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 students are back in Sheffield and beer is flying out at the moment however we are still finding time to squeeze in brewing plenty of specials. Firstly we had Stuart down from the excellent North Riding Brewery in Scarborough to brew a colab with us. So we decided to brew something extra special, the result is Little & Large IPA 6.5% which combines 3 of our favourite American hops: Citra, Mosaic and Sorachi Ace. This beer is big on hops with loads of tropical fruit flavour and citrus aroma.
As ever we also have another single hopped IPA this month this time using the new American hop: Jarrylo IPA 5.0% which has the rather interesting characteristics of spice, banana and pear so this is sure to be something a little different.
If you prefer your beer a little more sessionable we have brewed Centennial Pale 3.9%, a refreshing hoppy pale ale with lemon and pine flavours once again using American hops. On top this we are on to American 5 Hop Version7 4.3% which this time will combine: Citra, Columbus, Comet, Centennial and Jarrylo.
Finally it is not often we rebrew our specials but Ginger Beer 4.5% is proving that popular we will be brewing it for a third time in November, it will be packed with as much fresh root ginger as before if not more to give that fiery kick!
We’re Back!
Ten years ago Tom Delaney managed the Hillsborough Hotel for Andrew & Helen Walker and Brigitte Colwell (now Mrs Delaney) was a member of the team at the time.
Brigitte and Tom have now taken over as licensees of the Hillsborough Hotel and long with the new team would like to welcome customers old and new to the Hillsborough.
There will be a new look menu with freshly cooked meals using local suppliers such as John Crawshaw’s
Butchers and Sheffield Brownie Company – the emphasis will be very much on using our excellent local suppliers.
Unfortunately the brewery has been dismantled but Brigitte and Tom will be looking to reinstate the brewery in the near future, looking to brew some new and exciting beers. In the meantime we will be sourcing our beers from local breweries, again with an emphasis on providing you with excellent high quality beers!
We will also be introducing tasting nights, sampling gin, rum, whisky, port and sherry along with live music and of course Big Jim’s quiz. We have other plans in the pipeline for events over the coming months so come on down and say hello!
First things first… Some of you may have heard along the grapevine that we’re opening our first bar? You’d be right. We expect it to be fully open to the public at some point during the second week in October. Work is well underway and we’re busily preparing to throw open our doors and welcome beer lovers’ everywhere! As we’re constantly referencing Welbeck heritage in our beers and ethos, we take the name for the bar from the family lineage. ‘Portland House’ is situated on the busy Ecclesall Road in Sheffield.
You may remember we brewed a lovely golden session-ale on behalf of ‘Worksop Guide Dogs’ trust last year? We thought it was a great fundraising opportunity for the charity and have scheduled another brew for the same ale in October. We’ll be donating 10p per pint to this fantastic organisation. On 4th October the launch night and fundraiser will be hosted by our brewery tap ‘The Grey Horses’ with a Blind Man’s Buffet organised by the charity. It’ll be great fun for all involved. For more information please contact Chris at The Grey Horses on: 01909 730252.
Now then, back to beer and our upcoming specials through September and October. We’re showcasing the fantastic qualities of British hops this month with Farrier our 5.5% ESB and Secret Wife at 4.9%. Farrier is a much more robust version of our best-selling ale Red Feather with superb bitterness complemented by warming caramel tones. Secret Wife is brewed using UK Cascade for a slightly softer fruit hit than the American counterpart. Fruit is best- backed up by strong bitterness and a dry finish and that’s what this cheeky little number does with great panache. Taking you into October we’ll see Kaiser straddling the end of September and the beginning of October. If you haven’t tried it before it’s a brewery favourite. At 4.1% it’s not too naughty but drinks as refreshing, dry and biscuit-y with lovely cereal malt flavour and a hint of lemon. German hops are used for authenticity plus lager malt is included in the mash. Going through to October we’ll see beers new and old: Firehouse Red 4.5% brings in the new with rye added to the mash for spice and loads of delicious American hops to keep it punchy and fresh. Then we journey to the other side of the world with Cubitt’s Voyage 3.5% and a resinous, pale New Zealand hop explosion! This is no shrinking violet, what it may lack in alcohol it makes up for in hop character.
There have been a few new arrivals at the brewery recently notably four ex red wine casks which we’ve begun experimenting with- watch this space for more updates! In other news we have finally bottled Harley, our 4.3% golden citrus ‘quaffing ale’. It’s sold exceptionally well this year hence the move to bottling. Also new to the bottled range is Cocoa Noel. Just in time for Christmas (!) our very tasty Chocolate Stout brewed at 5.5% is the only one in the UK that uses Duffy’s Cocoa Nibs. Aside from a devilishly-dark mash the cocoa nibs impart fantastic bitterness and depth of flavour to this very indulgent stout.
Steel City Beer Festival returns to Kelham Island
After a successful switch last year from Ponds Forge to Kelham Island, the 41st Steel City Beer Festival returns to Sheffield’s “Valley of Beer”. Taking place within the Kelham Island Museum on Alma Street over 4 days from Wed 21st to Sat 24th of October the festival will be even bigger than last year, and will be officially opened by guest of honour, Sheffield ‘s Master Cutler, David Grey MBE. The festival’s nominated charity this year is the Master Cutler’s Challenge.
Real Ale fans from all over Yorkshire and even further afield will arrive to sample the best the UK brewing scene has to offer. Expect to see over 200 different beers and around 30 ciders and perries from some of the countries finest breweries and cider makers. A mix of old favourites and new or rare speciality beers from around the UK will be available on cask in 3 separate bars within the museum, with drinking and seating areas split across 2 levels. All 18 of Sheffield’s breweries will be represented and a number of unique beers are being brewed specially for the festival.
Once again live music will be featured on 3 of the evenings. Thursday night sees the Leeds City Stompers playing their brand of retro blues, Friday night is local blues-rock legends Downtown Roots, and Saturday features Loxley Silver Brass Band in the afternoon, and an evening set from the high energy Rock ‘n’ Rollaz. As an interesting twist on the festival entertainment, close-up magician Ben Z will be mingling with visitors on Friday and Saturday and amazing them with his sleights of hands. Festival Entertainment Officer Bob Swift said “I am delighted to have booked some of the best acts in the region for this year’s festival who will be appearing on a large stage with first class professional sound and lighting systems. Live music is a big part of the local real ale scene and the festival will offer a very high standard of entertainment”.
More stalls are planned for this year. The usual wide selection of food stalls will be there as well as a dedicated bottle bar so beer fans will be able to take home some of their new found delights. Traditional pubs games are on offer at one of the stalls, including cheese skittles, shove halfpenny and bar billiards (Wednesday only) The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) will also have a stall selling a variety of books on beer, pubs and brewing.
Further information can be obtained by visiting the website sheffield.camra.org.uk/festival. Anyone wishing to volunteer to help during the festival, or take up one of the few remaining sponsorship opportunities, can also find relevant information on the website.
Gary and Yvonne Sherriff, of White Rose Brewery fame, are setting up a new brewery in Conisborough called Hilltop Brewing Company. Hopefully the first beer will appear at Sheffield beer festival.
Tapped Brewery report that their Mojo beer is selling well and having some good hops from New Zealand in stock have brewed a special edition NZ Mojo.
Intrepid Brewery have brewed a single hop special, 4.8% ABV, called Elderado (named after the hop variety used). Also look out for Trademark IPA, brewed in collaboration with Irwin Mitchell Solicitors.
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True North
Our collaboration this month was with new-ish Coventry Brewery – Twisted Barrel Ales.
Rhubarb Stumble a 5% Rhubarb Saison packed full of fine Yorkshire Rhubarb fresh from our own brewers garden. Available throughout our sites including The Broadfield, The York and The Old House from mid-September.
Plans are already brewing for our next collaboration “A True Northern Union”.
We’ll be brewing a new beer with Iain at North Union Brewery next month and we’d like someone to come join us brew the beer.
We’ll be running a competition where by we would like you send us a photo, drawing or image that sums up “A True Northern Union” this image will then be used as the pump clip design for the beer.
Full details to follow soon so please keep an eye out on @truenorthbrewco & @northunionbrew for how to enter and win a chance to brew with Iain and Bob.
Blue Bee Brewery, as well as supplying the festival with their own delicious ales, have been busy swapping with other breweries around Yorkshire to supply us with some great Yorkshire beers, the list is already looking quite good.
A number of our beer festival organising committee dropped in to Blue Bee Brewery to see a festival promotional special being brewed, this will appear in pubs in the weeks leading up to the festival. The festival is our 41st annual event, it’s in Sheffield, the beer is 4.1% ABV and it should be a nice thirst quenching beer. I think the name covers those bases…
Our next Last Friday of the Month Beer Club on 25th September kicks off a weekend festival of music and World Cup rugby.Friday is a blues/folk acoustic night with the doors opening at 7.30pm. We’ve a couple of acts lined up and it should be an eclectic evening’s entertainment – a beatnik style return to great quality sounds.
Saturday will feature the titanic clash between England v Wales in the World Cup rugby finals. We’ll have the big screen on and a wide range of beers available along with a guest ale. Doors open 4pm.
All details are available on our Facebook page.
New Brews
Fresh Start 4.3%: We thought we’d brew a special for anyone contemplating a new start after their hols and to welcome all the new and returning students. This is generally a time for new beginnings whether young or old. Indeed, the arrival of the Freshers to Sheffield is always an exciting time and we warmly welcome everyone to this fair city.
Romeo and Juliet 4.2%: Our other special is brewed once again especially to celebrate the Crucible Theatre’s production of the bard’s romantic tragedy. This raspberry flavoured slightly hoppy ale will be available at the Crucible bar and local pubs. It’s a delicious ale and is in limited supply so please get your orders in fast.
Thursday 22nd October 2015 “Seminar & Beer Festival”:4:30-5:30pm Lecture Theatre 9 in Hicks Building.University of Sheffield, Hounsfield Road, S3 7RHIgnazio Cabras (University of Northumbria) will present his work on “A pint of happiness: how pubs shape and foster community cohesion in rural England“. Following the seminar, we will walk down to the “Sheffield 41st Beer & Cider Festival 2015“ for an evening at Kelham Island Museum.Pubs in England represent an important locus for regional development and rejuvenation, particularly in rural areas where they act as hubs for social aggregation and economic activity. Generally, village pubs are regarded as complementarities to other local services and amenities that exist within the area, such as sporting events, volunteering and charity initiatives, as well as business activities. The evidence presented in this seminar provides empirical support for this proposition by estimating the impact of pubs on social and communal activities at a local level. More specifically, data and information about facilities and services available for rural parishes are used to elaborate a set of index measurements of community cohesion. The indexes, created upon a range of discrete variables capturing multiple aspects of community living, are then investigated by using different econometric and statistical techniques to measure the role of pubs in shaping the levels of community cohesion in the English countryside. Findings gathered from the analysis identify a strong positive relationship between the presence of pubs and higher levels of community cohesion index occurring within the examined parishes, indicating that this relationship is maintained in time. Results are discussed in the light of the significant decline in the number of pubs occurred in England and the UK in the last three decades, and explored with regard to possible policies and initiatives which could help preserving the positive impact these business have on rural communities.
Our first Catfest down at the Devonshire Cat 1st-4th October is a British hop festival supporting Blind Veterans UK charity. We have selected 24 casks that all feature British hops, so come down and se what our own soils can produce!
We will certainly have a strong presence at the Steel City Beer Festival later in the month, you may well have started to spot our promotional beer mats around town. Not 100% sure which beers of our will make the list, but they are sure to be some of the following:
‘Los Bancos’ – 4.2% – Following the great reaction to our Masquerade, we have another beer in our Lost Treasure series. This beer features two glorious American hops Mosaic and Simcoe, for a wonderful fruity and refreshing bitter pale beer.
‘Hop Hideout Stout’ – 6.8% – Those of you familiar to the Abbeydale Road area will have certainly stumbled into Hop Hideout over the last year or so, and Jules and Will have been itching to brew a beer with us for ages, and we have eventually managed to find a time that works for us all! In a nod to a certain 80s movie monster, we have a strong robust stout brewed with Hazelnut, coffee and marshmallow flavours.
‘Seven Deadly Sins’ – 7.0% – More strong dark beer for you! When we brewed the ‘Bex’ earlier in the year with a specialist Belgian yeast strain, we were able to crop enough yeast for another brew. So John took it upon himself to brew a 7.0% Belgian style Dubbel back in June. This was then filled into seven of our wooden barriques and left to age in our cold store. However, each of the barriques had some different ingredients added to represent each of the deadly sins. Who will try them all? Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth and Wrath. There will only be about 5 or 6 firkins of each Sin, so keep your eyes peeled!
‘Dr Morton’s Zombie Chainsaw’ – 4.1% – In preparation for Hallowe’en, we have a scary offering from the other good Doctor! Expect plenty in the way of fruity hop character, and a resounding bitter finish.
Also keep your eyes peeled for another Hallowe’en beer called Cinder-hella which is our first attempt at a Pumpkin Spiced beer, more details in next month’s edition!
Until then, mine’s a pint of Moonshine!
Robin Baker
Last month the winner of this year’s Champion Beer of Britain was announced as Tiny Rebel Cwtch – the final of this competition is judged at the Great British Beer Festival in London. However the whole process of picking a winner takes about a year and a half, with the beginning of the process involving all CAMRA members being offered the chance to vote for the best beers brewed in their region.
Members of Sheffield & District CAMRA can vote for breweries in Yorkshire, the North East and the East Midlands, members of Dronfield CAMRA can vote for breweries in the East Midlands. You are asked to pick the top 5 beers in each category from a drop down list.
To vote, log in with your membership number and password (default password is your postcode) at www.cbobvoting.org.uk. The voting deadline is 1st November.
Let’s support our local brewers!
