The Old Shoe, Sheffield

A modern groovy cafe style craft bar, the music being played was up-tempo and on the loud side but fitting for the surroundings and clientele which ranged from students, beardos, they-thems and even a trainee old git. A couple of cask beers from Big Trip were on along with numerous craft keg options, my Abyss Super Pale wasn't overly cold but I didn't particularly warm to it anyway. Ir's a venue that if I lived in town would drop in occasionally but not on a regular basis.

This is a conversion of a large shop, formerly a branch of Schuh, hence the Old Shoe name. The long bar counter is in the left hand side, with a couple of hand pumps and more keg taps than I was prepared to count. These are all situated on the back wall, which means the servers have to turn their backs on the customers and then bring the beers across to the counter. One of the owners made the mistake of putting two pint glasses with five centimetres of froth on the counter in front of me, which meant that he got a sarcastic comment from me and had to go back and top them up. (He maintained a friendly disposition nonetheless.) Both of these beers (one each for my drinking companions) were very cold too, though I had already resolved to try a couple of craft keg beers. There's no beer blackboard, just printed lists. I went for a West Coast IPA called Macaque from a brewery called Missing Link in Sussex; and what was described as a malty bitter from local Grizzly Grains, with the odd name That's No Bear. This one is well described on Eebria: "Well hopped with Pilgrim, Citra and Amarillo for plenty of orange, pine and marmalade hop flavour. A decent hop bitterness balances the initial malt character", but I'll have to take their word for it, as it was served so cold that I got no impression of it whatsoever, despite giving it over 45 minutes to warm up. Much the same with the West Coast beer, a style that I have enjoyed on many occasions, but on this one only a hint of what should be vibrant hops came through from the depths of the extreme chill. There doesn't seem to have been any attempt to ameliorate the effect of the bare walls on the acoustics of a place where people are drinking and socialising - I'd be willing to bet that it was a lot pleasanter when it was a shoe shop. We were here at a fairly quiet time, with just half a dozen people as well as three of us, but from time to time the sound was bouncing off the walls most uncomfortably for me. I hope they are planning on doing something about this, and that they decide to serve their beers a little bit warmer than at present: I reckon the keg beers were at about 4° and the cask maybe 8°. That might be ok for industrial lagers, but for beers that are described as flavoursome it is just a very sad waste of the hops and the brewing expertise, not to mention the overworked cooling system. I can't see myself returning any time soon, unless I hear that things have improved.

A newly-opened craft bar in a retail unit in the Orchard Square precinct. The pair of adjoining rooms are fairly bare, with simple but smart tables and chairs. One side has an olive green ceiling and walls while the other is brighter - untreated wood lines the divider and the bar. This is on the green side, while the other has the "Cider Hole" space where they are shortly to start creating their own ciders. Outside there are some tables in the shopping area and the whole place has quite a relaxed feel, helped by vinyl records music and the wide opening front windows. Behind the bar is a wall of 20 keg taps of reasonably strange brews, augmented by two handpumps although only one was in use, dispensing Big Trip Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly NEIPA. My only gripe on the beer front is that it was very heavy on the light and fruity types, but I suppose that is the flavour of the month. To make up for it there is a row of fridges containing various craft and continental brews, plus some interesting ciders and even a selection of wines. Prices weren't too bad considering: cask at £4.20 and craft from £4.60, obviously going higher for the silly stuff. Still early days but well worth a visit and might even earn a better rating if they continue to add new features.

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