Bristol Beer Pilgrim

Bristol Rovers 0 v Sheffield United 0

League One

Tuesday 14 February 2017

Twitter @ball_sup

Righto. Anyone out there remember their Breakout Beers? When you took a chance & thought “I'll try it”. Epiphany. Oh, that's what beer is supposed to taste like. One leads to another.

Mine include;

Castle Eden
Pilsener Urquell
Sierra Nevada Pale
Goose Island IPA
Brooklyn Lager
Brewdog Punk IPA
The Kernel
Thornbridge Jaipur

And, Wild Beer, Madness IPA. Which, for a time was undoubtedly the Best Beer in my World. Because of the name & branding, you are also pushed into the seriously messed around with beers that Wild Beer produce. But, say it long. Say it loud. Ich bin ein HopHead.

So, today's trip to The Gas. Via Wycombe yesterday. Brings me on a Pilgrimage to the Wild Beer gaff at Wapping Wharf in Brizzle.

http://www.wbwappingwharf.com

Deep end. A bottle of Wild Beer, Brett Brett Double IPA at 8.4%. I'm getting a lot of orange in the smell. Backed up by it being Donald Trump orange to look at. Some numbing anaesthetic on the tongue. It's full on. The bittering gets you at the sides of the tongue. I wouldn't fancy drinking it with dentures in. Look, a serious beer. Delicious. But, I'm more a blow your head off with Hops kind of a guy.

Wild Beer, Millionaire, Chocolate & Salted Caramel Milk Stout on keg at 4.2%. As is usually the case, a bit too sickly sweet for my taste. Maybe I was hoping for/expecting more salt. Very appealing in the glass. Leaning towards blackcurrant black, some red & purple hidden in. Some burnt wood charcoal on the nose. Chocolate sweetness upfront. If owt, gives way to more oversugared Ribena sweetness. There's a bit going on in the mix to keep one at it.

And. My Dear Old Friend. Wild Beer, Madness on keg at a delightfully proportioned 6.8%. Where. We. Came. In.

Help me out. Can a beer LOOK bitter? Madness smells gloriously Bitter. Madness tastes gloriously Bitter. Glorious. Grapefruit into mandarin into ginger. And that's only the fucking smell. Just intense in the gob. Sell the house, sell the car, fuck it sell the kids. I'm never coming home. It's a nice beer that one.

I counted twenty one kegs on in total. Fifteen of which were Wild Beer, the rest Guests.

Then onwards to The Crofter's Rights. Quite a nice place. If just a little too achingly hip.

http://croftersrights.co.uk

Woah. Some doubling up on them kegs mate. Really. By a proper count up. It's 6 pukka keg. Four cask. And Bernard. Good enough range though.

Siren, Proteus IPA on keg at 6.9%. Great great beer. Not from Bristol mind. Initially neutral. But, it just grows & grows. It takes over. Some bitterness upfront. Leads into an intense bitter finish. Good beer to finish on.

The Football

It's a disappointed from me. I suppose nights like that are down for us. A deliberate resting of players. Sharp, Freeman & Duffy on the bench. They & Wilder know best. They know who has some gas left. In recent Blogs I've praised “the squad”. But, tonight showed we are lacking a bit. Notably at right wing back. Riley didn't look up to it tonight. He seemed (to me) to be neither one thing nor the other. He wasn't getting mullered. But, he wasn't stamping anything on the game.

And. Up top of course. Matt Done was anonymous for large swathes of that. No attacking threat down the right. Not much happening up top. It's a tough night. When Fleck hit the post, I said to my neighbour, I'll take a point now.

He threw Sharp on. And my head said chuck Freeman on for 15. Have Plan A at them & see what happens.

The positives were there. United kept organised & mainly switched on. Moore made some saves & kept 'em in it. Fleck was outstanding. It's not two points dropped. It's not a point won. It's a point. And that's the point.

447/917
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