Sentinel brewhouse and eatery

[taxman 12]

Popped in to the new Sentinel Brewhouse bar on Shoreham St this evening. Big mistake... No prices displayed, asked for a pint of cask American Red IPA (5.2%) - the normal price in Sheffield for this sort of beer would have been around £3.20. Was charged £4.50! Rip off. Avoid.

 

Prices not displayed............No...show me your prices or I'm not buying

 

£4.50 for what I'm told is average at best beer..........get in the sea!

 

Sentinel has had loads of hype and publicity because of who the bloke is who runs it. But if he thinks he can sell average beers at London Hipster prices then it will be no great loss when he goes bankrupt.

 

There are only so many times you can go to the well before it dries up......methinks he might have gone at the precise moment people refuse to pay £4.50 for average beer.

[GleadlessLad 12]

Quite right Taxman - I will certainly not be going there again...

[fosterrobert 10]

I haven't been in for about 2 weeks but they had a massive board with all beers & prices listed for 1/3, 1/2 & pints. I can't imagine they'd have got rid of it or they'd just have a massive blank board as a back drop!

 

As for the beer, I've tried most & would say it's really good. However, the prices are certainly over top end for it - hopefully will come down in price if operating costs allow once up & running for a few months.

[jemson 10]

Nice place, good idea but £6 for an IPA that is average at best imho. Hoping they have a re-think about prices. Heard the food is good.

[belperite 11]

Sentinel has had loads of hype and publicity because of who the bloke is who runs it. But if he thinks he can sell average beers at London Hipster prices then it will be no great loss when he goes bankrupt.

 

I've not seen that much publicity about it to be honest. Who does run it?

[jemson 10]

I've not seen that much publicity about it to be honest. Who does run it?

 

I think it`s Alex Barlow (?) Uni expert and brewed all over the place including Europe, I think.

 

---------- Post added 06-06-2016 at 10:26 ----------

 

Popped in to the new Sentinel Brewhouse bar on Shoreham St this evening. Big mistake... No prices displayed, asked for a pint of cask American Red IPA (5.2%) - the normal price in Sheffield for this sort of beer would have been around £3.20. Was charged £4.50! Rip off. Avoid.

 

When I had the `normal` IPA (Sheff Beer Week), it was £6, I`m pretty sure. Maybe the prices have come down - ?

[foxy lady 10]

I haven't been in for about 2 weeks but they had a massive board with all beers & prices listed for 1/3, 1/2 & pints. I can't imagine they'd have got rid of it or they'd just have a massive blank board as a back drop!

 

As for the beer, I've tried most & would say it's really good. However, the prices are certainly over top end for it - hopefully will come down in price if operating costs allow once up & running for a few months.

 

Why would that be. You can't expect to set up a business and expect folk to pay extra because you invested some cash in the venture. Just to be clear they face rather a lot of competition. I was at 3 Valleys Beer Festival over the weekend. It seems 2 micro breweries have set up in Dronfiels alone in the last 12 months with another on the way plus a gin distillery. I popped up to Michells at Meadowhead for some wine, and even they have a new brewery in the shop.

I'm struggling to see the novelty of Sentinel. In the paper they claimed it was the only place in the UK where they brewed ale and sold it in the same building. What absolute tosh. I could take you to a dozen, including one in Clay Cross, one in Dronfield and one in Staveley.

The place in Dronfield is the Dronfield Arms. We were there on Saturday. They set up just a few months ago. They brew on the premises and sell the beer at under £3/pint. I think Mr Sentinel has a few harsh lessons to learn.

[InigoMontoya 10]

But if he thinks he can sell average beers at London Hipster prices then it will be no great loss when he goes bankrupt.

 

I say, that's a little harsh!

 

(If he is selling ale at £4.50 a pint, I won't be patronizing his establishment, but if people are willing to pay it, fair enough, but, I can't see it myself)

[DnAuK 10]

IMHO the beer is of exceptional quality. You can tell in the condition and the mouthfeel. I suspect its brewed with real high quality ingredients and, given then state of the art brewing equipment, just about as well as it can be brewed. Hence the price to pay for it all.

 

HOWEVER, it just isn't exciting. There's no spark. These days we expect more from our beer than just the best English IPA it can be. Personally for that money I want my tongue tortured with hops or caressed with a little barrel aged smoothness. So unfortunately, unless things change, I'm out too.

[foxy lady 10]

IMHO the beer is of exceptional quality. You can tell in the condition and the mouthfeel. I suspect its brewed with real high quality ingredients and, given then state of the art brewing equipment, just about as well as it can be brewed. Hence the price to pay for it all.

 

HOWEVER, it just isn't exciting. There's no spark. These days we expect more from our beer than just the best English IPA it can be. Personally for that money I want my tongue tortured with hops or caressed with a little barrel aged smoothness. So unfortunately, unless things change, I'm out too.

 

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.

[kirkyb 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.

 

CAMRA awarding the best ones? Oh the irony........the campaign for rubbish ale likes to award decidedly average beers, pubs and breweries. If Sentinel are producing average beer and charging a high price it won't survive but that has nothing to do with whether CAMRA approve or not that's down to people making their own judgment.

[Bilge 34]

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.