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.

White Lion, Heeley

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The White Lion in Heeley, Sheffield has been chosen as the Regional Finalist (Yorkshire, The North East and Scotland) for the Great British Pub Awards 2014, a prestigious annual event that takes place nationally. Following recognition as the only pub from Yorkshire selected as a finalist for the Best Entertainment category, The White Lion will be heading to the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane in London on Thursday 11th September to attend the awards ceremony and battle it out with the 5 other region winners for the acclaimed award of being the UK’s number #1 pub. Danny Grayson, multi-site operator and owner of both The White Lion and Champs, said: “This is fantastic news for Yorkshire and I am delighted to see the work put in by myself, my managers Martin and Linda Allen and Punch Taverns has been recognised at a national level. Thanks are due to the performers and customers who have supported us, helping to keep music live – we’re absolutely thrilled by the award”. The White Lion, with a great selection of real ale and fine malt whisky, has a diverse range of live music all week round and all events are free.

Toolmakers Brewery

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Marion is pleased to announce that she has completed (under Olie’s supervision) her first brew.  It is a 4% ABV bitter style beer using Galena and Hallertauer hops. Toolmakers are also pleased to announce the receipt of their first festival award – Black Edge Stout (5.2% ABV) came third at the recent Imperial Club Beer Festival in Mexborough. This beer also features regularly in The Forest. Two beers are being supplied to Peterborough Beer Festival at the end of August – G Philips Driver and Top Forge – both 4.2% ABV blond beers. As the new function room area nears completion, brewery tours are now available. To celebrate this a Brewery Open Day (in association with The Forest) is planned for Saturday 6th September between 3pm and 9pm, where four Toolmakers beers will be available at £1 a half.

Pub of the Month September 2014

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The Three Tuns is a classical, nicely decorated and fairly unique pub of a long, thin shape with a corner seat at one end at ‘the bow of the ship’! Andy Stephens’ Reet Ales Pub Company took on the lease with Punch Taverns in November 2013 and installed a team of fantastic staff to run the pub with him including assistant manager Kate Major who moved down from sister pub the Closed Shop and shift Manager Jaimie Watts who came from Abbeydale Sports Club. Other Tuns folk to look out for apart from the guys in the Kitchen are quizmaster Doug who hosts every Wednesday at 6pm and not to forget the newest face behind the bar, Jasper, in his first pub job and enjoying discovering new beers and already a hit with the customers! Since the pub reopened the range of real ales have increased with Blue Bee Light Blue and Sharps Doom Bar currently offered as the regular beers with a stout or porter also always available and the remaining pumps filled with interesting guest ales from local breweries on the SIBA list. Traditional Cider is also available, usually from Westons. The pub is popular with office workers during the daytime (hence the quiz being held at 6pm), many of whom are popping in for a bite to eat, then real ale drinkers are increasingly calling in for a beer in the evenings and weekends as they head down the hill from the City Centre to the Kelham Island pub circuit. The pub is reputed to be haunted, however staff so far in the last 9 months have only reported 2 such instances… Food is now served all day at the Three Tuns, from midday to 9pm Mondays to Saturdays  with a menu of hot and cold sandwiches and classic pub meals featuring, supplemented with a specials board that changes regularly. The pub opens 11:30am on weekdays and midday on Saturdays, with the bar remaining open until 11pm Monday to Thursday and midnight Friday and Saturday. It is closed on Sundays when private hire is possible for large groups. Although the location of the pub is considered by many to be hidden away, it is actually easy to find, behind the cathedral and roll diagonally down Paradise Square, it can be found across the road from the HSBC bank offices and Hilton Hotel. We are presenting the well deserved Pub of the Month award on the evening of Thursday 18th September. Festivities will start early at about 6pm for the after work crowd, we’ll be appearing with the certificate from about 8pm, all are welcome to drink beer and party!

Blue Bee Brewery

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Firstly bad news to report,  after a hop shortage we have been unable to get hold of any Cascade hops which means we are having to let Nectar Pale take a back seat over the next couple of months. But not to worry we have the perfect replacement in Reet Pale (4.0%)  it is of a similar style to Nectar Pale just slightly more hoppy. Sticking with Admiral for bittering then the American pairing of Summit and Ahtanum to give a citrusy and floral aroma. We also tried something for the first time when we dry hopped the fermentor with Comet pellets to give even more great flavours and aromas. Reet palesimcoe ipa We are now constantly rolling out  5.0% specials which will be available to buy on some SIBA lists. First we had the Geek a single hopped Mosaic beer that flew out and next up is Simcoe IPA. Which you guessed is a single hopped beer with the US hop Simcoe used throughout including dry hopping in the fermentor. Simcoe is full of grapefruit and passion fruit flavours. On top of that we have brewed Kikorangi Red (4.5%) a red hoppy beer using Carared and Carafa malt along with three different varieties of New Zealand hops: Nelson Sauvin, Pacific Jade and Pacific Gem. Keep any eye out for further Blue Bee specials as we hope to brew a lot more, next in the pipe line will be a Black IPA and we will see what we can do with our Sorachi Ace hops.

Kelham Island Brewery

Posted on by Andy Cullen
 A returning classic and a brand new stout are on offer to Kelham fans in September. wildrider Wild Rider 5.5% Strong IPA. It’s Mad, it’s BAD & it’s BACK (again). Our strong full flavoured IPA makes its annual brief appearance this month. Brewed with a renegade blend of hops from the UK, USA, Germany and New Zealand for a massive, explosive hop aroma. Wickedly juicy, mouth watering & satisfyingly aromatic. old_blue_eyes_pump[2] Another of our American series is Old Blue Eyes 4.5% Blueberry Oatmeal Stout. Brewed from a quartet of toasted malts and malted oats for a full bodied black sweet stout. Bittered with British Admiral hops this beautiful stout is then complemented with the mouth-watering sweet refreshing flavour of blueberries for a full fruity fresh finish. A complex yet winning combination. We are all getting ready for the 40th Steel City Beer Festival (Wed 29 October to Sat 1 November). This year’s venue, The Kelham Island Museum, is just a stone’s throw from the Kelham Brewery so we’ll be painting and weeding for the next month to get our place in tip top condition!

The Brew Company

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The Brew Company was founded in Sheffield in 2008 complimented by their brewery tap The Harlequin in 2010. But they are now about to go through a big transformation. Bigger premises, increased capacity, new beer recipes and a fresh new image are top of the agenda and are the reasons behind their decisions. Evolution is knocking at the door and the time is right to make a step change and expand. The Brew Company recently moved to new 4500 square feet premises, still in Sheffield, and have taken the decision to rebrand the entire brewery from top to bottom. The new name for the Brew Company from September is Sky’s Edge Brewing and whilst some of the old favourite beers remain, some have been dropped, some merged into better recipes and some completely new beers join the ranks.

Welbeck Abbey Brewery

Posted on by Andy Cullen
We all had Yellow Fever in July with the arrival of Le Tour De France in Sheffield. It was brilliant to see so many stretches of yellow banners, bunting and bicycles lining the streets of South Yorkshire, and to do our part we had limited edition bright yellow Cavendish T-shirts made. This was to promote our 5% blonde beer, Cavendish, in support one of our nation’s favourite athletes. The  Oughtibridge hub bar was serving pints of this thirst quenching brew, alongside our Red Feather and Kelham Island’s award winning beers. We hope you drank a pint of Cavendish joining in with the fun, and if not, then it’s never too late to reminisce! derby beer fest awards We were also pleased to be presented with two awards at Derby beer festival from the regional heats of the Champion Beer of Britain competition. Our Portland Black was awarded Gold in the Porters category, then overall  Champion Winter Beer for East Midlands. This means Portland Black is now in the national final for the Champion Winter Beer of Britain which will be judged next year. Thanks go to all who nominated us. The newest member of the team is Hannah, who has joined us from the other side of the bar at The Blake Hotel in Sheffield. Whilst she has thoroughly enjoyed working in the pub trade, she felt it was time to learn a new trade, and what could be more exciting than brewing!? We are pleased to have her as a full time delivery driver so make sure you give her a wave when you see her delivering beer. We are coming to the end of the building project here at Welbeck and would like to remind you that we are able to host your party or simply a brewery tour. If you’re interested please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Claire. Look out for our next specials too, in August we have Pilgrim, a 3.8% ABV honeyed pale and, and Aphrodite, a 5.2% New Zealand Pale ale. That’s all for now and we hope to see you soon!

West End

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The team from the Fox & Duck in Broomhill are taking over the West End on Glossop Road on the 28th August. There will be a short closure to allow for a little refurb and rebrand. The pub will be relaunching as The Doctor’s Orders, with a medically themed twist to the decor and menus, as well as a “Jekyll and Hyde” themed simple food offer at lunchtimes 11-3 to stay in keeping with the “dramatic” history of the site (Dr Jekyll’s paninis/salads/healthy options and Mr Hyde’s not so healthy chilli, spicy pork etc). They plan to have four handpulls on with the ever dependable Moonshine on from Abbeydale at the ridiculously low price of £2.40, plus a Doctor Morton’s on rotation, with the other two lines being used on rotation to feature products from the manager’s favourite breweries – some local and some a little further afield (Darkstar, Magic Rock, Raw etc.).

Abbeydale Brewery

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Lots to get through, so little column space! Be sure to look out for some VERY special beers this month, we are really spoiling you! Let’s start slowly and build up to the big ones! Funny Luckv1 The latest in our Doctor Morton’s range is Funny Luck and it’s a classic Abbeydale style pale at 4.1%. A couple of pints of this is sure to bring about a change in fortune. temptation smaller There’s nothing like a bit of Temptation to liven up any evening. This 4.5% deep golden beer, has sultry dark fruit flavours, in particular sultanas, leading to a long bitter finish. It’s a beautifully balanced premium bitter if we can say so ourselves! Everyone loves Black Mass, but we are going to push the boat out even further this month and brew a Russian Imperial Stout. Weighing in at a monstrous 7.1%, this behemoth of a stout will anything but subtle! Expect big in your face flavours and we will be dry hopping it for good measure. Galaxy small Making it’s triumphant return, just in time for the Steel City Beer Festival (hopefully!) is Galaxy 55! This caused quite an impact a few of years ago when first brewed and rightly so! A strong golden IPA jam packed with the Australian Galaxy hop. Aromas of tropical fruit with mango and passion fruit dominating the palate before a crisp bitter finish. I’m getting thirsty just writing this! We had a good response to our blog on using wooden casks, if you missed it you can find it on our website. Expect more blogs in the near future plus a couple of firkins of Old Ale may well have sneaked out of the brewery by the time you are reading this. The observant amongst the readers may well have noticed that both of our pubs, The Rising Sun, Nether Green and The Devonshire Cat have had a spruce up last month, and plans are in the pipeline for the expansion work at The Rising Sun, watch this (extra) space for more details in the following months! Until next month, mine’s a pint!

Acorn Brewery

Posted on by Andy Cullen
After showcasing the New Zealand Sticklebract hop in July’s single hopped IPA its Australia’s turn for August, we have used the Helga hop which is developed from the German Hallertau Mittlefruh hop.  A versatile hop bursting with floral aromas. Looking forward to this one. Helga The team down in Barnsley are also busy brewing the regular seasonal and always popular in late summer Forester, a 4.5% Amber ale brewed with Challenger and Mount Hood hops. In other news, we’ve recently had a Taiwanese student working with us on a placement from his brewing course at Sheffield University. HanNing has been with us throughout July learning about the brewing process and the day to day operation of the brewery and he’s been a great help. He decided to give teaching a break in Taiwan and come to the UK and learn how to make great beer – we’d like to think that’s the reason he chose to spend time with Acorn!!