Andy Cullen – Page 122 – CAMRA Sheffield & District

Peak Ales

Posted on 12 Jun 201414 Jul 2014 by Andy Cullen

The new brewery premises at a rural farm location near Ashford in the Water are almost ready for occupancy. The new brewery equipment is expected to arrive in June with installation and commissioning to take place in July. The new brewery site will enable much greater capacity for brewing the core range of beers whilst it is planned that the exisiting barn brewery on the Chatsworth Estate will be turned into a visitor centre with limited brewing capacity being retained to facilitate experimental and special one-off brews. Whilst the setting up of a new brewery is taking place in the background, Peak Ales continues to brew to capacity. However, the popularity of their cask ales has impacted on a reduced ability to produce bottled beers for the take-home market. A third brew of the ever popular seasonal ale – Summer Sovereign – is planned to take place as soon as a production slot can be found.

Kelham Island Brewery

Posted on 12 Jun 201414 Jul 2014 by Andy Cullen

Beer number six in our light versus dark series arrives in July. Mind Control 6.9% Double IPA. Mind bending and hypnotic with a double helping of a trio of the best aroma hops the world has to offer. Citra gives citrus and jasmine, Chinook blackcurrant and elderberry and Nelson Sauvin gives fresh crushed gooseberry. A completely mesmerizing strong pale ale. This beer will also be available in minikegs from the brewery shop – the ultimate BBQ beer?

For people who want to remain vertical we also have for July our pale and golden Sweet Home Alabama 4.2% Summer Beer. A very light tasty ale brewed with the finest blend of Cascade and Amarillo hops for an aromatic hit of berry fruits and a sorbet citrus zing perfectly complimented with British lager malt. A golden beer for a golden summers evening. Tramlines Music Festival dates for your diary – Kelham Brewery/Fat Cat car park. Friday Evening 25 July ‘Everly Pregnant Brothers’ and Saturday Afternoon 26 July ‘Lucy Spraggon’ and ‘Steel City Rhythm’

Steel City Brewing

Posted on 12 Jun 201414 Jul 2014 by Andy Cullen

Steel City are back from their hiatus, with their latest transatlantic pale ale. Born To Be Riled features the ‘standard’ base of Low Colour Maris Otter and Wheat (as if malt matters…), with huge doses of Magnum for bittering and a selection of American and Australasian hops for flavour. Nobody’s tasted it yet but expect tropical fruit and grapefruit flavours! A special variant will appear in the Shakespeare on 28th June for John Bratley’s birthday, John also helped brew it! By the time you read this, Dave and Shazz will be back from the annual jolly, sorry, intense work trip, to Birrasana in Spain, where they spent a gruelling couple of days serving their beers. On a beach. Four beers made the journey, Protz’s Pleasure (black IPA), Insult to History (black IPA), Unholy Trinity (chocolate COFFEE stout!), and Grim Overlords (transatlantic pale). Plans for the summer include a German-style Weizenbier, Born To Be Heiled (after the Hanzel und Gretyl album), and a ‘half IPA’ around 3%, yet to be named, along with more swanning off around Europe and beyond… (Dave still hasn’t forgiven Vladimir Putin for ruining his Easter holiday!) Also planned for the summer is a home collaboration with Ken from the American Grateful Deaf Brewery – this will be Grateful Deaf’s Pale Ale brewed with a Steel City twist (and without Crystal Malt, obviously…).

The (former) Old Bulls Head, Little Hucklow

Posted on 18 May 201418 May 2014 by Andy Cullen

After a planning application for change of use was withdrawn last year, The Old Bulls Head (Little Hucklow, Derbyshire) is currently for sale. The agents, Crosthwaite Commercial, suggest potential for a pub/restaurant. The pub was a regular Good Beer Guide entry in the 1970’s and 80’s when it sold a fine pint of Buxton-brewed Winkle Saxon Cross Bitter (3.8%). It later sold Wards Bitter. However, the building has been unused for seven years and would require substantial renovation. The Old Bulls Head has historical interest dating back to the 12th.Century with the selling agents claiming it is the 5th oldest pub in England. Little Hucklow was once the scene of much mining activity, with considerable remains of old shafts, gravel hillocks and rakes still surrounding the village. The Bull’s Head pub contained a collection of mining relics. In addition, the handpumps had Shakespearean characters carved in wood.

Our 40th annual Steel City Beer & Cider Festival

Posted on 17 May 201417 May 2014 by Andy Cullen

This year we are celebrating our 40th annual Steel City Beer festival – volunteers from Sheffield & District CAMRA have been organising and staffing this event in various venues since the 1970s! We are pleased to announce the basic details and you may well enjoy the same excitement as us about what’s new. The dates this year are the 29th October to the 1st November and the venue is Kelham Island Industrial museum. As usual there will be over 100 real ales to choose from plus a selection of continental bottled beers and a great choice of traditional cider and perry. Also as usual there will be a choice of foods plus stalls selling various goods, old fashioned pub games to play plus a programme of live music. The various bars and stalls will be spread across 4 areas – the upper hall, the Mill Owners Pub, the marquee and the plaza – each area will offer unique character and atmosphere. The beer range will showcase some of our local breweries along with new, rare and interesting real ales from across the UK with all the common beer styles such as pale ales, bitters, mild, stout and porter covered and our volunteers behind the bars happy to advise about beers and ciders and help you choose one you will enjoy. At this point we are looking for businesses to help support us and promote themselves by being a sponsor at the festival – whatever your budget we will be grateful for your support, the most basic package is to sponsor an individual beer and see your company name on the cask and in the programme, up scaling you could sponsor the van we hire for set up/take down, sponsor the programme, sponsor the posters/flyers, sponsor a festival zone or for the top level of support you could sponsor the whole festival! All our sponsors package include complimentary tickets that include entry, glass, first drink and a go on the games, these tickets could be used for corporate hospitality or a staff thankyou – or just use them yourself! Kelham Island Museum is easy to get to – walkable from the City Centre or served by buses nearby on Gibralter Street or Nursery Street, additionally it is only a short walk from Shalesmoor tram stop. The location of the venue also makes it easy to combine a visit to the festival with some great nearby pubs.

Barrow Hill Rail Ale Festival

Posted on 17 May 201416 Jun 2014 by Andy Cullen

Members of our Dronfield & District sub branch got together for a working social at Barrow Hill on the Saturday of this annual festival, which was held in May as usual. The festival hosts 5 real ale bars, a cider bar and a craft keg bar as well as various food and goods stalls and railway attractions. Following a hectic few hours serving on the Derbyshire Brewers Collective bar members were able to enjoy a bit of social time, drinking the beer they had earned as well as sampling some of the foods on offer (Stalls sold options including burgers, liver and onions, hot dogs, noodles, curry, pies, cheeses, chocolate and fruit). They also had a go on the train ride – 4 old ex BR carriages hauled one way down the remains of the branch line by a diesel shunter then back into the platform by a steam locomotive. Once everyone had enough of this busy festival in the hot sunshine they made an escape by taxi to the Travellers Rest at Apperknowle for further beer and the end of the FA Cup final football match on TV with lifts arranged home from here!

Blue Bee Brewery

Posted on 17 May 201418 May 2014 by Andy Cullen

Jon has left the Hive to join our friends at Lincoln Green Brewery in Nottingham. It may be too early to talk of a collaborative brew, but watch this space. We wish Jon all the best in his move and thanks him for all his hard work over the last few years. Of course Nottingham isn’t that far away so I’m sure we will still see plenty of him. As Jon goes we are happy to promote Josh Jepson into his role full time and also to have taken on a new full time member of staff in Joe Berry as brewery assistant. Beer-wise, Light Blue has made a welcome return for the warmer weather and plans are afoot for a series of new specials.

Kelham Island Brewery

Posted on 13 May 201414 Jun 2014 by Andy Cullen

Making its annual return for June is Summer Breeze 3.5%, a New Zealand pale ale. Perfect for the warm summer day. This light refreshing golden ale uses the choicest hops from New Zealand. The legendary Riwaka hops add a zesty grapefruit flavour whilst Wakatu adds a resinous floral character. Tipple malt adds a slight biscuit malt character to round off this glorious summer pint.

Crimson Steel 4.0%, number five in our ‘Jim Connolly’ Light versus Dark series, is back. It’s a dangerously hoppy amber ale brewed with premium American hops for a charmingly pungent aroma of zesty citrus with a hint of nettle and aniseed. The colour comes from crystal and amber malt which balances the massive hop hit. Courageously hopped delicious ale. If you were lucky enough to get a ticket to see the Arctic Monkeys at Finsbury Park over the May bank holiday you should have spotted the Kelham beer tent working hard to supply our Easy Rider to 100,000 thirsty festival goers. Don’t forget the Kelham Brewery shop for your BBQ beer requirements. 9 pint cans, 18 pint and 36 pint boxes are available.

Steel City Brewing

Posted on 13 May 201414 Jun 2014 by Andy Cullen

Steel City’s bank-holiday-enforced hiatus continued through May, but Dave did manage to find time between trips to Austria, Poland, and France to travel to the slightly less exotic Mexborough, to brew not one but two collaborations with Dale at Imperial. Well, sort of! Dave and Dale decided to indulge in a spot of parti-gyling, brewing 8bbl of Transatlantic pale ale and splitting it into two fermenters, one of which had dark malt and more hops added! On the Light Side is The Evil Empire Strikes Back, a Steel City-style Transatlantic pale ale with Maris Otter and wheat malts, Magnum for bittering, and a big flame-out charge of Galaxy, Citra, Willamette and Centennial. On the Dark Side is The Evil Empire Strikes Black which has added dark malt and Chinook hops. Both have yet more hops added in the conditioning tank.

Devonshire Cat

Posted on 12 May 201416 Jun 2014 by Andy Cullen

A few momentous things happened recently at the Devonshire Cat – it achieved 10 years in the Good Beer Guide, the owner who first opened the pub retired and Abbeydale Brewery took on the lease of the pub. Sheffield CAMRA attended a special celebration at the pub where we presented certificates to mark the achievements.