Sponsored by
Keeping it real! We hit the ale trail
CALL me a knuckle-dragging savage if you like, but I like, no, make that love, lager.
Though members of Campaign For Real Ale (Camra) will probably shake their head in disgust, I have to admit I adore everything about it – the bubbles, the colour, even the slightly chemical flavour you get with some of the reassuringly expensive brews I find things of joy.
As for real ale? It just doesn't do it for me. I've tried it in the past – many times – but it's never really won my taste buds over.
Gazette photographer Stu Norton is much the same. Here's a man who'd rather drink sea water than a pint of Bishop's Finger.
However, all that changed earlier this year when we visited The Jarrow Brewery at The Maltings pub in South Shields, for a feature.
Both being fans of the bubbly stuff, we were trepidatious to say the least about trying the award-winning Rivet Catcher after our tour of the brewery.
To our utter amazement though, we both thought it quite lovely and so decided we should learn more about the range of natural beers available throughout South Tyneside.
In the absence of an official Camra pub crawl, Jarrow Brewery and Maltings' owner Jess McConnell, 57, agreed to be our guide for a night.
First stop was Jess's other pub in the borough, The Robin Hood in Jarrow, which he informed us has been there since 1824.
Straight into the thick of it, he gave us each a half pint of Red Ellen, named after the firebrand Jarrow MP of the 1930s Ellen Wilkinson.
With an alcohol by volume (abv) count of 4.4, it is one the pub's best-selling 'winter' ales.
Before the drinking though, the sniffing.
Unsurprisingly, it smelt like, err, beer, but it's true, the longer you leave your nose in, the more you detect faint 'undertones'.
In this case, citrus fruits and, hmmm, chocolate.
Pleased Stu and I had picked these up, Jess explained that one of its chief ingredients was pale chocolate malt.
It's the secret combinations of hops and malt which give each beer its unique flavour.
"Are you chewing gum," asked Alison, Jess's wife and business partner.
"Yes. Sorry."
"Take it out then. You can't taste anything chewing that."
As passionate about her husband about real ale, she also had another bugbear about us beer ignoramuses.
"If you drink something that's really cold, it numbs your taste buds.
With real ale it's served at a more ambient temperature. You get more flavour that way."
She was right on both counts. Just as you can't taste anything under a fug of spearmint, cold lager doesn't particularly taste of anything.
With the Red Ellen though, you can taste the chocolate, but not in a bad way.
More a subtle aftertaste.
Giving it 7/10, I could have drunk a pint easily, but was told we had to move on.
Finishing his off, Stu gave his first judgment of the night.
"It's creamy and sweet. Quite nice. I'd give it 7/10."
A good start for the Red Ellen; 14/20.
So then it was on to our next pub, The Dolly Peel in South Shields, where we tried a former British champion beer; Landlord, made by the Timothy Taylor brewery in West Yorkshire.
Jess took a remarkably long sniff of this one; his eyes going all misty with delight.
Stu though wasn't quite so sure: "It's a bit harsh for me. It's too bitter. 4/10."
Ditto for me: 5/10.
A disappointing 9/20 total.
Jess, meanwhile, was still sniffing and sipping. "It's lovely, fruity..."
We moved on.
Over the road was pub No3, The Trimmers Arms, which reopened in July under the stewardship of landlords Bill Laws and son Jamie.
"People are liking the real ales rather than the branded ones such as John Smiths," Bill said.
"They are growing in popularity all the time."
His choice of tipple for us was an Espresso Stout, from the Bitter End Brewery in Cumbria.
Showing he's a quick learner, Stu nailed the coffee undertones in the smell test immediately.
He wasn't finished though.
"Hmmm. I like it, because it's bitter and sweet. I like the contrast between the two.
8/10."
I wasn't a big fan though.
Stout to me has the consistency of black porridge.
6/10.
Total 14/20.
Not wanting me to leave unhappy, Bill then offered us another one, which was a lot more to my liking.
Called Lakeland Amber, it's a summer 'session beer' and is all of those adjectives beloved of beer advertisers.
Refreshing?
Check.
Crisp?
Check.
Bubbly?
No.
But that didn't matter.
It still got a nine from me.
"It's soft, almost not like an ale. 8/10," Stu added.
Top marks thus far; 17/20.
Pub four was The Steamboat, South Shields, Camra's pub of the year in 2008 and 2009.
Landlord Joe Mooney, 62, has been there for 21 years, and has been the main force behind the pub's formidable reputation for real ale quality.
"It's in the past three years that the real ale has taken off. It's the quality of beer, the choice we give the customers and the atmosphere that makes people come back."
For our visit it had eight ales to choose from, which they give us in small taster glasses; a service they provide for all tipplers.
In the end, Jess decided we should try another former champion beer, Deuchars IPA (Indian Pale Ale), made by Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh, which is quite a popular one among both sexes.
"There a lot more women drinking real ale now," Joe continued.
"They drink pints, there's no stigma for them drinking pints any more."
As for me?
I quite liked it, as it wasn't too heavy, and tasted fruity. 7/10.
"Yes it's definitely fruity. 7/10," Stu joined in, giving it a combined 14/20.
Jess, pleased at our expanding beer vocabulary, said: "You're getting there lads."
The Alum House, is South Shield's oldest pub, having been here since 1723, and our penultimate stop.
"The pubs that are shining through in the credit crunch have been the real ale pubs," said Tony Shawcross, 35, who along with partner Tessa Gosling has run the establishment since 2006.
Our tipple would be Jarrow Bitter, made by Jess's brewery, one of its most popular real ales.
"It's crisp, clear and refreshing. Customers really like it."
So did he, as he then proceeded to neck half a pint of it.
I quite liked it too, picking out again a hint of fruitiness in the nose.
I gave it 7/10, as did Stu.
Total 14/20.
Our sixth and final destination of the night was The Maltings, where we had our first and only organic beer of the night; Liverpool Brewery's Porter, which is an old-fashioned beer making only sparse use of hops.
"Flowery?" I ventured.
"No," Jess replied.
"Malty?"
"Er, no."
I shut up.
Stu, though, was just revving it up.
"Hmm, it's fruity with a dark flavour. Nice. 7.5/10."
I gave it a seven, giving our final beer a very respectable 14.5/20.
Real ale tasting over, we both went back to the karaoke at the Dolly Peel and our beloved lager.
In comparison to the ales, it tasted way too cold, but after all that liquorice, coffee and ginger, reassuringly bland.
We might not have gone over to the dark side, but we'd developed a bit of a nose and taste for certain tipples.
If you've never tried any, do so.
It's a very different sort of night to a lager booze-up, as you spend time sipping and trying to detect flavours rather than just necking whatever's in front of you.
The beer analysis talk was also good fun.
Yes we got it wrong, but it was nothing compared to Stu's late night 'reworking' of the Elton John classic Tiny Dancer.
That was wrong on so many levels.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for South Shields
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: West
