Author: Guest

Loxley

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Loxley Brewery rebranded during the first Covid-19 lockdown. Their ‘numbered’ cask ales now have names, which comes as a shock to most but it really does make things easier – they promise! 

The micro-brewery started out in 2018 just casking ales, and soon expanded their knowledge and started bottling too. When the bottles proved popular, they had to build an on-site bottling plant!

You’d think there was a story behind the numbered cask ales, but really their isn’t, they just didn’t know what to call them and so aptly named them with numbers! This proved popular and made a lot of customers laugh – it really was a talking point. But as bottling commenced, they were inspired to name the bottled ales after local history and folklore surrounding harrowing tales and gruesome legends once told about murders and tragedies on Loxley Common and surrounding areas. Revill, Lomas, Halliday, Fearn & Gunson the bottles were named…and now so are the casks!

Handy guide to know Loxley Ales:
Wisewood One – Revill 
Wisewood Three – Halliday (no relation to our good friend James!)
Wisewood Four – Gunson
Wisewood Seven – Lomas
Wisewood Eight – Fearn 

Wisewood Two, Five & Six were scrapped prior to the name change as they were the least popular brews. Renaming the beers also made sense so that the numbers didn’t jump! 

So – where did the names come from?

Halliday – Thomas Halliday built a Cave House on the Loxley Common.

Revill – In the evening of 30th December 1812 Mary Revill was murdered in the Cave House, which stood lonely on Loxley Common.

Lomas – Marys husband, Lomas Revill, a game keeper, hadn’t come home that night. He had been seen in the local inn and was found the next morning in the gamekeeper’s cabin.

Gunson – The surname of the chief engineer with the Sheffield Waterworks Company. John Gunson engineered the Dale Dyke Dam which burst and flooded Sheffield in 1864, killing many people.

Frank Fearn was hung in 1782, for the murder of a watchmaker. He told the watchmaker a story of a pocket watch club (where customers would save weekly towards the cost of a pocket watch) in High Bradfield. En route, Fearn clubbed and stabbed the watchmaker to death on Kirk Edge Road and hid his body in a nearby copse.

*Bottle delivery available – visit http://www.loxleybrewery.co.uk/shop/ to place your order OR VISIT The Raven Inn / The Wisewood Inn for a proper pint!’*

Hannah Hebb 

Chefless pub kitchen service

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City Grab, the food delivery arm of City Taxis, have teamed up with their sister company ChefChef.store and event caterers PJ Taste, to create options for those brave or desperate enough to trade through these next few weeks.

Now that a substantial meal is a prerequisite for visiting a pub, the thorny question of how to open properly remains unresolved. Many simply won’t be able to afford the wages of kitchen staff, either at all, or during quieter shifts.

As pubs weigh up their options, City Grab have three opportunities for venues who decide to try and operate but are unable to open a kitchen. For all options we are promoting the idea of a ‘plateage fee’. Allowing pubs to charge a back to front version of corkage – the mainstay of BYOB venues over the years.

One option is to join a buddy system with one of City Grab’s outlets. The bar
effectively becomes a broker for the customer and orders meals via City Grab for consumption in the next hour. City Grab will offer a ’99p per mile’ delivery as a two week introductory offer from Go Live. Diners can expect their food to arrive within half an hour, with the pub charging a surcharge for the table. This can help keep two independents viable at the same time.

Alternatively, or to compliment the above, with ChefChef.store and PJ Taste we have developed a lunchtime and evening ready meal package. Lunch time meals are budget frozen meals, with evening meals pre-booked off a five plate menu and delivered ready to heat on the night.

All of the above will be supported by extensive marketing through the City Grab marketing, PR and social media channels.

We know it’s not ideal and it might not be enough – but if it helps one or two venues get through these crazy times then we reckon it’s worth it. if you are interested in joining the scheme or finding out more, get in touch with the team on hayley.hirst@citytaxis.com.

NOTE: This was the old tier 3, which is now tier 2, where pubs can only open if they operate as a restaurant. It will become relevant again if our area is moved to tier 2.

Bradfield

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The 5,000th brew has kick started a return to the seasonal ale calendar for us at Bradfield Brewery. After the great success of our 5K brew and keen interest in our seasonal ale availability from both the pubs and our fans at home, we’ve decided that the rest of the seasonal ale lineup for 2020 WILL go ahead!

So next up is Farmers Jack-O-Lantern, a popular Autumnal seasonal ale, lightly hopped and amber coloured at 4.5%. This will be available from 5 October in nine and 18 gallon cask with the five litre mini kegs to follow shortly after.

While there may not be any remembrance event gatherings being held this year, it will not stop us commemorating our fallen soldiers with our Farmers Poppy Ale. 10p from every pint sold of this fruity golden ale is donated to the Royal British Legion and will be available in nine and 18 gallon casks from mid-October, with five litre mini kegs available shortly after.

And then before we know it… the ‘C’ word. I’ll just leave that there.

Jackie

New restrictions hit pubs from Thursday

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In response to the Government announcement that pubs and restaurants will be forced to close at 10pm from Thursday 24th September onwards, CAMRA National Chairman Nik Antona commented:

“As things stand this morning, hospitality is the only sector to be subject to new restrictions. This will be devastating news for thousands of publicans across England who have been willing to do whatever is necessary to provide a safe, Covid-secure place for people to enjoy the wellbeing benefits of having a pint with friends and family.

“The Government should not impose arbitrary restrictions that target one sector without explanation or evidence, which, so far, we have not seen. We are now calling for a new financial support package to be introduced for pubs immediately, which includes the extension of the furlough scheme and the cancellation of business rates for another year, or they risk countless pub closures and job losses.”

In addition to the 10pm close, pubs are now required to operate table service and both customers and staff are required to wear face coverings whenever not seated.

Click here for our rough guide to Covid Safe pub going.

 

 

Collobracadabra back but barrel aged

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*note this is taken from their Facebook event page

They had taken a break from beer events for a little while but wanted to celebrate a special little weekend held at Shakespeare’s that got slightly overshadowed by a certain global crisis but took a ridiculous amount of work to pull off and produced some incredible beers.

Right on the cusp of everything going doolally and the whole world changing we held a beer festival of 15 beers we had collaboratively brewed ourselves. One of these was the events flagship beer, if you will, Collabracadabra, a honey, vanilla and Apricot pastry braggot brewed at Steel City with help from Abbeydale, Neepsend, Blue Bee, and Lost Industry.

It all seems 5 minutes ago since we had a BBQ and chucked a lot of apricot in this but it turns out it has actually been months – and during those months a little run off has been ageing in a white wine barrel to make CollabracadaBA.

Being Shakespeare’s, we obviously wanted to get the barrel aged braggot in cask, so we did. Along side it we have what we think is probably the last remaining keg of the original beer too so you can quaff them together to compare and contrast.

While we’re at it we’ve stuck with the honey theme and also have Steel City’s Hive Mind honey saison, and stuck with the mad theme with something extra special as a little nod of appreciation to our lovely pals up the road at the Crow Inn. We love our recently acquired pub neighbours all the time but we’re especially chuffed for them getting Zwanze day this same weekend. We’ve got a blend of Collabracadabra and Corvus Corone in Bordeaux – a red wine barrel aged sour brut IPA brewed by the Crow lot. Put them together and what do you get? We don’t know but were hedging bets it will be delicious.

So there you have it, 3 beers with the same beer that are all totally different and one with similar ingredients that is also completely different – genuinely.

This event is at Shakespeare’s on Saturday 26th September from 3pm.

Bradfield celebrates milestone

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Whilst we’ve been busy running the Covid curveball gauntlet, we didn’t forget an all important milestone! Mid September has seen our 5,000th brew take place and we hope you’ll agree, that’s something to celebrate.

Now usually we’d all be saying ‘let’s raise a drink together to celebrate!’ but let’s face it, we shouldn’t really be encouraging crowd gatherings at the moment so we’ve thought of a different way to mark the occasion.

This momentous brew will be celebrated with a 24 hour brewathon which will begin on 22 September, and we’ll be blogging along the way for all to enjoy! Brewers Sam, Bruce and Kieran will be doing five consecutive brews starting at 5pm on the 22 September and finishing at 5pm on Wednesday 23 September.

With our seasonal calendar being turned upside down, we had planned for a brand new brew in May this year, using our very own, home grown hops. Not wanting these hops to go to waste and with the milestone brew coming up, it lended us the opportunity to go forth and deliver!

So with our homegrown hops included, the 5K brew was brewed using five different hops, five different malts, courtesy of our new malt supplier, Paul’s Malt, and if you’ve not guessed it, the beer is 5% ABV.

A well hopped and nicely balanced IPA, the 5K is available in cask from the 21 September and will be available in five litre mini kegs soon.

Follow us on social media to check out the 24 hour brewathon!

Jackie

Small Brewers Relief

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CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, has urged the Government to change their plans to increase the amount of tax that small brewers across the UK will have to pay.  

In a letter to Kemi Badenoch MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, the Campaign’s Chairman and Chief Executive laid out their concerns over the move to reduce the level of production at which small brewers receive the full level of tax relief – in order to allow larger brewers to pay less. 

Nik Antona, CAMRA National Chairman, said: 

“Small Brewers’ Relief has been instrumental in creating the brewing boom that we have seen over the past two decades and is vital to maintaining a thriving and diverse beer market, and choice for consumers. 

“The news of these poorly considered reforms to the Small Brewers’ Relief Scheme could not come at a worse time for our small brewers, who are already facing financial uncertainty due to the coronavirus crisis.  

“That’s why CAMRA is joining calls for the Government to rethink its plans to remove tax relief from the smallest brewers to allow larger brewers to pay less, and to publish more information about any other proposed changes to the scheme as soon as possible.” 

Petition

Meanwhile both SIBA and CAMRA are encouraging members as individuals to sign the petition from brewers Anspach & Hobday on the CAMRA website or at this Parliament link https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/334066.

More Information

You can find out more about this campaign at https://camra.org.uk/beer-and-cider/campaigns/sbr/

Kelham Island

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The latest seasonal special is “Overseer”, an IPA combining a trio of US hops in the kettle and ever greater volumes dry hopped for an even more powerful hop kick and flavour. And if that wasn’t enough, they have left the beer unfined and unfiltered to help retain the big hop flavour so whilst the beer will be hazy the flavour and hop character won’t be.

Welbeck Abbey

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As we wistfully leave summer behind, we are winding down to a slower pace with these autumnal specials.

Cathedral Beeches  is a 3.7% pale English bitter. This brew is full of heady herbal aromas from British Phoenix hops, making it surprisingly delicious and certainly more interesting than many of its counterparts. The name of this classic ale stems from an area of woodland with towering Beech trees in which young lovers at Welbeck used to come and carve their names.

Our second offering for September is 43’ South, a New Zealand hopped session pale at 4.3%. There is a little farmstead called ‘Welbeck’ on the South Island of New Zealand. Situated at 43° South, it looks like a perfect paradise. This sessionable pale ale uses Wakatu and Wai-iti hops, grown in New Zealand. The combinations of these New World hops give this pale ale the subtle flavour of peaches and apricots, lifted with a delicate floral aroma.

Finally, we have the next brew in our Found and Foraged range. Pick of the Bunch is brewed with our dedicated community’s hand-picked blackberries. This 4.8% Blackberry pale is subtly pink, slightly tart and extremely refreshing. Thank you to our local friends who have gathered a hoard of hedgerow blackberries for us to brew this September special.

Louise

The decline of independent cider farms

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2019 was one of the worst years of cider production in the UK not because sales were down but due to the amount of small producers that closed. Over the last five years the UK has lost around fifty independent farm producers, twenty four of which were in 2019. I regularly talk to producers who are not just my suppliers but over the years have become friends and I have met several characters who I have the utmost of respect for even though they still make me smile especially when I go on buying trips and am given tasters of their latest ciders in full pint glasses. 2020 for those who don’t yet know is the last year of our membership to Europe, for ciders this may actually be a good thing as the EEC currently have a new bill which will become law by 2021, this being the 92/83/EEC Duty Bill, this will bring in the ability to add 1.2% industrial alcohol to cider and perry during production. Also allow the current rule of only 5% juice being required to be called a real cider. Here in the UK the minimum juice is currently 80% and the Small Independent Cidermakers Association wants it to be 90-95%. But I digress; when I talked to the farmers that were closing there seem to be two main reasons, one a result of global warming and the other the government being greedy through taxation. In fairness the taxation and increased duty only affects farms producing more that 7000 litres of cider and perry or just over 1500 gallons per year. The revised duty rates were changed yet again on the 1st October 2019, Alcohol Duties Act 1979 section 55B(1) and Excise Notice 162, but were in use since the previous April. There are three duty bands for still ciders: (A) 1.2%-6.8% (B) 6.9%-7.4% (C) 7.5%-8.4% Ciders of 8.5% and above are classed as ‘made wine’ and taxed at the wine rate, ciders with additives like fruit flavours will be taxed as ciders up to 4.5% any fruit ciders over 4.5% being taxed as ‘made wine’. Also ciders of 7.5% may no longer be watered down to produce lower ABV ciders. Incidentally the HMRC definition of Cider & Perry is the fermentation of apples or pears with nothing added with an ABV of between 1.2-8.5%. According to CAMRA guidelines the Cider and Perry definition is very similar and states it is the fermentation of apples or pears with nothing added, no syrup or artificial carbonation or pasteurisation may be included. In Shepton Mallet the Cider Mill which has been in use since 1770 is set to close with a loss of 127 jobs, the mill is currently run by the Dublin owned C&C company which is behind the well known industrial ciders Gaymers and Blackthorn. Although we don’t mind an industrial cider company closing it does affect the apple growers, with over 70 farms, of which some 30ish are in Somerset and the remainder in Herefordshire. C&C state the mill is no longer a viable option and the business will be moved to their Clonmel operation in the Republic of Ireland, they will then export the ciders back to the UK, bit of Irish logic at work there we think or making full use of the European fake cider rules of the low juice content in their ciders is a more likely option. As to global warming, this has increased the risk of flooding; many will remember the 2014 floods in Somerset which flooded great swathes of farmland and orchards alike. Particularly across the Somerset Levels and the creation of flood defences along the A372 is now required. One particular cider farm in Aller which has produced cider since 1925 had to close its doors due to there been no access to his farm shop by the public after local road closures and no access to local market towns to sell its ciders, Somerset Council have been seen to be dragging their feet and have recently stated that these flood defences are still several years from completion. High winds are also blowing the apples from the trees before they’re fully grown. The Welsh government is to also bring in a new tax which is due to start on the 2nd of March 2020, a new alcohol unit charge of 50p is to be added for all producers in Wales wishing to retail their ciders and perrys in Wales. This is 50p per unit of alcohol sold, one unit being the ABV as a integer, multiplied by the volume in ml divided by 1000 so a pint of 7.5% cider becomes: 7.5 x 568ml / 1000 = 4.26 x 50p an increase of £2.13 per pint! Are they purposely trying to cease Welsh cider retail sales? Of course the way round this is to sell to a wholesaler who will then sell it outside Wales and not incur the new tax? Last lot of doom and gloom is down to Heineken who have announced an end to their cider apple deals. Up until now Heineken were buying a third of all the cider apples grown in the UK, mainly from Herefordshire and will soon terminate these deals with 180 farms, they were being used to produce Strongbow cider brand. Heineken have announced due to new equipment and brewing processes theses apples are no longer required to produce their ciders, yet they have increased production of these ciders. A total loss estimated to be between 6000 and 9000 tons of cider apples, farmers are now considering bulldozing their orchards, which is a real travesty. So what can be done? Well if CAMRA stick by its guidelines and only sells real cider and perry at its festivals or at least separate the fake ciders from the real one and educate their customers to know the difference and buy more real and less fake ciders, advise pubs to do the same, stop pushing Mango syrup cider then there is a possibility that the small farms will gain popularity and stay in business. Nottingham CAMRA festival is a great example of what ciders to sell, always doing very well on cider sales and not stocking the fake or fruity ones. None CAMRA student festivals are heading in the right direction with increased real cider sales although there are still fruit ciders available for those people who normally drink pop. After all you need some fruit pop to compare the real stuff against for educational purposes. If anyone would like and advice on real cider and perry please use the contact form from our website which can be found at cidermen.uk if we can’t help you ourselves we can point you in the right direction enabling you to get the information you require. Andy Parkin Ciderman UK