Sentinel brewhouse and eatery

[vincentb 10]

I tried to visit on Sunday night and found it shut. It turns out they shut at 6 on Sundays and Mondays. I find it annoying when supposed pubs/bars open funny hours. I shouldn't need to look it up on a website before visiting. If it's a pub it should be open at night.

 

It's not the easiest place to get to so I don't know when I'll bother making the effort again.

 

I don't think they do claim to be a pub, do they? Pretty sure it's promoted as a "Brewhouse & Tap", which doesn't carry the same assumptions.

[jemson 10]

Agree. Not a pub. I still hope the place does well. It`s a bit different, it`s an interesting space in an area that seems appropriate. I hope they start to get some really good guest beers in soon through swaps with other breweries.

[SteelCityAle 10]

Are you suggesting that the 2 dozen micro breweries in Sheffield brew using anything but the best quality ingredients?

 

depends which ones you mean. Some definitely don't (no I won't name them on here!), others don't use enough hops to make the beer interesting

 

as for Sentinel, so far all their beers bar one have been brewed elsewhere, I'm reserving judgement til I taste the stuff brewed onsite. Recently they brewed a rhubarb gose, which won't be to everyone's taste but if it's done well will automatically be more interesting than a lot of locally brewed beers!

 

IMO the prices are steep, but the market has a way of correcting these things...

[foxy lady 10]

depends which ones you mean. Some definitely don't (no I won't name them on here!), others don't use enough hops to make the beer interesting

 

as for Sentinel, so far all their beers bar one have been brewed elsewhere, I'm reserving judgement til I taste the stuff brewed onsite. Recently they brewed a rhubarb gose, which won't be to everyone's taste but if it's done well will automatically be more interesting than a lot of locally brewed beers!

 

IMO the prices are steep, but the market has a way of correcting these things...

 

Wow. Putting fruit in beer. Farmer's Belgian Blue springs to mind. It's all been done before. They sell that at around £3/pint. How many hops do you want? Thornbridge put so many in the Jaipur that it puts many off.

I think you mistake quality with excess. When local brewers are brewing with Marris Otter and buying arrays of world hops, the only thing left is the mix. That's called beer type.

If you want lots of hops you drink IPA, if you don't you drink mild. or something else. With 1500 micro breweries in the UK, all producing a range of beers I'm struggling to see how this new brewery is doing anything different from the rest except for charging twice the price. They aren't competing with the big brewers of 30 years ago who brewed with hop pellets and malt extract.

Edited June 7, 2016 by foxy lady

[jemson 10]

A rhubarb gose will hopefully taste a tad different to the `orrendous Blue !

[DnAuK 10]

Are you suggesting that the 2 dozen micro breweries in Sheffield brew using anything but the best quality ingredients? I know a few folk who operate these local breweries and they use nothing else.

Thornbridge won Britain's best beer a couple of times and so did Kelham Island. You don't do that by using the sweepings up. Our local brewers have won countless awards for the quality of their beers. When Sentinel have won a couple of best in show awards I might start to take them seriously. For now the majority seem to be reporting nothing out of the ordinary other than stupid prices. I don't think CAMRA give an award for most expensive beer. Just the best ones.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

Sorry, nearly fell off my chair then for a minute! No... I don't believe many of our local breweries do use the best and freshest ingredients. I am almost certain most of them don't use Maris Otter malt, for example. And I was actually quite surprised to find that even Thornbridge use hop pellets instead of fresh, whole cone hops. Tho to be fair they do at least use enough so you can taste them. Where as many pretty much proffer an (unopen) bag of American hops to the boil and then proceed to call it 'Citra'. Honoured company at Steel City, as well as Abbeydale beers excluded from this accusation of course. Though the jury is still out on Kelham Island who basically stopped producing anything new in 2005.

 

---------- Post added 07-06-2016 at 13:08 ----------

 

Wow. Putting fruit in beer. Farmer's Belgian Blue springs to mind. It's all been done before. They sell that at around £3/pint. How many hops do you want? Thornbridge put so many in the Jaipur that it puts many off.

I think you mistake quality with excess. When local brewers are brewing with Marris Otter and buying arrays of world hops, the only thing left is the mix. That's called beer type.

If you want lots of hops you drink IPA, if you don't you drink mild. or something else. With 1500 micro breweries in the UK, all producing a range of beers I'm struggling to see how this new brewery is doing anything different from the rest except for charging twice the price. They aren't competing with the big brewers of 30 years ago who brewed with hop pellets and malt extract.

 

So you think buying an IPA will get me lots of hops do you? Please try telling that to Greene King. And putting fruit in beer has been done before has it? Well yes, but only since about the 12th century when the Belgians started it. I really wouldn't call what Bradfield put in their beer fruit dear. I have witnessed breweries like Wentworth turn up at a beer festival on the day of opening to tip some syrup into the 'Strawberry Blonde' as they forgot to add it during the brewing process! No wonder they have gone out of business...

 

So it really does seem to me you know very little about beer beyond what your limited knowledge of the surrounding region has taught you. Please come back when you have tried good stuff. Hint - you're gonna have to go further than Yorkshire and Derbyshire to find much of it!

Edited June 7, 2016 by DnAuK

[SteelCityAle 10]

Wow. Putting fruit in beer. Farmer's Belgian Blue springs to mind. It's all been done before. They sell that at around £3/pint.

 

Belgian blue is brewed with (presumably synthetic) fruit syrup. Bradfield brew cheap beer. I'm not knocking it, they do it well, but they don't brew owt I wanna drink

 

Meanwhile, how many UK (or even foreign) breweries brew a Gose? not very many!

 

How many hops do you want?

 

usually more!

 

Thornbridge put so many in the Jaipur that it puts many off.

 

sure it does, but for me Jaipur (now) is nowhere near hoppy enough

 

I think you mistake quality with excess.

 

that's not a 'mistake', it's my taste. I don't like bland

 

When local brewers are brewing with Marris Otter and buying arrays of world hops,

 

not all of them are! some are using 'traditional' (and very dull) UK hops

 

the only thing left is the mix.

 

and the quantity. Anyone can throw in a handful of new world hops, but if you don't use enough then they're just wasted and the beer will be bland. E.g. one of the best hops, Galaxy, is in short supply cos Guinness bought almost the whole world supply, and used it in a bland lager, what a waste!

 

That's called beer type.

If you want lots of hops you drink IPA, if you don't you drink mild. or something else. With 1500 micro breweries in the UK, all producing a range of beers I'm struggling to see how this new brewery is doing anything different from the rest except for charging twice the price.

 

like I say, I'm reserving judgement having not yet tried the beers brewed onsite. But the fact that one of their first brews is a very rare (and fairly complicated) style makes them more promising than any number of brewers brewing mainstream beers. I'm not saying Sentinel isn't expensive - in fact I already said it is - but some beers cost more than others to brew. when a beer is £2 a pint, it can't have cost much to brew!

 

 

They aren't competing with the big brewers of 30 years ago who brewed with hop pellets and malt extract.

 

nothing wrong with hop pellets! hop extracts etc I would agree are normally rubbish. But there are some new breweries that I can only assume are trying to compete with the big boys, insofar as they brew very similar beers!

[Bilge 34]

I don't think they do claim to be a pub, do they? Pretty sure it's promoted as a "Brewhouse & Tap", which doesn't carry the same assumptions.

 

Pubs can be all shapes, sizes and designs. It's a place that sells beer on draught. To me that's a pub. OK they brew beer on site (or some of it) but that's nothing new.

 

I'll give it a go as I like the look of it on the website.

[foxy lady 10]

Belgian blue is brewed with (presumably synthetic) fruit syrup. Bradfield brew cheap beer. I'm not knocking it, they do it well, but they don't brew owt I wanna drink

 

Meanwhile, how many UK (or even foreign) breweries brew a Gose? not very many!

 

 

 

usually more!

 

 

 

sure it does, but for me Jaipur (now) is nowhere near hoppy enough

 

 

 

that's not a 'mistake', it's my taste. I don't like bland

 

 

 

not all of them are! some are using 'traditional' (and very dull) UK hops

 

 

 

and the quantity. Anyone can throw in a handful of new world hops, but if you don't use enough then they're just wasted and the beer will be bland. E.g. one of the best hops, Galaxy, is in short supply cos Guinness bought almost the whole world supply, and used it in a bland lager, what a waste!

 

 

 

like I say, I'm reserving judgement having not yet tried the beers brewed onsite. But the fact that one of their first brews is a very rare (and fairly complicated) style makes them more promising than any number of brewers brewing mainstream beers. I'm not saying Sentinel isn't expensive - in fact I already said it is - but some beers cost more than others to brew. when a beer is £2 a pint, it can't have cost much to brew!

 

 

 

 

nothing wrong with hop pellets! hop extracts etc I would agree are normally rubbish. But there are some new breweries that I can only assume are trying to compete with the big boys, insofar as they brew very similar beers!

 

OK, and Sentinel have agreed to brew beers individually tailored to your requirements.

 

My friend you are full of malt extract. It is hard to take you seriously. :hihi::hihi:

[DnAuK 10]

OK, and Sentinel have agreed to brew beers individually tailored to your requirements.

 

My friend you are full of malt extract. It is hard to take you seriously. :hihi::hihi:

 

At least Dave has requirements from his beer, unlike yourself who seem to be prepared to accept any local cr@p as long as it has some (questionable) award attached to it!

 

From my point of view I said I though Sentinel were brewing really good beers, but they aren't to my requirements. Not enough hops in the IPA and orange in the choc orange stout for two. But they will appeal to people with more of a mass market taste.

 

You should try them

[foxy lady 10]

At least Dave has requirements from his beer, unlike yourself who seem to be prepared to accept any local cr@p as long as it has some (questionable) award attached to it!

 

From my point of view I said I though Sentinel were brewing really good beers, but they aren't to my requirements. Not enough hops in the IPA and orange in the choc orange stout for two. But they will appeal to people with more of a mass market taste.

 

You should try them

 

Oh dear. Have I rattled your cage? Perhaps you need lime in your lager if you can't manage without the fruit.

Our local is a Thornbridge pub. It has around 200 pump clips on the wall from Thornbridge beers. These are the beers they brewed to be a bit different. They brewed most of them once and tested them on the public, and when the public rejected them they didn't brew them again. They have 5 or 6 regular beers that stood the test of time. These are the beers that folk tried and when they came back to the bar wanted another. That's how British beer evolved.

There are reasons why Tim Taylor's Landlord has been around for decades, and why most beers from micros are never brewed twice. So if you want your sprout stout that's up to you. A draught beer needs to sell quickly enough for it not to go off and require 3/4 of the barrel to be poured down the drain.

I tried rather a lot of beers at the 3 Valleys Festival. Some were better than others. Others might have different preferences, but ultimately a beer needs to sell. If it doesn't it won't be around for long.

I've invested in a number of breweries and been involved with others. I've seen them come and I've seen them go. I wouldn't put my money into one that tries to sell beer ar £6/pint. They might be making £4 on every pint they sell but it won't be enough pints to pay the bills.

[SteelCityAle 10]

Oh dear. Have I rattled your cage? Perhaps you need lime in your lager if you can't manage without the fruit.

 

funny you should say that, our latest collaboration (with Lost Industry, IMO the most inventive brewers in Sheffield) has plenty of lime, as well as mint, kaffir and rum. Oh, and it's sour. Shameless plug, it's on now at the Shakespeare

 

 

Our local is a Thornbridge pub. It has around 200 pump clips on the wall from Thornbridge beers. These are the beers they brewed to be a bit different. They brewed most of them once and tested them on the public, and when the public rejected them they didn't brew them again.

 

erm... no then. That's not how it works! lots of breweries make one-off beers. The fact they don't brew them again is less to do with the public rejecting them (though that can of course happen) and more to do with wanting to brew something new.

 

They have 5 or 6 regular beers that stood the test of time. These are the beers that folk tried and when they came back to the bar wanted another. That's how British beer evolved.

 

or to look at it another way, they have 5 or 6 beers that are mass-market appeal that form the backbone of the sales, enabling them to spend a part of their time brewing more niche beers that will appeal to a narrower audience but in theory appeal to that audience far more.

 

There are reasons why Tim Taylor's Landlord has been around for decades, and why most beers from micros are never brewed twice. So if you want your sprout stout that's up to you. A draught beer needs to sell quickly enough for it not to go off and require 3/4 of the barrel to be poured down the drain.

 

Any brewery who has 75% of their beer tipped down the drain won't last long! the beer market has changed. the 'old guard' brew beer which is acceptable to most but which nobody will love or hate. some of the new wave brew niche beers. Beers that may be hated by 80% but loved by 20%. Many of us would rather brew to that 20% (which won't always be the same 20% of people!). Any good well-made beer will be sellable in the timeframe available if it's sold in the right places. Our mojito sour wouldn't get far in say the working men's clubs but will fly out in a craft bar. similarly somewhere like the Shakey wouldn't sell much John Smith smoothflow that flies out in WMCs

 

I tried rather a lot of beers at the 3 Valleys Festival. Some were better than others. Others might have different preferences, but ultimately a beer needs to sell. If it doesn't it won't be around for long.

I've invested in a number of breweries and been involved with others. I've seen them come and I've seen them go. I wouldn't put my money into one that tries to sell beer ar £6/pint. They might be making £4 on every pint they sell but it won't be enough pints to pay the bills.

 

why not? If their business model is sound then there's no problem. There is nothing inherently wrong with selling beer for £6 a pint. Some beer is worth £6 a pint (and more). Whether the Sentinel beer is worth that is debateable, but it's a completely separate debate!

 

Saying that because mainstream beer is £3 a pint (the Timmy T brewery you mention has frankly shocking wholesale prices btw!) then all beer should be £3 is like going into Tesco and saying that because Jacobs Creek is a fiver a bottle then charging £14 for Chateauneuf du Pape is ridiculous