Stones, Wards, Whitbread - all good bitters now gone

[gaz 786]

What happened to all the old bitters ?

[gaz 786]

Just now, gaz 786 said:

What happened to all the old bitters ?

Stones whitbread magnet trophy all gone !

[SheffieldForum]

Arent True North still doing Stones?

[SheffieldForum]

https://www.truenorthbrewco.uk/single-post/stones-bitter-returns-to-sheffield-with-the-traditional-cask-recipe

 

 

[bungleboy69]

I drunk all of these 30 years ago, but can honestly say that I don't miss any of them. I'm more of an IPA style and sours guy these days with the odd stout when it's colder so times and taste change. I don't really want to be taken back to the old estate pubs I grew up in and The Stone House. I much prefer a micro-pub which has different beers on everytime I visit. 

[Magneteer]

1 hour ago, SheffieldForum said:

Arent True North still doing Stones?

It's Stones in name only and a very poor, tasteless imitation of the original Stones. In most pubco type pubs, it's typically 3.4% creamflow style stuff and lager which is on offer these days, which to be fair, does seem to appeal to the masses. If they do have a cask ale on, it's usually below par as they can't sell it quickly enough, although Wetherspoons ales are very good due to the fast turnover. Personally, these days I prefer the various Bradfield beers in the Nag's Head at Loxley, and never had a bad 'un yet.

[Martin C]

I drank a lot of Wards in the early 80s and loved it. Time moves on though and I'd absolutely hate it now as I crave hops, hops and more hops. And that's American, Australian and New Zealand hops - not crappy Kentish/European varieties

[Baron99]

6 hours ago, Magneteer said:

It's Stones in name only and a very poor, tasteless imitation of the original Stones. In most pubco type pubs, it's typically 3.4% creamflow style stuff and lager which is on offer these days, which to be fair, does seem to appeal to the masses. If they do have a cask ale on, it's usually below par as they can't sell it quickly enough, although Wetherspoons ales are very good due to the fast turnover. Personally, these days I prefer the various Bradfield beers in the Nag's Head at Loxley, and never had a bad 'un yet.

My bold. 

 

Agree.  I had a pint of Stones in the White Lion at Heeley a couple of months ago.  It just tasted bland & quite frankly a bit strange. 

[Guest]

Chantry brewery in Rotherham do one called Mighty Miller, which is the closest I've ever found to Tenants Queens.

They do do some other good brews too, Special Reserve and Two Magpies well worth a try, but Miller is my personal favorite.

[SheffieldForum]

7 hours ago, Magneteer said:

It's Stones in name only and a very poor, tasteless imitation of the original Stones.

Is that just memory playing tricks on you after all these years though?

 

They insist it is as close as possible to the original:

 

“We want to do it right so we’re going all out to make sure the recipe is as close as it was back in the bitter’s glory days. We’ll be using a traditional cask recipe with Challenger and Goldings hops and the original Stones yeast strain, kindly given to us by Molson Coors. We’re even going as far as recreating the water profile that was used at the time.”

 

I tried it and it seemed the same — although to be fair I was never a big fan or drinker of it in the past so I’m not an expert.