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.

Abbeydale Brewery

Posted on by Andy Cullen
After a busy start to 2017 with the launch of not just our new look core range, but also our brand new Brewers Emporium series, we show absolutely no sign of slowing down! BIG NEWS first… we are throwing open the doors of the brewery for the very first time, to hold a massive party on the premises on Saturday 6th May! This will be a ticket only event, intended to raise awareness for something even bigger. The brewery is 21 years old this year, you might say we’re all grown up and moving out! We have completely run out of space in our current premises and are bursting at the seams and in need of a new home. Come along to see just what we’ve been up to and hear about our exciting plans for the future, all alongside drinking plenty of beer as course! We’ll have some one-off casks and kegs of our own available alongside a cracking selection of guest beers from our good friends around the country. It’ll be a fantastic day with a real festival atmosphere – there’ll be food trucks outside and live music curated by Now Then magazine, as well as the opportunity for brewery tours and exclusive tastings. We are planning that by the time you read this, our project will be live! Search for Abbeydale Brewery on crowdfunder.co.uk or look on our website for the link and grab your tickets before they sell out. Phew! After that massive announcement I suppose we’d better get on with what beers we have available this month. Abbeydale MarauderOur Beer Head series returns with Marauder (3.9%), swashbuckling it’s way across the palate with Mount Hood and El Dorado hops, promising a delicate herbal aroma and flavours of grapefruit and apricot. We’ve also got the return of one of our most popular beers, Dr Morton’s Duck Baffler, a pale ale packed chock full of Citra hops for a light aroma with lemon and passionfruit, and a refreshing bitter finish. Next up, we’ve been so excited to tell you all about our next collaboration, Four Degrees of Separation – a reunion back here at Abbeydale for three guys who were here in the early days of their career, and are now at Northern Monk, Magic Rock and Siren! This one’s going to be a big, bold and oh so juicy IPA, weighing in at 7% and taking full advantage of our mammoth hop store with our favourite hops from around the globe. Abbeydale UnbelieverRounding off the month is our second iteration of sour beer Unbeliever – this time we’re releasing a Gose at 3.9% brewed with coriander seeds and sea salt for a classic gose flavour. Hope to see you all on May 6th!

Sheffield Brewery Company

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Spring has sprung, Sheffield is in bloom, and – most importantly – the World Snooker Championships are upon us. To celebrate and promote the internationally renowned event, we are launching Crucible Best with a brand new pump clip and set of beer mats. Be sure to sit down with a pint of our Best Bitter at The Museum, The Graduate and many other city centre pubs that stock our beers around the Crucible Theatre. Khaki Blanco-01Available this April is our latest special, Khaki Blanco. This 4.3% NEw Zealand Pale Ale carries through all the hallmarks of New World hops – passionfruit, pine, lemon zest and gooseberries – delivered by hefty amounts of Rakau, Moetueka and Nelson Sauvin. Be on the look out for our new range of bottle conditioned, limited edition beers. We’ve been busy bottling our range of Finely Polished Beers over the last month and will be releasing Razor Paste (5.6% IPA), Brightshine (4.0% Crisp Golden Pale), Knife Powder (4.7% American IPA) and Khaki Blanco (4.3% New Zealand Pale) in 330ml bottles very soon, available from the brewery and local stockists. We’re also pleased to announce that the brewery is now officially an off-license, meaning you can purchase beer direct from our doors. If you’re having a party, a wedding, an event, or just looking to purchase some beer for yourself, we sell a range of beers in different volumes including bottles, pins (40 pints) or even a full ferkin (80 pints). Call us on 0114 272 7256 to place an order or email sales@sheffieldbrewery.com Visit our new looking website for all the latest news and further details on our beers and fantastic brewery venue www.sheffieldbrewery.com

Drone Valley Community Brewery

Posted on by Andy Cullen
We have begun a range of ‘Brewer’s Choice’ bi-monthly specials, with the new 80/- Scottish Ale (4.5%) (‘Pint of Heavy’). Regular pales are the IPA (5.2%), Gosforth Gold (4.0%), and our most popular 4.8% Fanshawe Blonde. The two bitters Dronny Bottom Bitter (3.7%), and Dronfield Best 4.3% are in stock. And our famous Darks: Unstone Oat Stout, Coal Aston Porter (both 4.5%) and the majestic Stubley Stout (5.2%). All are also available in bottles. Our first cider ‘Treeshekker’ (7.65%) is going down well at a number of outlets. Hand crafted by our local volunteers, using locally ‘Shekken’ apples. If you are near the brewery on Saturday 25th March (10am to 3pm) you are welcome to our Open Day. A bar, and the full range of bottles will be available. Also on the 20th April. Discounts for Members. Join us, own a brewery. Just £10 for life.

Price of pints to rise after U-turn on tax

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Drinkers have been let down by the Chancellor’s decision to increase beer and cider duty in today’s Budget – which will see the price of their pints rise. The announced two penny a pint increase in beer duty is the first rise in five years. It marks a U-turn by the Chancellor as he risks returning to the days of the much-hated Beer Duty Escalator which contributed to 75,000 job losses, 3,700 pub closures and a 24% fall in beer sales in pubs. Colin Valentine, CAMRA’s National Chairman says: “UK beer drinkers, pubs and brewers have been let down by the Chancellor’s decision to increase beer duty for the first time in five years. “The announced two penny a pint increase marks a return to the days when the much-hated Beer Duty Escalator contributed to 75,000 job losses, 3,700 pub closures and a 24% fall in beer sales in pubs. The rise in beer duty will ultimately hit consumers in their pockets and lead to pub closures across the country. “The government’s U-turn on beer duty is a real missed opportunity to support consumers. The UK still pays one of the highest rates of duty across Europe, only consuming around 12% of the beer yet paying nearly 40% of all beer duty in the EU. Further beer duty increases will lead to unsustainable price increases in pubs. The decision completely ignores the pressures that are being faced by the beer and pub sectors.” Unique role of pubs in England recognised by business rate relief The Government has recognised the unique role that pubs play in our communities in England by introducing a new temporary £1,000 discount on business rates bills for all pubs with a rateable value of less than £100,000. CAMRA has warmly welcomed this relief and has called for it to be made permanent and increased further in future Budgets. While this discount will provide welcome relief for the majority of pubs, not all will benefit as the relief does not apply to the largest pubs so a minority are still faced with very large business rate increases. Colin Valentine, CAMRA’s National Chairman adds: “We are delighted that the Government has recognised the vital role that pubs play both in our local communities and our economy by introducing a new rate relief specifically for pubs in England. “The announcement of a new rate relief for pubs in England is a ground-breaking step which recognises both the importance of pubs and the unfair impact of the business rate system on pubs. This new relief offers huge assistance to pubs and is a step towards CAMRA’s ambition of securing a £5,000 rate relief reduction for all pubs. “While this is welcome news for most pubs, some of the largest pubs will be excluded from the new relief. For example, the CAMRA award winning Baum pub in Rochdale will be unaffected by this discount. The Baum pub’s rateable value is going up by 376.6%, and the pub will pay an additional £47,327 per year once transitional rate relief ends. “CAMRA is calling on local councils to use the new discretionary fund announced today to support those pubs that will still be hit by massive business rate increases over the coming years.

Fancy volunteering as a Brewery Liaison Officer?

Posted on by Andy Cullen
It is CAMRA’s aim to appoint a volunteer into a Brewery Liaison Officer (BLO) for every brewery producing real ale in Britain. The role is one of maintaining a good relationship and dialogue between CAMRA and the brewery, keeping our Brewery Information System up to date with beers regularly brewed and other information and to file a brewery news report to the regional co-ordinator on a quarterly basis. The BLO also ensures that the correct information about a brewery appears in the national Good Beer Guide and feeds in suggestions for the beer list at the Great British Beer Festival. Here in Sheffield and District we now have a large number of breweries and not enough volunteers to provide an effective BLO network and are looking for some more volunteers. If you fancy it drop an email to secretary@sheffieldcamra.org.uk to find out which breweries have vacancies.

Rutland Arms, Sheffield Centre

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The Rutland Arms pub business is now under new ownership! The lease has moved from Reet Ale Pubs to a company owned by Chris Bamford and Kate Major, who previously managed Shakespeare’s and the Three Tuns respectively. All the same staff are working at the pub, both on the bar and in the kitchen – including managers Pete & Heather – so major changes aren’t expected, more a gradual building on the established foundation of good beer, food and atmosphere already found at the Rutty. Chris and Kate plan to continue to offer Blue Bee as their regular beers but we can expect to see a more varied guest beer selection on both cask and keykeg. For Sheffield Beer Week a tap takeover was held with Norwegian brewery Lervig.

Bradfield Brewery

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North Sheffield’s Bradfield Brewery has unveiled a special beer in celebration of the Tour de Yorkshire cycle race which will finish at Fox Valley on April 30th. The team at the brewery have come up with the 4% ABV bike themed tipple called “Farmers Push Iron” in the build up to the big event which will see the eyes of the cycling world focussed on north Sheffield and on the area’s notorious hill climbs. The family run brewery is based on a working farm in Bradfield, just a few minutes from the route of the Tour de Yorkshire’s final day which will test the cyclists with four tough hill climbs including the Cote de Wigtwizzle and Cote de Ewden Heights. The race will finish at the Fox Valley shopping centre on April 30th after the 194 km ride from Bradford.  It’s already been billed as one of the toughest stages on the professional circuit this year. Thousands of amateur cyclists will also take part in in the Maserati Tour de Yorkshire Ride which will start and finish at Fox Valley on the final day of the three-day race. John Gill from Bradfield Brewery said: “The Tour de Yorkshire coming to our corner of the county really is something special to celebrate and we’ll definitely be raising a glass of Farmers Push Iron to the cyclists as they take on our beautiful part of South Yorkshire and tackle some of Sheffield’s notorious seven hills. “It was fantastic to have the Tour de France Grande Départ here in 2014 so to have this level of cycling event back in the area is fantastic for the region.” The team at Fox Valley are working with community groups, the parish council and other local stakeholders to make the event a real celebration for everyone in the area. Annabel Plumtree, centre manager at Fox Valley, said: “Bradfield’s special Farmers Push Iron is a great way to celebrate Yorkshire’s biggest bike race. “There are lots of fantastic events and artwork planned along the route and everyone is really getting excited now for the big event on April 30th. “ Push Iron will be available at pubs along the route of the Tour de Yorkshire as well as in bottles and mini kegs at the Brewery shop in Bradfield. Picture shows the team at Bradfield Brewery with centre manager at Fox Valley, Annabel Plumtree.

Wagon & Horses, Millhouses

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The Wagon & Horses by Millhouses park has now reopened under the new ownership of True North Brewery. The pub has had a refurbishment but no substantial change as its already a great building! The venue is however now split into a seperate dining end and drinkers end in a similar fashion to many of True North’s other venues. Another key change is the kitchen is now much more fresh food focused than the Wagon’s previous incarnation as part of Greene King’s Flame Grill chain. The pub opens at 8:30am serving breakfasts and a brunch and sandwich menu is served through until 4pm. Pizzas and burgers are also available from midday. Come 5pm the evening meals menu kicks in, as well as pizzas and burgers there are dishes featuring more classic cooking such as Shepard’s Pie, Chipotle Pork & King Prawn Skewers, Sea Bass, Steak, Griddled Calf’s Liver and more. The bar opens from 10am with a range of real ales from True North Brewery and an extensive gin selection! Buses 82, 97, 98 and 218 get you there or the Millhouse Park car park is close by.

Hopjacker

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The recent Sheffield Beer Week, which ran alongside the SIBA BeerX, Beer Alive Festival and Beer Now conference, saw lots of folk in town from all over the world that appreciate good beer visiting pubs, bars and breweries all over the City that had laid on special events. Two of the events featured Hopjacker beers – the Old House, which held a battle of the beers style tap takeover with True North (who own the bar) and Hopjacker sharing the bar – and the White Lion which held a mini beer festival with some Hopjacker beers on the list and a meet the brewer session with Edd. Hopjacker Kali IPAProving a big hit during beer week was Hopjacked Citra, which as the name suggests is packed full of juicy Citra hops! Another hoppy beer brewed recently is Kali IPA, a 6.4% ABV, 90IBU monster of an IPA that apparantly promises to put hairs on the hairs on your chest. Prinicple hops used in this brew are Chinook and Galaxy. This beer, as well as being on cask and keg, is also going to be the first one that Hopjacker has bottled. Hopjacker Cherried AliveIn a complete contrast, Hopjacker has brewed a mild, in collaboration with the Two Beer Geeks Blog and White Lion pub. Naturally it isn’t just any old mild, it is a chocolate cherry Mild called Cherried Alive offering  tart cherry flavours, rich chocolate notes and a residual sweetness from the complex malt bill. As previous years the pub that is home to Hopjacker Brewery – the Dronfield Arms – is taking part in 3 Valleys Festival on Saturday 3rd June, as usual you can expect a great selection of beers, food and music to enjoy with most of the festivities taking place outside on the decking and in the closed off car park, the pub is just a few minutes walk from Dronfield Station or the 44 bus stops almost next to the pub – plus of course there will be free festival buses running. Look out for the 3 Valleys promotional beer mats out and about, produced in conjunction with Hopjacker Brewery (who feature on the other side of the mat).