Poppy & Dom’s Casks of the Month
With well over 200 cask beers to try during the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival, it’s impossible to try them all even with four days to do it so it usually requires some planning beforehand to make sure you get to sample all the interesting ones. But the best made plans often go astray and we definitely ended up trying a few that weren’t on our original lists! However, with such a great selection on offer as always, it was difficult to go far wrong whatever we chose.
Here are three each of Poppy and Dom’s favourite beers from the festival, in no particular order:
Poppy
Imperial/Lost Industry/Raw – Let’s Get Ready to Crumble: I often find white stouts a bit sweet, especially when they are dessert-flavoured, but this one was evenly balanced and very palatable. It was my drink of choice behind the bar, and it seemed pretty popular with the people I recommended it to as well, especially our chairman Glyn!
Fat Cat – Bitter: Anyone who knows me knows I’m a bitter girl, and I’m a firm believer you can test the quality of a brewery by the drinkability of their bitter. I “sampled” this beer quite a few times during the festival, and thought it was a good transition between a traditional bitter and a red ale.
HopJacker – Phoenix: I know, it’s another beer from upstairs (the marquee was a long way away, OK!). APA was a style I was first introduced to at the Potteries Beer Festival a few years ago and I quite enjoy the mellower flavour compared to an IPA. This one was a good example of the style and it was a nice introduction for visitors I spoke to who hadn’t tried APAs before.
Dom
Kirkstall – Black Band Porter: After a bit of a tumble (if you were anywhere near the cider bar on Saturday afternoon, you’ll know what I mean!) I needed something to calm my nerves and this porter did just the trick. Flavours of chocolate and caramel came to the fore in this wonderfully smooth and tasty dark ale.
Steel City – Black Cascade: I’ve always been a fan of black IPAs and I thought this one was a great example. The style has gone out of fashion a bit lately, but personally I have always enjoyed the combination of hop bitterness and the slightly sweet, roasted flavours of the dark malt. If I didn’t have a rule not to drink the same beer twice, I would have gone back for a second pint!
Anthology – Dry Hopped Pale Citra/Mosaic: Luckily there was some of this beer for the staff take down on Saturday evening as I had somehow missed it during the week. This unfined beer had a rather milky appearance and a fantastically fruity hop aroma. The Citra and Mosaic hops both offered distinctive flavours and combined well to make a wonderfully drinkable beer.
As would be expected on a Saturday afternoon, there was a good number of punters in attendance to see pub landlord Trevor Wraith (left) presented with the certificate by Regional Director for Yorkshire, Kevin Keaveny.
Congratulations to Trevor, Lewis and all the Kelham Island Tavern’s staff and customers on their continued success. 
The Stables Bar was very busy also with children and dogs, but we managed to present the award to Mandy during a brief few minutes to an appreciative audience. 
Nowadays the front door leads to a small entrance lobby with 1950s tiled floor. An oak latched door to the left has ‘Public Bar’ painted in gold and on the frame above is painted the Roman numeral ‘I’. An oak latched door on the right has gold painted lettering ‘Saloon Room’ over which a metal sign ‘Lounge’ and on the frame above is the Roman numeral ‘II’. The left small Public Bar has a carpet, stone Tudor arch-style fireplace found in pre-war pubs but appears also have been added in the 1950s, and quality high-backed fitted seating on two sides of the room.
There is a quarter circle bar with a counter of wooden tongue and groove of high quality including a small linenfold section, and the bar back is of a 1950s style with adzed wood on the frame and no loss of lower shelving. The walls are of rough stone and painted white and a door at the rear leads to a short passage. There is a Roman numeral ‘I’ on the back of the door, a door on the left of the passage has the Roman numeral ‘IV’ and ‘Cellar’ painted in gold. Another door has ‘Private’ on it. Alongside is a door with ‘Gentlemen’ on it. A door on the right of the passage has the gold painted wording ‘Snug’ and ‘III’.
The right hand carpeted Lounge Bar being two rooms prior to the mid 1950s has two different ceilings – higher plain one at the front and lower ‘beamed’ one in rear part. In the front part is a curved 1950s bar counter with a small linenfold section and the bar back is 1950s style with adzed wood frame. On the front right is a different style of stone fireplace to the public bar one and seen in pre-war pubs, but appears also have been added in the 1950s, and above it is a massive plaster Coat of Arms with a dull yellow-coloured ceramic (?) decorative border. The arms belong to Rowland Eyre, a Royalist officer in the Civil War. The Eyres raised a regiment in Derbyshire and fought at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644.
There is more adzed wood above the change in ceiling height. On the front wall side is more of the high backed fitted seating, a long case clock, and the walls are of bare stone. In the rear part are more of the high backed fitted seating on the left and right and low backed bench seating on the rear wall. An oak latched door on the front right hand side leads to the kitchen and one on the rear right leads to the ladies’ toilet.
An oak latched door leads from the rear left part of the lounge to the snug at the middle rear and has the Roman numeral ‘II’ painted on it in gold. Formerly the site of the servery it is a small room with a modest counter, almost a hatch, having a 1950s frontage. There is more of the high-backed fitted seating, one low backed bench and a door leads to the passage situated at the rear left.
The gents’ toilet has a red tiled floor and inter-war style cream tiled walls to picture-frame height throughout with a row of light green tiles along the bottom and top and retains the 1950s urinal with the only change being a wooden WC door added in 2016. Added in the mid-1950s it replaced the outside gents situated on the front left of the building as detailed in the 1952 plan, which also shows the ladies was also outside on the right. The ladies are situated where the 1952 plan shows was the larder and also has inter-war style cream tiled walls to picture-frame height throughout with a row of light green tiles along the bottom and top. Again, the only changes are the wooden WC doors added in 2016.
Dave Pickersgill & Mick Slaughter 
The nomination is for the e-book version released last year, which has been downloaded more than 96,000 times to date. There was also, of course, a physical version of the book brought out in October this year with an initial print run of 1,000 copies, and there is set to be a second batch of 250 copies printed in time for Christmas.
The British Guild of Beer Writers was founded in 1988 and currently has more than 350 members. Formed to “improve the standards of beer writing and improve the public knowledge of beer and pubs,” members include big names such as Roger Protz, Ray Bailey and Pete Brown.
Dave is up against four other writers and editors in his category. The award ceremony takes place in London on Thursday 22 November, so by the time this magazine hits the pubs we will know the winner – keep an eye on our website and social media for further announcements.
Congratulations and good luck to Dave!
Dominic Nelson 
Tony Brown, formerly at the Blue Ball, is now running the pub and has added table football to the larger room on the left which will be refurbished soon as well as a new a beer garden. The Tuesday quiz night will also be returning.
Bradfield Farmers Blonde and Belgian Blue are on the pumps, with rotating guest beers including Abbeydale Moonshine then Timothy Taylor’s Boltmaker. A good selection of bar snacks is also available.
John Beardshaw 
Live music at The Harlequin for December:
Saturday 1st: Bad Penny
Friday 7th: Mahogany Newt
Saturday 8th: Rooster
Friday 14th: Rocket 88
Saturday 15th: Outside the Box
Saturday 22nd: Swear Box
During 2018, The Harlequin has raised money for many charities with our charity quiz nights. The organisations supported were Multiple Sclerosis Society, Parkinson Disease Society, Sheffield Real Junk Food Project, Pitsmoor Adventure Playground, RSPCA, Refuge womens charity, Black & Blue for victims of violence, Sheffield Tent City & Sheffield Tree Action Group
Pete Roberts
Virgins Wing is our next brew this month. This lightly hopped festive brew uses the German Mandarina Bavaria variety, giving a suitably seasonal hint of clementines and is easy drinking at 3.8%.
From our Brewers Choice range, we have Jacob’s Jazzy Jumpers. Jacob (progeny of brewer Tom and manager Claire) is famous for his array of Aunty Jean’s spectacular hand-knitted jumpers, and he and the brewery team are proud to present a Christmas-jumper inspired, tremendously fruity IPA. At 5.8%, it’s sure to get you feeling festive!
You may have also seen our limited edition bottles of Cocoa Noel (5.5%) around and about at your favourite bottle shops. We’re excited to announce that we’ve also done a limited-edition run of 20 casks of this sumptuous chocolate stout. Check out our social media to see where you can grab a pint of this festive favourite.
Lastly, don’t wait until the last minute this Christmas to pick up some of our Brewery Tour tickets – it’s the perfect gift for the real ale lover in your life (and you can always get one for yourself too!). Tickets can be purchased via our website or at the Welbeck Farm Shop.
Jess Low