Author: Guest

Abbeydale Brewery

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We’re welcoming back Alchemy (4.2%) this month! It will have new artwork (due to a revamp of this series by our in house designer, James Murphy), but the same recipe, which is always a popular one – single hopped with Amarillo for notes of juicy orange and tropical fruits. And also in the pale ale corner will be Exodus (3.9%) – at the time of writing, the hops for this one are yet to be decided, but it’s sure to be a light and easy drinking refresher!

And we’re getting back into the swing of collaborations at the moment and have Wanderer – Mountain IPA (6.5%) on the way. This one sees us teaming up with Heist Brew Co – their head brewer, Scott, previously worked for us, so we just had to invite him back for the day! Having visited Heist last year and brewing Battle of the Axes there, we’ve reused the same recipe to see how it works on our kit, rustling up a hybrid between a West Coast IPA and a NEIPA, with Citra, Centennial and Idaho 7 hops. Expect resinous pine sitting alongside notes of black tea, juicy mango and pink grapefruit. 

We hope you’ll all be as excited as we are to hear that we’re brewing a riff on our “People’s Champion” New Zealand Pale Ale, and have Dry Hopped Deception (4.1%) coming soon! Our regular Deception recipe, still at the same sessionable ABV, but turned up to 11 with a double dry-hopping of Nelson Sauvin for flavours of white grape, gooseberry and elderflower in absolute abundance. 

And finally, there are two new releases from the Funk Dungeon to look out for – Pull of Gravity (5.6%), a graf (apple raw ale, brewed in collaboration with Ascension Cider Co) and Ryes Again (6.0%) – a reimagining of Ryes From the Grave, which some of you may remember was the first ever full release from our mixed fermentation project. A blend of beers aged in barrel for up to four years, fruited with sour cherries, raspberries and blackcurrants. We reckon this one’s pretty special.

Steel City Brewing

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Remember a few years ago when Steel City blagged a collab at Weird Beard?

Well finally it was time for the return fixture! While Weird Beard has undergone a change of ownership and is currently relocating from up that London to up north, founder Bryan remains fully involved, and came to Sheffield to brew a proper DIPA with actual bitterness – remember them?

Dave and Bryan are both big fans of old skool IPAs with lots of bitterness and citrussy hops, and rue the lack of them these days. The recipe drew on Weird Beard’s ‘Holy Hoppin Hell’ and old Steel City recipes, and features a mix of American and Polish hops.

The result is ‘Russian warship, Go F**k Yourself’, a pale 9.8% brew, bone dry, with high bitterness (126IBU!) and citrus flavours. The brew was Steel City’s second for #brewforUkraine, with profits again donated to the DEC Ukraine Appeal. Between this and the earlier ‘Vlad the Invader’, nearly £1,500 has been raised for Ukraine humanitarian aid.

Pub of the Month August 2022

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When I started going to the Rutland it was under the old Reet Ale Pubs management, and was renowned for good beer, great food and legendary parties. When it was taken over five years ago (where did that time go?) by Chris (previously manager of last month’s PotM, Shakespeares) and Kate (previously manager of Three Tuns) not much changed apart from the beer went up a notch, in fact several notches. Two house cask beers are from the local Blue Bee brewery, with a further five handpumps featuring an ever-changing range, always including something dark and often including something slightly (or seriously!) unusual. Keg-wise, the house pale is a rotating Kernel tap dispensing whatever is new and pale from the brewery who started the infamous ‘Bermondsey Mile’, while up to eight more craft taps have a wide range of styles, including dedicated lines for sours and imperial stouts. Cider is not forgotten, with one draught and two regularly changing handpumps dedicated to all things apple (and often pear). Regular tap takeover and meet the brewer events are held, recently including Holy Goat from Dundee and Brewski from Sweden. Following their success with the Rutland, in 2019 Chris and Kate opened a second pub, former PotM winner the Crow Inn on Scotland St, which features a similarly top notch craft beer range as well as seven comfortable ensuite bedrooms.

As well as one of the best beer ranges in Sheffield, there is also an excellent spirit range including a wide array of single malt whiskies and a good selection of rums. As previously mentioned, the food is very high standard, especially the ever-changing specials board, and always includes vegetarian and vegan options. There is also a jukebox with an eclectic selection of music, over which stands a blackboard of ‘recommended music’ and ‘forbidden music’, both regularly updated but the latter quite rightly permanently including Morrissey.

The Rutland was built, in 1936, on the site of a previous pub built in 1902. It has since been opened up with the removal of internal walls. However, it is possible to see the layout of the 1936 pub, with the tap room and servery on the left and the lounge on the right (from Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs by Dave Pickersgill, available from Sheffield CAMRA). The pub is decorated with a mix of pumpclips on the walls and ceiling plus a miscellany of props dotted around. Outside is a smallish garden, usually offering a choice of sun (subject to availability, this is Britain after all…) and shade.

Dave Szwejkowski

The presentation will take place on the evening of Thursday 18 August, all are welcome to join us from 8pm for a beer or two!

Award presentations

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Pub of the Month June 2022 – Sheffield CAMRA Secretary Paul Manning, centre, presents the Pub of the Month award to Lucienne Mullen and Chris Wadsworth managers of Shakespeares, Gibraltar Street. Following the presentation there was a buffet to enjoy. The weather was kind and the opportunity to sit outside with a pint or two was also enjoyed!
Sheffield Pub of the Year – west Sheffield and overall winner – Beer Matters magazine editor Andrew Cullen with manager of the Rising Sun, Garry Raynes
East Sheffield area pub of the year – Paul Manning presents the award to managers Terry and Alison
South Sheffield Pub of the Year, the Sheaf View at Heeley. Our branch Chairman Glynn Mansell presents the certificate to Dominic Durham.

Photographs by John Beardshaw.

Scratching for an audience

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Launchpad support helps Beerpig unlock crackling year of growth

Two Rotherham-based entrepreneurs are hoping to snaffle up a piece of the lucrative pub snacks market after successfully reinventing the humble pork scratching.

John Walker and David Mace launched their pub snacks business, Beerpig, back in November 2019. Despite losing their entire customer base due to the pandemic just four months into their business journey, today, Beerpig’s tasty pork scratchings, which are sold warm directly from the bar, can be found in over 250 pubs and clubs across the UK.

Insurance broker John hit on the idea of producing warm pork scratchings when he decided to conduct an experiment at home. To his surprise, John discovered that the process of heating the pork scratchings improved their flavour, and after sharing his discovery with friends, the Wickersley-based entrepreneur decided to explore building a business around selling warm pork scratchings to the pubs industry.

Central to Beerpig’s growth plans was the creation of a custom-built warming cabinet, enabling pubs to sell heated pork scratchings. At the same time, John embarked upon a quest to design and create the perfect pork crackling which would be suitable for warming, meet the necessary shelf life and comply with all food safety standards. Armed with a few samples of Beerpig Crackling and some business cards, John and David ventured out to several local pubs and secured their first orders.

With each heating unit requiring significant investment, John knew that the key to the success of the business would be securing repeat orders. He also recognised that by serving the pork scratchings in washable, porcelain dishes, it would also help to reduce single-use plastics or cardboard.

However, John and David also knew that to build and grow the business, they would need additional help and called upon Launchpad, a free business support programme aimed at helping new entrepreneurs and SMEs within South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw to realise their potential.

Working with experienced business adviser Darren McDool, John and David realised it was vital to protect the Beerpig name and successfully secured a trademark to protect their unique brand. Together they developed a short term and a long-term business plan setting out the company’s ambitious growth plans over the next six months and over the next three years – the shorter term six month targets they successfully achieved within just six weeks of trading. With Darren’s help, Beerpig relocated from John’s home office to Rotherham’s Fusion Business Centre within their first month.

During this time, John and David also took part in a number of the free workshops provided by Launchpad, giving them the confidence to build and develop their own website from scratch, further protect their brand, as well as learning how to market their products more effectively.

Poised to enjoy a significant period of expansion and growth, disaster struck just four months into Beerpig’s business journey, when the Covid pandemic prevented the pubs industry from opening. Overnight, the company lost its entire customer base and with Beerpig HQ full of pork scratchings, John and David realised they needed to diversify their business model. They quickly redeveloped their plans and began to sell  stock online via their website and Amazon, immediately receiving rave reviews from pork scratching fans from across the UK. 

Recognising the challenges the hospitality industry faced during lockdown, John and David worked closely with their pub customers, replacing all snacks that had reached their expiry dates completely free of charge. Since the re-opening of the hospitality industry, Beerpig has enjoyed a significant period of growth, with the number of pubs stocking their products rising from just 30 in January 2020 to over 300 today. Beerpig sells one ton Beerpig Pork Crackling to pubs and clubs across the UK every week, and the company is hoping to expand its pub operations to over 1000 outlets by the end of 2023.

John Walker, co-founder, Beerpig said:

“Pork scratchings are the most popular pub snack in the UK, yet despite their popularity, the way they are sold today has hardly changed since they were first developed nearly 200 years ago. I felt selling warm pork crackling would be something that would be popular with drinkers,  so after tailoring and perfecting our recipe, we quickly started receiving regular orders; however, when Covid struck, we were forced to completely re-evaluate our business model. Imagine starting a new company selling to pubs and bars for them ALL to be forced to close their doors within a matter of weeks,

We approached Launchpad for help fairly early on in our business journey and Darren and the team have been incredibly supportive. We knew that for our business to succeed it was important to get everything right from day one. The one-to-one advice we’ve received helped us to get our terms and conditions right, protect our brand, as well as refining our business plans. The workshops we’ve attended have helped us to build our customer base, increase online presence and understand what it takes to run a successful business.  Launchpad has provided a constant source of support throughout our business journey, and the help we’ve received has enabled us to not only believe in our ideas but lay the foundations for significant future growth.”

Darren McDool, Launchpad adviser, said:

“Beerpig is an exciting company with a bright future ahead of it. Like any true entrepreneur, John and David spotted new opportunities when faced with adversity, and despite being forced to radically transform their original plans, almost overnight, they were able to adapt their business model and tap into new ways of generating revenue for the business.

Building a strong brand can be an important way of distinguishing your services from those of competitors. John and David knew they would be entering into an incredibly competitive sector and recognised the importance of distinguishing their products from others. Crucially, they also knew it was vital to protect their brand and spent time successfully trademarking their company name, logo, as well as developing custom built equipment to heat their products, as well as getting their terms and conditions right from the first day they started trading. Launchpad was designed to not only help new entrepreneurs to understand what it takes to build and grow a successful business, but also to help them to create solid foundations, paving the way for future growth.”

Pork Scratchings are believed to have originated from the black country in the early 1800s, but first became a regular staple of pubs in the 1930s. In 2020, a survey revealed that 72% of pub goers have bought a packet of pork scratchings in a local pub. Today, the UK pork scratchings market is estimated to be worth a staggering £28 million.

Beerpig is continuing to grow with the support from Launchpad and are constantly receiving and looking for new stockist enquires where their unique product will thrive in satisfying the UK public with their favourite pub snack.  For more information on Beerpig contact the team on 07368 697020 or visit beer-pig.co.uk.

Launchpad is a business support programme for new businesses. Financially supported by the European Regional Development Fund and delivered by local authorities within South Yorkshire and The Prince’s Trust, the programme provides free help and support to budding entrepreneurs who are thinking of starting their own business or looking for help to achieve business growth.

For more information on the Launchpad programme and how it operates, contact the Growth Hub Gateway on 0333 000 0039 or visit scrlaunchpad.co.uk.

Festival season at True North

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With summer well and truly in swing True North have revealed their exclusive 2022 festival season with a series of events popping up across Sheffield. Over the coming months they will be hosting a number of day parties including Crookes-Chella, JockFest, Blueberry and CrownFest.  

All of these events will be filled with family fun for all. Children’s entertainment will run in the early afternoon, including a magician, comedian and glitter painters, continuing on with an eclectic mix of music throughout the day featuring everything from indie to rock and pop artists until 10pm. To make things even better, outdoor bars will be open at each of the festivals, including an exclusive Sheffield Dry Gin Bar, as well as an amazing outdoor BBQ with delicious food on offer all day long. 

The festivities will span over the months of July and August with four True North venues participating: Punch Bowl in Crookes Saturday 2 July, Horse & Jockey in Wadsley Saturday 16 July, Blue Stoops in Dronfield Saturday 30 July and Crown & Anchor in Barnsley Saturday 27 August.  

Each event will host a lineup of amazing local talent spanning across all genres of music including: James Scanlan, Steve Delaney, SUMO, What Katie Did Next, Risky Heroes and many more which can be found on the venue websites. As well as this children’s entertainer Barney Baloney will be on at each of these events between the hours of 12:00 and 14:00 performing magic tricks and comedy for all the family to enjoy. 

This is the perfect opportunity for a day out with the family with things finally being back to normal after the struggle of the Covid-19 pandemic. When the weather is nice, what better way to spend the day than enjoying a few drinks at your local with the people you love? 

Head of Sales, Emma Swales stated “These events are in place to give back and support the local community giving them a chance to get out and enjoy the sun with family and friends, with a showcase of locally sourced talent it’s a day people will remember!” 

While you’re there, don’t forget to give all the True North Brewery products a try, including this summer’s exclusive new products to celebrate 30 years of True North: The Celebration Pale and the Celebration Gin as well as the core range including favorites such as the Sheffield Dry Gin Marmalade, the True North Haze and Sheffield Dry Gin Summer Cup which will be on offer to customers at the outdoors bars! 

True North mural

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True North Brew Co. have unveiled a brand new mural at their Eldon Street Brewery painted by local artist, Rob Lee.

The mural, painted in Lee’s instantly recognisable use of pattern, repetition, and abstraction, stretches from the edge of Forum Kitchen + Bar, across to the True North Brewery on Eldon Street, and is part of the ’30 Years of Us’ celebrations across True North Brew Co. in 2022.

Kane Yardley, founder and owner of True North Brew Co., said: “I’m so proud of the business we’ve built over the last thirty years. We commissioned this mural to give something back to the local community who have supported us since 1992; it looks incredible and really brightens up Devonshire Green.”

The mural was unveiled during the Eldon Street Party, part of the ’30 Years of Us’ celebrations happening at True North Brew Co. in 2022, which is part of their “Summer of Love Tour” across their venues.

The mural is supported by the release of Sheffield Dry Gin’s ‘Celebration Gin’, a limited edition Sheffield Dry Gin featuring a special label created by Rob Lee, and True North Brew Co.’s ‘Celebration Ale’, a 5% pale ale brewed with 30 hops.

Nicky Geraghty, Senior Marketing Executive at True North Brew Co. said: “Thirty years of True North is such a massive milestone, we thought it deserved a big celebration to match!”

“By teaming up with Rob Lee, we’ve created a work of art for the public, but also a work of art to collect and keep on our Sheffield Dry Gin bottles.” You can try the limited edition produce on the bar at True North venues or buy a bottle of Celebration Gin online or at the True North Store, found in Forum Shops + Boutiques.

Abbeydale Brewery

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We’re excited to announce that our charity partners for this year are Roundabout, a local housing charity who provide shelter, support and life skills to under 25s who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. And whilst we aren’t able to host our Sunfest beer festival this year, we’ve still brewed a big batch of beer which would traditionally have launched there, in aid of our charity partners. Please keep your eyes peeled for Fresh Start, a 4.1% pale ale with 10p from every pint going to support the incredibly valuable work that Roundabout do in our community.

Our new single hopped series Obsession is back for a second release, this time showcasing Ekuanot hops in a 5.9% IPA. We’ve gone West Coast style for this one, so expect a lovely robust bitterness to back up the luscious lemon lime character found within these wonderful hops. Also single hopped is Hopback Azacca (4.2%), promising notes of juicy mango and a cornucopia of tropical fruits.

We’re paying homage to an iconic beer that started off the beery journeys of many of our team here with Restoration – Golden Steam Ale (4.9%). Expect a lovely caramel malt sweetness, with Chinook hops adding a light grassy aroma and hints of earthy pine.  

And rounding off the month we have Dr Morton’s Four Yorkshiremen, a classic 4.1% pale ale with Simcoe & Amarillo hops, and the ever-popular Salvation – Cappuccino Stout (5.5%) making a welcome return too.

Welbeck Abbey Brewery

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Welbeck Abbey Brewery are delighted to announce that the revamp of its core-range beers has been a great success, with positive feedback all round for the three brand-new beers and new-look designs.

The beers have been well received by both trade customers and the general public, and this has been validated by the winning of a number of different awards in a variety of regional and national beer competitions over the last few months.

The good news began shortly after the launch event, with wins for all three new beers at the Farm Shop & Deli Show, held from 25-27th April at the NEC in Birmingham.  The Product Awards were a new addition to the show’s line-up, adding unrivalled value to regional food and drink producers and showcasing excellence in the industry. Scores of suppliers were judged by an exacting panel of industry experts who considered criteria including sustainability, ethical brand stories and provenance. Skylight and Hennymoor both scooped a Bronze Award, with Atlas taking home a Silver.

The awards continued to roll in, with Red Feather taking Gold and Skylight taking Bronze in their respective categories at the local Barrow Hill Roundhouse Rail Ale Festival in Chesterfield. The festival was held from 19th-21st May, with over 350 beers on offer for revellers to sample. The competition entries were blind tasted by a panel of judges with the gold category winners going forward to a final blind ‘drink off’ to choose the Champion Beer. Apparently, the judges had a very hard time choosing the champion beer, which doesn’t come as a surprise with beers like Red Feather in the running!

Last, but certainly not least, Welbeck’s new Ultra Hopped West Coast IPA, ‘Atlas’, won the coveted Gold Award in the pale cask category at the SIBA Midlands Independent Beer Awards. The SIBA Independent Beer Awards judge a huge range of beers across a number of styles in separate cask and keg competitions. As the awards are judged mostly by brewers, industry experts and beer journalists, they are very much seen as the prestigious ‘Brewers’ choice Awards’ by the industry. Roy Allkin, SIBA Chairman, says; “The winners of the SIBA competition are officially the best independent craft beers in the region, something brewers should be extremely proud of.”

Managing Director, Claire Monk, says; “Reinventing the core range of beers was a bold move, and one which I was still apprehensive about, however with the awards rolling in we are all breathing a sigh of relief. I knew the brewers had come up with cracking new beers and I’m delighted that their efforts have been recognised by industry experts across the country.”

Claire and her team are now concentrating on the rest of the year ahead, with more awards hopefully in the pipeline, as all four beers have been entered into the popular Great Taste Awards, the results of which will be announced in August. Watch this space!

If you’d like to try these award-winning beers for yourself, you can purchase them online for delivery within the local area (see website below) or visit one of the many pubs and beer shops that stock Welbeck Abbey Brewery. Trade customers contact Claire directly on 01909 512539 for orders.