It is possible to leave Glasgow at the end of the working day and still reach Bradford in time for the end of the middle day of this festival. Ricky had everything in place when Hector entered the Victoria Hall, Saltaire at 20.50.
A glass of Ale was thrust in my hand, half full I may add. The contents were indecipherable and not outstanding. On entering the main hall what are the chances that in surveying all before me, I purchased a pint of the said Ale? It turned out to be Kirkstall’s (Leeds, Yorkshire) Dissolution IPA at 5%. A Yorkshire Ale at 5%, an IPA, it should have ticked the boxes, Ricky was along the right lines; however this Amber Ale was not to my taste. It was bitter but not as dry as my favourite Hops would have created.
By now I had found ?Stan! who had come down earlier in the week intent on working at the Festival. Working with Dr Stan in the Foreign Bar at Paisley in the late 1990s is when I first really became more than an acquaintance of this Quiet Man. A stalwart of GBF and Bieres sans Frontieres, here he was selling wine! Is this not the final proof that Dr Stan was kidnapped by Aliens?
Having sampled the best Ales on offer for the last day or so, ?Stan! told me to have the Quirky Kiwi (Offbeat, Crewe, Cheshire) at 4.6%. With New Zealand Hops this was certainly in the land of Ales we like. An extra 0.5% on the abv and this would have been perfect.
I took his advice again for my next sample: the Diamond IPA from Prospect (Wigan, Lancashire). I was assured that this 6% Ale was along the lines of Thornbridge’s Jaipur, as it used to be. The aftertaste may have been dry but it was far too sweet on the palate for me.
And then I spotted a familiar face, and then another one…
Olaf Schellenberg, the man who legally brings our German Bier supply to the UK, and from whom we purchase our domestic consumption, was working at the Foreign Bar. If Olaf is at the Foreign Bar then the Bier is guaranteed to be the very best. It was straight into the Schlenkerla Urbock (Heller, Bamberg, Bayern). Served through a cooling system, so not quite gravity poured, it was still immense, the smokiest Bier on the planet, by far…
Having caught up with Olaf, we have not chatted over a Bier for some years, and why is that? I then went along the bar to reacquaint myself with Mr Garrett. Ian was on Dr Stan’s 60th Birthday Bash in Bamberg et environs a few years back. I have not seen him since the sad departure of Mr Tony Taylor whom I also met on that trip for the first time.
I was permitted a sample of Caulfield (Koln-Ehrenfeld, NRW) at 10.5% This is the first Imperials Stout to be brewed in Deutschland. They must be joking.
The final Bier of the evening had to be Andechs Weisse vom Fass (Andechs, Bayern). Normally I would finish on the smoky Bier as little can follow but this is a Bier of the utmost pedigree, the full Banana and Vanilla knock-out flavours. A wonderful way to the end the evening before our 23.30 booking at the Sheesh Mahal, Mr Holden had other ideas.
So Haigys it is then
My first pint was sent back, warm, flat, undrinkable. After the wonders that had preceded it is was not a surprise. Pipe Dream at 4.3% (George Wright, , St Helens, Lancashire) was offered by the Barman as a replacement. This was still a tad warm but at least the dry taste started to reveal itself after some sips. Not too bad at all.
The Hector then had to make a phone call to the Sheesh Mahal, we would be delayed by some minutes, or so. Haigys tends to stay open to meet the demands of the customers. What sort of pub is this?
The Beer Festival and pub Visited today:
Victoria Hall, Victoria Road, Saltaire, West Yorkshire, BD18 3JS
Haigys Bar, 31 Lumb Lane, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD8 7QU, UK