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.

Inn (and Shop) Brief

Posted on by Andy Cullen

James Birkett, who owns Neepsend Brewery along with the Sheaf View, Blake Hotel and Wellington pubs; is launching his latest venture next door to the Wellington at Shalesmoor: the Roscoe Road Liquor Store. This will act as the Neepsend brewery shop stocking the range of Neepsend cans, minikegs and merchandise as well as a wider range of wines, spirits and beers.

A new craft beer bar is opening in Neepsend in a pair of shipping containers with Peddlers and Sheffield Brewery as neighbours! Grafters Bar will be a compact affair serving beers and spirits from the Sheffield area along with some bottled beers from further afield. You can find out a little more on the This is Sheffield website.

The Blue Ball at Worrall have been spending the latest lockdown doing some serious upgrade work to their beer garden which now features an outdoor pizza oven (pictured below).

Also doing some serious work in the beer garden whilst closed is the New Barrack Tavern on Penistone Road, who have been sharing a series of tease shots of the work in progress on their social media.

Spring Yard Bottle Shop, run by the same people as Peddlers Night Market, is offering free same day delivery in Sheffield. Order by 6pm, the deliveries are done in the evening as soon after that as they’ve got the packing done!

The Moor Indoor Market has a new delivery operation, ChefChef.store, where you can order products from many of their traders all in one go for home delivery, with Beer Central being one of those traders. Order direct for next day delivery or via the City Grab app for delivery within the hour by a City Taxi. Note only the regular beers are available through this service, for the more exotic choices you should order a selection box for delivery directly with Beer Central.

Beer garden openings

Posted on by Andy Cullen

On the governments road map out of lockdown pubs cannot open indoors until the end of May* and without restriction until late June*, however outdoor drinking with table service and maximum groups of six people will be possible from 12 April.

Below is our guide listing all the pubs with beer gardens or other outdoor areas in or near Sheffield that have announced they will be opening for outdoor table service this spring – not all pubs will find it viable to do so. Please click through via WhatPub to the individual venues’ website or social media for more details including opening hours and any booking requirements.

Not all pubs on the list serve real ale, click the link to WhatPub to check.

 

If you are aware of any pubs with an outdoor area that will be opening in April that we have missed off the list, please comment below with the details and we will add them where appropriate. Likewise if you spot any venues on the list that aren’t actually going to be opening after all let us know so they can be removed!

For details of current Coronavirus restrictions visit the government website, a summary of the roadmap out of lockdown is reproduced below. In pubs to summarise all customers are required to sign in to NHS Test & Trace (unless just picking up a takeaway), wear a face covering whenever not seated, sit at a table to eat & drink and be served at table. Please be nice to the staff having to implement these government safety rules!

Also from 12th April pubs are now allowed to include alcohol in their take away sales offering so some will also be selling beer to take home in carry out bottles if you fancy fresh cask beer but not drawn to the beer garden!

Public transport information for getting to the pubs by bus, train or tram is available from Travel South Yorkshire. Don’t forget by law face coverings currently must be worn on public transport and in taxis (unless you are exempt) and services are running at reduced capacity to allow for social distancing.

Looking for news about more than just pubs? The lovely people at This is Sheffield may be able to help with independent shops, cafes and more.

Steel City Beer & Cider Festival

Posted on by Andy Cullen

We are pleased to announce that subject to all the Coronavirus restrictions being lifted in time as expected, the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival will be taking place this year at Kelham Island Museum from 6 to 9 October.

Planning is still in the early stages but expect the usual large range of real ales and other craft beers along with traditional cider & perry, street food, live music and more.

The festival is organised and staffed entirely by volunteers who do it because they are passionate about celebrating good beer and cider, if you fancy getting involved you can register your interest in volunteering now and we’ll let you know when the staffing form goes live later in the year. Otherwise keep an eye on our website for announcements as things get confirmed!

In the meantime, have a look at the pictures below taken by Dave Pickersgill at our last festival in 2019 to get an idea of what you can look forward to!

The Upper Hall features a huge real ale bar, book shop, tombola and live music stage
A range of craft beer in keykeg, bottle and can also features alongside the cask ale
Two bars at the festival are dedicated to traditional Cider & Perry
We have live music Thursday and Friday night plus a programme of entertainment throughout Saturday included in the entry fee.
The courtyard areas host a number of street food traders
A huge cask beer bar staffed by our volunteers can also be found in the festival marquee along with old skool pub games!
All the drinks at the festival are served into your commemorative glass. The entry fee includes a deposit on the glass which you can either cash in as you leave or keep as a souvenir!
On Saturday we encourage fancy dress and epic hats as demonstrated by team tombola here!

Members Weekend, AGM & Conference

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The AGM  is where in addition to the mandatory business of an Annual General Meeting (AGM), CAMRA’s volunteer National Executive is elected: and Conference is where campaigning policy is democratically formed and updated by members via debate and voting.  Also featured are award presentations and fringe activities along with a Members’ Bar at the venue and organised brewery trips.

This year the event was due to take place at Sheffield City Hall on the weekend of 16th to 18th April. Unfortunately whilst the Coronavirus restrictions are expected to be lifted enough to enjoy some beer garden action, this kind of event is still out of the question.

So, its all going online, even the members bar!

The Conference will take place in the daytime on Saturday 16th April then afterwards you can relax in the virtual members bar with a “Highlights of Sheffield” Beer Box and an online tasting with the brewers. To register for the conference log in as a member at camra.org.uk.

The Sheffield beer box and the live online tasting event is available to anyone, not just members, and can can be ordered here.

The box contains six beers sourced from the Sheffield & District CAMRA branch area, the brewers represented are Neepsend, Kelham Island, Intrepid, Triple Point, Bradfield and Abbeydale.

Route out of lockdown

Posted on by Andy Cullen

The government have now published their road map to normality.

A handy summary can be found on the BBC News website.

The full document can be downloaded from the government website.

As far as pubs are concerned, the following phased reopening timeline has been announced. Note dates are the earliest it will happen and are subject to review based on meeting targets for vaccinations, hospital admissions etc. Also note not all pubs will find it viable to open with restrictions in place.

12 April

  • Pubs can do alcohol takeaway sales from the premises rather than just home deliveries
  • Beer gardens may open with table service and rule of six observed.

17 May

  • Larger groups permitted in beer gardens
  • Pubs may open indoors with table service, social distancing arrangements and rule of six enforced

21 June

  • social distancing rules removed
  • pubs may open in a normal fashion
  • nightclubs and live music venues may open and festivals can take place (this may be subject to conditions yet to be decided).

Until pubs can start reopening, they need proper financial support in order to survive and decisions made in the budget announced on 3rd March will be important. A facility to email your MP on the subject is available on the CAMRA Save Our Pubs campaign page.

Comment on the announcement from CAMRA’s national Chairman below.

Summary of steps out of lockdown (graphic from Sheffield City Council).

Inn Brief

Posted on by Andy Cullen

The Clubhouse sports bar on London Road is now open on Fridays and Saturdays offering cask beer and other drinks along with burgers and hot dogs for home delivery. Each weekend they generally have a choice of three real ales on handpump sold in 4 pint takeaway bottles, order via Uber Eats or Citygrab.

A new off licence has opened in Ranmoor focused on beer and wine. Ranmoor Castle has a range of craft beer and offers local delivery.

Another beer outlet is due to open in Hillsborough this spring. Pangolin Craft Beer will be a specialist bottle shop also featuring a small bar to try the beers they have on tap which will also be available to buy in carry out containers. It is located at Hillsborough Park tram stop on Middlewood Road.

Landlord Jake has handed his notice to Punch Taverns to terminate the lease of the Red Deer in Sheffield City Centre, another good pub to not survive the Covid restrictions, we can only hope the pub company find a new tenant as good as Jake to reopen it. A virtual leaving party will be taking place featuring live music on 13 March and until then the weekly quiz is still taking place online and their beer home delivery service will continue.

Brewery Bits

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Komrade IPA is Stancill‘s first beer to be developed, brewed and launched entirely during lockdown. It is fully loaded with Citra and Mosaic hops and, at 6% ABV, it’s also their strongest beer yet!

A couple of new brews from Neepsend. First up is a Kolsch style beer using that type of yeast along with Pilsner Malt, the second beer is called Acadia and is a 3.9% New England session pale that will be going in cask and can.

Kelham Island Brewery are selling 12 can mixed cases again online, these contain three each of Overseer (5% IPA), Nightrider (4.5% stout), 30 Years (7.2% pale ale) and Stop Telling Us What To Brew (4.3% session pale).

Little Mesters Brewing have released a new batch of their Hazy IPA with a revised recipe. This 6% double dry hopped beer delivers a big refreshing bitter hoppy blast of flavour and a subtle sweet finish.

New from Crosspool Ale Makers Society is On the Loose, a 5.1% ABV gluten free New World IPA.

Chantry Brewery have launched a new 4.1% red ale, Wentworth Red, brewed with Amarillo hops. Available in bottle to order for home delivery via the brewery’s website.

Intrepid are updating their fining regime with all new brews going forward becoming vegan whilst still pouring an attractive clear pint! The first beer produced suitable for vegans is Amica, a 4.5% modern US style pale ale involving Azacca, Ekuanot, Rakau & Columbus hops.

The rise of the virtual beer festival

Posted on by Andy Cullen

As we approach a year of Covid safety restrictions with a ban on major events and hospitality, including pubs, either closed or restricted in operation we have seen event organisers including CAMRA adapt to offer curated beer events to enjoy at home.

Established events that have already taken place virtually includes CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival (which normally takes place in London in the summer and Birmingham in the winter) and the Funkfest, a celebration of sour and mixed fermentation beers hosted by Abbeydale Brewery.

Both these events involved a choice of themed beer boxes delivered to you at home along with access to online content such as live tutored tastings, meet the brewers, discussions and brewery tours.

A further development of the format has been pioneered by the organisers of Manchester Beer & Cider Festival – normally run by local CAMRA branches in the Manchester Central event venue, but this year replaced by a #PubsMatter festival in conjunction with a number of pubs and bars in the area that are known for great beer & cider. Each pub are selling beer or cider boxes for home delivery and each are hosting a festival session online in a style that suits what their venue is known for. For example the Marble Arch bring you brewers hosting a live tasting session and discussion, Wigan Central are hosting a quiz and the Smithfield are presenting a live DJ set.

The CAMRA Members Weekend, AGM & Conference which was to be held at Sheffield City Hall this year also receives the “from home” treatment with all the conference business to take place online and a box of beers from Sheffield brewers available to order to enjoy in the “virtual members bar”. Details are due to be announced soon.

For details of CAMRA’s online beer tasting events visit the website.

Naturally we do look forward to the time we can once again attend actual beer festivals and fingers crossed we can go ahead with Sheffield’s 46th annual Steel City Beer & Cider Festival this October!

News of the Brews

Posted on by Andy Cullen

Kelham Island Brewery are having a January sale on their online shop with discounts on all their packs of cans.

Thornbridge Brewery also have an online sale with 10% off everything, use the discount code NEWYEAR10.

New beer releases from Abbeydale Brewery mid January include the latest edition of their Salvation series of flavoured stouts (this one involving Sea Salt and Caramel) along with the return of Huckster Cryo, a juicy 6% New England IPA with a plethora of hops including the Ekuanot Cryo variety. Also making a temporary comeback is one of the more traditional seasonals, “Dr Morton’s Duck Baffler”, a sessionable 4.5% ABV classic pale ale brewed with Citra Hops which impart a zesty and refreshing flavour to the beer. All three are available in cans to order direct from the brewery online.

The newest brew at Neepsend Brew Co is Hiero, a 4.6% American pale hopped with Summit, Centennial and Eureka. The majority of this beer will be available in can (available to order online for home delivery) although a limited quantity will be put in cask for outlets still able to sell it.

Little Critters Brewing have a launched an online shop on their website selling their beer in cans along with brewery merchandise for home delivery. Free delivery is available for orders over £65.

Pubs offering takeaway and delivery

Posted on by Andy Cullen

Under the new 2021 lockdown rules, whilst pubs can sell take away food & drink they are only able to include alcoholic drinks on home deliveries.

Here is a list of pubs, bars, breweries and specialist shops based in our area that we are aware of doing takeaway and home delivery. Please use the links via whatpub.com to the individual trader’s website or social media for more information on how to order, delivery hours etc.

Note off licences and brewery shops are able to open as normal and a special mention goes to the Archer Road Beer Stop who offer hand pulled cask beer to take home. 

 

Pubs and independent beer shops offering home delivery of alcoholic drinks and/or meals:

Other pubs open for collection of takeaway food and non-alcoholic drink:

Additionally, a number of local breweries are offering home delivery, we have those listed here.

If you are aware of a venue that is doing take home orders or delivery that isn’t on the list, please post a comment below and we’ll add them to the list where appropriate. Likewise if you spot any on the list that shouldn’t be please let us know!