Author: Andy Cullen

Beer Matters, as the newsletter of Sheffield & District branch of CAMRA, has throughout its life so far – all 466 issues across over 40 years – included the town of Dronfield and the surrounding villages in its area of coverage. However Dronfield now has its own CAMRA branch with its own local group of active volunteers as well as an absolutely booming good beer scene. Dronfield CAMRA will very soon be launching their very own quarterly magazine, Peel Ale. (For those that don’t get the pun, it is named after Dronfield’s Peel Monument) with coverage of pub, club and brewery news from the local area and information on what the branch is up to as well as interesting beer related articles and adverts from local businesses. For information on advertising in Peel Ale, please visit www.dronfieldcamra.org.uk. Once Peel Ale launches, it is anticpated that Beer Matters will only be distributed to certain key pubs in the Dronfield area with the cut in circulation in Dronfield allowing us enough copies to distribute to the growing number of real ale venues in Sheffield & District.

Annual Beer Census – Sat 3^rd September 2016 As many of you will be aware, Sheffield CAMRA organises an annual city-wide survey to collect information on which beers are available in the city on a particular day. We have been doing this for a few years now, and we are pleased to say that despite various claims from other cities such as Norwich, Derby and Nottingham, the information on the number of beers on sale usually shows that Sheffield can rightly claim to be Beer Capital of the UK. This claim was given further weight after the findings of the recent Beer Report, commissioned by Sheffield University and written by well-known beer writer Pete Brown. It is now time to undertake the census again, and we are looking to enlist more volunteers to help collect the information. There are several daytime crawls, starting in various suburbs and working into the centre, followed by a number of city centre crawls in the evening. Each crawl will be led by a designated leader who will have the survey forms and a planned route through the various pubs. Daytime crawls will start at 12 noon, and eventually arrive at the Red Deer on Pitt street by early evening to hand in the completed forms. Evening crawls then start from the Red Deer moving out through the center and regrouping in the Kelham Island area. The crawls are a sociable way to try different pubs and pubs from your usuals, as well as helping to further the beer scene in Sheffield. Mot of the routes will involve public transport t some point, but your route leader will have details and can advise on costs etc. If you would like to join on one of the crawls simply be at the start point for midday and look out for someone carrying survey forms, and a copy of Beer Matters. If you can’t make the start, simply email us at social@sheffieldcamra.org.uk and we will pass on the mobile number of the appropriate leader so you can arrange directly with them where you can meet up. If you are unable to join on a crawl , but would still like to help with collecting information, we will have an interactive survey section on the Sheffield CAMRA website where you will be able to enter details on the day. It will be updated in real time so you will be able to see which pubs still need surveying. We will need the name of the pub, and then for each cask ale on sale that day we need the name of the beer; the brewery; % strength; and price of a pint. There will be a Notes section where you can add if the pub serves real cider and keg beer. It would be great to see a few more faces on the crawls, and even better if we can prove yet again that Sheffield is unrivalled in it’s range and quality of beer on sale. Route A – Dore, Totley, Millhouses, Broadfield – Leader, Andy Cullen. Meet at Devonshire Arms, Dore (bus 81 or M17). Route B – Norton Lees, Woodseats, Heeley, London Rd – Leader, Matt Nedved. Meet at Cross Scythes, Derbyshire Lane (bus 18) Route C – Banner Cross, Hunters Bar, Ecclesall Rd – Leader, Patrick Johnson, Meet at Banner Cross Hotel, Ecclesall Rd Sth (bus 88) Route D – Deepcar, Wadsley, Hillsborough and Bradfield – Leader TBA. Meeting point Royal Oak (bus SL1 or 57) Route E – Chapeltown, Burncross, Meadowhall, Attercliffe – Leader TBA, Meeting Point TBA Route F – Walkley, Commonside, Crookes, Broomhill – Leader Paul Crofts. Meeting at Walkley Cottage (bus 95). Route G – Lodge Moor, Crosspool, Ranmoor – Leader John Beardshaw. Meet at Three Merry Lads (bus 51). Routes H, I, J – City Centre afternoon – Leaders John Bratley + others. Meet at Sheffield Tap Routes K, L, M – City Centre evening – Leaders TBA, Meet at Red Deer 7pm Paul Crofts