Andy has been actively involved in CAMRA since the early 2000s after being recruited to sit on a National Younger Members Task Group.
Since then he has held roles on the branch committee including Secretary, Membership Secretary, Magazine Editor, Chair and now Social Secretary.
Andy has also been involved with the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival almost every year since becoming active in the branch.
Sheffield Beer Week saw the wooden pin make another appearance at Hop Hideout in Leah’s Yard, Sheffield City Centre, providing a cask ale option. This time the beer from the wood was Abbeydale Moonshine.
By the time this issue of Beer Matters hits the street, the Mount Pleasant in Norton Lees should have reopened under new management.
The Clubhouse on London Road has announced they aren’t renewing the lease and it is likely to be closing in March. In an announcement they stated it was a heartbreaking decision but times are tough and all the bills are getting extortionate and they simply can’t do it anymore. The Steel City derby match unusually wasn’t screened there as the direct debit to Sky Sports had already been cancelled ahead of them closing – it was costing them £3,000 a month!
Two of the Dronfield town centre pubs taking part in the One Valley Festival on 7 June have announced their plans. The Manor House Hotel are doing pretty much the same as last year with the car park closed off and filled with two outside bars – one of which will feature cask ale from Abbeydale Brewery along with Pellizco’s mexican food trailer. Live music will be provided by The Britpop Rockers at 4pm and 6pm then DJ Brad Gee will keep the party going from 7:30pm until late. Meanwhile down the road at the Green Dragon are also keeping a similarly tried and tested formula with the car park closed off and live music on the back of a wagon, DJ Higz playing the tunes between and after the bands and a fish & trip trailer to keep everyone fed. There will also be two outside bars supplementing the normal pub bar with real ales, shots and bottles available outside.
The Cross Scythes in Totley has now reopened under its new management following refurbishment and is offering “elevated pub dining”.
The Chapeltown Tap is hosting a Triple Point Brewing tap takeover and meet the brewer event on 30 April. Tickets (£15) need to be booked in advance and include a third pint taster of 6 different beers and nibbles from a ploughmans food tray.
Pub blogger “Micropub Adventures” has launched a promotion for visiting beer venues between Sheffield and Retford by train. In Retford this includes the Idle Valley Tap, Brew Shed and Beer Under the Clock then of course on Worksop station is the Mallard, which hosts regular beer festivals. A short walk from Shireoaks railway station is the Ticking Clock Brewery’s tap room which opens at weekends then close to Kiveton Bridge station is the Kiveton Tap. The next offering towards Sheffield is the Oxbow at Woodhouse Mill before finishing at the Sheffield Tap. For the leg between Kiveton and Sheffield the X5 bus offers a more convenient alternative to the train, stopping close to the Oxbow!
Thanks to John Clarke of Stockport CAMRA (editor of Opening Times magazine), who posted some scans of an old real ale booklet from 1975 on X, we can look back at pubs serving real ale in Sheffield City Centre that year. There were 11 pubs listed and of those 6 still survive – Dog & Partridge, Globe, Grapes, Norfolk Arms, Red Deer and Washington. Back then all those pubs could be split into two camps – those serving Tetleys Bitter and those serving Stones. Two of the pubs are now part of Stonegate’s “Craft Union” chain with no cask ale but the rest still serve the real deal! The lost pubs are Peacock Inn (Fitzwillam Street), Old Red Lion (Holly Street), Red House (Solly Street), Royal Oak (Hollis Croft) and Sportsman Inn (Cambridge Street). Of course whilst we have lost those 5 pubs over the years, we certainly now have a much bigger choice of real ale and craft beer venues around the City Centre than we did then!
As part of Sheffield Beer Week, the Kelham Island Tavern showcased a number of new beers from Blue Bee Brewery. These included a coffee mild, french oak aged red ale and charred oak aged export stout as well as the usual hoppy pales that Blue Bee are more commonly known for!
Bradfield Brewery have released a special edition of their cask Farmers Stout with the stronger ABV of 8.4%.
As is now traditional, Sheffield Beer Week marked the Brewery of St Mars of the Desert‘s tap room coming out its winter hibernation and it is now open most Fridays and Saturdays, 2pm to 8pm. It is now bar service and card payment only, it continues to be dog friendly. The brewery is just a few minutes walk from the main road through Attercliffe, served by buses 9/9a, 52/52a, 207 and X3.
Fuggle Bunny Brew House is introducing a monthly Saturday tap session in addition to the weekly Friday bar opening. The programme of “Fuggle Saturdays” kick off on Easter Saturday then take place on the last Saturday of each month from 31 May to 29 November with the bar in the brewery open 3pm to 9pm and live music at 5pm. They also plan to host a food trader at the Saturday events.
Triple Point Brewing celebrated their 6th birthday on the 14 and 15 March, neatly coinciding with Sheffield Beer Week! The Friday night involved live music and dancing whilst on the Saturday they screened the Six Nations rugby. A new beer has also launched – Geyser, a 4.3% ABV pale ale brewed with Olicans, Simcoe and Cryo Talus hops offering bold citrus flavours and like most of their beers it is gluten free and vegan.
Live music venue, real ale bar, canal side drinking spot, home of the Pax Cat and unique Sheffield institution are all things the Dorothy Pax was, however it has closed down. The following shock announcement at the beginning of March had been preceded by a number of gigs being cancelled due to poor ticket sales.
“We are heartbroken to announce that The Dorothy Pax is now closed with immediate effect.
It’s not been an easy decision to make as this affects not only ourselves but the bar staff, the engineers, the artists, our local boating community, our wider Sheffield community and our suppliers.
We’ve had some amazing parties, produced several festivals, hosted countless world-class talent on our stage, laughed, cried, shared incredible evenings, made lifelong friends and boogied the night away.
However, we cannot continue to do so. I don’t want to point fingers, but we’ve had our fair share of battles, and we’ve always come out the other side, but we’ve got too many wounds to lick now to continue.
It’s not very pleasant to be a statistic at any time, and we’re certainly upset about being added to the number of grassroots music venues that have closed down over the last few years through difficulties thrown at the industry including Covid-19, rising bills and our customers facing a cost-of-living crisis.
The grassroots music industry is facing an uphill battle, as a whole we’re all trying to make this work on a profit margin of 0.48%, whilst those at the top are reporting billions in profits. If £1 per ticket at stadium shows, arena gigs and large festivals went back to us collectively, we wouldn’t have to subsidise ourselves hugely to carry on doing the work we do.
But we have. We’ve footed that bill internally, mainly because we love it, understand its importance to our wellbeing, community and cultural output. We know we do good work. Nothing is quite like the high you get when you see a full room of people dancing, enjoying each others company, whilst the musicians on stage are performing their hearts out with smiles across their faces. Nothing will ever come close to that feeling.
If it wasn’t for the support of the Music Venue Trust, this announcement would have come 5 years ago. They’ve not only had our side but they’ve tirelessly worked so hard in supporting 900+ of our colleagues within the grassroots music industry.
Please believe us that we have exhausted every possible avenue over the last year or so to keep on going but the time has come.
Continue to support your grassroots music venues, your local pub and independent businesses because now is the time that they need you the most. Use them, or lose them.
The winter edition of the Great British Beer Festival took place in February at Magna, having relocated from Burton on Trent, conveniently replacing the old Rotherham Real Ale & Music festival which came to an end last year.
CAMRA’s Yorkshire region was originally planning on hosting the event in Bradford but the new venue there was looking like not being ready in time to host events so with 6 months to go, it was switched to Magna. The result was something slightly rough around the edges in presentation but an impressive and enjoyable event regardless.
Much of the action was in the “Big Hall” with the live music stage, main cask ales bar, cider bar, tombola, table skittles, diner, seven brewery bars (Abbeydale, Brew York, Chantry, Radio City, Tatton, Theakstons and Thornbridge) and a number of stalls including a tankard engraver and caricature artist.
There were a number of other rooms to explore too with a “Global Pours” bar in its own room serving exclusively imported beer from around the world and in the rainbow hall an Indie Brewers bar serving a varied range of cask ales only from independently owned breweries. There was also a room featuring UK craft beers in keg and a spirit bar with a range of flavoured gins, vodkas and rums.
Being a national CAMRA event it and now in a bigger venue a feature from the summer Great British Beer Festival was rolled out – the Learn & Discover bar, where the staff talked you through a number of themed tasters and each day a different brewer guested on the bar.
The Champion Winter Beer of Britain award is judged here and there was a bar dedicated to showcasing the finalists. The overall champion was Cairngorm Black Gold, a session stout, with runners up named as Sarah Hughes Snowflake (an 8% ABV barley wine) and Grain Slate (a 6% ABV porter).
The winners were announced on stage as part of the Wednesday trade session.
There were a couple of local beers judged in the final – Abbeydale Black Mass (a black IPA) came second in its category behind Sarah Hughes Snowflake whilst Acorn Gorlovka Imperial Stout came third in its category.
To help with the journey home from Magna a special festival bus service operated from the front door shuttling to Meadowhall and Rotherham, this was operated on behalf of CAMRA by Stagecoach using brand new electric buses. Next year things will be even easier with a station on the Tram Train line due to open this coming December with trams from Sheffield and Rotherham directly to Magna!
Little Mesters have acquired the former Lost Industry brewing kit and moved away from Mitchells at Meadowhead to a new location in the Attercliffe area.
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Thornbridge Brewery‘s Dominic Driscoll has collaborated with fellow 2024 British Guild of Beer Writer award winner Ruvani de Silva to brew a limited edition cask ale celebrating their recognition. Dominic was awarded brewer of the year whilst Ruvani won the Michael Jackson Beer Writer of the Year award.
Ruvani is the first woman of colour and the first queer person of colour to win the Michael Jackson Beer Writer of the Year award, and the first writer to win in five categories in the same year. Her work tells stories of beer culture, history and community, with a focus on issues including DEI, sustainability and innovation, with an international perspective.
The beer, which will be released on March 3rd, is a nod to Ruvani’s Sri Lankan heritage and Thornbridge’s ongoing commitment to quality and innovation – combining classic modern IPA flavours of Amarillo and Citra hops with a Maris Otter-forward malt blend and two traditional Sri Lankan spices.
The RUVANI was inspired by a homebrew that Ruvani made with her husband during lockdown, and combines two South Asian spices with contrasting but complementary flavours, both known for their healing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Ginger’s tangy sweet heat is often paired with turmeric’s warm, earthy bitterness in dishes including teas, curries, soups, health drinks and even desserts – so why not beer? Thornbridge have used their brewing experience and expertise to adapt Ruvani’s concept into a British-South Asian fusion IPA bursting with bright hops and an exciting new-to-beer spice blend.
This month sees the arrival of CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) Winter edition at its new home of Magna, replacing the long established Rotherham Real Ale & Music festival which took place for the last time in 2024.
The festival features a range of over 300 cask ales served on either handpump or gravity with many Yorkshire breweries represented as well as plenty from around the rest of Britain; there will also be around 35 other UK craft beers on keg, a dedicated Champion Winter Beer of Britain bar, a learn & discover zone and a world beer bar with a rotating choice of imported beers in bottle, can and keg.
There will also be brewery bars where their staff will be hosting and available to answer questions about the beers which will be served on both cask and keg. Brewers attending are Abbeydale, Brew York, Chantry, Radio City Beer Works, Wantsum, Theaksons and Thornbridge.
A number of tutored tasting events have also been organised as an optional extra, these have limited capacity and need to be booked in advance, they are led by a knowledgeable and respected host and the price includes a number of beer samples and a talk. Themes include Champion beers, beer & cheese, beer & music and beer brewed on Burton Union sets.
Cider & Perry also features on a dedicated bar curated by a team that are very enthusiastic about the real deal, so expect everything here to be made from freshly pressed apple or pear juice, never from industrial concentrate!
If you’d like to come along and enjoy the atmosphere but aren’t into beer or cider, there will also be a bar offering wine, spirits, soft drinks and no/low alcohol beer. Food will also be available with pub grub style meals available from Magna’s own catering team plus stalls selling snacks.
A busy programme of live music is planned each day and included in the ticket price, this will take place on the stage in the main hall. Rotherham CAMRA branch members will also be there hosting a tombola and old fashioned pub table top games.
The entry price includes a souvenir glass featuring the festival artwork and the sponsor, with a choice of a pint glass or stemmed half, this is yours to take home and keep. There aren’t any programmes this year but the Rotherham Cancer Care charity will be selling printed beer lists for those that want one. This year all the bars will be taking card payment (contactless or chip & pin) on a pay as you go basis, alternatively you can buy £10 beer token cards to spend at the bars, the token sales desks will accept cash.
The festival is organised and staffed by volunteers, if you fancy joining the team please fill in the volunteering form on the website.
All the information and advance tickets is available online at winter.gbbf.org.uk.
OPENING HOURS AND TICKET PRICES
Wednesday 5pm to 10:30pm (with trade tickets offering access from 4pm)
Thursday midday to 10:30pm (please be aware that a small number of bars won’t be open until 3pm)
Friday and Saturday midday to 10:30pm
Tickets on the door £10 for CAMRA members, £12 for everyone else
Advance tickets online £8 for CAMRA members, £10 for everyone else. Group and season ticket deals also available online.
Trade tickets for those working in the pub, beer and cider industry for the Wednesday session are complimentary but must be applied for in advance online.
GETTING THERE
bus X3 (Sheffield to Doncaster, operated by First) stops on Sheffield Road, behind the venue next to the pedestrian entrance which takes you through to the car park. You can board the bus at Sheffield Interchange, Meadowhall Interchange, Rotherham Interchange and Doncaster Interchange. If you are connecting with other buses in South Yorkshire an all day pass may prove good value – see sytravelmaster.com or the Travelmaster app.
If you are going by train, the nearest railway station is Meadowhall where you can jump on the X3 bus for a 5 minute ride to Magna.
From 4pm each day there will also be a special festival shuttle bus running from Meadowhall Interchange and Rotherham Interchange to supplement the X3, this will drop off (and pick up) near the festival entrance and charge a flat fare of £2.50 (other tickets and passes cannot be used). This bus will be operated by Stagecoach and generally run every 30 minutes, ending at 11pm.
Car parking is available at Magna, which is close to M1 junction 34.
LIVE MUSIC PROGRAMME(timings approximate)
WEDNESDAY EVENING:
18:30 Bone Broke Kings
19:45 Lightning Threads
21:00 The Fargo Railroad Co
THURSDAY EVENING:
19:00 Floodhounds
20:30 Northern Citizens
FRIDAY ALL DAY:
13:00 Daniel Horsham
15:30 Eboney Jayne O’Brien
17:00 Kizia and the Kings
18:30 Soul Battalion
20:30 The Leptons
SATURDAY ALL DAY:
13:00 Jack T Harper
15:00 Maltby Miners Welfare Band
17:30 Matilda Shakes
19:00 Republic
20:30 Handsome Dan and the Mavericks
TUTORED TASTING EVENTS
Champion Winter Beer of Britain competition tasting, led by Roger Protz – Wednesday 6:30pm and Thursday 2pm. Members £10, non-members £12. Six beers included.
Brewed on the Union tasting, led by Roger Protz and Thornbridge brewers – Thursday 6pm. Members £10, non-members £12.
Beer & Cheese tasting, led by Annabel Smith – Friday 2pm. Members £14, non-members £16. Five beers paired with cheese included.
Beer & Music matching, led by Pete Brown who is publishing a book on the subject – Friday 6pm. Members £10, non-members £12.
Please note the price of the tasting event tickets quoted are just for the tasting, a festival entry ticket is also required.
LEARN & DISCOVER ZONE – BREWERY PARTNERS
Themed tasting flights will be available from the Learn & Discover Zone, served in partnership with the following brewery bars:
Sheffield’s annual Beer Week has now been running 11 years, celebrating the independent beer scene in the city with events across many venues in the city with common themes of beer & food, community and heritage. The beer week itself officially runs from 10 to 16 March, preceded by the Indie Beer Feast, however there are a number of additional events to warm up in the preceding days too!
A list of events confirmed at the time of going to press are below, however for the latest information visit their website – sheffieldbeerweek.co.uk.
Thursday 6 March
Pangolin : Indie Rabble Tap Takeover and meet-the-brewer. Beers on from 1pm with the brewer there in the evening.
Friday 7 March
Hop Hideout : Tynt Meadow Trappist Brewery – keg of their Dutch brewed trio collaboration on tap with the brewery manager present to talk about their history and tradition. 2pm to 4pm.
Little Chicago Quarter pub heritage guided walk – 11:30am, booking required
Crow Inn : “A Place to Be” talk with writer Katie Mather, 2pm.
FOCUS ON…
THE CROW
All week: European Beer Showcase
A Selection of European craft Beers
Throughout the week, we will be pouring an assortment of delicious beers from some of Europe’s best breweries. We have beer from Sweden, Poland, Denmark and plenty more magical places. Come on down to get stamping your genuine real life beer passports.
Launching 8th March, pouring through beer week until we run out – Ten Men x Bang The Elephant x Steel City Brewing x The Crow Inn Presents… The Men Of Steel
Free entry
A mega collaboration beer between many of our lovely beer friends. “The Men Of Steel” is an uzvar inspired fruited sour and is part of Ten Men’s 100 Collaborations Project. All profits from the beers made within the project go towards new brewing equipment after Ten Men lost all theirs due to the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
11th March 8PM – Beer Bingo, Free entry
What it says on the tin. An evening of boozy, beery bingo. Relaxed vibes and great fun… Don’t forget your dabbers! Exciting prizes up for grabs and plenty of tasty beer pouring to see you through the evening.
16th March 2PM – “A Place To Be”, Free entry
Katie Mather delivers a talk on her new zine, “A Place To Be”, a love letter to drinking in liminal spaces and Pellicle magazine’s first printed publication. We will be privileged to have both Katie and Matthew Curtis here talking about the zine, pubs and the importance of found community in unexpected places.
Post beer week
March 28th – Burning Sky beer launch. Burning Sky are organising a nationwide launch across the best craft beer pubs around the UK, including at The Crow. Look out for more details soon!
Hotel Rooms
Book direct at thecrowinn@gmail.com for the best rates on our hotel rooms, for Sheffield Beer Week and beyond!
Over February, our small team have embarked on a series of collaboration brews across the North of England to brew a range of styles, launching here on cask for Sheffield Beer week. These include a smoked cherry Barley Wine with Torrside, a US Session Pale with North Riding, a stout with Tartarus, a hazy pale ale with Big Trip and a pale ale with one of our local favourites, Blue Bee.
Wednesday 12th March: Ideal Day showcase and meet the brewer 6-8.30pm
Ideal Day Family Brewery are a farmhouse brewery from Cornwall, making Belgian and classic British styles of beer with an innovative, modern twist and a commitment to regenerative agriculture. They’ll be on hand to talk us through a range of their beers, with some food pairings fresh from our kitchen.
Wednesday 12th March – Beer Week Quiz, 8.30pm – Our regular quiz, this week hosted by quiz master Quiztopher, with an added beery twist. Free entry
Thursday 13th March – Guided Sheffield Pub Heritage Talk – Little Chicago Quarter. 8pm – Price: £4.95
What: This event is a history/pub heritage talk which will concentrate on the Little Chicago area of Sheffield, taking you from the early part of 19th century up to the current day. We will explore both the pub heritage aspects of the area plus the streets which feature in the book, ‘Sheffield 1925: Gang Wars and Wembley Glory.’ The narrative will explain how Sheffield briefly became the most turbulent city in Britain due to an escalating gang war involving the Park Brigade, Mooney Gang, the Gas Tank Gang and many others. The talk will also explore the beer, social and Industrial heritage of the area, examining the myths and reality of a tumultuous year in Sheffield history. Mention will be made of the 1884 ‘Sheffield Drinks Map,’ the establishment of a coaching inn, George Orwell and the Sheffield pub with the most local CAMRA awards. The talk will be led by local historian and writer, John Stocks and ‘Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs’ editor, Dave Pickersgill. The talk will last for up to 60 minutes, followed by post-talk drink and discussion.
Tickets from Eventbrite.
Friday 14th-Sunday 16th – Belgian, German & Czech Beer showcase
A showcase of beers and styles both modern and historic from the classic European beer nations. German, Czech and Belgian inspired food pairings available from the main menu and specials board too.
All week plus over Indie Beer Week – British Beer Styles Showcase
All Week – as wide a range as possible showcasing historic and modern British beer styles from Barley Wine to Brown Ale, ESB, IPA and Porter. Matched with items from our daily food menu. Free entry
Wednesday 12th – 4pm: Ideal Day Showcase and Meet The Brewers Venue 1
A showcase of some of the range from Cornish farmhouse brewers Ideal Day. Come sample a couple of their beers on draught, with the founders and brewers on hand to talk through their ethos. We will have a special small plate menu item matched to the beers for the occasion too. Why not make it a really Ideal Day and follow them to the Harlequin afterwards for more of their beers, too?
Downstairs, A keg and cask showcase of a range of beer styles from the excellent Burning Sky Brewery of Firle in East Sussex.
Upstairs: a six beer tasting, including a range of Burning Sky’s mixed fermentation beers led by brewery founder and brewer Mark Tranter. £25 a ticket, message the pub on social media to sign up.
The Victoria at Heeley Green now has cask ale available following a cellar and bar refit.
The Cross Scythes at Totley has been closed for a refurbishment following a change of management – the new operating company (Northern Collective) also run bars and restaurants in places like Dore and Hathersage.
The Old Hall Hotel in Hope has announced the 2025 dates for their Hope Valley Beer & Cider Festival, which takes place most bank holiday weekends. See our festival listings page for details.
The Woodseats Palace (Wetherspoons) is hosting a tap takeover with Welbeck Abbey brewery on 20 March, from 7pm. This will see them pouring up to 5 of their cask ales including some one off specials.
Celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the mapping of the Pennine Way take place this year and sitting next to it is the Old Nag’s Head in Edale, which as you’d expect is joining in! They are hosting a music night on 19 March from 7:30pm as part of the celebrations.
The Beer House S6, located on the inbound tram platform at Hillsborough, have updated their midweek event programme. Monday is pool league, Wednesday is quiz night an Thursday is games league.
Many of you will have been following the story of this village pub – a few years back the pub company that owned it decided it wasn’t viable with their model and put the building on the market, potentially to be converted to flats or housing, leaving the village with nothing much else there.
With some help and advice from CAMRA, a group of locals got the pub listed as an Asset of Community Value and set up a Community Interest Company to buy the pub. It is now a community owned enterprise that includes a traditional local pub, cafe and post office plus it offers overnight accommodation upstairs.
Whilst under community ownership the Anglers has successfully provided the village with a good pub, post office and cafe; however in recent times it hasn’t been financially successful as a business so they are now changing their operating model. They have undertaken a successful fundraising campaign to keep the building’s lights on and rather than run the place themselves are leasing it out to a tenant to run as their own business that simply pays rent to the community interest company.
The new management of the Anglers Rest is Atlantik Inns, a local company headed by Rick Ellison. In April this year he celebrates 15 years at the Old Hall Hotel in Hope, he’s had the Peak Hotel in Castleton for 11 years, the Miltons Tap in Buxton for 6 years and the Anchor near Tideswell since 2016. More recently he has taken over the lease of the Farmyard in Youlgreave, near Bakewell. Rick has specialised in taking on leasehold pubs in the Peak District that are under threat of being closed and boarded up and working with the owners to turn them around into a successful business.
Rick considers the Anglers as being a bit different to his usual projects – community owned since 2013 having been saved by the very same people whose homes surround it, the pub is in fine fettle and ready for a new pub landlord to hit the ground running. The Anglers currently has modern solar panels, cafe, Post Office, community meeting room and a large car park that includes bicycle parking and an EV charging station. It is also recognised for its cask ale, being in the Good Beer Guide!
A refurbishment is planned to refresh the interior, introducing a modern restaurant area, games room including a pool table, brand new bar and a cosy feel.
The cellar has already been refurbished relatively recently but will be modernised in partnership with Heineken (who Atlantik Inns lease some of their other pubs from) who will be installing their smart dispense system and a Beer Tec Smart Cellar system that cuts usage of the air conditioning. Heineken will be supplying the keg beer with well known brands like Beavertown, Cruzcampo, Hawkstone and Guinness on tap along with Theakston Old Peculiar on cask.
The remaining handpumps will showcase Peak District breweries with two ales on from Intrepid Brewing based just down the road from the pub in Brough and also two ales from Eyam Brewery based in Great Hucklow. There will also be a changing guest ale.
Atlantik Inns take over the management of the pub from 24 February but will be closed for a few weeks for the refurbishment, opening mid March.
If you fancy visiting the Anglers, as well as having a car park Hulleys bus 257 from Sheffield to Bakewell goes past the front door Monday to Saturday daytime, alternatively it is about a 15 minute walk from Bamford railway station and the 272 bus stop.
Thornbridge Brewery launch ‘1838’ a new Union-exclusive beer at GBBF Winter
In 2024, Thornbridge Brewery worked to preserve a historic piece of British brewing heritage, the Burton Union system. They transported this iconic equipment to Bakewell, where it has been in active use ever since, including for a special batch of their legendary IPA, Jaipur, and collaborations with renowned breweries Odell Brewing and The Kernel.
Following the installation, Thornbridge introduced The Union, a classic-style IPA crafted with British ingredients, into their core range. The beer has been met with widespread acclaim in both bottle and cask. Building on this success, they are now launching a second core Union brand.
Named after the year Peter Walker patented the Burton Union system, 1838 is brewed exclusively on this historic set at Thornbridge. This premium pale ale showcases the finest ingredients, blending Maris Otter malt with Savinjski Goldings hops to create a full-bodied beer with a light amber hue. Expect rich, biscuity malt flavours, balanced by floral hop notes and a crisp, refreshing finish. Thornbridge will unveil 1838 at CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival Winter, held from February 12th to 15th at Magna in Rotherham. As part of the launch, they will host a tasting with esteemed beer writer Roger Protz on the 13th, run a Discovery Bar on Friday the 14th, and maintain a Brewery Bar featuring both cask and keg options throughout the festival
