Author: Andy Cullen

To kick things off this month, we have are proud to launch our Albion Ales series of beers with Scepter’d Ale a 4.1% green hopped beer that should be hitting the bar right about now! The Albion series has come about in partnership with Albion Choir (www.albionchoir.org.uk) and will be championing British hops.  We plan to have a new Albion beer each month, and coming up in October is  Full English Breakfast Stout a rich, full bodied 4.9% stout made with oatmeal and coffee, before being primed with maple syrup.  There is an excellent article on both the Albion series and the green hopped beer on our website and elsewhere in this issue of Beer Matters. New in our Dr Morton’s range are Gra’mma Checker and Typopotamus both will be 4.1% with the Gra’mma Checker being the paler of the two. We will also see the return of White Lady, a 4.7% pale ale made with a small amount of lager malt, with both European and NZ hops to give a fruity bitter finish. A quick apology to those who were looking forward to Temptation and the Russian Imperial Stout which were promised in the last edition. Temptation has been pushed back in the brew plan until 2015, and the stout was sacrificed to make way for the breakfast stout mentioned above! Capacity in the brewery is currently being expanded with the imminent arrival of a gigantic new fermenter and conditioning tank which will take maximum weekly production to over 225BBLs a week, we’re just waiting for the concrete to dry! Until next month, mine’s a pint!

 A great new beer and a returning classic for Kelham fans in October. Rye Plains Drifter 4.9% rye pale ale. You can take a walk out west with this brand new rye pale ale. Choicest El Dorado and Cascade hops complement the complex malt/grain flavour from a grist of tipple, caramalt and rye malt. A fine golden refreshing ale. Radar Men From the Moon 4% cosmic golden ale. Makes its annual re-entry to bring you an exciting adventure in a pint pot. Brewed with a blend of Australian and American hops to produce a golden ale with an out of this world aroma of fruit & earthy lychee. Couple of interesting comings and goings at Kelham this month. After 7 years at the brewery Matt Emsall is leaving us to take a position with Great Orme Brewery, he will be joining, Richard, another Kelham ex brewer & we wish them both every success. On the arrivals front a new pallet truck has arrived and from the smiles on the yardboys faces it really feels like Christmas has come early. In the shop we have bottles of 125 Ale now in the stock. The first pallet sold out at the Bramall Lane open day in a couple of hours. A great present for a blades fan.  

We’re ploughing on with lots of new and exciting projects here at Welbeck. We have just extended the cold store here at the brewery so that we can make sure we keep sending out our wide range of top quality beers to your local pubs. We’ve made the most of the ground floor extension by turning the new space upstairs into a rather nice ‘industrial’ bar area. This means there is a permanent cosy bar area in which we are now able to host parties and brewery tours. It’s still a couple of months away but you’re probably planning your Christmas activities already, and let’s be honest, you’ll probably need some real ale over the festive season! We are able to sell you bottled beer and casks in either 36 pint disposable polypins, or 72 pint casks. Please contact Claire for details of brewery tours and beer sales on 01909 512539 or Claire@Welbeckabbeybrewery.co.uk. Did you know it’s Guide dogs week between the 4th and 12th October? We have produced a lovely Cascade hopped pale ale at 4.0% which was designed and brewed by the Mansfield branch of Guide Dogs. This citrussy creation is called Barley May, named after two of the active guide dogs in our region. For every pint we sell 10p will be donated to the charity and we will also be placing collection boxes in our regular pubs. The official launch of this beer will be on Wednesday 24th September, 6pm, at the Grey Horses Inn, Carlton in Lindrick. Please support this campaign and donate to the Guide Dogs charity – yes you may be able to help change a blind person’s life by simply drinking a pint of our beer! The last and probably one of the most exciting projects is a Pop-up pub at Cuckney House. This beautiful early 18th Century, Grade II listed country house is currently unoccupied, however we’ve been granted permission to use a few of the spectacular rooms for a pub during the six weeks that the village pub is closed for refurbishment. This will be open on Thursdays to Saturdays between 9th October and 15th November. The profit from this venture will be going to the local Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance charity. More details will be coming soon and we hope you are very much looking forward to it. That’s all for now, we’ve got to get brewing!

Don Valley Railway , the group behind plans to re-introduce passenger services to the remaining section of the Woodhead railway line on the East side of the Pennines between Stocksbridge and Sheffield,  wish to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the opening of Britain’s first electrified inter city main line between Manchester and Sheffield, which was officially opened on September 20^th  1954.

 We, The Sheffield Brewery Company, whose brewery is a few hundred yards from the line, are delighted to be brewing a hoppy light, zesty electrifying ale for Don Valley Railway in its memory. The Woodhead Railway built back in Victorian times was electrified in work starting before the war in 1938 and only completed in 1954, making it Britain’s first electrified inter-city railway line. DVR plans are being proposed to feature revolutionary new Light Rapid Transit vehicles that are low fuel, low cost, easy to run vehicles that could revolutionise the operation of rail branch lines from highly subsidized to break even, and the line to Stocksbridge could be at the start of this. Don Valley Railway head of publicity Chris Hyomes says: “Alas the government called time on the Woodhead Railway, but as well as a drink to the memory of its opening 60 years ago, we’d like to raise a toast to a new future for the route.” We’ll be selling the special direct to landlords so don’t delay in ordering this momentus ale!  

Two Steel City beers are currently doing the rounds. Firstly, He’s Not The Messiah is in the ‘usual’ Steel City style, ultra pale with 127IBU of US Magnum followed by loads of Centennial and Motueka after flame-out, and Citra & Chinook in the fermenter. Good enough for Jehovah himself! False beards not required. The second brew is a home collaboration with American brewer Ken Fisher of Grateful Deaf Brewing. The beer is a variation on Ken’s American Pale Ale recipe, though hardly pale by Steel City standards! The usual Maris Otter and Wheat malts were supplemented with Carared and Belgian Aromatic for both flavour and a light amber colour (Ken’s recipe called for crystal malt, which was substituted for obvious reasons!). A relatively restrained 70IBU of US Magnum followed by a rare (for Steel City) late boil addition, in this case Chinook. More Chinook post flame-out, and yet more Chinook in the fermenter, supplemented by Columbus. Supplies are limited, but look out for it in the Shakespeare, the Sheaf View and at Nottingham Beer Festival.