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.
Chantry Brewery launched a couple of new beers for June at their brewery tap bar – Wizard’s Spell and The Beer Inspector. Both are 4% pale ales.
June saw Little Critters release a new beer in their pets range with Luna’s Peach Pale Ale, a refreshing 4.4% ABV beer with fruit juice combining with US hops.
The special limited edition bottled beer released by Bradfield Brewery we previously mentioned was Highland Pale Ale, an 8.1% ABV beer that was aged for 3 months in Scottish oak whisky barrels.
Thornbridge have released the first beer brewed using their newly acquired Union fermenting system (the old historical Burton Unions decommissioned by Marstons brewery in Burton on Trent). Look out for Thornbridge Union Jaipur on a bar near you!
Eyam brewery released a special in time for the Euros – Surely it’s coming home this time (pale ale, 4.2% ABV)!
Collyfobble brewery have embarked on a series of quarterly seasonal specials. The summer special is a pale ale brewed with Amarillo hops to a sessionable strength of 3.6% ABV.
On the evening of Tuesday 14 May a group of CAMRA members joined regulars at the Bath Hotel celebrating the pub winning our City Centre Pub of the Year award. Paul Crofts (our branch treasurer and beer festival organiser) presented the pub’s owner Brian Johnson with the certificate and all present enjoyed some excellent ales, pork pies and samosas!
Brian and team at the Bath Hotel presented with their City Centre Pub of the Year certificate by Sheffield CAMRA’s Paul Crofts
The full list of our Pub and Club of the Year winners:
The May Day bank holiday weekend not only saw extended hours and live music at the Drone Valley Brewery tap but a new beer release – Vienna Dark Mild.
Eyam Brewery are now supplying pubs and bottle shops further afield via Sellar. Meanwhile back at the brewery they have an open day coming up on 15 June featuring beer, pizza and music. Visitors are encouraged to buy tickets in advance (just £2.50 including first pint!), however you can just turn up on the day subject to capacity. The event runs from midday until 6pm.
Bradfield Brewery continue with their usual calendar of season ales, the cherry beer went down well in May and it is time to move on in June to Farmers Wim-Bull-Don (yes, tennis themed!) which is a pale coloured fruity ale with a burst of summer fruit flavours. July will see their Elderflower Ale make a comeback, brewed with blooms freshly picked from the farmers fields! Additionally the brewery have been putting teasers out on social media about a new limited edition special bottled beer to be launched in their brewery shop on 24 May.
Intrepid Brewery at Brough (between Bamford/Hope and Bradwell) have open day events planned for 10 August and 5 October. On these days they open a pop up bar in the brewery and have seating outside with Sunshine Pizza Oven trading outside and a neighbouring business providing the tunes! There is a bus stop at the end of the drive – buses on route 272 (Sheffield-Castleton) that serve Bradwell go there along with buses on route 173 (Castleton-Bakewell).
Stancill Brewery had two suitable beers out for the Mild in May campaign with “India” (a 4% ABV ruby coloured mild) and “Tom’s Mild” (a 3.4% dark mild which was their second ever brew after Barnsley Bitter) both making a comeback!
One Valley Festival sees numerous venues across the Dronfield area including pubs, clubs and brewery tap rooms all put on special events involving beer, cider, street food and music all on the same day. The 2024 event takes place on Saturday 8 June.
Here is a quick guide to the venues expected to take part. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for the latest updates.
Most of the venues are close to the railway station and can be walked between; All the venues are served by one of the four local Stagecoach bus services – 15, 16, 43 and 44 – all charge just £2 per ride or a Silver DayRider pass is available offering unlimited travel on them all (£6.20 adult or £16 for a group of 5, buy from the driver or on the Stagecoach app).
Until 5pm there is also the Travel Derbyshire On Demand minibus that can be booked on their app for any journey in North East Derbyshire at a cost of £4 per ride, subject to availability.
CORE ONE VALLEY FESTIVAL VENUES
Manor House Hotel, High Street, Dronfield (get there by bus 15 or 16): As normal their coffee shop will be open serving cooked breakfasts from 8am and the hotel bar will open at 10am, however festivities kick off outdoors at the rear of the building from noon with two outside bars – one of them serving Abbeydale cask beers. Pellizco will be there slinging Mexican food and Britpop Resurrection will be performing live at 5pm and 6pm, followed by DJ Brad Gee playing an outdoor set from 7:30pm. https://www.facebook.com/manorhousehotel.co.uk
Blue Stoops, High Street, Dronfield (get there by bus 15, 16 or 43): Features a large outdoor drinking area and outside bars will be in place for the festival. Inside the normal bar and restaurant will be operating. https://www.facebook.com/thebluestoopsdronfield
Victoria, Stubley Lane, Dronfield (get there by bus 15, 16 or 43): Old Skool street corner local boozer with a small outdoor drinking area.
Green Dragon, Church Street, Dronfield (walkable from Dronfield station and bus 44): The car park will be closed off to make a bigger outdoor area with an outside bar open from midday, Smiths fish & chip van and music – DJ Higgz 2pm to 4pm, Vocalist Hayley-Lou 4pm to 6pm and DJ Higgz from 6:30pm until late. https://www.facebook.com/GreenDragonDronfield
Dronfield Arms, Chesterfield Road, Dronfield (walkable from Dronfield station, bus 44 stops close by): This pub is the home to Temper Brewing and a branch of Pizza Pi, for the festival the car park is closed off for a party with outside bar and music stage with live acts during the afternoon from 1pm then a DJ taking over at 6pm to keep things swinging as the sun sets. (stage line up: 1pm Magenta Apricot, 2pm Kickback, 3pm Issac, 4pm Dronny Bottom Buskers, 5pm Chris Paul, 6pm to midnight DJ Phil). https://www.facebook.com/dronfieldarms
Underdog, Chesterfield Road, Dronfield (walkable from Dronfield station, bus 44 stops close by): A barely noticable passageway runs down the side of the building to a rear courtyard area where for the festival an outside bar will be serving a range of craft beer, flavoured ciders and alcoholic slushies. Also present will be Butlers Family Bakers’ selling hot pork sandwiches. https://www.facebook.com/TheUnderdogDronfield
White Swan, Chesterfield Road, Dronfield (walkable from Dronfield station, bus 44 stops close by): If the weather is good their patio area proves popular and for the festival they have an outside bottle bar. Also featured is a pizza van and Bethany Grace will be singing between 1pm and 3pm. https://www.facebook.com/whiteswandronfield2023
Pioneer Club, Stonelow Road, Dronfield (get there on bus 15 or 44): Expect a full range of drinks on the club bar inside, live entertainment, DJ and food stalls. It will be a family friendly venue too with a bouncy castle, childrens entertainer and other kids activities. https://www.facebook.com/PioneerClubS18
Miners Arms, Carr Lane, Dronfield Woodhouse (bus 16 stops outside or bus 43 is a short walk away): This is a suburban community local with a decent beer garden. On festival day real ale on the pub bar will be joined by a cider shack outside, there will be live music at 1pm and 8pm with a DJ providing the music inbetween, returning later on in the evening to host a throwback disco once the band has finished. BBQ food will be served from midday to 6pm and there will be a dessert van from 4pm to 7pm. In the daytime there will be a bouncy castle for the kids. https://www.facebook.com/theminersarmsdronfieldwoodhouse
Jolly Farmer, Pentland Road, Dronfield Woodhouse (get there on bus 43): A suburban community pub that serves food. Festival day routine sees them open early serving cooked breakfasts (advance booking essential!) then into the afternoon their outdoor area hosts a pop up bar, BBQ and live entertainment. https://www.facebook.com/jollyfarmerdronfield
ONE VALLEY EXTRA VENUES
Beer Stop, Callywhite Lane, Dronfield (walkable from Dronfield station or bus 44 stops right outside): A small craft beer shop that offers on site drinking with a patio area at the front – expect as usual a choice of beers in keg, can and bottle www.facebook.com/BeerStopDronfield
Drone Valley Brewery, Unstone Industrial Complex, Main Road, Unstone (bus 43 and 44 stop at the end of the drive): For the festival their brewery tap operation cranks it up a gear or two – bigger bar in the brewery showcasing their range of cask ales plus lager and cider, separate outside cocktail bar and a food stall provided by Gow’s Kitchen of Coal Aston. There will be live music throughout the afternoon: Simon Lancaster at midday, Tony Bovill at 12:45pm, Ed Hulse at 1:30pm, Dog & The Enigmas at 2:15pm, Shambles Duo at 3pm, Charlotte Hall at 4pm and Cobalt Tales at 5pm. https://www.facebook.com/dronevalleybrewery
Miners Arms, Hundall Lane, Hundall (get there on bus 15): Always a popular destination on festival day is this rural pub up in the hills! On the day the beer garden gains an outside bar with a range of ales, lagers and ciders along with a food stall and outdoor live music stage. Music kicks off from 2pm with Steve Birks and Hallowed Travellers. https://www.facebook.com/minershundall
LIVE ENTERTAINMENT AND DJ SCHEDULE
Here is a summary of what all the venues have announced so far. Please check for any changes directly with the venues before making any special journeys!
12:00 – Drone Valley Brewery: Simon Lancaster
12:00 – Pioneer Club: DJ John
12:45 – Drone Valley Brewery: Tony Bovill
13:00 – Dronfield Arms: Magenta Apricot
13:00 – Jolly Farmer: Ding & John – live singing and DJ sets throughout the afternoon
18:00 – Pioneer Club: Alan Squires (guitar & vocals)
18:30 – Green Dragon: DJ Higgz
19:30 – Manor House: DJ Brad Gee (until closing time)
20:00 – Miners Arms (Dronfield Woodhouse): Brude (classic rock band)
BUS STOPS / RAIL STATION
Use these links to view the next buses scheduled from the nearest stop to each venue, there are separate links for each side of the road. Click on the time of the bus and it will show you where the bus is and if it is on time or click on the map link so you can see on a map where the bus stop is and where the buses are.
Do you keep seeing talk of real ale and craft beer and wonder exactly what it means? Hopefully we can answer your questions in simple terms!
Most beer is brewed in the same way at a basic level – Malt added to water which is boiled, hops are added into the boil and the result is cooled then fermented with yeast into beer! (ingredients may vary and I know that’s an over simplification!)
Real Ale is a term originally coined by CAMRA activists in the early days. It can be applied to bottled beer that has a yeast sediment, however the most common use is for “cask conditioned” beer (or live beer to use a more modern term) where the brewery has racked fresh beer into casks with live yeast which allows secondary fermentation to take place in the cask in the pub cellar, meaning the beer is not only fresh but has a natural sparkle without needing to add gas on dispense to make it fizzy. However on the flip side, as it is a fresh live product it has a short shelf life and if on the bar too long can go off, oxidising and gaining vinegar characteristics!
Craft beer doesn’t really have an officially recognised definition and as a term is often abused by marketing people. It was intended to promote beer where the production is the opposite of industrial – smaller scale brewers using quality ingredients, manual processes and a love of the product where the recipe is dictated by the brewer rather than the accountant.
Of course there are success stories of craft brewers that have grown and the question is then whether they are still considered craft. Beavertown sold a good share of their brewery to Heineken who invested in a much bigger scale brewery and bigger distribution and there is a view the beer isn’t as flavorful as it used to be whilst Brewdog is now a multinational industrial scale brewer that supplies supermarkets and chain bars. On the other hand closer to home we have Thornbridge that has expanded significantly over the years with investment in bigger production facilities for their core brands, on site lab facilities, canning/bottling lines, a sales & marketing team and more – however the care for product, visions and values and an excitement to experiment (for example their barrel aging programmes and the installation of a Burton Union set) lives on, suggesting they still deserve to be called craft!
You may also see talk of cask versus keg for how draught beer is packaged. Typically real ale is in a cask as if facilitates secondary fermentation (although some single use keg products such as keykeg can also be used for real ale) and in CAMRA’s early days it was very much cask is good and keg is bad as the brewers that were replacing their traditional cask beer with keg products were filling their kegs with a poorer quality product made with cheaper ingredients with a process designed to make the beer long life rather then fresh with the lower production costs and lower wastage from expired beer proving financially attractive to both brewers and publicans.
These days things are less simple with craft brewers putting beer in kegs that are a good quality product (with decent ingredients, not pasteurized and often not filtered) and has much more flavour than the big industrial brands. The craft term isn’t tied to a specific format with such brewers often choosing cask or keg based on which they feel suits the style of beer best – for example a high strength stout that is likely to sell slower may be best in keg as it won’t go off so quick or a continental style lager may be enjoyed with some extra carbonation whilst a mild, malt bitter or gently hopped blonde might taste better on cask.
CAMRA does continue to champion the tradition of real ale, it is a fantastic part of our beer heritage we want people to continue to enjoy and are still passionate about that, however often now at CAMRA beer festivals other formats will be showcased alongside the cask where it is a good quality example of the genre (after all CAMRA was founded on the basis of wanting a choice of good quality beer) and campaigning priorities have moved on with issues facing consumers, publicans and brewers, particularly with the cost of living crisis!
Next is the subject of what we refer to as “real cider” or “real perry”. Similar to real ale it is the traditional, fresh, good quality product, however the key thing here is slightly different – it needs to be made from freshly pressed apple or pear juice that has been fermented rather than the more industrial product made from concentrate. Also any additional flavouring should be the real thing, not just a syrup chucked in.
1 June sees the first ever Kelham Pride celebration. This is a free all day festival that kicks off with a parade starting from Kelham Island Museum at 1pm via Ball Street Bridge to the event’s main stage at Burton Street (Peddler Warehouse). There will also be events taking place in venues around the area including Happy’s Bar, Grafters Bar and Alder and a couple of local breweries have brewed a special Pride beer for the occasion.
On cask look out for Blue Bee’s special.
For more details of the event visit their website – Kelham Pride.com
The legend that is John Beardshaw recently celebrated his 80th birthday. John is a CAMRA member who has been volunteering since the early days of our local branch!
We are very happy to confirm we have the go-ahead to organise our 48th Steel City Beer & Cider Festival this year, which will take place from 16 to 19 October.
The venue is once again the wonderfully atmospheric Kelham island Museum with the same format as last year – bars spread across the Upper Hall, Brearley Room, Crucible Room and a marquee serving a huge range of real ales (around 200!) plus over 50 other craft beers in keykeg, bottle and can along with a selection of around 30 different ciders and perry.
The upper hall will also be home to the live music stage and stalls whilst in the courtyard you’ll find a number of street food traders. Meanwhile the Millowners Arms pub, located within the site, will be trading as normal exclusively for festival visitors with some additional beer choices plus all your other pub drinks such as wines, spirits and soft drinks.
New this year will be a street food trader in the rear courtyard by the Crucible room where the keykeg bar is based, adding to the experience for those hanging out around this part of the festival!
For more information visit the website – sheffield.camra.org.uk/sc, this will get updated as details get confirmed, alternatively follow the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival on Facebook, Instagram and X for updates.
The weekend of 11-13 May sees some changes to Derbyshire buses.
In Killamarsh service 80 to Chesterfield has a change of operator and route, with First South Yorkshire replacing Hulleys of Baslow. A direct bus to Sheffield is once again introduced with First bus 120k – this is the existing 120 with one bus an hour extended beyond Crystal Peaks. Timetables are available from Derbyshire County Council at derbysbus.info
In the Peak District Stagecoach’s Peak Sightseer open top bus service makes a return for 2024, this time with two routes – Blue route from Chatsworth to Castleton on an hourly frequency and Red route from Chatsworth to Bakewell every half hour. There are also some feeder trips at the start and end of day with pick ups at Meadowhead, Woodseats, Ecclesall and Totley. The ticket price this year is £9.50 for an adult or £25 for a group of 5 people with discounts offered for concessionary pass holders and Wayfarer ticket holders. The ticket is a “Gold DayRider” offering all day unlimited hop-on-hop-off travel on the Peak Sightseer services plus all other Stagecoach buses in the area. More information online at stagecoachbus.com
Also in our area with less significant timetable or route changes are buses 65, 208, 257, 272 and X17 whilst on Supertram there is engineering work from 25 May to 2 June – details at travelsouthyorkshire.com.
Peak Sightseer open top buses – Red routePeak Sightseer open top buses – Blue route
Richard Hough is well known on Sheffield’s real ale scene, having worked for a number of local breweries over the years such as Abbeydale and Acorn as well as founding Blue Bee Brewery. During May he has curated an exhibition of pump clips from these breweries, displayed on the wall of the Dorothy Pax bar at Victoria Quays.
