The Ball Suppy's 2022
The Ball Suppy’s 2022
Ladies & Gentlemen. Welcome to the annual Carrier Bag Firm end-of-season review. The Ball Suppy’s 2022. This is the fifth version of the awards, started in 2017. But, exceptionally, not awarded in the Covid Chaos of 2021. The Ball Suppy’s are a living, breathing, evolving thingamajig. So, some categories have disappeared & some new ones have materialised. And, this is a picture heavy Blog as we trawled the archives to jazz it up a bit.
So. The Year In Beer. A Season With Saison. Here we go…
Beer In The Ground 2022
This is awarded for beers served in the ground from smaller “independent” breweries. It’s an antidote to John Smith’s & Heineken (and the other industrial lagers). The Carrier Bag Firm found themselves debating what should & shouldn’t count on a number of occasions. Partly, that’s a good sign. It indicates that more and more brands are available in grounds. You could start that debate with Beavertown, Neck Oil which is available in Beautiful Down Town Bramall Lane. No longer strictly independent. But, a very welcome addition to the other shit available. In the awards, I’m not going to be too precious. It’s a Broad Church.
It is worth remembering that as recently as 2018 & 2019, the prestigious Beer In The Ground award went to - No Fucking Contender.
(Ignoring the “Random Brown” Riverside Brew at Craven Cottage for Fulham away. And, with - an I’ll ignore that - mention for Marston’s 61 Deep pale ale at Stoke City away). I pushed the Beer In The Ground KLAXON four times this season.
Joint Bronze - Magic Rock (Huddersfield), Saucery, Session IPA from a Tin at 3.9%. Huddersfield Town, 12 Feb, drew nil each. A simple well balanced no-nonsense session IPA.
Joint Bronze - Purity Brewing Co. (Alcester), Mad Goose, Pale Ale on Keg at 4.2%. Coventry City, 12 Mar, got beat 4-1.
Silver - Bristol Beer Factory, Independence, US Pale from a Tin at 4.6%. Bristol City, 18 Apr, drew one each.
Gold - Glamorgan Brewing Co. (Llantrisant), 1927, IPA from a Bottle at 4.1%. Cardiff City, 4 Dec, won 3-2.
A lot to like there. Brewed exclusively for The Bluebirds. With the name and artwork inspired by their 1927 Cup Final win. And featuring Chinook, El Dorado, Bramling Cross, US Cascade & Citra Hops. Pretty decent as well. A bit of citrus underpinning & great balance. There was even another Glamorgan bottle available in the ground. A Christmas badged ‘un called Santa’s Little Helper.
Pub In The Town 2022
Bronze - The Grange. Cardiff City, 4 Dec, won 3-2.
A great corner pub with two drinking rooms & a skittle alley. They'd even got their own badged keg pale from nearby;
Crafty Devil Brewing Co, Dr Grange Love at 4.2%
Silver - Lost & Grounded. Bristol City, 18 Apr, drew one each.
A tap at the brewery. You see their Keller Pils & Helles as the lager offering in many craft beer bars when the shout goes up..
“Have you got any normal lager?”
And, they knock out Belgian Inspired Ales. The place is modern & bright, very well appointed with tables & benches inside. Great decor. A few more trestle tables in the yard for sunburn the acquiring of. Nine of their own on Keg. Plus one Collab. No Cask. I’m shouting out;
Neptune Brewery (Liverpool) Collab with Lost & Grounded, Lost At Sea, West Coast IPA on Keg at 6.2%. At last. At last. I'd tried a few "West Coasts" recently which just didn’t come anywhere near. This one put me back in the room. Smells Tizer. Rich without being chewy. Tobacco bitterness. Substantial.
Gold - The Grove. Huddersfield Town, 12 Feb, drew nil each.
Surely one of the best Pubs in the country. Always. Always a great range of both Cask & Keg. Torrential rain in the ground. So, it took a while. Waterproof coat - off. Gore Tex strides - off. Can't even think about wet shoes. Conjures up too grim an image. That fucking overflowing latrine in the ground. Fuck me. I had my shoes swabbed for DNA testing. The results came back with the DNA of 1,275 different people on the soles. Fourteen. 14. Ten. And then four fucking more. On Cask. Twenty One. 21. Three short of two fucking dozen. On Keg. Did I say? Surely one of the best Pubs in the country. I’m singling out;
Turning Point Brew Co. (Knaresborough), Chaos Theory, Pale Ale on Cask at 5%. Oatmeal pale, with honey & marigold flowers!!.
The John Calvert Door-To-Door Award for The Sportsman Supporters Coach Pub Stop Of The Year 2022
The Great Man has recently informed us that, from next season, it is no longer possible for him to source teamsheets at away matches. E-mails, phone calls, chasing, running around the ground trying to find the right office, etc has all become too much of a ballache. Plus, some fuckers (recipients of the “service”) are putting them for sale on eBay more-or-less immediately. The Carrier Bag Firm paperwork will have an A4 sized hole in it. Thanks for your service. Thankfully, I understand he is still prepared to chaperone me to an ever more bizarre set of English (and occasionally Welsh) towns & villages. So, this award will continue. Indefinitely.
Bronze - New Hall Arms, Cannock. For Wolverhampton Wanderers, 9 Jan, lost 3-0
He opened for us at half ten on a Sunday morning. Great place. I forgot a proper count up of Casks. Let's go five or six. Deffo three pukka kegs. The outstanding beer of that day was;
Shiny Brewery (Little Eaton), Crush, IPA on Keg at 5.4%. Citra, Mosaic, Columbus & El Dorado hops. There was just enough juice (ie not much) before the hops fill in.
Silver - Northern Whisper Rawtenstall Tap Room. For Blackburn Rovers, 6 Nov, lost 3-1
This was not a drill. This was a no Wetherspoons stop. The fall out from that will fester for some time. I'd never even heard of Northern Whisper. So, to find their very modern & well appointed Tap Room was a great start to the day. On a day of No 'Spoons, this place was most definitely not a 'Spoons. Still a fuck up mind. Here we were on a Saturday, to find all CASK is one and half English pounds on Wednesdays.
“Hello, operator, could you put me through to the EFL 2022/23 Fixture Scheduling Dept please”
Two of their own on Cask, alongside three guests. All their own across the seven (ish) kegs. Annoyingly, their "core" American Pale & IPA were off. And there was a surprisingly large set of "lager" variations across 'em. But, you know what they say, when in Rawtenstall…
Northern Whisper Brewing, Beltie on Nitro, Stout on, well, on Nitro at 4.8%. (Spent grain is fed to a herd of Belted Galloway cattle). Otherwise, a lovely Guinness Buster.
Gold - The Swan Inn, Rowley Regis/Halesowen. For Birmingham City, 4 Feb, won 2-1
The Organiser of the CBF Sensible Beer Bus pretends it's all democratic & consultative. But, actually, it's his roost & he rules it. A fiefdom. The requirements are simple enough. The Beer Stop must have a Wetherspoons (usually, see above) and a range of other real ale pubs, preferably a Micropub, and maybe a Craft Beer Bar for good measure.
For Birmingham City away, in unprecedented circumstances, the Sensible Beer Bus had a Guest Beer Consultant. Even to this day, no one really knows why. After the event, the choice of Beer Stop was given a resounding 8/10. Personally, I think that was very generous. Particularly given the fact that the first Micropub was shit & the Wetherspoons kitchen was fucked and they weren't serving food!!!! And, the best Pub, indeed the Winner of this Gold Award, The Swan Inn, was not even identified by the Guest Beer Consultant. An absolutely superb, main road, traditional boozer. Nicely busy. Pensioners. People on their way home from work. Locals. A phenomenal TEN on Cask. Hows about;
North Cotswold Brewery (Stretton on Fosse), Green Man IPA on Cask at 4%. Good beer. The hop bitterness is a bit shy at first. But it comes in with some ginger. Looks thin. Tastes full bodied.
For the avoidance of doubt, I was the Guest Beer Consultant. Proud doesn’t cover it.
The Travis Binnion Award for The SUFC Academy Away Pub Of The Year 2022
Bronze - The Three-Legged Mare, York. For SUFC U23 away at Hull City, played at York City, 18 Oct, won 2-0. Of course, in a MAD twist SUFC U23 played both Home & Away games at York City this season.
Silver - Hops d’Amour, Coventry. For SUFC U23 away at Coventry City, played at The Alan Higgs Centre, 14 Dec, lost 2-0.
Gold - The Grapes, Liverpool. For SUFC U18 away at Everton, played at Goodison Park, 14 Jan, lost 2-1
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