There should be around 200 different cask beers available at this years’ festival, with some served on hand pump, some by gravity and some direct from brewery bars themselves. The beers will be located in the Upper Hall, in a marquee and in the room to the right after entering the Museum.
This year sees an exciting new feature at the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival with the addition of a Guest Breweries bar.
The plan is to invite 3 different breweries each year to bring their own bar and highlight their range of beers in both cask and keg. We’ll have at least one member of their staff on the bar at all times to answer any questions you may have.
We’ve got a great line up to kick things off, and we’re sure you’ll enjoy chatting to them and sampling their beers.
Turning Point Brewery
Based in Knaresborough, Turning Point are particularly well known for their pales, including their flagship Disco King, but also some great collaboration brews.
Radio City Beer Works
Coming all the way from Chelmsford, Radio City started up just before (and survived) Covid as a small craft keg brewer, and have recently expanded in to producing cask. You can be sure they’ll have something new for you to try.
Ossett Brewery
Hailing, strangely enough, from Ossett in West Yorkshire, they also own Salt, Rat & Ratchet and Riverhead breweries, and will be bringing a real mix of things for your delight.
Cask beer will also be available in the Millowners’s Arms within the Museum complex.
A feature of the festival is that we try and obtain cask beer from all current breweries that fall within the Sheffield & District branch of Camra area, so expect to see about 18 Sheffield area breweries represented with a cask beer. One of Sheffield’s newer breweries, Duality, will hopefully be featured.
St. Mars of the Desert, a well-respected keg only brewer in Sheffield have collaborated at Thornbridge Brewery to brew a cask beer and we hope to have a cask of that. There should also be another special Thornbridge beer brewed on the Union system.
We also have one of only 2 casks (the rest will be canned) of Triple Point Brewery Sheaf, a 6.2% NEIPA brewed in collaboration with the Sheaf & Porter Rivers Trust, a charity whose mission is to conserve and improve Sheffield’s urban rivers, the Sheaf and the Porter Brook.
Two special beers are in the pipeline. The first is a beer in support of this year’s festival charity – The Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity and the proceeds from the sale of this beer will be donated to that charity. The second marks the 50th anniversary of Sheffield & District’s branch magazine. It started life in the summer of 1975 as the Parish Pump and became Beer Matters in September 1978. It is now, possibly, the only branch magazine to still be issued on a monthly basis. If ready, all beers will be available from opening on Wednesday 15th October.
check out the website on the week of the festival for a full interactive list of all the beers featured this year!
The organisers of the recent Steel City Beer & Cider Festival would like to thank the following for donating items to the festival tombola and to sell for this year’s festival charity – the Weston Park Cancer Charity :- Ruth Grimsley, Phil Bayliss, Liz Aspden, Pete Roberts, AleChemist Brewery, Abbeydale Brewery, Docks Beers, Blue Bee Brewery, Kelham Island Tavern, Peak Ales, Paul Crofts, Sheffield Tap, Ossett Brewery, Contour Beer, Terry Palmer, MKM Building Supplies, Fairfax Chocolates, Bradfield Brewery, Les Greenwood, Thornbridge Brewery and everyone who donated anonymously. Apologies if we have missed anyone.
I have recently had my 50,000th different UK cask beer and thought that warranted having a few special beers brewed to mark the milestone, but first I thought I would take a look back over the last four decades.
It is almost 40 years since I started keeping a record of the different beers I drank. My earliest notes relate to attending the University of Sheffield Students’ Union Beer Festival in May 1985, where I sampled Wadworth 6X, Courage Directors, Simpkiss Bitter, Jennings Mild, Gales HSB and Adnams Bitter, all priced at around 80p a half. Before that my staple diet was Brains Dark whilst at university in Cardiff in the late 1970s and Wards, Stones and Tetley’s whilst living back in Sheffield.
For the next few years my records only relate to beer festivals attended. The year 1985 was also the first year I attended The Great British Beer Festival with my friend Paul, initially in Brighton but now settled in London. We continued to make this in to a holiday every year until 2000, although I have continued to visit this event for a day each year ever since. My records show that I visited three festivals in both 1985 and 1986, eight in 1987 and 13 in 1988. You can tell which way the trend was going and the number of beer festivals I attended peaked at 109 in 2004.
My first record of drinking in a pub in Sheffield is in the Fat Cat on 21 April 1987, although I must have visited it many times before as it opened in 1981, but I never recorded my beers on those earlier visits.
Two early large festivals stand out for me as these specifically marketed themselves as having new beers and new breweries. The first Frodsham Beer Festival in May 1993 with thanks going to Dave Brown for the beer order and the Glastonwick Beer, Music & More Beer Festival, organised by Alex Hall and Attila The Stockbroker at Southwick near Brighton, which started in 1996 and is still going strong.
In the early days I think it was fair to say that most of the festivals I attended were run by CAMRA, but as time went on there were more and more very enjoyable pub festivals in the calendar. Two particularly memorable ones occurred over the weekend of the 50th anniversary of VE Day in June 1995. The festivals were at the Red Lion in Aldershot and the Prince Albert at Stow-cum-Quy near Cambridge. Both these featured a plethora of VE Day celebration beers and of course attracted a good number of beer tickers.
There was a period of about ten years from the mid 1990s when the Greater Manchester area provided five pubs which ran very popular and well attended festivals. These were the Beer House and Smithfield in Manchester, the Crescent in Salford, the Station in Ashton and Stalybridge Buffet Bar. Between them they had many festivals over this period and provided a wide range of new beers for tickers to enjoy.
The nineties and noughties saw me and Brian Moore spend many Saturdays traveling around the UK to visit beer festivals, be they CAMRA events or pub festivals. If festivals were too difficult to get to or we wanted to visit several in a day, then we would take my car. I would drive there and then Brian would take over as he would bottle his beers for consumption later, while I drank mine. To fill the car we would take a couple of guests – Alastair, PJ, Darren and others have accompanied us on these trips. One of the most memorable trips was in June 2002 on the weekend of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations. Our destination was the Cow & Plough in Oadby, Leicestershire as they were having a Jubilee festival with loads of appropriately named and required beers. After leaving there and driving through the Leicestershire countryside we passed through Ashby-de-la-Zouch and saw a sign advertising a beer festival at the Ashby Court Hotel. We knew nothing about this but on entering we discovered a large marquee full of more Jubilee themed beers. Needless to say I didn’t recall much (nothing!) of the journey home.
When travelling up and down the country, as well as seeing all the different beers, it is always pleasant to meet many fellow beer tickers. Some of these have acquired very unusual and amusing pseudonyms and here are a few examples: Alefinder General, Aston (to whom I attribute my beer ticking interests), Badger, Beige, Chief, Crimewatch, Desperate Dave, Dicko, Ding Ding, Father Christmas, Gazza, Jimmy Hill, Jingling Geordie, Lord Mayor of Croydon, Meatloaf, Mick The Tick, Molly, Mr & Mrs Ler, Mr Wild To You, Planey Wayne, Pogo, Rockin Robin, Roly, Sleeping Scooper, Sooty, Spoon, Swaaan, The Vicar, Trolley Gary and Unpro. This list is by no means complete, but sadly some of those mentioned are no longer with us.
During the tenure of previous owners, Neil & Sheila Clarke at the Cask & Cutler (now having reverted back to its previous name of the Wellington) held many successful beer festivals which were very popular with beer tickers. It was to one of these festivals that I first took my future wife to be, Philippa, to meet Sheila. Much to Philippa’s horror I introduced her as a work colleague, which was totally untrue, but fortunately it did have a happy ending as we got married in September 2008. In the May of that year as a precursor to our wedding and to celebrate Philippa’s birthday we arranged, with the help of Mike Knowles and various breweries and pubs, a beer festival around the Fat Cat, Harlequin, Kelham Island Tavern and Wellington featuring amongst other things about 12 special birthday/wedding beers for us.
These days many festivals publish their beer lists in advance so that they can be studied for new beers before we get there, but in the early days this was not possible so we had to wait until we got there before discovering what delights awaited us.
When I first started recording my beers everything had be done with pen and paper. I made the decision some years ago to continue with this method rather than digitising all my records, as obviously this would waste valuable drinking time. To this end I am indebted to Alan Douglas who for many years (at least since 2002 when I bought my first copy) has produced the G.O.B.B.S (Guild of British Beer Samplers) book. This is a list of all current British breweries and their beers that Alan is aware of and in my view is an invaluable guide to the beer ticker. This is available in hard copy only. Also worthy of recognition is the Quaffale directory of UK based breweries, which is available online.
Since Covid I do not travel as much as I used to which in part is due to trains becoming increasingly unreliable and much more expensive. However, the excellent beer ticking pubs of Sheffield are well supplemented by those in Derby which is only 30 minutes away by train. In particular I frequent the Alexandra, Brunswick, Smithfield, Flowerpot, Furnace and Victoria.
Bringing things right up to date now and the beers I had done to celebrate my 50,000th beer. These were grouped under the Morton’s Milestone banner (thanks to John Chapman for this catchy title). The brewers involved were Abbeydale, Big Trip, Blue Bee, Lost Industry, Tigertops and White Rose and the pubs they featured in were the Fat Cat, Kelham Island Tavern, Lost in West Bar, Shakespeares and Two & Six Micropub. Hopefully a Steel City beer will feature in the series soon. Many thanks to all those pubs and breweries who helped me celebrate this milestone and I hope that some of you got to try and least some of the beers.
To mark my 65th birthday last November we decided to spend a night in Holmfirth and chose the very centrally located Old Bridge Hotel for our stay. All the pubs and bars on our list are easily accessible from this very smart hotel, which does have a limited free car park and overlooks the River Holme and Holmfirth bus station. It also sells real ale, but more of that later. Fortunately my birthday fell on a Thursday for had we come on a Monday, Tuesday or even a Wednesday some of the pubs and bars were closed. Even on a Thursday opening in some was not until 3pm/4pm.
After an extensive wander around the streets and shops, including morning coffee at Bluebird Bakery we headed to Harvey’s Bar & Kitchen with a view to having something to eat. Unfortunately only one cask beer was available and we didn’t fancy anything from the food menu so moved on to the Tap House. A selection of beers were available from the nearby Nook Brewhouse but on entering we were told that the bar was closing at 1pm and would reopen at about 3:30pm, It was now 12:45, so I just had a half of Nook Session IPA (3.8%). We decided to lunch at Hollowgate Fish & Chip shop but had to eat them outside as the advertised inside seating was closed off. In order to walk off our lunch we went to the furthest pub on the list, the Postcard Hotel on the main Huddersfield Road through Holmfirth. This was a fairly large roadside pub and half of Theakston Best Bitter (3.8%) was enjoyed. This pub was not on the tourist trail around the town and our stay was somewhat spoilt by the sometimes loud and colorful language of some of the local punters. Returning to the centre we sought out the Elephant & Castle with a view to looking at the food menu for a meal later in the day as this was advertised as being available until 6.45pm. My Adnams Ghost Ship (4.5%) was pleasant enough but on enquiring about food we were informed that hot drinks and food was not available as the kitchen was being refurbished, although I must say that there was no sign of any activity in the kitchen at all.
We returned to the hotel to book in and freshen up before setting out again. The first port of call after this was about a two minute walk from the hotel and what a breath of fresh air this place was. The Magic Rock Tapwas light, airy and had a fresh feel to it and with pleasant staff and customers. I had a half of the dark and tasty cask Magic Rock Dark Arts Honeycomb Surreal Stout (6.6%). All three handpumps were in operation here which was in total contrast to our next port of call, O’Briens Bottle Shop & Beer Cafe just around the corner from here on Huddersfield Road. This had several keg taps on the wall and three handpumps on the bar. On enquiring about cask beer I was told that they had none on as the lines were due to be cleaned. I would have thought that they had plenty of time during their closed hours (3pm opening even on a Thursday) to clean the lines so that they could at least serve cask beer when they actually opened. I was disappointed and underwhelmed by this establishment. Anyway, on to the next bar – Oscar’s Café & Wine Bar. This was brightly lit and looked welcoming, but again no real ale was available so we then sought solace in the very busy Rose & Crown. This is also known as the Nook and is the home of Nook Brewhouse. Many cask Nook beers were available and I sampled both Elder Flower (4.5%) and Choco Orange Stout (5.2%) followed by a half of their guest ale, Wensleydale Angels Touch (4.0%). This pub was bustling with regulars and visitors and we chose to eat in here. There was only one staff member behind the bar but he was doing a sterling job. Next we were hoping to go in Y’s Bar & Snap, but it was closed.
After this further disappointment we decided to head back to the Old Bridge Hotelbar which had six handpumps of which five were in operation. I finished with a rather nice half of Recoil White Snake pale ale (4%).
Given the number of closed/late opening pubs/bars it occurred to me that maybe Holmfirth had it’s hey day during the many years of filming for Last of the Summer Wine and is now suffering a little as filming has ceased. Even Sid’s Café was closed on a Wednesday and Thursday.
Another Grand Day (and night) Out but was hoping for a slightly better choice of cask beer in some of the pubs/bars, when they were open that is!
The organisers of the recent Steel City Beer & Cider Festival would like to thank the following for donating items to the festival tombola and to sell for this year’s festival charity – the Yorkshire Air Ambulance:- Blue Bee Brewery, Kelham Island Tavern, Peak Ales, Ossett Brewery, Alan Gibbons, Sheffield Tap, Chantry Brewery, Terry Palmer, MKM Building Supplies, Purity Brewery, Paul Goddard, Tom Pugh, Paul Manning, Bradfield Brewery and everyone who donated anonymously. Apologies if we have missed anyone.
The first trip of the New Year was to explore some of the numerous pubs along Nottingham Road between Kimberley and Eastwood using a Derbyshire Wayfarer and a Trent Barton Zigzag day ticket. I travelled to Derby and then caught the Red Arrow limited stop service to Nottingham Victoria Bus Station to change on to the Rainbow One service which connects many of the places along Nottingham Road with a ten minute frequency for much of the day.
Half an hour after leaving Nottingham I arrived in Giltbrook and the Hayloft. This was quite a large multi-level Greene King pub with 7 hand pumps although only four were in operation, dispensing three cask beers and one cider. I chose a half of Olde Trip to start the day.
A couple of minutes walk away was the Caught & Bowled micropub with five cask beers available. This was the first micropub of the day and was in the long narrow style with the bar on the right and seating along the left wall. My selection was Hawkshead Gold.
Across the road to the same bus stop at which I had alighted and another Rainbow One took me the three stops to the Hilltop area. The first pub here was the Greasley Castle which is the largest traditional pub in this particular area. From the three cask beers available I chose a half of Ashover Poets Tipple. Nearby was the Tap & Growler (CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2020 entry). A small micropub but serving a very pleasant Anarchy Brewery Skin Deep which was in the ‘very cloudy orange juice coloured style’. Around the corner to another micro – the Pick & Davy. A complimentary homemade chilli sausage roll accompanied the Grasshopper Devil’s Horse Irish stout.
Two further bus stops along Nottingham Road deposited me in Eastwood. First call here and nearest to the bus stop was the Gamekeepers. This was a slightly larger micropub and I had halves of Pentrich Blank Maps stout and Blue Monkey Primate best bitter. Nearby was the Mellor’s Mews, just set back off the main road with some outdoor seating at the front. This had a more modern almost wine bar feel to it although the six hand pumps were dispensing four cask beers and two ciders. I had Oakham JHB. The Lady Chatterley was the only Wetherspoons pub visited today and two Dukeries beers were sampled – Santa’s Beer’d and S’no Wonder.
The last pub visited in Eastwood was the Dog & Parrot. Although there were several of the former in attendance I didn’t encounter the parrot. This was larger than the other micropubs I had visited today and had a larger range of drinks. From the cask selection I had a very enjoyable Muirhouses Tick Tock Boom and Cotswold Spring Godiva. It was then a very short walk back to the bus stop and a Rainbow One back to Victoria Bus Station.
I had a little wander around before getting a Red Arrow to Derby and found the Rose of England. A street corner local offering a pleasant Home Ales Apollo Orange to finish off with. I didn’t go for a drink in Derby on the way back but instead called in the Sheffield Tap (GBG 2020) for a half of Brew York Maris The Otter and then to the Old Queens Head (GBG 2020) for halves of Thwaites Good Elf and Little Critters Incubator Series New England Pale.
Some of the pubs visited today have restricted opening hours especially early in the week so it is advisable to check these before visiting. There are still quite a number of pubs in this area to visit but these will have to wait for another day. As a footnote I would like to thank both Richard Norris and The Didler for providing the inspiration for this Grand Day Out.
Andy Morton
A South Yorkshire Day Connect ticket costs £6.60 from the driver for one day’s bus and tram travel throughout the area. Getting to Rotherham mid-morning allowed plenty of time for the short journey to Broom, arriving there just after 11am.
The Stag (CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide 2018) adjacent to the roundabout of the same name, opens at 10am and has four hand pumps. A roomy pub with several drinking areas served by the central bar and plenty of outdoor seating made for a pleasant start to the day. Halves of Black Sheep/My Generation Beer Co.’s My Generation Session Pale Ale and Bath Ales Summer’s Hare were enjoyed.
The Stag, Broom
Just a few yards away is the Dragon’s Tap, with six tables inside and a few outside at the front. A bright and airy micropub with a selection of 6 hand pulled ales (and 3 traditional ciders), from which I chose Chantry Citra Pale. Chantry ales appeared fairly regularly in the pubs I visited today.
Back into Rotherham and another short bus ride past the Parkgate shopping complex to the Little Haven, another micropub serving 3 hand-pulled beers, one cider and containing five tables indoors. I selected Drone Valley No. 43. It was such a balanced and refreshing drink on this hot summer’s day that I had a second half.
I then decided to walk up Rawmarsh Hill to the Something Brew Inn, which had seating inside and out. A bus ride of a couple of stops would have been more sensible. Anyway, a pleasant half of Chantry Two Magpies Porter was consumed from the range of six real ales available.
Continuing away from Rawmarsh a bus took me to Wath-upon-Dearne and the Wath Tap (GBG 2018 entry and Rotherham CAMRA Pub of the Year 2018), which was slightly larger and also had pavement seating at the front. North Riding Pecan Pie Porter and Rat Splinter Black IPA were sampled from the six available beers. Traditional cider was also served.
Tap & Brew, Hoyland Common
A further bus ride in to Barnsley this time and the Arcade Alehouse (GBG 2018 entry and Barnsley CAMRA Pub of the Year 2018) in the town centre. Nightjar Haka Pale was enjoyed before then catching the number 66 to Hoyland for the Knave and Kestrel, probably the smallest micropub visited today. Elland Nettle Thrasher and Stancill Blonde were sampled before catching another 66 back towards Hoyland Common and the Tap & Brew for some Small World Secret and Raw Jester Pale and some complimentary peas in the pod to accompany the beer.
From here it was but a short walk to catch the number 2 service back to Sheffield, which gave plenty of time for a half of one of the Brew York X Panda Session IPA series in the Head of Steam and a final Adnams Anti-Hipstermin in the Bankers Draft before the bus home. I had hoped to visit some of the newly opened pubs around the Barnsley, Mapplewell and Darton areas, but these will have to wait for another day.
Andy Morton
A mid-morning arrival at Huddersfield station (via Wakefield) allowed plenty of time for a cooked breakfast and a half of Clarks (now brewed at Castle Eden) English Pale Ale in The Vulcan before boarding the hourly train for the short ride to the attractive village of Marsden.
Riverhead Brewery Tap, Marsden
Sitting outside the Riverhead Brewery Tap (CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2018) in the sunshine waiting for their festival to open at noon was very pleasant indeed. The festival was a small affair with all available ales being served through ten hand pumps on the bar. From the 8 Riverhead beers and two guest that were available I sampled halves of Riverhead Montage (5%), Tour De Marsden (4.2%) and Pomegranate Pale (4%), plus a Mad Squirrel De La Crème Milk Stout (4.5%). Six traditional ciders were also available although I didn’t partake of any of these.
There was then a short walk back up the hill to the station for a train back through Huddersfield to Mirfield and the festival at the Navigation Tavern (GBG 2018) which was already in full swing by the time I arrived. A separate festival bar with 24 hand pumps had been set up inside, from which I sampled beers from Bridge Brewery, 3D (Pitchfork), Ascot and Lords.
Navigation Tavern, Mirfield
With basically an hourly service back to Wakefield Kirkgate, I allowed myself time for the short walk back past Mirfield station to the festival which had been advertised as taking place at the nearby Flowerpot (GBG 2018), which is an Ossett brewery pub. Arriving at just after 3pm I was disappointed to find that the outside festival bar did not open until 4pm. On a glorious sunny and warm Friday, with plenty of potential customers about, I thought it a little short-sighted not to capitalise by opening at lunchtime. I did not partake of a drink but instead returned to the Navigation for a very enjoyable Abbeydale Voyager IPA (number ten in the series), before getting a train to Wakefield Kirkgate.
Black Rock, Wakefield
First stop in Wakefield was Fernandes brewery tap (GBG 2018) and half of their Blue Lady (3.8%) together with complimentary sausage rolls and pork pies. A walk through town brought me to the Beer Exchange for some Aire Heads Grain Disorder (4.6%) and a limited edition Revolutions gin-infused Clash Porter (4.5%). Across the road to the Black Rock (GBG 2018) and from the five beers available I chose Blue Bee Enigma 500 (5.5%).
The final pub of the day was The Hop in Wakefield (GBG 2018), which by now was very busy, but a very pleasant half of Wilde Child The Expatriate (4.5%) was consumed before catching a quick train from Westgate to Sheffield, followed by a bus home.
Andy Morton
It had been ten years since my last visit to this small town near Telford in Shropshire so another visit was planned to coincide with the 44th Beer Festival in the Crown. No cheap advance bookings were available on morning departures from Sheffield to Birmingham, so I opted to travel via Stockport instead. The hourly Arriva Trains Wales service between Stockport and Shrewsbury takes about an hour. The short walk to Shrewsbury bus station allowed me to catch the X4 limited stop Arriva service from Shrewsbury to Telford via Wellington and took 45 minutes, followed by another shorter bus ride to Oakengates.
Crown Inn, Oakengates
I was the first customer to walk into the Crown Inn (CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2018 entry) when it opened at noon. It is a bright yellow painted building on Market Street and the layout was as I remembered it. Both front and back bars were adorned with hand pumps, as was the temporary bar in the back room, making 34 in total. My visit was on the first day of their 5 day festival and 26 pumps were in use. I sampled halves from Castle Rock, Lancaster, Glastonbury, Coastal, Pitchfork and Green Duck breweries, the pick of which being Castle Rock Songbird (4.2%) which was very light and refreshing.
Directly across the road from the Crown is the Station Hotel(GBG 2018). Like the Crown, plenty of hand pumps were in evidence on both front and back bars. I sampled a 5% beer from Mallinsons to commemorate their 10 years of brewing, together with beers from Fernandes, Fixed Wheel and to make me feel at home, Abbeydale Carousel.
Elephant and Castle, Dawley
Two doors up from the Station Hotel is the Old Fighting Cocks(GBG 2018). This is a regular outlet for Hop & Stagger Brewery beers and I sampled their Golden Wander and Shropshire Pale Ale. The landlord of the Crown also runs another pub in the village of Dawley so using the West Midlands Day Saver ticket again which I had purchased in Shrewsbury I took the short bus ride back into Telford and then another short ride to Dawley to visit the Elephant & Castle, a grade 2 listed building at the head of the High Street. I only had time for a couple of halves here from the 12 hand pumps as time was pushing on and the last bus back to Shrewsbury was at 18.10. My choices were from Rudgate and Joule’s.
Then it was back to Telford bus station and the X5 back to Shrewsbury. I was not due to leave Stockport until the 21.28 train so I could spend an hour in either Shrewsbury or Stockport and I chose the latter so boarded the next train from Shrewsbury to Stockport. I decided on a quick visit to the Stockport Slope and called in the Magnet (GBG 2018) where I had a beer from the in-house Magnet Brewery with the catchy name of Brian/Alan/Steve/Sarah Bitter at 5%, named after the people for whom it was brewed, together with one from Ossett Brewery. The nearby Railway (GBG 2018) provided a very drinkable Brightside Amarillo at 4.4%. Back to Sheffield now and the last drink of the day was Bad Seed Become The Legend in the Sheffield Tap (GBG 2018) followed by a brisk walk for the bus.
Andy Morton
A couple of minutes walk away was the 
Two further bus stops along Nottingham Road deposited me in Eastwood. First call here and nearest to the bus stop was the 
