S60 to N17 Beer Off

Rotherham United 2 v Sheffield United 2
The Championship
Saturday 24 November 2018

SUFC 2018/19 Game 41

May to May Brewery Visits - 65

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It's been a while. Hold the Front Page. We've had a Beer Off. Love 'em. Two beers. Something similar going on. But a twist in each. Cask v Keg. Same Malts, different Hops. Same Hops, different Yeast. Buy 'em. Sip 'em. Compare ‘em.

The game was in S60. The drinkypoos was in N17, Tottenham Hale. Taproom at Pressure Drop. Great place. Bit of a rush. It seems to be only open 2pm to 8pm on Saturdays. Worked perfectly for that 12:30 kick off. You have to walk past, and sneer at them if you feel the need, Beavertown Brewery to get there. Beavertown now part owned by Big Bad Beer in the guise of Heineken. Anyway. Little merch & tins stall by the Pressure Drop door. Lots of trestle tables. Brewkit over on the left. With special effects lights on the Fermentation Vessels - nice touch. Bar at the back. Nice, big place. I made it ten of their own on keg. I had four. THREE of those were absolutely outstanding. Right up there, gorgeous.

AnyRoadUp let's start with the Beer Off. Two seven percenters. Same Hops - I'm hearing. But, different IPA Styles.

Pressure Drop, Breaking Out Of My Tomb, Brut IPA (claimed) at 7%.
Pressure Drop, Show Of Hands, New England IPA (claimed) at 7%.
The information I have is - Citra, Ekuanot, Mosaic.

They both looked very similar. Orangey, rather than tan. Both bubbly, opaque & inviting. If I'm honest, if they'd both been billed as New England IPA - I'd have thought - OK, about right.

The Breaking Out, Brut IPA was nice & smooth. But, unlike some other utterly pointless Bruts I've had recently, this one still packed a gloopy Hop punch. It did go nice and clean in the finish. It dried to a hint of tobacco. It was a lovely rich & serious beer.

The Hands, New England IPA leaned towards big orange juice flavours from the off. The bitterness comes in, just as the OJ is about to get too much. There is a powerful Hop bombing flavour all through it. It was absolutely superb. Two strong contenders. Both deserving. But, the Show Of Hands, NEIPA WINS it.

And, don't forget, from Left Field. Pressure Drop, Mimic IPA, at 6.2%. The info said RYE. When I was served it, I thought - he's done the wrong one. Identikit orange gloop. Not a hint of approaching redness. I even looked at other photos on Untappd to check the Provenance. Put all that to one side.  I didn't detect anything in the taste to suggest rye. But, that was a glorious hop bombing IPA. In anyone's language. A lovely, resinous bitterness fills in & stays for Bed & Breakfast. Deffo just better than than the Breaking Out Of My Tomb. And, a hairsbreadth behind the Show Of Hands. Man, I'm coming here again…..

In all honesty, it's a bit far from Rotherham away. I could use some gratuitous shite along the lines of - the further away from that game, the better. But, that's not me. Another game. Enjoyed it. I like going to watch Utd. One nil up. Two one up. Couldn't get it over the line. I have no Rogering Idea what was chicken and what was egg. Did The Miller's do a number on us? And, not allow us to play? Or, were we just at a different racecourse - thus allowing Rotherham to get right at it. Either way. I couldn't fault Rotherham. They weren't defensive. They weren't all bluster. Sure, they were lovely and physical & shithousing up top. Sure, they were a bit direct at times. I felt they closed us down quickly, on the right angles & high up the pitch. That meant a lot of passes didn't find their man & we were giving the ball away a lot. That just seemed to spiral out of control at times. Almost as if they'd forgotten how to pass.

Add to that the lack of options to change it, a few defensive frailties and an increasingly confident opposition. Difficult day.

748/1558