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.

Emmanuales

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Having been welcomed into the brewing community here in Sheffield, we’ve already received plenty of advice; most of which has gone something like this: “It’s not for the faint hearted”, “I’d stick to home-brewing” or “What’s your backup plan?”. Starting a new business is hard work and all consuming. Starting a brewery is brutal. Yet, for all the hard work, long hours, getting wet, late night thinking about yeast, and labelling hundreds of bottles by hand, there is nothing more satisfying than being told that your beer was the fastest selling brand in a local bottle shop in the whole of 2015, selling out of Christmas stock in less than 24 hours, or seeing somebody crack open one of your beers all the way over in Germany! In little over a year, since receiving a producer’s license from Her Maj the Queen, we’ve relocated from the cellar of our tiny house in Walkley to The Sheffield Brewery Company, using their mini kit; and, we’re about to release our first beers of 2016, including our first ever cask conditioned ale. Emmanuales 1 Ryejoice, a pale rye made using Nelson Sauvin and Simcoe hops (both of which, it would appear, are a bit like unicorn poo – very hard to get hold of) will be available in the Harlequin throughout Sheffield Beer Week, 14-20 March. Additionally, we’ll be releasing a limited run of Ryejoice in bottles, along with old favourites O Hoppy Day and As The Deer Pants For Porter, available in bottle shops in and around Sheffield. We’re hoping to produce more beer this year, including cask versions of our regular brews, and launch an imperial range – ALMIGHTY – starting with a Russian Imperial Stout, Ex Nihilo. For all the latest Faith, Hops and Love, visit our website www.emmanuales.co.uk Nick Law

Sheffield Brewery Company

Posted on by Andy Cullen
STEEL YOURSELF….SOMETHING’S BREWING AT THE SHEFFIELD BREWERY COMPANY! It sure is – our ten specials are in the pipeline in celebration of our 10 years in production and 10 things which we love about this region. No. 1 was a lovely premium ale Philanthropicale at 4.8% and celebrated Sheffield’s rich heritage in philanthropic zeal. The clip featured Mr John Ruskin in the background and went down a storm at our recent Beer Club night on 29th Jan. No. 2 has a more active theme and in part is to help promote the region’s superb green credentials. Indeed, on our doorstep the Sheffield city boundary forms part of the wonderful Peak District and a whole host of walks, trails and climbs and green open spaces. In recognition of this, a festival organised by the Sheffield City Council, celebrating the great outdoors is on March 11th – 15th – take a look at www.theoutdoorcity.co.uk and get stuckin! sheffield Brewery Gethisen Outdooerz So, we thought we’d lend a hand and have brewed a light hoppy golden ale and to put it bluntly have called it “Ge’thi’sen Outdooerz’! Once you’ve had a walk, run, climb or ride or just sauntered out for a stroll with friends or family in the park what better way to celebrate getting outside than meeting up in the convivial surroundings of your local pub.   We’re using mosaic hops to make this a very tasty slightly florally golden pale ale. See if you can spot where the two characters in the clip are and what are they carrying? First 5 to answer in person at our next Beer Club event will get a free pint! Just on that note, we’ve noticed the last Friday of the month tends to clash with other events in and around the city. To avoid this we are switching our Club night to the first Friday of the month, so our next event will be on FRIDAY 4TH MARCH. It should be a right old foot stomper as we welcome another new band courtesy of Mr Graeme McDonald, so we expect a good crowd. There’ll be hot food on again – maybe even a BBQ. So make sure you arrive early: doors open at 7.30pm. Lookout for more in the series which we’ll be releasing at the end of each month and details will be on our new website www.sheffieldbrewery.com THANK YOU AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO THE NEXT 10 YEARS OF CONTINUING TO BREW THE HALLMARK OF A PERFECT PINT!

Steel City Beer Festival – Champion beer awards

Posted on by Andy Cullen
As usual all the beers in our Steel City Beer & Cider Festival last October were judged by a blind tasting panel to find out which were the very best beers in the festival. We’ll be presenting the certificates to as many of the winning brewers as we can during Sheffield Beer Week with some to be presented at a mini award ceremony at the Siba BeerX Brewers Yard on Thursday 17th March, 7:30pm. If you are at the BeerX on Thursday evening, do pop out and see us and the winning brewers! Also at BeerX on the Thursday is a big festival bar, brewery bars, meet the brewer events and street foods. Advance tickets ordered online are £8.80 with a £2 discount available for CAMRA members, students and HM Forces, entry tickets are also available on the door but cost more! Beer is served in 1/3 pint tasters costing £1.10 each. The results… OVERALL Gold – Crafty Devil, Mikey Rayer All Dayer Silver – North Riding, Red Citra Bronze – Saltaire, Triple Chocoholic
MILD CATEGORY – Brass Castle, Hazelnut Mild SESSION BITTER CATEGORY – Magic Rock, The Stooge BEST BITTER CATEGORY – North Riding, Red Citra GOLDEN ALE CATEGORY – Crafty Devil, Mikey Rayer All Dayer STOUTS & PORTERS CATEGORY – Thornbridge Baize STRONG ALE CATEGORY – Great Heck, Yakima IPA SPECIALITY BEER CATEGORY – Saltaire, Triple Chocoholic
 

Sheffield CAMRA responds to the ‘Sheffield Plan’

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Sheffield banner Over the Christmas period, Sheffield and District CAMRA sent a formal response to the recent Sheffield City Council (SCC) ‘Consultation on Citywide Options for Growth.’  This document covers a wide range of aspects of the city. However, it fails to address the key part which our breweries and pubs play in: (i)   employment (ii)  Beer Tourism (iii)  the future development of the City The document suggests supporting district and local centres in providing a range of shops and services that meet the needs of all groups in society: “services” includes pubs. One of the many challenges, which needs addressing is the continuing loss of pubs, especially in suburban areas, and the detrimental impact this has on community well-being . Hence there is a need for the Plan to include policies which seek to protect valued community pubs. There is a need for more pubs to gain ACV status.  In addition, there is a need to allow the continued development of micropubs. Sheffield includes a growing, number of public houses which, by virtue of their interior, are rated by CAMRA as assets of Regional or National Importance. These pubs deserve support from SCC in a similar manner to the support which is provided to other buildings with historically significant interiors. By mid-2016, Sheffield is expected to be supporting 19 brewing companies. This is a fast-growing and vibrant part of both the employment  and leisure scene. It should also be noted that the ‘Kelham Island Tavern’ is the only pub to have won the annual CAMRA Pub of the Year Award on consecutive occasions. It is short-listed for the 2016 Award. Sheffield attracts a considerable amount of what could be termed, ‘beer tourism.’ It is surprising that this document does not acknowledge the place of Sheffield as the ‘Beer Capital’ of the U.K. (see recent CAMRA ‘beer city survey’ results). For example, during the recent Steel City Beer Festival, a group of visiting Americans stayed in Sheffield. The focus of their visit was Kelham Island and the 41st.CAMRA Steel City Beer Festival. In addition, there are innumerable day-trips, from diverse parts of the U.K., to sample both Supertram and the excellent beer scene. Sheffield, if the city wished, could easily take second place to Bruges on the European ‘beer holiday’ scene. Sheffield has niche pubs, an excellent, diverse beer-scene and is light-years away from the corporate extravaganza which the Munich Octoberfest has become. In years to come, the ‘Neepsend brewery trail’ could, and should, become a ‘must-see’ attraction. ‘Beer tourism’ is something which, in a vision such as this, SCC should not ignore. It currently brings vastly more income to the City than the annual two-week, Snooker World Championship and is a potential growth area. – Dave Pickersgill –

Attention Beer Matters distributors!

Posted on by Andy Cullen
As part of Sheffield CAMRA’s ongoing improvement we are looking at our Beer Matters magazine and how we distribute it out to our local pubs and clubs. Currently various members collect copies at the monthly committee meeting then take then out to a variety of establishments. As there is no formal log of these distributors we have no way of knowing who to speak to if a new pub requests copies. Beer Matters is a focal point for what we do in Sheffield CAMRA and we want to make sure everyone who is interested can get hold of a copy. Of course we also want to make sure we get the maximum effect from the 3,500 copies we print. If you are one of the regular distributors can you please either email us at beermatters@sheffieldcamra.org.uk or drop a note into the meeting when you next collect. We need to know which puts you deliver to, how many copies you leave and ideally your phone number. If you collect at a different time to the committee meeting simply leave your details with one of the bar staff and we will pick them up when we next pop in. The Rutland Arms is a regular haunt for quite a few of us, so we’ll get your list pretty quickly. Once we have a comprehensive list we can see where we have gaps in the distribution that might need filling and also if we give any crossover in areas and duplication of effort. Of course if you’re a landlord or pub manager and you would like to receive copies of Beer Matters then contact us and we can add your name into the list and allocate someone to drop them off each month. You can also contact us if you are willing to become a distributor. Simply tell us which areas or pubs you could service and we’ll see if we can fit you in.

Community Pub focus – Shiny Sheff

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The Shiny Sheff was originally built as a Whitbread pub in the late 1960’s. It was closed for a short period in 2015 and has since reopened with a new look and a new Landlord, Mike Cashmore. Mike moved from the Sportsman (Crosspool) taking on the reigns in the summer of 2015. Regular beers are Abbeydale Moonshine and Bradfield Farmers with the prospect of more to come as trade grows. The pub is a well-used suburban family pub, catering for all ages.  In addition to one-off events (eg. a celebration of Burns Night), regular events include karaoke, a twice-weekly quiz and weekly live entertainment. Other attractions include free wi-fi and a selection of children’s books. Mike wants to increase the community reach of the pub and is looking to plan further charity events as custom increases. Opening times are from 11:30 with 23:00 closure, Mon- Thu, midnight on Saturday and 23:00 on Sunday. Food is available daily from 12:00-21:00. The extensive menu caters for all and also includes ‘two for a tenner’ offers: members of the ‘Golden Club’ can also receive a ‘6th.meal free.’ The pub (274-276 Crimicar Lane, Lodge Moor, S10 4EP) is currently managed by the Bermondsey Pub Company, an independently run company which is owned by Enterprise Inns. They run 13 pubs, mostly in the north of England. The name came from HMS Sheffield, the most heavily decorated ship which has formed part of the Royal Navy. During the Second World War, the ship took part in actions against several major German warships. Unlike most Royal Navy ships of that time, her fittings were constructed from stainless steel instead of the more traditional brass. This was an attempt to reduce the amount of cleaning required. Her nickname, the “Shiny Sheff,” stemmed from this. The front bar of the pub includes a large model of the ship and numerous framed memorabilia, including many newspaper cuttings. Ex-crew members still use the pub as a regular meeting place. The stainless steel ship’s bell, (made by Hadfield’s), hangs in Sheffield Cathedral along with the battle ensign. The Shiny Sheff is one of the many community pubs which deserve our support.   – Dave Pickersgill

Drone Valley Brewery

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Drone Valley Brewery continue to await it’s (second) visit from HMRC to obtain a beer producer’s licence. Fortunately this time we are better informed as to what they require under their revised procedures. 20160202_114133 In the meantime the brewery has gone from basic to remarkable thanks to our many volunteer members and supportive contractors. One observer commented that our fermentation room is as hygienic as a surgery. All the kit is fully installed (except the cask washer) and the buttons ready to press on the custom built control panel. We have our brew plan in place, hops, yeast and materials all bought. The first 6 brews will include those that have proved so popular before plus 3 new ones, all named by our Members who own the brewery. There is always more to do and we are still welcoming new Members and investors. www.dronevalleybrewery.com Jez Horton

Steel City Beer & Cider Festival 2016 – planning begins!

Posted on by Andy Cullen
20151021a3camra 20151021b0camra IMG_3406 cropped Well, it’s that time of year again.  Christmas seems like a distant memory, Tryanuary has been and gone (hopefully trampling the stinking carcass of Dryanuary underfoot as it goes!) and beer festival planning starts. October might seem a long way off but organising a successful festival takes a lot of time and effort. As always it starts with appointing a committee. The first meeting sorted out most positions but there are still some vacancies for anyone willing to get more involved. The main requirement is enthusiasm, but we’ll try our best to find positions that suit whatever skills you can bring. A budget has been set and sent to head office for approval, which should be a formality following the success of last year’s festival. We are also needing more volunteers. Last year we had 137 volunteers who worked tirelessly to ensure that over 5,000 visitors enjoyed themselves drinking nearly 19,000 pints of beer or cider without any major problems. We are hoping to increase visitor numbers and extend the bars this year, which will of course need more bar staff. We are also wanting to increase the numbers of people working the various stands such as tokens, admissions, membership, games etc. And it goes without saying that we will need more people to help with build-up and take down. The build-up is particularly satisfying as you get to see the bars and stalls being assembled, and everyone involved feels a real sense of pride at what they achieve ready for the opening day. Over 200 casks will need positioning on 40 metres of stillage, fitted with all the necessary cooling equipment, and then tapped and vented ready for serving. Around 20 bars need to be assembled, bolted together and beer engines fitted. Membership tables, token tables and games tables all need setting up in position, and the correct banners erected. Token sets need readying for that initial rush of visitors. All our existing glasses need washing and bringing round to the entrance desks. And of course it all needs doing in reverse once the festival is over. Days are split into smaller sessions so you don’t need to work a full day and you can even do an evening spot without needing to take a day off work. Volunteers receive a festival tee shirt, free festival glass and beer tokens to spend at the bars. More importantly you’ll have the satisfaction of being part of a team and helping to make this year’s festival even more successful than last year. So if you feel you’d like to get involved, or would like to have a chat with one of us about it, you can contact us at festival@sheffieldcamra.org.uk. Alternatively why not come to one of the planning meetings held the third Tuesday of each month as detailed in Beer Matters diary, or a CAMRA branch meeting, or even one of the Pub Of The Month presentations where you’ll be able to find one or more of the planning committee who will be happy to discuss things in detail. We look forward to seeing you

Pub news Inn Brief

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The Sportsman, Norton, has had a short closure for minor refurbishment. The Abbey at Woodseats reopened after a short closure but at the time of writing had closed once again – this time for a major refurbishment of five weeks and £3oo,ooo. The Banner Cross is now open again under new management following a significant refurbishment. The Fox & Duck in Broomhill is soon to become free of tie for their beer supply and will be increasing the number of handpumps to 7 and stock beer from Little Critters Brewery plus guests. Saxbob is putting on a gig featuring Zacc Rogers and Sieben at the University of Sheffield Drama Studio on 1st April which will have a real ale bar, not normally available at this venue. Hopefully if the real ale proves popular the venue may consider making it a permanent thing. Just across the road from the Drama Studio is the newest opening in the Street Food Chef chain of Mexican fast food outlets. Your editor was invited to a preview night before the opening of this new store and enjoyed a very tasty Beef Brisket Burrito and a bottle of Mexican beer – they are looking at stocking a range of Mexican craft beers that pair well with spicy food at both their Arundel Street and Glossop Road canteens (Pinstone Street is takeaway only). They also have an outside catering stall they are looking to start taking to beer festivals. Also on the subject of food, there have been changes on that front at the Dog & Partridge on Trippet Lane with the departure of Bia Comida Tapas who had been resident at the Dog, the food is now cooked by landlord Connor and sees a simple but quality menu of sandwiches, burgers, scotch eggs along with some more substantial options such as steak or fish & chips. Your editor recommends the Cuban Sandwich!