Author: Andy Cullen

Beer Week is a City-wide beer celebration hosted across multiple venues. Now in it’s sixth year, look out for brewery open days, tap takeovers, food and beer pairing menus, guided walks and more. The week itself runs from 9th to 15th March, however things kick off the previous weekend with the Indie Beer Feast, taking place at Abbeydale Picture House on the 6th and 7th March (advance tickets are advisable for this event). This is a celebration of great independent craft beer with brewery bars (15+), street food, gin, a Hogan’s cider bar, a Hop Hideout bottle bar and a new natural wine bar hosted by award-winning Sheffield bar Public. The beer festival champions and supports The Everyone Welcome initiative. British Guild of Beer Writers’ members and leading UK beer writers Adrian Tierney-Jones and Pete Brown will be heading up to host pop-up tastings and to judge the Indie Beer Feast ‘Beer of the Festival’. Breweries pouring include local outfits Thornbridge, Lost Industry, Abbeydale and Saint Mars of the Desert. Plus a London contingency of Orbit, Wild Card and Brick breweries, and from the North East – Anarchy Brew Co and Donzoko. In addition to Manchester’s Cloudwater, Liverpool’s Neptune, Reading’s Double-Barrelled, Cheshire’s Mobberley Brewhouse, Nottingham’s Black Iris, Cambridge’s Pastore Brewing and North Yorkshire’s Turning Point Brew Co. They’ll also be an international presence from Denmark’s Mikkeller, Germany’s Frau Gruber and Netherlands’ Kees. This year sees beer week themed around three strands – Beer & food, community and heritage – with Sheffield known globally for its brewing and nationally for its superb range of pubs serving cask ale with the care and attention it deserves, the city’s outstanding beer reputation precedes itself. As usual, Sheffield & District CAMRA’s Dave Pickersgill will be contributing to the heritage strand leading guided walks taking in a few real ale venues featured in our pub heritage guide he authored. Sheffield Beer Week has a number of local breweries involved this year including Abbeydale, Sheffield Brewery Company, Lost Industry, Thornbridge, True North Brew Co and Saint Mars Of the Desert. National and international breweries announced so far include Arbor, Duration, Marble, Adnams (with a specific cask showcase), Torrside, Alvinne, Siren, Salt Beer Factory, Pressure Drop and Mikkeller‘s wild beer arm Baghaven. Plus up and coming new UK breweries Vault City and Pastore Brewing and Blending. With pubs, bars and beer shops from around the city getting involved to showcase these breweries. Shakespeares pub will be going all out on a collaboration festival dedicated to cask ale which will be launching over the last weekend of the beer week. Look out for beer collaborations specially brewed for the beer week to be released through the celebrations. Not only will there be an official Sheffield Beer Week beer brewed for 2020’s charity partnership supporting The Friends of Edward Carpenter in collaboration with Sheffield based LGBTQ+ beer group Out and About and Lost Industry Brewing. But Out and About have been busy and will also be working with Abbeydale Brewery and The Queer Brewing Project. Both collaborations share a unified sentiment which champion welcoming everyone from across the spectrum of sexuality and gender identity-based cultures. A sentiment which Sheffield Beer Week fully shares and supports. Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) was a significant cultural and political activist around Sheffield in his life. Advocating the simplification of life through his market garden and grow your own approach to campaigning for many issues of social concern. These ranged from women’s suffrage to the protection of the environment, from sexual emancipation to the formation of trade unions. The Friends of Edward Carpenter group formed to celebrate this important figure and to endeavour to establish a fitting memorial as a public work of art. The official Sheffield Beer Week beer will be raising funds for this cause. In the group’s words, Edward Carpenter’s life: “…was one of quiet celebration while his writings and example laid the foundation for the gay liberation movement of the twentieth century. Through his many friendships, Edward Carpenter traversed the divisions of class, gender, sexuality, race and creed. Men and women from across the world and from all walks of life came into connection with each other through him and his connections with Sheffield.“ Sheffield Beer Week is proud to be a part of the wider ‘Festival of the Outdoors’ initiative from The Outdoor City. With walking tours and running events including local historian, Sheffield CAMRA’s Pub Heritage Officer and British Guild of Beer Writers’ 2018 awards shortlisted author Dave Pickersgill’s popular Sheffield Pub and Industrial Heritage Walk. In addition to a collaboration with Sheffield’s SheFest (which takes place during the same week and celebrates and promotes gender equality across South Yorkshire), Sheffield Beer Week and Hop Hideout on March 12th. With a Women in Beer and Brewing Walking Tour. As International Women’s Day on March 8^th precedes the beer week, it’s a timely collaborative event. There will be beer and food dinners and week long paired menus to enjoy, highlighting the wonderful pairing of beer with food. In addition to a first time collaboration with Sheffield’s annual award-winning Doc/Fest, Visit Sheffield, Sheffield Beer Week and the Showroom Cinema – news on this exciting UK film premier to be announced! For more information including the full events listings head to http://sheffieldbeerweek.co.uk Photographs: Mark Newton and Nicci Peet. Jules Gray.