April New Brews

It’s been a busy month, but sadly not in the way of beer. Alex was away for a week in Wales with his dad and then had to shoot up to Edinburgh for work. I was busy preparing and delivering a couple of talks, working on a big client project and revising my marketing strategy.

Fortunately, we were able to squeeze in some good new brew selections at home. And we even managed a visit to Piglove one sunny evening.

I’ve written about Piglove by The River in the past because it’s such a hidden gem. The brewery itself is located in Cross Green, but this lovely little bar is located on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal (where it joins with the River Aire), about a five-minute walk from The Royal Armouries.

The indoor bar area is inside shipping containers, but in the summer, it’s the outdoor area that draws the crowds.

They host a range of events - jazz nights, open mic nights, quiz nights and so on, but we were there this month for their 5k and 10k running event, which they run three times a year.

Alex finished 3rd place in the 10k, and new brew networking regular, Phillip, got a very respectable time in the 5k (official results aren’t available at the time of writing, but my phone clocked him at under 23 minutes).

I was cheering on from the sidelines with a beer in hand. And of course, I also had a beer with them afterwards to celebrate.

Here’s a quick rundown of what we’ve been drinking in April.

We’ve seen Ossett Brewery beers on tap fairly often, but their cans have started appearing on supermarket shelves, so we decided to pick up a few for one of our New Brew Thursday sessions.

We started with the Blonde, followed by White Rat (the only one we’ve tried before), Punch Rat, and King of Terrors, before finishing with the Smog Rat. The Smog Rat was our favourite with a great body and lovely soft mouth feel.

Brewer’s website: Ossett Brewery

This might seem like a random selection, but all four of these beers feature in a book called 1001 Beers You Must Try Before You Die

It included Mann’s (which claims to be the original brown ale and is available in Morrisons for only £1), 1698 from Shepherd Neame (the only UK brewery to brew beers with EU Protected Geographical Indication), Tanglefoot and Old Tom (2024 and 2026 vintages).

As well as our selections, we’ve had a range of new brews at home this month, including…

We have very exciting beer plans for May, including two local beer festivals.

Mid-May, we’re heading to Hop City at Northern Monk Refectory. We attended Hop City last year and discovered some amazing beers, so we’re very excited to be there again.

We’ve also got tickets for The Great Exhibition of Prize Ales, which is being held at The Tetley this year and falls nicely over Alex’s birthday weekend.

And as always, we’ve got some cracking selections in our fridge.

I’m always open to recommendations, so do let me know good beers you’ve been drinking recently, and I hope to see you at my next new brew event in a few days.

Cheers!