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.

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!!  

Announcing our 40th Steel City Beer & Cider Festival

Posted on by Andy Cullen

Ruby Anniversaries

This year 2014 marks the 40th year that Sheffield will host a beer festival organised by Campaign for Real Ale volunteers making it one of the oldest festivals in the country. The first was held at the University of Sheffield and since then has travelled around many venues over the years having visited Hallam University, Netherthorpe, Cemetery Park, Ponds Forge and one memorably unsuccessful year at Darnall. This years 40th anniversary festival sees a move to another new venue, one that hopefully will provide a character appropriate to the occasion to celebrate Sheffield as the “Beer Capital” of the UK. Kelham Island Museum stands on a man-made island that is over 900 years old, providing a historic setting for the festival. The museum tells the story of the growth of the Steel City through the Victorian Era and two world wars to see how steelmaking forged both the city of today and the world! This year’s festival artwork commemorates the Bessemer converter exhibited at the museum which was last used at Workington, Cumbria to make rails used around the world that was last blown 40 years ago this year. The festival will be spread around the museum including the upper gallery, a marquee outside and the Millowners pub all with different entertainment and things to do offering something for everyone. Kelham Island lies at the heart of the Valley of Beer surrounded by many freehouses selling real ales from both local breweries and from further afield. The museum is within easy walking distance of Shalesmoor tramstop, many bus routes and is only a 15 minute walk from the city centre.

Could you sponsor the beer festival?

Sponsorship is a great way to become involved in the festival. It doesn’t cost the earth but it does allow you to show your support, allows you to advertise yourself and contributes to the running of a successful event. If you are interested in becoming involved in the 40th Steel City Beer and Cider festival there are a number of sponsorship packages available starting from just £100.  We are looking for individuals, pubs, businesses, societies and breweries to sponsor a range of items and activities, both at the festival and in the lead up to it. Sponsorship can take several forms:-
  • making a financial contribution towards the general running of the event
  • sponsorship of advanced publicity material (e.g. beermats)
  • the offer of goods and services such as staff radios, transport and consumable items for use at the festival
  • supporting a particular activity  such as entertainment, pub games, charity quiz or programme
  • sponsorship of wrist bands, trade/sponsor tickets or beer/cider tokens
  • Sponsorship of a particular stall such as the bottled beer bar or tombola.
New for this year’s festival is the ability to sponsor a firkin (9 gallons, 72 pints) of beer for £100. For this you will get you or your companies name shown over a barrel of beer at the festival. All sponsorship packages offer free admission to the festival, some free beer and a go on the pub games together with your name or business displayed inside the festival. In addition all sponsors get their names and details included in the beer festival programme and on the Beer Festival website. Celebrating a birthday, anniversary or other significant occasion, why not club together, sponsor a beer to celebrate and make a party of it at the beer festival. If you would like to support the Beer and Cider festival through sponsorship or have any questions please contact festival@sheffieldcamra.org.uk

Staffing

This will be my 3rd year managing staffing for the beer festival and the 4th that I have worked in Sheffield, so I was well and truly thrown in at the deep end! My main job is pensions and as such the only thing I know about beer is that I love to drink it!  So I take a week off work every year where I work 30 hrs and volunteer for over 80hrs at the festival!  There are times over the week when I think why am I doing this? and the answer is always the same because it is such great fun.  I get a great sense of achievement being involved in pulling together the festival for Sheffield and it’s  for a great cause, the promotion of real ale and cider. We start the planning in January and slowly each month it comes together to produce the festival.  What this means for me is I sit there as they discuss pints per kiln and cooling and I get very confused.  Then they mention something that requires need staff and I wonder where I can find more people from. The answer is you!   I have many jobs that I need help with.  It’s not all serving beer.  I have busy jobs, sit down jobs, jobs where you don’t have to speak to anyone if needed! You may ask what is in it for me? Well the answer is if you work 4 hours you get free beer, a glass to put it in and you are already in the door so free entry!  I have people who volunteer for a few hours on the Wednesday and then come back shift after shift. If you would like to know more just get in touch. Louise Singleton

The basics

29th October – 1st November 2014 Over 100 real Ales and Ciders Entrance Wednesday 29th October                                Free Thursday 30th October                                    £1 (CAMRA Free) Friday 31st October 12 to 5pm.                       £2.50 (CAMRA £1) Friday 31st October 5pm to 11pm.                  £5.00 (CAMRA £2) Saturday 1st November 12 to 5pm.                 £3.00 (CAMRA £1) Saturday 1st November12 5pm to 11pm.        £4.00 (CAMRA £1) Kelham Island Museum Alma Street S3 8RY

Losehill Hall Brewery

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Manager Alistair Boyd (53) has set up his own brewery at Losehill Hall Youth Hostel (which is situated between Hope and Castleton and opened in February 2012 to replaced the now closed Castleton Youth Hostel) using the kit from the old Edale Brewery in Hope. All the profit from beer sales goes to support YHA’s ‘Breaks for Kids’ fund which provides holidays based in hostels for children. It claims to be Britain’s only “charity run brewery”. Hope Springs is the standard 3.9% pale ale brewed with Peak District water, Maris Otter malt, Fuggles and Styrian Goldings hops. A vegan beer (no finings) has been produced for the yearly Friends of the Earth convention held in the grounds. Nick Wheat

Inn Brief

Posted on by Andy Cullen
On 1st July, The Angel Spinkhill Community Interest Company exchanged contracts on The Angel Hotel with Punch Taverns. On the completion date (26th August), they will own the building. This is a significant step in the campaign to Save The Angel. The total figure raised by their appeal was £170,870. This is made up of four major investors (£30k each) and £50,870 from individual investors. The Castle Inn (Bolsterstone) has reopened. Dean and Amanda Crookes have purchased the Rivelin, Tofts Lane, Sheffield. After closing the pub for a short period post completion, they plan to re-open shortly afterwards after refurbishment. Lauren White is leaving the Travellers Rest in Apperknowle which she has helped landlady Sara run for the last two years to go to a new job at the Tickled Trout in Barlow, which is due to reopen soon under its new ownership. The Trout’s website (www.tickledtroutbarlow.com) gives an idea of the new owners ethos, it will be food led with good quality cooking but with the relaxed atmosphere and good beer a pub environment offers. A new live music venue has opened on Dronfield High Street – JD’s lounge. The bar does not currently offer real ale but the possibilities of putting cask beer in is currently being investigated! Riverside Live on Mowbray Street sees a change to the food offering from 1st August with the Twisted Burger Company taking residency in their kitchen. Twisted Burger Company started out life as the Harley Hotel’s food offer (and still is) and has expanded doing burger stalls at festivals and recently took their brand to the Aire Bar in Leeds for a few months. The White Lion at Heeley is through to the regional final to be the best “entertainment venue” in the North of England and Scotland for the Morning Advertiser awards. The Maida Vale bar is now open on West Street, this is a live music venue in the premises previously known as the Bedroom and the Saddle. It is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9pm to 4am and has real ale available.