Review: Nomadic Beers Trade Open Day

Taking a stroll from the City Centre along Regent Street to Sheepscar is not the most picturesque walk you can imagine, but I was happy to do it as my final destination was a brewery.

Funny how that seems to obliterate any negative thoughts you might have about schlepping half a mile or so and spending ages waiting for the green man at crossings.  It is too busy to chance getting halfway across the road and making a dash for the other side when the cars at the traffic lights along the street set off like an F1 grid, or dodging holes in the pavement. Just as I thought, the reward was worth the effort when I was immediately presented with a flight of three-thirds of Nomadic Beers’ stock range of ales. We then got round to saying ‘Hello’ and introducing ourselves.

Nomadic Beers is housed in an industrial unit behind Enterprise Car Rentals and, whilst not the most salubrious setting, the premises houses enough equipment to produce the thirty-two brews per fortnight needed to slake the thirst of their loyal customer base. The core brews with which I was welcomed are the Pale at 3.8%, described as having a fruity, citrus flavour and which I thought tasted stronger than the hydrometer suggested. Strider at 4.4% is their take on classic Best Bitter and was my favourite. The tasting notes said it had caramel and biscuit flavours which I can only put down to the malt, which was much more in evidence than the hops in this particular brew. The final one was Bandit at 4.8%. Dangerously, this was the opposite of the Pale and didn’t taste anything like as strong as it was. It is based on American IPA and is hoppy and very refreshing, so beware.

As well as these, they produce a constantly evolving range of whatever beers seem relevant at the time. They may emanate from the styles of different countries, hence the name Nomadic Beers which refers to the ale and not the owners, or experiments with added natural flavours. Whatever the source of inspiration, you can be sure that they will be of the highest order, so don’t forget to keep an eye on their social media for details of the current specials.

I had a chat with ‘Gaffer’ Katie who told me about the company starting at Burley Street Brewhouse, before outgrowing those premises and getting the keys to the Sheepscar unit last August. This has enabled them to increase their customer base to cover the whole of West Yorkshire and even beyond! One of their regular customers from the Fox and Goose in Hebden Bridge was sampling the wares when I arrived so, as it was one of my haunts when I lived in that area, we had a good chinwag.

Katie went on to tell me that she and Ross started the brewery when she was working as an academic chemist and discovered, as lots of us have before her, that the further you progress up the ladder, the less time you spend on doing what you were trained for and enjoy, so she did a sort of soft core version of Breaking Bad and put her chemist’s expertise, not into hard drugs, but beer. Ross had been in brewing for several years, so he took on the role of Head Brewer, and the rest, as they say, is very drinkable.

Not only is the premises used for brewing, but on one Saturday in each month they also have a Taproom for a day. Some of these have a theme, for instance, the one on 25th May has live music from Brass Banned, 15th June is a Talent Contest (but don’t worry Simon Cowell won’t be there). The idea is that you show off your less than orthodox skills, so if you can juggle soot or peel an orange with your toes you will be most welcome. On 20th July there is a Dog Show.  Now, where would a taproom be without a dog or several, so prepare your pooch and come on down. Character earns far more points than good looks so don’t worry about the Pedigree Certificate.

Finally, the unit can be used for private functions, so, if you are planning a party or have a special occasion coming up, get in touch with Katie who can also sort some food options out. Having a bash here has two advantages, in that a) you are not going to need to send someone to the off licence when you have run out of booze at 10.00, and b) you will be able to demonstrate to your friends, colleagues and management that despite what they may think, you are indeed able to organise a piss up in a brewery.

I must conclude by saying that the walk to Nomadic Beers brewery was well worth the effort, and as a bonus the bus home stops just round the corner, so fortunately I didn’t need to make the return trip.

All photographs by Stan Graham. Feature photograph left to right:  Mike (Consultant), Gaffer Katie and Ross.

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