Eating isn't Cheating: North Bar

Showing posts with label North Bar. Show all posts

North Bar, Leeds - The Bloody Mary Challenge

Neil, Eating isn't Cheating Friday, January 20, 2012

I love a good Bloody Mary. They have a genuine, physical, restorative power to them that can pull you from the depths of a hangover in the time it takes to drain a glass. They're also the perfect cocktail, a balancing act of flavours, textures, salt, sweet, seasoning and spice that comes together to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

You may have guessed that I like Bloody Marys. A lot. Which is why I've embarked on a quest to find the best Bloody Mary in the country, I've called it The Bloody Mary Challenge in a flagrant rip-off of The Scotch Egg Challenge, a great event run by a fellow blogger, Scotch Egg Maestro, and nice bloke, David J Constable.

First up is the Bloody Mary from one of the best beer bars in the country, and a favourite haunt of mine, North Bar in Leeds.

Bloody Mary from North Bar, Leeds

Ingredients: Horseradish steeped Vodka, Port Wine, Tomato Juice, Lemon Juice, Celery Salt, Worcester Sauce, Tabasco, Black Pepper, Ice. Garnished with a celery stick and fresh lemon slices.

Score: 8.5/10

Comments: What a way to start. This is an excellent Bloody Mary. It's got a really nice warmth from that Horseradish Vodka which permeates it's flavour throughout the drink. There's also plenty of heat from the Tabasco, and not too much Worcester. Sweet, salty, peppery, umami laden. It's restoration in a glass.

Matt mentioned that you can adjust it to your own preference, and if I could change it in one way I'd possibly reduce the amount of black pepper ,as its quite roughly ground and catches you off guard every now and again. A minor niggle though, and all in all an excellent version.

So, who's next?

Veritas

Yorkshire Tapas: Where to find the best bar snacks in Leeds

Neil, Eating isn't Cheating Friday, July 15, 2011

Bar snacks have something of an image problem in this country, from slimy pickled eggs to crumbled packets of cheese and onion crisps, most pubs just don't make the effort.

The Spanish have quite literally got it down to a 'T' with Tapas bars, where little plates of simple snacks such as battered calamari, fried chorizo or squares of potato and onion filled frittata are served up alongside local beers, wines or sherries depending on the region. Many bars will specialise in a certain type of tapas and people will do a mini bar-crawl between different ones to get the best of what’s around. But we just don't seem to have a handle on the idea of informal snack eating in quite the same way, for us, it tends to be one or the other.

But it doesn’t have to be like this. There are pubs out there trying a little bit harder, who provide a selection of tasty treats to soak up your pint, and who are slowly winning people over to the idea of grazing rather than fast-and-feasting your way through the day. Leeds has got plenty of places to get a good beer, but the following pubs and bars also give the opportunity for a little snacking with your supping, and all are well worth a try.

The Adelphi
1-3 Hunslet Road, Leeds LS10 1JQ

The Adelphi have a dedicated bar snacks menu that is constantly changing depending on what is fresh, in season, or has taken the chef’s fancy - which in itself tells you that you’re on to a winner. They generally have around ten to fifteen bar snacks available, including things such as deep fried White bait with tartar sauce, Gloucester Old Spot Sausage Rolls with Brown Sauce, pan fried Chorizo with bread and Sweet Potato wedges with Tarragon mayo. All are very reasonably priced from £2 up to about £4.75, but a really nice touch is that you can choose any 3 Bar Snacks for just £10, perfect for sharing between a few people.

Recommended bar snack and beer: Salt & Pepper Squid with Lime Mayo, and a pint of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Mr Foley’s Cask Ale House

159 The Headrow, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS1 5RG

Mr Foley’s Cask Ale House is undoubtedly known best for its beer. They have an unbeatable selection of Cask Ale, a regularly changing range of international craft keg beers, two dedicated BrewDog taps and an excellent bottle fridge. What people don’t know though is that their bar snack nachos and triple cooked chips are some of the best in Leeds, all thanks to new chef Tyler’s hard work behind the scenes. Skin left on, crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside, nicely golden brown, and served in a bowl with plenty of salt - they’re the perfect partner to your pint.

Recommended bar snack and beer: Bowl of triple cooked chips, and a pint of BrewDog Punk IPA

North Bar
24 New Briggate, Leeds LS1 6NU

For a bar with such an extensive range of awesome beers from Belgium, America, Germany and the UK, this craft beer institution keep things simple when it comes to bar snacks, with meat and cheese platters being the star attraction, along with a selection of delicious pies from local company “i’s Pies”. Voted by The Independent as “The Best Place to Drink Beer in the UK”, the laid back, friendly atmosphere of this place really helps to encourage some informal grazing whilst sampling some of the best, and hardest to find beers around.

Recommended bar snack and beer: Cheese & Bread platter, and a bottle of Rocheforte 8

The Stew & Oyster (aka Calls Landing)
36-38 The Calls, Leeds LS2 7EW

This riverside bar is slowly growing in popularity, and they’re beer garden is in my opinion the best in Leeds. They have recently extended their menu to include some antipasti plates, marinated olives and bruschetta to go along with their stew and oysters, but it’s the beer that has really improved of late. Three cask pumps are available now along with a fantastic range of bottled beers, including some great American Craft such as Flying Dog Pale Ale and plenty of Belgian offerings.

Recommended bar snack and beer: Half a dozen oysters, and a pint of the Ossett Brewery “Stew & Oyster” Pale Ale

Veritas
43 Great George Street, Leeds LS1 3BB

Veritas is at something of an unfair advantage in the bar snacks department as it has a full blown Deli housed right inside the bar selling cheeses, meats, and pies as well as pastries and cakes which can either be eaten inside the bar or taken away. On the bar snacks menu you’ll find an array of cheese, meat and fish platters with things like mackerel pate and smoked chicken alongside local charcuterie and specialties. You can pick a pre-designed platter or build your own, picking whatever looks good on that particular day, and enjoy with a pint of beer from the excellent selection of cask, keg, and bottles.

Recommended bar snack and beer: Homemade hazelnut brownie, and a bottle of Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout

Photo credit: Stew & Oyster Website

Summer Wine Brewery

"Bitch Please" by 3 Floyds and BrewDog - plus Nerotype Single Hop Black IPA by SWB

Neil, Eating isn't Cheating Sunday, March 06, 2011

When I returned home on Saturday to a bare fridge that matched my empty stomach I felt safe in the knowledge I could take a short walk into town and treat my self to a perfectly cooked, thick-cut rump steak and chips from one of my favourite places in Leeds - Mr Foley's Cask Ale House. They serve proper, well cooked, reasonably priced pub grub and their rump steak is better than some I've paid twice as much for. At around £8 it's a total bargain. Washed down with a few pints of Wharfebank Wispa IPA it was just what the doctor ordered.

An added bonus was that I'd been exchanging tweets with Dean from Mr Foley's (@mrfoleys) about Summer Wine Brewery's Nerotype Single Hop (Simcoe) Black IPA, and he offered to give me a little taster before it was put onto the bar. This beer blogging malarky has it's perks right?

Despite not having any head (served by gravity straight from the barrel with no beer engine or spinkler to churn it up) the beer looked fantastic, dark yet crystal clear. It's an unusual one this. It does have a slight smokeyness but mainly the aroma and flavour are dominated by big passionfruity simcoe hops,very aromatic like fresh mango, not hugely bitter but slightly dry in the finish. If you closed your eyes you could be forgiven for thinking you were drinking a regular IPA. Also very different to a hoppy porter, which I've heard some say Black IPA's are similar to, with the fruity hops making this instantly recognisable as an IPA, regardless of it's tint.

With a full belly and an afternoon to fill, myself and drinking companion decided a wander over to North Bar was in order. Which is where things got really interesting...

I spotted it as soon as I walked in, a slapdash badge made up of half 3 Floyds Logo and half BrewDog, "this looks interesting..." After speaking to the ever reliable bar staff in North Bar I was told it was the "Bitch Please" Barley Wine that BrewDog made in collaboration with the famous (or infamous?) 3 Floyds Brewery from the US. I remembered hearing about this last year but never thought I'd get to try any having not seen the bottles on sale anywhere, and here was the even more special Rum Oak Barrel aged version on tap right in front of me. A rare find not to be missed, and it seemed my timing was perfect, my second half being the last pulled out of the keg and then, as they say, it was gone...

The video below explains the ingredients and brewing process much better than I ever could, so watch that, then have a read of what I thought of the finished beer.

BrewDog & Three Floyds: Bitch Please from BrewDog on Vimeo.

This a big, thick, full bodied, barley wine and it looks just that in the glass. It's very merky and dense with a definate unfiltered cloudy look to it, very little light gets through but the colour is deep brown with a red tinge at the edges. I'm a big supporter of flavour over crystal clarity, particularly in big beers like this, so if this is the way to get maximum flavour in to the beer I can forgive it being a bit cloudy. Plus it was served by keg so however it looks is pretty much as the brewers wants it, and these are two brewers I think can be trusted.

The smell is amazing. It's hugely sweet smelling with masses of toffee, shortbread, malt chocolate, molasses and treacle. I've had beers before that have claimed to have some whacky ingredients, only to have those flavours or aromas distinctly abscent from the finished product. Bitch Please is definately the other end of the spectrum, everything they've put in, you can clearly recognise.

The overrriding flavour is of sweet, rich, chewy toffee, complex biscuity malt and shortbread, with a slight vanilla note coming from the oak ageing I'd assume, and warmth from the alcohol (10.1%ABV if I remember rightly). A slight chocolate flavour comes in aswell but it's faint and rides alongside the malt more than being a standalone flavour like the toffee and shortbread. You can detect the rum a little as well, but not so much as other Rum Barrel aged beers I've tried, probably because this beer had so much flavour when it went in to the barrel that the Rum adds a hum rather than a wallop of boozy flavour.

Bitch Please is very thick and has a fantastic mouth coating texture that is genuinely a bit chewy, it's a term I hate seeing banded around as it stinks of pretention, but honestly in this case it is extremly apt. Amazingly for a beer of this strength it held a small, tight head right down to the bottom as well which is something I didnt expect. The finish is very long and drying with the hops only really coming through after the beer has left your mouth, which is perfect timing as it cleans your mouth of all that toffee ready for another chew.

It's an amazing achievement, a huge beer designed to be sipped, but that drinks extremely smoothly and easily, with a little alcohol warmth but no burn, and a huge amount of right-on-the-money flavours to pick up on. It's a contender to my long reigning champion " favourite big beer" Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, but luckily Bitch Please goes in a completely different direction in terms of style. A tricky decision well side stepped I'd say.

Single Hop IPA

Brewdog 'IPA is Dead' launch at North Bar - Nelson Sauvin, Bramling X, Sorachi Ace and Citra single hop IPA's

Neil, Eating isn't Cheating Thursday, February 17, 2011

I attended the official launch of Brewdog’s ‘IPA is Dead’ range of four single hop IPA’s last night at the fantastic N orth Bar in Leeds (@NorthBarDrinks).

The sarcastically titled range features four beers with the same malt base, 7.5% ABV and 75 IBU’s of bitterness but with a massive quantity of one type of hop used in each, including lots of late dry hopping. The four varieties are (from left to right in the photo): Nelson Sauvin, Bramling X, Sorachi Ace and Citra.

To try all four beers on tap at the same time was something which I couldn’t pass up, so I was there at about 5.15pm eagerly ordering my four third of a pint tasting glasses. Below are my typed up tasting notes from last night (typed into my iPhone so I didn’t look like too much of a beer ticker!).

NB - They are obviously all extremely ‘hoppy’, so I’ve tried to drill down into the flavour profiles of the hops rather than just state the obvious ‘It’s really hoppy’. I’ve also reordered these to match the order in photo above, although I actually tasted them in a slightly different order, not that it really matters.

Nelson Sauvin

Smells just like passion fruit, in fact it’s a total Um Bongo of tropical fruit smells, maybe not 9 that I could name... but not far off. Taste is a touch grapefruity to start with, although it’s more the combination of a slightly sweet orange flavour combined with mouth drying citrus that gives this impression. Very dry in the finish with masses of resinous citrus hops. Although a New Zealand hop I couldn’t help but think this had the taste of an English IPA on steroids, everything cranked up to 11, definitely didn’t have an American IPA flavour to me. Bready orange centre comes through a little more after a few minutes of warming in the glass, a definite fruit loaf base, not aged fruit loaf, but those ones you buy for toasting with butter. Probably the best tasting but just extremely fruity overall, it could honestly pass for a top notch fruit beer on a blind tasting.

Bramling X

This one isn’t as citrus fruit smelling as the others, more pear and apple, with a similar flavour profile to the smell, but with notes of almond, and very faintly smokey. The hops in this one actually remind me of Leeds Best. Which makes me wonder whether they use Bramling Cross in that beer, the website just states ‘English Hops’ but would be interesting to find out. I’ll drop them an email and let you know. This one is very rich compared to the others, possibly because the hops aren’t as citrusy to cut through that cakey malt base, making it much deeper and richer tasting. Also a slight sultana flavour which I think comes from the combination of the malt base and English fruit hop flavour. Hops in this one aren’t actually very drying. Very nice and would try again, but wouldn’t choose over the Citra or Nelson.

Sorachi Ace

The smell and taste has a definite whisky quality, slight orange peel but herbal, lemony and medicinal. In fact, it’s Cointreau Liqueur that is the overriding flavour I’m getting. Definitely herbal, maybe Lemon Thyme? Medicinal, and not really in a pleasant way. Maybe this is just psychological but it does have an Oriental herb or lemongrass flavour, but it’s nothing I could pin down. It is bitter and dry like this style of IPA should be, but it’s an orange pith taste which isn’t really very appealing, and a lightly ashy dryness which is a little musty, a bit damp-burnt-cardboard. Wouldn't drink another of this but glad I tried, not entirely pleasant - An interesting experiment but for me doesn’t quite work. My least favourite of the four by some way. (NB – The very knowledgeable barman at North Bar said he liked this one best, so maybe it’s horses for course. What did you think of it?)

Citra

May sound a little obvious, but wow, citrus! Very, very lemony with a dry aftertaste. Smells of pine with a little pink grapefruit. Alcohol seems slightly more noticeable than the others somehow but in a good way. It took me absolutely ages to put my finger on this, but it also smells really strongly of peach schnapps. Most aggressive hop ‘bite’ of the four. Just creeps in as my favourite but the nelson is a close second. This is ruinously drinkable for 7.5%, extremely moreish. A truly amazing modern IPA. Think I’ve wrote the least notes on this one because I just couldn’t stop drinking it!

These notes were made on the four tasters, which for a beer this strength were easily big enough to get a good grasp of all the different flavours and smells within the beer. However, at the end of the tasting I ordered a half pint of the Nelson, then a half pint of the Citra, and it was at this point the Citra really got it’s head in front as the clear winner. It is just so hugely drinkable, with a dryness that makes you want to take another drink, and another and another. The Nelson was by far the fruitiest and probably had the most complex, interesting and wholly pleasant flavours of the four. But it was just too fruity to drink any amount of. It’s the moreishness of the Citra that sets it apart, and I hate to admit it but I can see why this Hop is getting plaudits from the blogosphere, particularly when showcased on its own like this, it’s an absolute belter.