Sheffield United 2 v Bolton Wanderers 0
League One
Saturday 25 February 2017
Twitter @ball_sup
The Drink Up
Oddly disappointing on the Supping front today. Albeit after a great start. I’m a Social Media whore. I saw that The Sheffield Tap were touting Cloudwater DIPA v 11 on Twitter. So, we were off down there in a flash. (9% on keg). Lovely & thick & opaque in the glass. If I’m honest, looks just a little too much like a glass of orange juice for my tastes. Chewy & full of flavour. A little sharp citrus, gave way to full on bitter orange. And finally into a more traditional bitterness in the finish. However, that bitterness wasn’t intense enough for me & it was a bit short.
There is one part of me that wants to applaud Cloudwater for still sucking people like me in with a version 11. But, there is another part that feels - oh, come on, you must be getting close to the perfect Double IPA now, stop pfaffing around.
Then. A first, successful, visit to Sentinel Brewing Co. on Shoreham Street.
I say “successful” because I’d had an unsuccessful visit before. See….
http://ball-sup.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/two-more-trialists.html
I’m not going to kick ‘em to Kingdom come. It’s a nice set-up. There’s the semblance of a good beer range. And, they were nice & welcoming. But, I was a trifle disappointed. My own expectations & prejudices were partly to blame. I’m preprogrammed. Modern British artisan brewery. You need a flagship, well North of 6%, hopped to intensive Hell, keg IPA. And there wasn’t. And, despite pushing the glasses around, slurping each others, holding up to the light - we couldn’t really tell much difference between the Czech Pivo & the Zest Fest Pale. Maybe because they’re both dry hopped - albeit with very different hop combos.
But, I’m going to recover from those disappointments. There was a 6.5% IPA on cask. I didn’t try it this time. I’ll be back. And, chapeau for having a Czech style Pivo anyway. I made it 4 of their own on cask & 2 guests. Three of their own on keg & 2 guests. One of the guest casks was a 7% Black IPA.
I went Sentinel, Zf Pale on ale on keg at 4.5% and Sentinel, ESB, Extra Sheffield Bitter at 5.5%. They were OK. Nothing wrong with them in the sense of off, flat, etc. But, I was underwhelmed. The ESB seemed low on malt & did not have much English Bitter bitterness.
The after match ice bath & massage was BrewDog.
https://www.brewdog.com/bars/uk/sheffield
Disappointing. Because it looks like I’ve missed the Brewdog/Cloudwater collaboration. Been in a few times, but missed it. Even Born To Die had gone off the taps. So, we had a 650ml Bomber Bottle of Born To Die at 9.5%. Look. Simple. That is more my kind of 9%+ Hopped beer. I firmly preferred it to the obviously more complex Cloudwater DIPA from earlier. I preferred it because of it’s lack of complexity, for it’s adhesion to Hops. Nice & pale. Transparent. Hop forward. But, a bitterness which just grows & grows and stops just at the right place. It’s going to die soon. Get some.
And finally, another new place (to me). The Drink Inn. On Commercial Street. Down from the Fitzalan Sq Tram Stop towards the Baths. I can’t find any Social Media or web presence of their own. Former Chip Shop. I’m going to say a hearty GOOD LUCK. Me head says…. It’s just in the wrong part of town. I know we probably caught them at the wrong time of day - but, there were very few in. Four when we arrived - they left. One other fella came in & we outstayed him. Very welcoming. Nice & simple beer range across cask, keg & fridge. Carling for your mate. In a sense, we’re in standard Micropub territory here. Convert something that wasn’t a pub. Make it possible for one person to run it at quiet times. Make sure it doesn’t cost a fortune to clean & maintain. Cut. Out. Fripperies. Buy beer. Sell beer. If sell is greater than buy - you might stay in business. Three on cask.
Black Iris, Snake Eyes on cask at 3.8%. Identikit low abv hoppy blonde. It was OK - I found it too soapy.
The Ball Up
Plan A performance & result from The Blades in front of a large Bramall Lane crowd. With success comes sideshows. Madine insulting Sharp. Tickets being dragged back from Bolton & sold to Blades. A celebrity referee. Luckily, I’m through all that. I like how Division 3 games are reffed. And, I like all players, fans & managers - ours and the opposition - to disrespect the other side. That’s the game.
Let’s talk about Samir Carruthers. (Oh, & I’ll always condemn his low life behaviour at Cheltenham btw). What I noticed. He’s got a sort of 30 yard complete vision. I’m up in the Bramall Lane Corner. A good view of what he’s about. As he’s on the ball, he can see the movement of all the players, defenders & attackers in that 30 yard zone. And, he’ll play the ball into just the right spot with just the right weight. Or, nip into the gap himself. United were playing well before he came on. And, Duffy was just a little bit off today. So, it’s not on to say Carruthers transformed the game. But, he did nudge it up a bit. More urgency. Higher tempo. And, he doesn’t do that through blood & guts. It’s that vision & accuracy.
I need to know what is in Freeman’s head. No qualms here. I love the fella. He’s transformed. But, when he gets a chance to put the ball in the mixer from wide right. Does he see where the players are in reality - or does he have a virtual picture in his head. He seems to knock an excellent ball in, to exactly where the strikers aren’t. He’s not playing a bad ball. It’s a good ball. To someone who isn’t there. Is that even possible? It really intrigues me.
Only thing I can think of to say about Billy Sharp. Is, when he got clear on the right side, inside the box, I just knew he was going to score. Rare skill that.
450/928
73
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