Hello to you all, the weekend has come round once again, its quite crazy to think we are halfway through the first month of 2021 already!

I would like to say a massive thank you to all of my followers who wished me a Happy Birthday on Tuesday, I had a fantastic day and celebrated it well in Lockdown Style. 

Isobel bought me a hamper which contained traditional bar snacks and two bottles of beer, it was so unexpected and a massive surprise to open up, I can’t wait to try some of the treats that are packed into the hamper, especially the beer!

I certainly enjoyed a couple of beers and whiskies, and one of the beers that I sampled, I will be doing a review post on this today!

Today’s post is on a outstanding craft beer called – Sparks Fly Up 

The link that is highlighted in blue, will take you to the brewery’s shop website, unfortunately though, Sparks Fly Up isn’t listed!

History

Sparks Fly Up is a classical and traditional craft beer that is proudly brewed by Ridgeside Brewing Company. The brewery is situated in Northern England within the city of Leeds. 

The brewery was founded in January 2010 by Simon Bolderson, the brewery has been based within the city of Leeds since birth, the brewery was originally built on the reputation of producing cask ale for the local population. 

Sadly though in May 2014, Mr Bolderson passed away after battling with cancer, in 2015, a fantastic group of beer lovers continued the legacy of Ridgeside Brewery 

However, the brewery have now expanded there ideas, and now produce a wide range of canned beers, keg beers alongside there outstanding cask ales. 

The brewery uses a state of the art 8BBL brewery which can produce up to approximately 1310 litres of beer per brew, since being formed the brewery used four fermenting vessels but due to sales increasing a fifth fermenting vessel was installed. 

The name Ridgeside is taken from the Meanwood Ridge, which is a long hill that divides two suburbs within Northern Leeds. 

This isn’t a brewery which is well known around my hometown, but when I visited Brews Of The World a couple of weeks ago, there were a few beers which were in stock by Ridgeside Brewery.

It was then, I came across Sparks Fly Up and when I saw the can, I just had to buy it, the tasting notes made it more appealing, so I thought why not. 

I truly couldn’t wait to indulge myself into this beer, and what better way to enjoy it on my Birthday. 

Tasting Notes 

A malty, hoppy pale ale that has balanced flavours of citrus and papaya, the aftertaste is surprisingly fruity and sweet, which then further leaves a strong bitter finish. 

Does this sound like a beer that you would like to indulge in? 

It certainly is for me…haha!

Review  

As I mentioned earlier, it was my Birthday on Tuesday, and for those of you who are following me on Instagram, you would have probably noticed a beer poll I did. 

The idea was for my followers to choose between two beers and which ever one became the winner was the beer that I would drink to celebrate my Birthday, to be fair it was a difficult decision, it was between Sparks Fly Up and Milkshake IPA!

At 5pm, their was still no luck, it was still a draw, so then I made the next decision to send a random message to one of my followers and let them make the decision. Finally, a decision was made and Sparks Fly Up won!

The only thing I would say is how cool the can looks, I believe the picture on the can is based on a leading road that takes you to the city of Leeds. 

Before, I start talking about the beer, the hamper that I mentioned earlier, Isobel also included another touching gift, a personalised glass with my name on, as well as my blog page name, I thought this was a very thoughtful gift!

Sparks Fly Up was the first beer that I enjoyed in my new glass, and what an amazing beer it was!

What more can I tell about this beer, well believe it or not, there were some concerns when I poured this beer out into the glass, the beer was particularly cloudy and there was a fair bit of sediment inside the glass. 

However, after speaking to the brewery they mentioned that some of Sparks Fly Up batch had gone wrong, but it turned out my can was one of the correct ones. 

I felt relieved when I found out, it just meant I could really enjoy this beer, and wow what a beer it was, it was so sweet and fruity, enormous amounts of citrus, mango and papaya were swimming around inside the glass. 

I was so happy that this beer was chosen for my Birthday, after finishing this beer, I then moved on to a nice glass of Single Malt Scotch Whisky and then enjoyed the rest of my lockdown style Birthday. 

Ending 

Well, there you have it, my latest beer post which was on my Birthday Beer Treat!

I would definitely advise you all to try this beer, I mean if you wanted to wait until the brewery produce a new batch, then I would suggest that as you wouldn’t want to end up with a dodgy can. 

Furthermore, I still believe this beer was a perfect choice, I mean I am keen to try more beers from the Ridgeside Brewing Company in the future and when things are safe, I am hoping to travel up to Leeds and have an adventure to the brewery to see where all the magic happens. 

I really hope you’ve enjoyed this post, if you have any questions on this beer, please do leave them in the comments and I’ll answer them as best as I can!

I wish you all a fantastic weekend and I really hope you Stay Safe!

Cheeeeeers

The Cask Connoisseur