Me and Black Sheep

I received a very glamorous bottle of beer from Black Sheep Brewery last week.  It is a fancy 10% abv effort, celebrating 20 years of the company's existence.  It was nice of them to include me, though I'm not sure when I'll get the chance to drink a 75 cl bottle of such strong beer.  At least it won't go off soon.

We do have a slight connection though, me and Black Sheep and one that does make this kind gift  apposite.  Around 21 years ago, I was present at a beer tasting by Black Sheep before they launched. It was held at the Beer Emporium in Oldham, a pub which alas no longer exists.  I can't remember what feedback I gave on the beers, but no doubt me and others did, so I have contributed, albeit in a small way.  It is at least a connection.

Good to see they have survived and prospered.

There is a good photo of the Beer Emporium here, but take the date of the photo with a pinch of salt. It was closed and knocked down long before 2009

A Few Quick Things

I have been busy for a few days, but one or two things to mention in this great beer drinking world I live in. On Thursday I took my National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders exam. I don't know the result yet, but know from discussion I have got two wrong. Doh! Afterwards we went to the Black Lion in Salford for a pint. A relatively new opening, or rather re-opening, it is a really nice corner pub, run by the same people that run the nearby New Oxford. Like the New Oxford, it offers a good range of beers, despite in this case, an Enterprise tie. Unfortunately the beer we tried, Phoenix Arizona wasn't at its best, so we beat a retreat to the Angel, now divested of its gastropub status and just a proper pub again. We didn't enjoy Williams Brothers Gold. Its description of golden and hoppy only met the criteria on the"golden" bit. It was sweet beyond belief. Given that we had walked a couple of miles all in and had not had a good pint yet, we cut our losses and went to the Marble. Glorious pints of Pint restored our faith in cask ale, but there was a sting in the tail. I finished on Dobber and it was poor and unrecognisable as the great beer it is. Even the best can have an off day!


I mentioned also that Lees Bitter had disappointed recently. Those lovely chaps at the brewery have sorted it. Alerted by a text from my mate John who had sampled half a dozen in the THT to make certain of the return to form, I went to the Old Boar's Head and the Lancashire Fold. Both were providing bitter in top form, so much so that when I bumped into Lees Second Brewer I didn't mention it, though I did tackle him about boring beer. He put a flea in my ear as he always does when I bang on about hops, but we parted friends!

Soon I'm off to the THT to check things out.