries to write about, starting next month with Romania. Or as always, you’re welcome to head to our website, 
As well as having a bit of a nosy and seeing their 20BBL brew kit and 4 fermenting vessels used by head brewer Mick Warburton, we were able to test drive the still under construction tap room upstairs, which they expect to have completed around Easter time with the intention of having monthly brewery tap events through the summer with a full bar open to the public. Things have been expanding there since the brewery first opened in 2012!
Thanks to team Chantry for the hospitality, we enjoyed three excellent cask beers on the evening – Hop Thief, Hoppy Road and Rebel Chocolate Stout.
Following the brewery visit, we had a walk the short distance up to the Little Haven micro bar where a choice of three more Chantry beers were available along with a great welcome! Our festival organiser Paul also attempted to demonstrate his guitar playing ability but thankfully that moment was short lived…
The final call of the day saw us get off the Sheffield bound tram at Rotherham Central station and walk up to the Three Cranes Inn on Rotherham High Street with a choice of 4 cask ales on the bar and a range of flavoured ciders.
Unfortunately time ran away and we didn’t have time to visit the two Chantry pubs in Rotherham town centre – the Cutlers Arms and New York Tavern, however they are easy enough to get back to and Chantry also now have a Sheffield pub in Handsworth.
The tram train dropped us back at Sheffield Cathedral and some of us found that very convenient to drop in the Church House to catch the end of the live band’s set there! 
An initial hour long stop at the recently opened Roosters Brewery and Taproom was followed by a few hours in Harrogate. Roosters were founded in 1993 and quickly developed a reputation for brewing ground-breaking, hop-forward pale ales that showcased (then) new hops from the USA. Earlier this year, they relocated to Hornbeam Park in Harrogate. Their taproom is open Wednesday – Sunday and is well-worth a visit.
We then moved into Harrogate and small groups visited many of the venues on our pre-prepared list – plus a few extras. For example, the ‘Disappearing Chin’ micropub. A good day was had by all – personal highlights include Cold Bath Brewery Tap, the Harrogate Tap and Major Toms. Key beers included Silent Assassin (Roosters), Harbour Little Rock IPA (Little Ale House) and Nightjar Zolo (Major Toms Social).
