Author: Andy Cullen

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.

Dove & Rainbow

Posted on by Andy Cullen
On the 4th November the Dove and Rainbow Team celebrate their 8th birthday, which is no mean feat in this day and age. Saturday the 8th is also the landlady Dawn’s 21st (!?) – you do the maths! So get yourselves down to help them celebrate in style with a pint or 3 of their top cask ales, which regularly feature some combination of Wychwood Hobgoblin, Blue Bee Lustin for Stout, Abbeydale Moonshine, Teather Blond, Moorhouses Blond Witch, Robinsons Trooper, Wychwood Pile Driver, and many more…

Kelham Island Brewery

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Two great returning classics from the Kelham stable will be in the pubs for November. Bud Ekins Bud Ekins 5% – Superb amber bitter, brewed with a selection of traditional British hops and a blend of maris otter and crystal malt. Bud was the hard drinking trials rider who stood in for Steven McQueen to make the jump in the ‘Great Escape’ and drove the 67 Charger in ‘Bullitt’. It’s a beer that Bud would have approved of. Get Your Kicks 6.6%  – With this epic American IPA. We have found a selection of the best hops the USA has to offer & carefully blended them to create a monster of a beer with a huge, pungent aroma of citrus, passion fruit, lychees, strawberry & blackberry. This golden beer takes you on a journey of mouth watering juicy flavours seducing the palate into thirsting for more. We look forward to seeing everyone for the 40th Steel City Beer & Cider Festival 29 Oct to 1 Nov). If you’ve never seen our brewery you will pass us as you walk in so give us a wave. Call in the brewery shop and say hello.  

Welbeck Abbey Brewery

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Barley May launch hops With National Guide Dogs Week getting under-way on the 4th October Steve Bowles a Worksop Guide Dog owner wanted to come up with an innovative way to raise awareness and much needed funds for the charity. Steve says; ‘A friend mentioned that he had seen a beer that had been brewed for another charity and I thought what a great idea, so I had a look for a local brewery and up popped Welbeck Abbey’ Steve made contact with Head Brewer, Claire Monk, who herself had said she was looking to work with a local charity and so a partnership was brewed, so to speak. Welbeck Abbey is an independent micro brewery based in the grounds of The Welbeck Estate. Steve, his guide dog May, and local volunteer Eddie, went along to meet Claire and set about choosing ingredients for their beer. The recipe was finalised with the help of Pete and Kimberley, two other Worksop Guide Dog owners.  Claire says ‘They knew exactly what type of beer they wanted and were instrumental in the whole process’. On Wednesday evening at The Grey horses Inn, Carlton in Lindrick, the first pint of ‘Barley May’ was pulled for the public and it went down a treat.  The beer is aptly named after the two guide dogs in the Worksop volunteering group Barley & May, and May was there to take centre stage at the launch. Over 3000 pints of Barley May has been brewed and is available in over 40 pubs in the area with 10p from every pint going to Guide Dogs.  ‘It was a pleasure to meet Steve and May and to be able to help a local charity’ says Claire. ‘We are very grateful to Claire and the whole Welbeck Abbey team for supporting Worksop Guide Dogs; this was a great start to the Guide Dogs Week activities’ Says Jo Berry Community Fundraiser for the Charity. This year we are asking people to Donate an Hour during guide dogs week and become one of ‘Hour Heroes’ to find out how you can get involved please go to www.guidedogs.org.uk/GDW14 Farrier ARTWORK ———————– Cuckney House Pop Up Logo_A6-7 In the event of the Greendale oak closing for refurbishment, Claire Monk of local craft brewery Welbeck Abbey Brewery is teaming up with Joe Parente of Quo Vadis, Soho, to create the Cuckney House Pop Up Pub. In the old village manor house recently used as the film set for ‘testament of youth’ starring Kit Harrison, a no frills bar will be set up to provide the local community and beyond a chance to get together and sample award winning real ales, perfectly executed classic 1920’s cocktails and the chance get a sneak peek of the inside of a wonderful old house. The venue will open it’s doors from the 23rd of October until the 15th of November, opening on Thursday and Friday evenings from 5pm, and Saturdays from 2pm. Parking is provided in the field opposite the entrance to the house itself. A percentage of the proceeds will be donated to the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance which is so vital in helping rural communities such as Cuckney get the immediate medical aid that is occasionally needed.

Toolmakers Brewery

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Toolmakers Brewery and The Forest together will be having another weekend where our ales will be £2 a pint and guest ales at £2.50. This event will be happening on the 8th November 14. The ales will be different in both places, there will be food and we hope for some music This event will be happening every month so the next one will be the 6th December 14. Toolmakers will be open on the 13th and possibly the 20th December, will have more details in next months issue. Come visit us on Facebook to find out up to date details.

Thornbridge Brewery

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The Great British Home Brew Challenge – the winning beer now available In Waitrose

Rob Lovatt and Graham Nelson(2) In August we announced the winning beer from this year’s Great British Home Brew Challenge, organised by Thornbridge Brewery, Waitrose and Brew UK. The competition, which had over 200 entries, was launched in June to find the best home brew. The prize, to see the winning beer turned into a commercial product for Waitrose, has been championed by Derbyshire-based Thornbridge Brewery, who already have a successful range of craft beers at the supermarket. Drinks writers Victoria Moore, Jamie Goode and Daniel Tapper joined Waitrose experts Anne Jones  and Kate Prall and Thornbridge brewers Rob Lovatt and Dominic Driscoll along with Greg Hughes of Brew UK, formed a panel to judge the entries in August, eventually deciding that Graham Nelson’s Vienna IPA was the deserving winner. Since hearing about his beer winning the competition Graham has worked with the Thornbridge Brewing Team, headed by Rob Lovatt, and has visited the brewery to be involved in the brew and the bottling of his Vienna IPA. Graham says “Since learning that I’d won it’s been a fantastic experience to be involved in helping Thornbridge’s brewers scale up my recipe and make the beer. I only make forty bottles when home brewing so to see ten thousand bottles packaged and ready to be sent out was quite humbling! The beer tastes fantastic – a flavoursome, amber-coloured IPA with the big hop aromas very evident. It was clearly the same recipe as my beer but as I expected, Thornbridge’s attention to detail had taken it to the next level! Rob Lovatt reports “I knew Graham’s beer was going to be in the running for the winner the moment I tasted it. It was solid, well balanced, clean and had a modern hop profile which really stood out. I think we really did Graham’s beer justice and the final product produced in our Riverside Brewery is something he can be really proud of.”

Acorn Brewery

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Seasonal beer for November are Ella IPA, a 5% ABV Australian hopped IPA displaying floral and subtle spice notes along with Thunderstruck Black IPA at 5.7%, this is named after the classic AC/DC song, smooth malt base, packing a powerful aroma from the dry hopping with American Simcoe hops. Ella Thunderstruck We’ve won an another award! Our Barnsley Bitter was voted Champion standard bitter at the SIBA Yorkshire and North East regional beer competition. Judged by our peers this award comes on the back of a successful Export order which sees Barnsley Bitter heading over to Italy. Acorn's assistant brewer Bruce Woodcock receives the gold award for Barnsley Bitter from SIBA chairman Guy Sheppard.

Spire Brewery

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Spire Brewery is now under new management and will be trading as  Spire Brewing Company

As of the 22nd September  2014, the assets of Spire Brewery have been transferred over to a new company trading as  Spire Brewing Company . Over the next 4 months there will be significant investment into the new Spire Brewing Company, building on the legacy and hard work put in by Dave McLaren, the previous owner and founder of Spire Brewery Ltd. Dave incidentally has not gone away and will provide some advice and guidance to help the new owner in this venture. The key milestones will include:
  • Transfer old brew house to new premises better suited to brewing.
  • Investment in a brand new 15bbl plant.
  • Recruitment of a new full time head brewer.
  • Clear identification of the Core Brands and road map for seasonal production.
  • New web site and Facebook page
  • Various launch events.
My personal investment in this venture has been driven by a passion for beer and the desire to ensure we produce beer both of quality and consistency. I have lots of ideas as to what we want to produce, but at the core will be many of Spire’s traditional brews. In short, I like a good pint, each time every time. Gareth Jones Owner (and CAMRA Member)

Steel City Beer & Cider Festival

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Sponsorship A great way to support the beer festival and local charities is though sponsorship, why not sponsor a barrel of beer? Fancy a works do at this year’s festival, why not promote your business at the same time? Group of friends who fancy doing something different on a night out? Something to celebrate? You can sponsor a barrel for just £125 and your name will appear on the beer label behind the bar, plus your name will be included in the programme and on the website, sheffield.camra.org.uk/festival.  We will provide you with 6 complimentary tickets to the festival and a free pint to get you started. £25 of the sponsorship goes to the festival charity, which again this year will be the Master Cutlers Challenge. We can also discuss any corporate hospitality requirements you may have.  For more information please contact festival@sheffieldcamra.org.uk. We would like to thank the following companies for generously supporting the beer festival:
  • Toolmakers Brewery
  • Fuggle Bunny Brewery
  • Raw Brewery
  • Welbeck Abbey Brewery
  • The Hop/Ossett Brewery
  • Thornbridge Brewery
  • Sheffield Brewery
  • Gardeners Rest, Neepsend
  • Easton Safety Engineering Ltd
  • Tyzack Machine Knives
  • Fat Cat, Kelham Island
  • Bradfield Brewery
  • Kelham Island Brewery
  • The Forest, Neepsend
  • Blue Bee Brewery
  • Stancil Brewery
  • Dyson Signs and Graphics
Entertainment As well as great beer and cider, we also have some great entertainment planned for the course of the week. However for those who like to enjoy their beer in peace Wednesday night is for you with as it is quiet night with no entertainment. The band for Thursday is still to be confirmed but I am sure they will be great. On Friday night we have the Sheffield’s Number 1 Soul band the Soulfaces, an 8 piece including a 3 piece horn section. I’m sure they will get you up to dance the night away. For those with a more traditional taste for music we have Loxley Silver Band returning for the second year after delighting the crowds last year. They will entertaining on Saturday afternoon performing a collection of traditional marches, show tunes and some more modern hits they are bound to go down a storm!  For those who like to do a bit of thinking with your beer then Saturday afternoon sees the return of our charity pub quiz. No cheating with smart phones though! Bringing the festival to a raucous close on Saturday night is Do$ch bringing you “Maximum” high energy British rhythm and blues. On Friday and Saturday night we will also be having local bands on the stage in the marquee. Festival Beers WP_20140906_013 WP_20140906_021 WP_20140906_001 WP_20140906_005 WP_20140906_025 In early September the branch brewed to beers to celebrate the 40th Anniversary Steel City Beer and Cider Festival. Early on a Saturday morning several members of the branch arrived at Blue Bee brewery to help owner Andy and brewer Josh brew a festival special. Rubee is a 5% nearly ruby coloured IPA. On the following Tuesday several more members of the branch helped brewer Tim at Sheffield Brewery brew Ruby, Ruby, Ruby with apologies to the Kaiser Chiefs, a 4.8% malty beer. Both beers will be coming to a bar near you soon, so look out for and see how good a collection of beer and cider drinkers can brew beer!  Volunteering   Apart from the vast selection of incredible ales and cider from all over the world on offer, it is the mingling of people from all walks of life, united for a few days simply to enjoy themselves, which makes me love Sheffield Beer Festival so much. They say a pub is only as good as the landlord and it’s true, it’s the people who both run and attend the Sheffield Beer Festival which make it so special. When I work on the cider bar my favourite thing to do is to guess which cider a certain punter will like. When I get it right, it makes my shift, the punter is delighted and many of them say they’ve discovered a newfound love of cider. Again, it’s the people who make the festival. It was my husband, amateur cider-maker Brian Trevelyan, who first introduced me to beer festivals thirteen years ago when we met. In only just over a decade, how they’ve changed. Beer festivals really did used to be the preserve of real life “Real Ale Twats”, the popular comic strip from Viz, with which many of you will be familiar. Blokes with beards and beer-bellies, propping up the bar, guffawing and knocking back their pints with barely a woman in sight. A few years ago, I noticed that the demographic was changing at every beer festival I attended. Suddenly there were more women. There were students, not a few of them but loads of them, in groups of males and female friends, all drinking sensibly with no trouble caused. Hipsters started to appear with a different type of beard, ones they’d only just sprouted to ride on the beard new-wave. And this new clientele spread from its beer festival spawning ground out into the world where a couple of years back there was a sudden explosion of “craft ale” pubs and “brew houses”, an explosion which led to real ale suddenly being hip and fashionable. But it started at beer festivals. Now, beer festivals are a must-visit for any discerning hipster, the likes of which intermingle with the trad beer festival attendee, creating a wonderfully harmonious and inclusive atmosphere of real ale (and real cider) aficionados from every demographic, whether young, old, male, female, trad- bearded or hipster-bearded. As a woman, I particularly like the fact that every year there are more and more women attending. Sheffield Beer Festival is honestly somewhere I’d feel comfortable attending on my own. And I can’t say that about many High Street bars!  Jude Calvert-Tomlinson

Abbeydale Antics

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Bar Abbey, in the basement of the old Abbeydale Picture House, closed when the building changed ownership, this was due to reopen on Friday 19th September under the new name of the Picture House Social. An interesting changing range of bottled beers will be available, supplied by Hop Hideout. The old management of Bar Abbey haven’t vanished however, they have taken the lease on the Old Crown on London Road and giving it a bit of a refurbishment and it will feature cask ale and music along with a simple food offering of burgers, pizzas and chicken wings. It is due to reopen on Thursday 25th September.