Friends Of Ham Leeds

This Saturday marked a year since we got engaged. The original plan was to spend the day shopping at the Trafford Centre, buy a nice bottle of something bubbly in Selfridges then make a nice meal at home.
After a trip to Manchester we realised that we needed & deserved a proper date night. Due to Wedding saving we have been very limited on nights out. So we put our original tea plans in the cupboard and boarded the train to Leeds.
The evening consisted of a couple of drinks first, then a meal at Carluccios & ending with a cocktail at the 360 bar in Leeds Trinity Centre. Today thought I want to talk about where we went for pre-drinks...Friends Of Ham.

Now this bar has been around since 2012, with a second bar (closer to home) in Ilkley just havingopened its doors. If you are from Leeds and wonder how I have never been to this bar then please do not judge me! It is just around the corner from the train station and everytime we plan on visiting we just end up on the train back to our local in Guiseley.

On finally entering Friends Of Ham we were surprised as to how much closer to a restaurant than a bar it was (even though we knew they served food). We were greeted as we entered and shown to a couple of stools at the bar. This bar really is a beer lovers paradise ! The menu must have had 30 different cask & keg beers, with stamps showing what was sold out...and what would be available next! The barman must have asked us three times what we would like, I just could not make my mind up! Liz had decided on prosecco the minute we walked in, but I just could not make a decision!

As I was making my decision Liz was transfixed on the food, we had heard of the cheese & charcuterie boards...but had not expected the size of the platters on offer. If we had not already decided on Carluccios we would have just set up camp there.

I began with a pint of All Star Pale Ale from Roosters Brewery in Knaresborough. After getting over excited with the menu I chose this as the pump was right in front of me. At 4.3% this golden Pale Ale was very easy drinking, very fruity and floral ... with the flavours not being too overpowering. Really nice pint, however I kind of wished I was daring enough to go with something that would normally be out of my comfort zone. (http://www.roosters.co.uk)

This followed by something very different and very daring. I usually stick to Porters & Stouts in the Winter (Maccessons Stout being available in my house all over the Christmas period). On a morning I enjoy nothing better than a fresh brewed coffee to start my day, this prompted my decision to try the 'Coffee Anise Porter' from Ticketybrew Brewery. This tasted stronger than the 4.9% advertised...but that might be due to its strong flavour. The coffee hit you straight away, with a subtly spicy aftertaste. For me it could have done with being a bit sweeter...and maybe something to have if you are sat there with a charcuterie board (not about to head out to an Italian meal). I would definitely try this again, but maybe just in half pints. (http://ticketybrew.co.uk)

Just before we left Ham we noticed that you could purchase beer tasting boards (3 3rd glassed) for about £5.50... why had I not seen these before !!!




If you are ever in Leeds, and too far away from North Bar, then Friends Of Ham is the go to place for a decent pint of something that you are likely not to find in a bar anywhere else in the city.

Next stop will be a trip to Friends Of Ham in Ilkley for a family tasting session...and maybe even a platter of meats & cheeses!

(FOH in Leeds can be found on New Station Street...just between the train station & the Trinity Centre)

- Sam

Beer52: My first experience with Subsciption Box Beer

Subscription boxes seem to be everywhere at the moment, at one point it was just Graze Boxes, but now you can get almost everything delivered to your door on a weekly/monthly basis. (As I type I am toying with the idea of trying subscription coffee).
Recently on my facebook page adverts for Craft Beer Clubs began to pop up on my news feed...how exciting! Now where I live in Guiseley the area seems to be full of Craft Beer enthusiasts, from the pubs of Otley to the recent opening of Fuggle & Golding (craft beer shop) in Ilkley. Naturally I prefer to spend my money within our area, however I have a bad habit of looking at something new, but then defaulting back to my old favourites. Because of this I decided to sign up to an online Beer Club, I could see what all the fuss was about and try new tipples in the meantime.

I decided to try out Beer52, the story of the company is brilliant. James Brown (founder) went on a roadtrip from Edinburgh to Faro on his dad's Harley Davidson and upon stopping off and trying various different weird & wonderful beers he decided to start the company to spread the word about small micro-breweries and share some hidden gems with us.
The box arrived when I was at work, the other half had been teasing me all day after opening the box for a sneaky look. When I arrived home I could not contain my excitement...seriously it was like a child at Christmas. In the box I received not only 8 bottles of beer, but a bottle opener, Beer52 book and 'Ferment' the company's newspaper.
Now you will have to bear with me whilst I sample all these beers as a much needed healthkick is pushing me to weekend beer only...however already I am sold and will be carrying on until my wallet says enough!

So far the best part of the box is not the beer, but the newspaper that was included. The middle page opens up to show all the tipples included in your box with all possible information and tasting notes (how brilliant is that).
I am looking forward to trying 'Mambo Jambo' which is brewed especially for Beer52 as well as 'Wild Goose Chase' as my twitter feed is forever full of bottles from the Wild Beer Co and I can never find any !!!

So in a nutshell I do think that Subscription boxes are the future...I will probably only order them every other month so that I can frequent my local craft beer shops and keep them going, but it really is a brilliant idea. It is a bit pricy, but as an every now and again it makes a good treat...I suppose the cost can really be justified by knowing you are trying something completely different and supporting small micro breweries.
If you want to give these a try then click on the link below to get £10 off your first box.

https://www.beer52.com/join/52054/e134fb0399673fe3

- Sam

American Beer Selection !

The reason why I have been very quiet on the blog front recently is because all of our time is currently focused on planning our Wedding.
We have spent the last week trying to figure out what to do for our honeymoon...it is currently between Italy and the USA...with the latter winning at the moment.
Now I have only really had a couple of American beers (mainly Brooklyn Lager ... thanks to Reds True BBQ in Leeds!!) as I tend to mainly go for local beer in the pubs around my area. So I thought, if there is a chance that I will be going to America I really need to see what they have on offer in the UK.
For this I headed down to M&S, at the moment their craft beer selection is excellent (if a little pricy, it is good for all the hard to find beer, but for example Ilkley Pale Ale is 40p more in M&S than in Morrisons).

So I came out with the following:
Brooklyn Lager
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Sierra Nevada Torpedo
Goose Island IPA
Anchor Steam Lager
Anchor California Lager

At first I planned on sampling these all in one night, the sister in law was staying for G&T's and Prosecco and I needed something decent to drink. Safe to say I did not drink them all in one night, which would have been dangerous considering the percentage of the beer.

Brooklyn Lager is becoming more readily available in the UK now, if you are not quite feeling an Ale but want to avoid Carling/Carlsberg rubbish then I would recommend you try the Brooklyn, it is dark for lager (a kind of coppery colour) and has quite a sweet flavour to it.
Sticking with the lager I moved onto the two Anchor lager's, not a great deal to be said for these as after drinking the Brooklyn the flavours of these are quite bland, which is a shame as I had looked forward to trying these.

Back to proper beer. The Goose Island IPA does exactly what it says on the tin. Small taste of hops but mainly of the malty taste that you would expect, perfect for an afternoon session.

Finally we move onto Sierra Nevada. I first tried their Pale Ale about 5 years ago and up until recently I struggled to find it (most city center bars and some supermarkets now regularly stock it). On pouring it the Ale has quite a strong citrus smell. The flavour itself was typical Pale Ale...and I know it sounds silly but it felt like a 'soft' drinking beer...unsure how to elaborate on that, but it was my first thought on taste.
If you are trying the Pale Ale then you have to also try the Torpedo (7.2%). The taste and appearance are similar to the Pale Ale, however Torpedo has a richer taste to it, more crisp and refreshing. On my facebook page this beer was described as a 'Hoppy Beast'...which is now what I think when ever I see a bottle.

Just to end...by the time we finished sampling the beer (and finished writing the blog) we decided to book the USA, Vegas followed by NYC...so if you know any decent bars that are worth trying then tweet!

- Sam