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.
The Wortley Men’s Club in Wortley has been named ‘Yorkshire Club of the Year 2016’ and is now celebrating a hat-trick of wins after also taking the prestigious title in 2014 and 2015.
The club’s run of success actually started four years’ ago when it finished runner-up in 2013. It was particularly successful in 2015 when it went on to win the title of National Club of the Year 2015. The club is situated in a village that is just over 8 miles away from Barnsley in South Yorkshire. It is run by Nigel & Teresa Pickering, who said they were delighted to have won again.
The club is described in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2016 as: “Originally the estate reading rooms, the opulent interior and exterior feature exposed timber frames, ornate ceilings, wooden panelling and a real fire.” Timothy Taylor Landlord is on sale regularly, and two guest ales are obtained from local and national breweries. A changing real cider is always available.
CAMRA’s Yorkshire Regional Director, Kevin Keaveny, said “This third win in a row shows the club’s continued commitment to high standards. It also shows that a club in a village can thrive if the management offer the members the products, facilities, and level of service that they require.”
The Tap Room in York was the Runner–up in the competition. The Tap Room is nestled inside the York Brewery in Toft Green, which is only 10 minutes walk from the railway station. It is managed by Matthew Moore, and sells a good selection of the brewery’s award winning beers.
The Licensees of both clubs will be presented with framed certificates on dates to be arranged in October. Peter Goddard, CAMRA’a Deputy Regional Director, will do the presentation to the Wortley Men’s Club. Kevin Keaveny, CAMRA’s Regional Director, will do the presentation to The Brewery Tap Room.
The eleven clubs nominated for this year’s prestigious title were visited by five judges over a four month period. Each nomination was scored against strict criteria that included an emphasis on the Quality of Real Ale. Also considered were Atmosphere, Style/Decor, Service and Welcome, Value for Money, and Alignment with CAMRA’s Principles,
The other nominations for the title were: Guiseley Factory Workers’ Club, Guiseley; Armitage Bridge Club, Armitage Bridge; Crookes Social Club, Sheffield; Alverthorpe Working Men’s Club, Alverthorpe; Concertina Band Club, Mexborough; Hanging Heaton Cricket Club, Batley; Three Links Club, Skipton; Wickersley Old Village Cricket Club, Wickersley; Crossing Club, Grosmont.
At the beginning of September a number of CAMRA volunteers went out and did various pub crawls across the City to undertake our annual beer census – also known as the Beer Capital Survey – to record the beers out there on the bars on a single day, giving an idea how many different beers there are to choose from, which breweries are most widely stocked, typical price of a pint and more. It is an opportunity to take the pulse of Sheffield’s real ale scene.
A similar survey is undertaken in some other towns and Cities such as Derby, Nottingham, Norwich and York – all of which are known for having good pubs and like to promote themselves as a good beer destination – with Derby often claiming in the press to be the real ale capital of Britain (which our surveys suggest Sheffield should be the rightful owner of that title!).
Here are some of the figures that came out of the survey this year.
Number of different unique beers to choose from – 450
Number of real ale handpumps in operation – 1,200
Most expensive pint – £5.90
Cheapest pint – £1.50
Average price of a pint – £3.04
Brewery league table – how many pumps did we find with each breweries beer
Elsecar by the Sea beer festival (Barnsley CAMRA)The CAMRA Beer Festival instructions: go and drinkA CAMRA Beer Festival gives the chance to try great beers. The one at Barnsley was even better. I participated the Barnsley CAMRA Beer Festival and I have to admit that I enjoyed it very much. Barnsley is one of the four CAMRA outposts in the Yorkshire county. The festival was held in the small town of Elsecar, in the spartan yet big location named Milton Hall (a sort of town hall). To cheer the throats of thirsty visitors there was a tap list consisting of over 30 rolling beers (strictly Real Ale) and ciders. Ah, there was a stand alone draft beer as well.
It is a Beer Festival with a twist.
It is not the common beer festival, at least not for an Italian. Here the purely playful moment contains the business. Like any other CAMRA Beer Festival it lasts more days in a row. I got to participate in the first, the so named “trade day”. I took the opportunity to collect notes of my random samplings.
The format is the same for each CAMRA Beer Festival.
The most eloquent example is the GBBF. Simply the CAMRA Beer Festival in Barnsley is more modest – although defining modest a line of over 30 beers is heresy. There was also a moment for training. The Barnsley CAMRA Beer Festival brought together all the members interested in carrying out the “dirty” work of the beer taster. The lesson was brief but eloquent: go and drink. There is no way – unfortunately and fortunately – to understand beer but tasting it. Reading, culture and knowledge of beer styles make a difference – essential when it comes to competitions – but the sensitivity of nose and mouth is the result of a hard and constant training. Which in a nutshell it means to drink, drink and drink again.
The goal is simple: to produce numbers.
The only tool of the tasting is an evaluation scorecard. Its job is to accompany the taster in the evaluating path. Nothing too much complex, just the usual sections: appearance, aroma and flavour. At the end you have to determine a final grade, which will then be used to determine means and assign titles such as best beer or best pub. But now, after all this talking it is time to taste. Here’s what I’ve been drinking!
Ice Cream Stout, The Rat Brewery, 4.8% abv.
Evanescent foam. Black colour, opaque, with brown nuances. Roasted aroma welcome (milk chocolate, toffee, coffee, licorice). The aromatic body expresses softness and apparent sweetness: raisins, dried plums, stracciatella ice cream, “drunk” sponge cake and chocolate cake. The heart is both floral and fruity: rose petals and black cherries. No carbonation, medium-bodied, velvety mouthfeel with light astringent bites. Fresh beginning (black bread, chestnut flour, coca-cola, dark chocolate). Gradually takes sweetish red notes of cherry, wild strawberries and licorice root. Red fruits aftersmell, lightly toasted aftertaste of coffee and cocoa. Woody and smoky suggestion. Dry end, slightly astringent but balanced by soft ice cream memories (fiordilatte).
Ploughman’s Pride, Great Newsome Brewery, Deep Brown Bitter, 4.2% abv.
Coarse foam lasting more than the average. Brown colour with chestnut shades. The nose is graceful with a slight off-flavour of soy sauce to welcome. The aromatic body changes the skin and takes on the likeness of bread crust, caramel, butterscotch and toffee, hazelnut, candy sugar, chestnut flour. Heart of toast. Alcoholic soul that recalls the idea (just the idea!) of Sherry. Very few bubbles, lots of (apparent) sweetness, medium body with a light and soft mouthfeel. It starts with bread, caramel, chestnut and hazelnut. The alcohol accent gives a dry ending. Caramelized aftersmell, bread crust and hazelnut aftertaste.
Solidarnesc, Raw Brewing Co., Polish IPA, 6.2% abv.
This beer is a tribute to the English Bohemian beers, in particular its new generation hops: Sybilla, Marynka and Junga. No foam. Orange colour with golden hues; crystal clear appearance. The aroma is extremely fresh, that of a freshly washed laundry (lavender, flower). There is a “green” trend (kiwi and apple). Above all there is a nice blend of Mediterranean and South Pacific fruits (melon, watermelon, white-fleshed peach). In the mouth it is powerful. Former notes are sweet (peach, bread, biscuit). But it’s all fire under ash: after a while the mouth is filled with bitterness. Herbal, spicy (green pepper) and floral. Orange honey interlude. Fruity finish: orange, tangerine, peach and green apple core. Alcoholic and dry aftertaste, orange peel finish.
There is so much to drink at a CAMRA Beer Festival. You’ll have to taste everything. But don’t forget the business, between a pint and the other. If you are clever you will bring home a big deal.
The George & Dragon, Hudswell, North Yorkshire, has been named CAMRA’S ‘Yorkshire Pub of the Year 2016’.
The pub is located 3 miles west of Richmond, on the border of the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. It is owned by Hudswell Community Pub Limited, which was formed in 2010 to buy, refurbish, and re-open the only pub in the village. It has achieved this and gone on to develop the pub as a hub for a wide range of activities and services.
Stuart Miller has been running the pub since 28th July 2014. He is supported by an excellent team including his father Keith and his brother Sam, who are both outstanding chefs.
It is described in the new CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2017 as: “At the heart of the village, this homely multi-roomed country inn has a large beer terrace offering fantastic panoramic views over the Swale Valley.” Copper Dragon Best Bitter and Rudgate Ruby Mild, are the beers that are available on a regular basis. Three regularly changing guest beers, sourced mainly from within the Yorkshire region, are also always available.
To celebrate the pub’s first appearance in the Good Beer Guide since it reopened, a regional launch of the Good Geer Guide 2017 will be held in the pub tomorrow (15th). CAMRA National Director and George & Dragon shareholder Ken Davie will be available for interviews in the pub from 1pm onwards.
The Runner-up in the competition was The Sportsman in Huddersfield, which is run by John Fletcher. The pub is owned by Beerhouses; a small Dewsbury based pub group that owns five pubs. It is described in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2017 as: “This 1930s pub has won a CAMRA English Heritage Conservation Pub design award. Eight handpumps include one serving a Mallinson’s beer.”
CAMRA’s Yorkshire Regional Director, Kevin Keaveny, said “The results of this year’s competition highlight the success that can be achieved by an enthusiastic community company and a small wellmanaged pub group.”
The licensee of the George & Dragon will be presented with a framed certificate at 2.00 pm on Saturday 19th November by Kevin Keaveny, CAMRA’s Regional Director. The licensee of The Sportsman will be presented with a framed certificate at 2.00 pm on Saturday 12th November by Peter Goddard, CAMRA’s Deputy Regional Director.
The eighteen nominations for this year’s prestigious title were visited by individual members of a judging panel over a four month period. Each nomination was scored against strict criteria that included an emphasis on the Quality and Choice of Real Ale, Style/Decor, and Service and Value.
THE FINALISTS
Barnsley – Crown, Elsecar
Bradford – Hop, Saltaire
Cleveland – Downe Arms, Castleton
Darlington – Crown Inn, Manfield
Doncaster – Doncaster Brewery Tap, Doncaster
Halifax & Calderdale – Firehouse, Sowerby Bridge
Harrogate – 10 Devonshire Place, Harrogate
Heavy Woollen – New Inn, Roberttown
Huddersfield – Sportsman, Huddersfield
Hull & East Yorkshire – Butcher’s Dog, Driffield
Keighley & Craven – Talbot Arms, Settle
Leeds – Kirkstall Bridge Inn, Kirkstall
North West Yorkshire – George & Dragon, Hudswell
Rotherham – Beehive, Harthill
Scarborough – Sun Inn, Pickering
Sheffield – Kelham Island Tavern, Sheffield
Wakefield – Robin Hood, Altofts
York – Rook & Gaskill, York
The SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) judged their North East regional beer competition at the York CAMRA beer festival in September, with the winners going forward to the national final held at BeerX in Sheffield next March.
Three breweries from our area came away with bronze awards in various categories with Sheffield Brewery Company’s Sheffield Porter, Geeves Brewery’s Captain Gingerbread and Acorn’s Darkness Mild being the award winning beers.
Talking of BeerX, this event which consists of a national conference, trade show and public beer festival is back at Ice Sheffield from 17th to 19th March and will have a new conference attached called ‘Beer Now’ which is all about marketing, tourism and communication in the beer industry.
Hopefully Sheffield will benefit from some beer tourism with lots of people visiting for BeerX, Beer Now and Sheffield Beer Week and enjoying our great beer scene.
Brews News – this year’s seasonal line up from Bradfield Brewery sees the return of Jack O’ Lantern Ale. A spooktacular brew with no unwelcome surprises, this traditional dark amber coloured ale offers a 4.5% abv and a sharp dry aftertaste. November seeks to remember the fallen with a sensitive creation, 10pence from every pint sold of Farmers Poppy Ale is donated to the Royal British Legion. This light coloured fruity ale is one to remember for the 11th November. And dare we speak of the festive season??………the Holidays are surely coming and with them, so will Farmers Belgian Blue. For those that simply cannot wait until November for a taste of the finest, Belgian Blue will be putting in a guest appearance at this year’s Sheffield Beer Festival – 19-22nd October at Kelham Island Museum.
Charity News – St Luke’s Tractor Rally 2016, supported by Bradfield Brewery, raised a moderate £6209.82 for St Lukes Cancer Charity. The Rally saw over 70 tractors make their way through Stannington, Storrs, Dungworth, Bradfield, Broomhead, over the hills and finishing at the Brewery Tap, The Nags Head at Loxley where a charity auction was held, fuelled up with a pint of Farmers Red Diesel.
Sticking with the auction theme, Bradfield Brewery are holding their annual Harvest Auction at the Brewery Tap, the Nags Head on Saturday 1st October. Kicking off at 7:30pm with performances from Bolsterstone Male Voice Choir, the event promises to be an evening full of auction comedy and bargains! The Farmers Ales will be flowing in accordance!
Teenage Kicks
The team down at Wombwell have just celebrated their 13th birthday. It was 4th July 2003 when Dave Hughes and Steve Bunting brewed their first gyle of the multi award winning Barnsley Bitter. The boys have recently passed their 2500th gyle of all brews.
The brewery is starting life as a teenager on a real high with around £40,000 of new investment, which proves the point that it’s costs a fortune to keep a teenager happy! They’re about to increase their storage capacity with the introduction of a new mezzanine level, as well as improving and increasing the office space for the hard working sales staff.
Barnsley Bitter and Barnsley Gold have been picked out by a national pub company so that the traditional chestnut bitter and the premium golden ale will be seen in pubs the length and breadth of the land for the next few months.
On the bottle front, a pallet of Yorkshire Pride was recently delivered to Southampton to board the P&O cruise ship Britannia. Clearly the lucky passengers will be looking to celebrate Yorkshire Day in style in some far flung part of the planet.
The Old No7 in Barnsley is preparing for it’s Summer Beer festival starting on Thursday 28th July and going through to Sunday 31st. No doubt a great time will be had by all (again) with beers featuring from across the country. All the Acorn seasonals will feature including: Hopthathlon (4.5%) A golden coloured beer with a hop kick on an Olympic scale. The latest single hopped IPA uses English Flyer (5%) hops producing a rich golden IPA with caramel, liquorice & toffee notes. Finally Summer Pale (4.1%) is out again and being enjoyed in bars and pubs across the region, it’s a shame the same can’t be said about the British Summer Sunshine.
SO MANY exciting new brews to share with you this month! First up, our friends at Opus Independents are hosting the Autumn Season of the Festival of Debate. And so following on from Spring’s Why Not Give A Toss?, we’ve got Why Not Give More Of A Toss? coming out, a 4% session pale ale brewed with Motueka, Cascade and Pacific Jade hops for a well-rounded, eminently quaffable brew with floral and spicy notes. Plus, an OUTRAGEOUSLY pink pump clip, so definitely no missing that one on the bar!
Doctor Morton’s been busy cooking up Mandarin Claw of Death (4.1%), featuring Mandarina Bavaria and Amarillo hops for a veritable burst of citrussy flavour – “not suitable for ducks”! We’ll also have a stout out towards the middle of the month, name and details as yet TBC but it promises to be a luscious and full bodied autumnal treat.
With all the festivities of the season coming up, we’ve got two spooky brews to be out ready for Halloween – the return of Evil (4.6%) and a brand new collaboration with BrewDog Sheffield. Brewed for their annual CollabFest, Iced Tea Dead People is a 4.6% iced tea beer using peach-infused Sencha tea from Birdhouse Tea Co. and a plethora of fresh peaches, to be available in both cask and keg.
Finally, for something a bit cheerier to combat all this talk of Halloween naughtiness, the next in our Beer Heads series will be out right at the end of the month. Our new pal Frolicker will be a 3.8% Sorachi Ace session IPA, promising tantalising flavours of lemon and coconut.
The team at Champs Sports Bar in Sheffield is celebrating after being shortlisted as a national finalist in the Great British Pub Awards for the Second year running.
Licensee Danny Grayson has been recognised as one of only five finalists in the Best Student Bar and Best Sports Bar categories and will go on to compete in the national awards which take place in London in October.
Champs on Ecclesall Road opened in August 2012 following a joint £500,000 investment with Punch Taverns, which transformed the former Pomona into a cool and contemporary sports bar, With 31 large TV screens showing high profile sports all day every day, from Premiership football matches to horse racing and superbikes, Champs is a sports lover’s dream.
The modern and welcoming interior, complete with a wide range of sporting memorabilia including a full-size motorbike (which proves very popular with our Student customers) gives it a real edge over other venues.
Licensee Danny Grayson said: “I could see the potential with Champs and its History on Ecclesall road dating back to 1996, Champs Sports Bar taps into our fascination with sports and thanks to a creative approach and a focus on standards, we’ve created a winning concept. But, Champs is much more than that; it’s at the heart of our Student community, sponsoring Student football teams and creating a space where Students can come together and enjoy the match or just relax.”
The sports interior is complemented with a strong food and drink offer, based on good quality and value for money. With a striking American grill theme, the menu includes favourites from American Ribs to Build A Burger and the Kamikaze Wing Challenge. All of the bar’s the food is from local suppliers and cooked fresh on the premises.
Commenting on the recognition, Danny Grayson said: “The team have worked extremely hard to create this successful venue. It’s not just about the sports; it’s about the staff, all of whom are highly motivated and passionate about customer care and it’s about the customers – a winning combination in anyone’s book! Let’s hope we bring home the trophy.”
Danny Grayson.
The 2018 Champion Beer of Britain competition has now begun (yes the process takes over a year!) and this is an opportunity for all local CAMRA members to have their input into which beers from our region are nominated to be entered into the competition.
Once entered into the competition the beers are judged in local, regional and national knockout blind tasting events held at various beer festivals until the finalists are judged at the Great British Beer Festival in August.
So, its time to vote for the beers brewed in our region that you think are the best. Those memorable beers where the taste, aroma and more all come together to deliver enjoyment every time, perfection and pleasure in a glass!
You are asked to pick your top 5 regularly brewed beers in each of the following style: Mild, Bitter, Best Bitter, Strong Bitter, Golden Ales, Speciality beers, Old Ales & Strong Milds, Porters, Stouts, Barley Wines & Strong Old Ales and Real Ale in a Bottle.
Sheffield & District CAMRA members are invite to vote in two regions – Yorkshire & North East and East Midlands – due to the geography of our branch area. Vote by logging in to www.cbobvoting.org.uk with your membership number and CAMRA website password (if you haven’t yet got a password, log in to www.camra.org.uk with your postcode as your default password and change your password).
The last time a beer from our branch area won Champion Beer of Britain was in 2004 when Kelham Island Pale Rider was the winner.
The deadline for voting is 1st November.
Doctor Morton’s been busy cooking up Mandarin Claw of Death (4.1%), featuring Mandarina Bavaria and Amarillo hops for a veritable burst of citrussy flavour – “not suitable for ducks”! We’ll also have a stout out towards the middle of the month, name and details as yet TBC but it promises to be a luscious and full bodied autumnal treat.
