Andy Cullen – Page 93 – CAMRA Sheffield & District

Steel City Brewing

Posted on 12 Aug 201518 Aug 2015 by Andy Cullen

Steel City have given the politics a break and gone back to their more usual music references with The Light At The End Of The World (a long-overdue My Dying Bride reference). This is a ‘typical’ Steel City Transatlantic Pale Ale, using Low Colour Maris Otter and a bit of Wheat Malt in the mash, with Columbus for bittering followed by Mosaic and Rakau for flavour and aroma. As is becoming the norm, there will be a chilli version, in this case for Nottingham beer festival and named Death In Fire (from the Amon Amarth song, obviously, sure you’re all familiar with it!). A bottled chilli version is also planned, Her Ghost In The Fog (Cradle of Filth this time), with a Ghost Pepper in every bottle! The next collaboration is ‘away’ at Landlocked in Ripley. Details still to be confirmed, but Dave is rather happy at the prospect of finally getting to brew a sour beer (being a cuckoo brewer, their hosts probably wouldn’t thank them for introducing lactobacillus and brettanomyces to the brewery!). The ‘base’ beer, working title Stone Sour, is a pale greengage sour, then numerous variants are planned with different fruits. At least a couple of variants will be available at the Steel City beer festival in October, and hopefully also at Wakefield beer festival the weekend before.

The Hop

Posted on 12 Aug 201514 Aug 2015 by Andy Cullen

The Hop reopened following refurbishment on Friday 14th August (with a number of guests including Sheffield CAMRA branch members invited to a preview night the day before). In the public areas the refurbishment is subtle yet effective creating a much lighter, brighter and welcoming atmosphere, however the main bulk of the work has been moving the cellar and installing a proper full size kitchen featuring an American BBQ oven. The food offer is no longer the pie hole, it is now operated by ‘The BBQ Collective’.

Barrow Hill volunteers wobble around Wakefield

Posted on 10 Aug 201510 Aug 2015 by Andy Cullen

This trip, on the first of August, was reward for volunteering for the bar at the Rail Ale Festival at Barrow Hill. Six of us from Dronfield CAMRA, Roger & Ruth Hepworth, Ken Perkins. Michelle Kay, Linda Walker and myself, Kevin Thompson, attended. Ken and Michelle did their own thing while the remaining four of us did our best to hang onto the main party. Mark, the trip organiser, had laid on a coach to sample some of the delights of Wakefield at a variety of venues. The eager fifty or so CAMRA members assembled in Chesterfield on Saturday morning for the one hour journey up the M1. As everyone knows, Wakefield is the administrative centre of West Yorkshire. Pub quiz addicts will be familiar with the fact that Wakefield is the largest city in the UK which does not possess a League Football team. Wakefield has a long history of brewing which is discussed in some detail on Wakefield CAMRA’s website: http://www.wakefieldcamra.org.uk/lost_brewers.html First port of call was Fernandes Brewery Tap & Bier Keller, Avison Yard, which had opened earlier for our arrival. The queue soon ran from the bar down the pub’s narrow, steep stairs with drinkers quaffing their first pint free. Roger and Myself selected Ossett Brewery’s Yorkshire Blonde, as our first tipple, an extremely good session beer at 3.9% to start the day. Ruth, a dark beer drinker went with the Fernandes Dustcutter, while Linda plumped for a medium sweet, but strong cider. As there were people still just getting started on their first pint, we decided to sample another. This time we went with Fernandes Polaris, while the ladies stuck with their original choices. Next on the itinerary came the Bull & Fairhouse, a traditional, music orientated pub with a good selection of ales. Sticking to paler ales, myself and Roger went with Old Bob’s Silver Bullitt at 4%, Ruth tried Hazelnut Mild from the Brass Castle Brewery while Linda went with Weston’s Rosies Pig, a medium cider at 5%. Actually attached next door on Market Street, it was a short hop to Graziers, a more sports orientated pub. There Roger and myself ordered two pints of Leed’s Brewery Pale, a nice hoppy beer, in line with the others we had sampled elsewhere. Ruth went with an old favourite in Taylor’s Landlord, while, I threw a nice Old Rosie cider in for Linda, omitting to mention the fact it came in at a leg wobbling 7.5%.

As we were fast approaching the halfway point of the day, the munchies set in and we went off in search of food. On the main shopping area of Westgate, we found a nice local bakers to fill a corner. The sausage roll, chicken and stuffing rolls and Cornish pasty did the trick and we set off for the next destination of Wakefield Labour Club, affectionately known locally as “The Red Shed,” due to it’s socialist roots. The club situated, just off the bottom of the Ridings, was already quite busy and our numbers soon had it buzzing with conversation. The beer was cheap and an excellent Phoenix Gold was consumed by the men, while Ruth chose a Plum Porter from Titanic Brewery. Due to its reputation, we walked back over Westgate in search of Harry’s Bar. After a few mistakes with the GPS, a local actually pointed out the alleyway where the pub was situated. This bar was lovely, a quaint, wooden adorned building, large enough for the group, but small enough for intimate conversations. First choice here was a favourite of mine, which Roger went along with, Moorhouses Pride of Pendle, a consistently good pale. Ruth plumped for the North Riding Oatmeal Stout, a pint of which I finished the day on. The cider on the bar which caught Linda’s eye was a cherry 5% medium.

So, as it approached 6pm and with a bellyful of beer, we wobbled our way back to Wakefield Train Station for our coach pick-up, with good experiences of great venues, and the added bonus of no poor beer throughout the day. Another beer was consumed in the Blue Bell in Chesterfield, Hobgoblin’s Gold, before boarding the bus back to Dronfield. I should think we will return sometime, especially as Revolution Brewery is opening a venue there later this year to boost the real ale scene. Roger Hepworth

Volunteer at the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival

Posted on 9 Aug 201516 Aug 2015 by Andy Cullen

Fancying joining the volunteer team of organisers, managers and staff that make our beer & cider festival happen? The staffing form is now live on our website at sheffield.camra.org.uk/festival, please fill this in with your details and the hours you wish to work. Our staffing officer will then register you and allocate you a job and reserve you a staff t-shirt (note only a limited stock of t-shirts have been provided by our sponsors so these are first come first served). Volunteers also get a pack of complimentary beer tokens and of course free admission! There are a variety of roles at the festival, the most obvious being serving beer and cider at the bar but we also need staff at the entrance dealing with admissions, glasses, programmes and customer service; staff on the various stalls including merchandise, membership, beer tokens and games; staff in the office for various admin duties and of course members of the cellar team looking after the beer behind the scenes! We also really need volunteers to help on the site team setting everything up in the days before we open and taking everything down on the Sunday – we move in to an empty site on the Monday and build all the bars etc and have to leave an empty site with everything back in storage on the Sunday! We are always very short of helpers taking down and packing away on the Sunday – although it should be noted a change this year is the festival is closing a little earlier on Saturday where some of the takedown jobs will begin before the staff social – however on Sunday there will still be plenty to do including van runs to our storage location and as there will be no beer to drink we will provide volunteers with food – sandwiches at lunch time and a hot meal in the evening after work is complete. Working a beer festival is generally enjoyed by all – work is involved of course – however its is also fun and if you have a passion for good beer or cider then a successful event all feels worthwhile!

New Barrack Tavern

Posted on 9 Aug 201516 Aug 2015 by Andy Cullen

The New Barrack Tavern are holding something of a live music festival over the August bank holiday weekend with bands on from 7:30pm on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday and stages both indoors and outdoors in use. Entry is free. The monthly Sunday comedy night also continues, the next being on the 6th September. This is a ticketed event. We’ve been told by Kev and Steph to expect a big announcement from them soon, unfortunately it wasn’t made in time for this issue going to press but rumour has it that the changes may involve having more guest beers…

Focus on…. Mitchell’s Wines

Posted on 8 Aug 201510 Aug 2015 by Andy Cullen

Dennis Mitchell opened his butchers shop at Meadowhead in 1935 to service the new build residential area of Meadowhead and Norton. In 1963 the shop was enlarged to create an off-licence section or beer off as they were then known. John Mitchell joined the family firm in 1968 and started to drive the drink side of the business forward, it was very much returnable bottles in those days. The biggest seller being Tennents Gold Label barley wine sold in nips. Guinness was bottles everywhere, we bought ours from Skinner Rook and Chambers as they used Dublin Guinness, our customers preferred this rather than Park Royal London. Other popular ales included Tetley’s family ale, Whitbread Forest Brown, John Smiths Magnet & Mansfield Ale. Our best seller was Shipstone Gold Star sold in flagons because it was the cheapest. Well wind the clock on 50 years and Mitchells are still there, having picked up many awards over the years including Courage Beer Retailer of the year back in 1994, Winner of Off Licence News Wine Merchant of the Year twice, Spirits & Beer Retailer as well as coming runner up to Selfridges on Oxford Street as Drinks retailer of the year 2015. What makes this shop so special? Well within its 3000 sq foot of floor space lay a labyrinth of drink departments as well as the North of England’s best fine Havana cigar selection. The biggest hit of the last 2 years is the rise in popularity of Whisky and Gin. We are also now seeing a major rise in Craft & Artisan Beers. We currently stock over 500 real ale and ciders including 26 from Thornbridge Brewery alone from which we started out with just 2 core ranges Jaipur and Kipling. We have a dedicated fridge to cool selected ales down to between 10c and 14c for that perfect serve. Wherever possible, we try to support local breweries and stock over 100 varieties of Yorkshire/Derbyshire ales. Along with cider from Holmfirth and Tadcasters very own Samuel Smiths. Looking further afield we have great beers from surrounding counties and have a great selection of quality ales from as far as Scotland and Cornwall. We also specialise in coeliac approved beers from Wold Top Brewery along with other Gluten free, Organic & fair trade products. We always have an ever changing £1 guest ale value offer. So next time you’re passing Meadowhead there’s no excuse to not call in Mitchells.

Thornbridge Brewery

Posted on 8 Aug 201510 Aug 2015 by Andy Cullen

Thornbridge beers are gaining popularity worldwide with exports growing in over 30 countries during the past 5 years. And as the number of their international beer fans grow “Partnerships, says Simon Webster, Thornbridge’s Chief Operating Officer, with importers and those managing bars that stock Thornbridge are crucial to ensure our beers reach the drinker in the best of condition”.

Paul Leeyen has been stocking Thornbridge beers for 3 years at his bar in Den Bosch in the Netherlands and has been delighted with the response from his customers “high quality and a great variety of beer styles sets Thornbridge amongst the top breweries we deal with. Working with them and their importer Bier&cO has been a really positive experience”. Paul has been so delighted with his Thornbridge partnership that he approached the brewery about the idea of opening a Thornbridge Bar in Den Bosch. “After visiting the brewery in late 2014 I was blown away by the passion for their beers that everyone at Thornbridge demonstrated. I knew that if I could find the correct site in ’s-Hertogenbosch then a Thornbridge bar would be a great success”. After months of looking for the right site Paul has now found one and has been busy working with Thornbridge and Bier&cO with an aim of opening the Thornbridge@’s-Hertogenbosch on the 4^th September. Webster is excited by the concept “it really continues what we have been doing in the UK and on export – find and work with people who are as passionate about beer as we are and have skills that complement what we wish to do with Thornbridge beers. In Bier and Co we have an experienced importer and likewise with Paul. When we visited his current bar in ’s-Hertogenbosch, we knew our beers are in safe hands. So when he approached us to develop the Thornbridge Bar it excited us and it has been a lot of fun planning what we are sure will be a great success”.

Pub of the Month September 2015

Posted on 8 Aug 201518 Aug 2015 by Andy Cullen

Shakespeare’s, Gibralter Street. I’m sure I’m not the first CAMRA member to have moved home to make a favoured pub my “local” but this was the case almost two years ago when I decided to move from Doncaster to Sheffield as proximity to Shakespeare’s on Gibraltar Street was a very important factor my in flat-hunting. The pub was opened as The Shakespeare in 1821 as a Georgian coaching inn on the site of an earlier establishment dating back to the 18^th Century. After experiencing mixed fortunes under a succession of licensees in the late 90s and early ‘noughties’ it closed its doors in January 2010. Subsequently purchased and restored by real ale and music fan William Wagstaff it reopened as Shakespeare’s just in time for Tramlines in July 2011. The small front bar to the right on entering is the heart of the pub – containing the bar itself and the regularly updated “Shakesbeers” board. This is a lovely place to enjoy the fine beers on offer when the pub is quiet but can become quite congested at weekends. To the left is a side room dominated by a superb grandfather clock. Two distinct drinking areas with barrel tables and bar stool seating are located to the rear of the bar and through here to the right is a long back room which was originally a passageway for coaching horses (and subsequently brewery drays). Now known as The Archway this is furnished with long ‘picnic tables’ & benches, a darts board and a classic jukebox (recently returned to working order). The walls here are decorated with a huge array of pump clips, beer mats and posters. The large garden to the rear of the pub is very popular on warmer days, with the enclosed area to the left having been the stable back in coaching inn days. Upstairs is the renowned “Bard’s Bar” which hosts a varied programme of gigs and the very popular monthly King Bee night, as well as meetings, private parties and even book launches. It’s been a great pleasure to see my favourite band (Sheffield’s own High Hazels) play here three times – and two of the band’s videos were partially filmed in the pub! Also upstairs is a small games room with darts, bar billiards, table football and a selection of board games. Moving on to the all important beer there’s always 9 cask ales on sale (over 3,250 in the four years since the pub reopened) and it’s the range and quality of these that quite rightly wins plaudit upon plaudit from discerning drinkers looking for something a little different to/over and above the norm. Beers from highly regarded UK breweries such as Hopcraft, Siren Craft, Buxton & Mallinson’s regularly feature alongside fine local breweries including Steel City and Blue Bee. Abbeydale Deception is the one regular beer – always popular and at a very reasonable £2.30 per pint. The guest beers are also competitively priced given their calibre and (in many cases) rarity. When the pub is quiet the helpful and knowledgeable staff are happy to serve any beer from the cellar that’s tapped and ready to drink. The ‘less traditionally minded’ beer connoisseur can now enjoy at least three quality keg beers from pioneering breweries in the US, UK and Europe. There’s also three cask ciders and a superb selection of over 100 single malts. Food (very commendably in the author’s opinion) is limited to good value (70p) filled bread rolls, Stobart’s pork pies and a range of bar snacks in the shape of crisps, pork scratchings and nuts. Although the main criterion for any CAMRA award has to be the availability of a range of high-quality cask beers (clearly achieved with flying colours in this case!) a pub can only be as good as its staff – and here Shakespeare’s excels yet again. Manager Chris Bamford has been there from the start and what he doesn’t know about sourcing and caring for quality beer really isn’t worth knowing. Chris is very ably supported by Assistant Managers Chris Wadsworth and Keisha Wright, together with the wonderful bar team of Wendy, Louis, Lizzie & James. All, and many of the lovely “regulars”, have become friends. Downstairs the strong musical links continue – with ‘Sheffield Rapper’ early Monday evenings, Ceilidh sessions in the back room on Tuesdays and ‘sing-arounds’ in the front side room on Wednesdays. The pub also plays a major role in the “Sheffield Sessions” annual Folk Festival. Chris hosts an excellent quiz every Thursday at 9:30pm (fans of the Bard will no doubt appreciate the eloquent rendition of an extract from one of his works which forms the basis of Question 25). The ‘Shakey’ appeals to a wide cross-section of people including musicians, artists, writers, theatre and studio staff and students as well as CAMRA members and other beer connoisseurs from all over the UK (and often even further afield). The presentation of this richly deserved Pub Of the Month award will take place on Tuesday 15^th September at approximately 8pm. All are welcome to attend – it’s bound to be a fine evening Martin Clark

Photo gallery

Posted on 8 Aug 201518 Aug 2015 by Andy Cullen

We recently presented July Pub of the Month to the Cremorne on London Road, August pub of the Month to the Red Deer on Pitt Street and District Pub of the Year to the Anglers Rest at Millers Dale.

A thanks to all the above pubs for hosting us and making us welcome along with a congratulations on your respective awards. Also a special thanks to Wincle brewery who supplied a complimentary bottle of beer to all of us who attended the presentation at the Anglers Rest as a take home gift, Wincle beers often feature on the bar at the Anglers and on the night of the presentation a pin of theirs was set up on the bar as an additional guest beer poured on gravity. Finally not long after we presented Graham and Beryl with their District Pub of the Year award they celebrated their Ruby wedding anniversary. Again, congratulations! —- The Brothers Arms laid on a beer and music festival on the same weekend as Tramlines festival and of course the Everley Pregnant Brothers was one of the acts performing there. Our Dronfield sub branch had an official social there later on the Saturday evening and enjoyed themselves, however our photo from earlier in the day when the Brothers were playing suggests a good turn out….

—- The Old Poets Corner at Ashover, near Chesterfield, won Derbyshire Pub of the Year, pictured is Jane Lefley of Chesterfield CAMRA presenting the award.

Thornbridge Brewery

Posted on 8 Aug 201510 Aug 2015 by Andy Cullen

Great Taste Awards 2015; Jaipur and Halcyon voted in the top 50 UK Food and Drinks We are very excited to have received 5 awards for our beers at the Great Taste Awards 2015!

The awards are held annually and known as ‘the acknowledged benchmark for fine food and drink’ with the judging administered by a panel of over 400, including well-known and very well respected specialists. Only around 1 percent of entrants receive a prestigious ‘3 stars’ at the awards and both Jaipur, for the second year running, and Halcyon, a new entry, were awarded this accolade. Alongside this we picked up ‘1 star’ for Wild Raven, Otto and Saint Petersburg rounding out an overall great result for us from the awards this year. All of the winners then proceeded to the next stage where the ‘Top 50 Winners’ were selected, both Jaipur and Halcyon made the cut and were named as two of the fifty best food and drink products in the UK! We are very proud that our beers have been recognised at the Great Taste Awards and this brings us up to 20 awards since we started entering in 2011. Having our beers acknowledged in this way by a range of experts from across the food and drinks industry helps to show the wide appeal of our beers.