Local Brewery Taps

So you want the best pubs to try local beers? The official taps are probably a good start!

Abbeydale

The original Abbeydale tap is the Rising Sun at Nether Green near Fulwood on bus routes 83a or 120. This has recently seen huge investment in an extension and as well as offering a large range of beers including both Abbeydale and guests it offers a menu of good quality home cooked food. The Rising Sun is also home to Sunfest, their annual summer beer festival when the car park is closed off to make way for a series of tents, housing a bar serving a choice of over 100 beers plus cider, food and music. Abbeydale also now operate the Devonshire Cat in the city centre serving great beer and food in a more contemporary building.

Blue Bee

Blue Bee Brewery is owned by Reet Ale pubs, who operate a total of 5 pubs. The higher profile city centre pub is the Rutland Arms on Brown Street. There are six handpumps dispensing Blue Bee beers plus guests and interesting craft keg beers are also on the bar along with a real cider tap. Its an old street corner boozer with a classic tiled frontage and a suitably shabby look to the place, however it also has food prepared by a decent kitchen team – if you want something to soak the ale up try a Slutty Rutty Butty (chips, cheese, bacon, sauce) however if you want a nice meal the specials board often has dishes that would be at home in a fine dining restaurant – at pub prices. Look out for evidence displayed around the pub of the staff humour and take special note of the forbidden music board if you put money in the juke box. Reet Ale Pubs also operate the Three Tuns in the City Centre, Closed Shop at Commonside, Old Crown on London Road and Reet Pizza at the Punchbowl in Crookes.

Bradfield

Catch the 61 bus from Hillsborough Interchange towards High Bradfield and when you hit countryside you will come to the Nags Head in Loxley. This friendly and cosy pub is frequented both by local regulars and people visiting the area, with walks around the nearby reservoir always  popular. The Nags Head offers a range of beers from Bradfield Brewery which is just up the road and food is served too, with the pub particularly known for its pies. It is also known for charging very reasonable prices!

Drone Valley

The Three Tuns in Dronfield is an unofficial brewery tap, however Sarah and Dave who run the pub do have connections with the brewery, which is a community benefit company. The Tuns is a friendly place with a large range of real ales and ciders and all day food service featuring simple, good value home cooked pub grub with the Sunday dinners especially recommended – they are very popular though so booking is essential! Buses 43, 43a, 44 stop close by.

Emmanuales

Emmanuales doesn’t have a brewery tap as such – they cuckoo brew at Sheffield Brewery however so the odd cask may turn up at their tap, the Gardeners Rest at Neepsend. The majority of their beers go into bottle, so try Beer Central in the Moor Market, Hop Hideout on Abbeydale Road, Archer Road Beer Stop at Millhouses or Beer Stop at Dronfield.

Exit 33

The Harlequin on Nursery Street, Bridgehouses, is the tap for Exit 33 craft brewery with guest beers also available. It also offers Sheffield’s biggest choice of ciders and features live music at the weekend. A simple (but well done) food menu is available.

Fuggle Bunny

Again, no official brewery tap although their beers do regularly appear locally. The best option however is to drink from the source – the brewery opens to the public every Friday evening with take outs available! The brewery is about 10 minutes walk from Halfway tram terminus or bus 71 passes outside.

Hope Valley

You probably won’t have heard of this brewery unless you have stayed in the YHA Youth Hostel located between Hope and Castleton where it is based in an outbuilding. The manager is the brewer and he produces small batches on an as and when basis. The only place that serves the beer in the Youth Hotel itself – you will notice a refreshment counter joining the reception desk when you check in and that it has a handpump. The beer is available at selected events and in the dining room from time to time.

Hopjacker

The Dronfield Arms in Dronfield, a few minutes walk from the station, is home to Hopjacker brewery which can be viewed through a glass section of floor near the bar area! The brewery is only about a year old but has already established a reputation for good beer and innovation, a recent example of the latter being a 6% rhubarb and custard beer!

Intrepid

Another brewery located in the Peak District’s Hope Valley, this one is at Brough near Bradwell. A range of regular beers include a Blonde, American Pale, Stout, Porter and Bitter with suitable adventure type names are brewed along with regular specials brewed that are either interpretations of world beer styles or collaborations with local organisations. The local pub that regularly stocks their beer is the Anglers Rest in Bamford, a community owned pub that hosts not just a bar but a cafe and post office!

Kelham Island

The Fat Cat in Kelham Island is next door to the brewery and is pretty much the pub that kicked off the real ale revolution in Sheffield – when it opened it was fairly unknown for a pub to offer a range of guest ales. It is a pub with an old fashioned layout, friendly atmosphere, cheap and simple home cooked food and a great beer garden.

Little Critters

A fairly new Sheffield brewery, run by the same people as the Doctors Orders near the University of Sheffield and the Fox & Duck in Broomhill, both student pubs that offer a range of Little Critters beers. The Doctors Orders also serves food and recently won a best student pub award at the Morning Advertiser Great British Pub awards.

Lost Industry

A brewery that likes to experiment with all sorts of beer styles and ingredients with beers released in bottle, in cask and in keg. They don’t have a regular tap although there are regular bottle stockists, look out for them turning up on draft now and again in the various craft orientated bars.

Mitchells Hop House

Mitchells again doesn’t have a regular tap, however the brewery is attached to an off licence where you can buy their bottled beers. You will find it at Meadowhead shops (buses 24, 25, 43, 44, 75, X17). Their beers do however turn up on cask now and again at the New Barrack Tavern near Hillsborough.

Neepsend

The Wellington at Shalesmoor, located by the tram stop, has now reopened following refurbishment and under the new ownership of Neepsend Brewery. It is a classic two room drinkers pub.

North Union

North Union doesn’t normally produce cask beer, their quality craft beers are however available in bottles in most of the specialist beer shops around our area (such as Beer Central, Turners, Hop Hideout, Dronfield Beer Stop, Archer Road Beer Stop etc). They also turn up on keg now and again.

On the Edge

This is a nano brewery located in the owners kitchen! There is no regular tap house although the beers do turn up from time to time at the Broadfield, however look out for their 9-pin events advertised. They take place about three times a year at the Old Junior School on South View Road, Sharrow, featuring a pin each of 9 different interesting beers they have recently brewed.

Regather

This co-operative organisation has a small brewery that is used for special events including brewing courses and beer and food matching evenings, however a limited quantity is also brewed for bottles to sell. Look out for the events at Regather Works in Nether Edge advertised.

Sentinel

The Sentinel Brewhouse is more a brewery with a bar rather than a brewpub, however it is a great venue to go and drink fresh beer and grab a bite to eat to go with it. You’ll find it on Shoreham Street between BBC Radio Sheffield and the inner ring road (buses 1, 1a, 24, 25, 56 stop on the other side of the dual carriageway).

Sheffield Brewery Co

The Gardeners Rest at Neepsend is associated with Sheffield Brewery and offers a range of their beers plus interesting guests. The pub has three rooms – snug, lounge and conservatory plus a quirky riverside patio area. The Gardeners is also home to art, music and a bar billiards table. Oh and a mannequin. Bus 7 and 8 stops outside.

Stancill

Stancill have two of their own pubs – the Horse & Jockey at Wadsley and the Norfolk Arms at Grenoside. Both are recently refurbished, showcase their beer range and are community orientated and have regular events. See their advert for more details.

Steel City

Steel City is a part time cuckoo brewing operation consisting of Dave Szwejkowski turning up at Toolmakers Brewery and brewing something interesting at a frequency of approximately once every when he can be bothered. Most of his beers are the kind of hop monsters he enjoys drinking but chilli beers and other crazy experimental beers have also been produced and always to a high standard. Look out for his beers in the Forest and Shakespeare’s.

Tapped

The Sheffield Tap bar on platform 1b of Sheffield railway station probably needs no introduction. Its the old first class refreshment rooms that stood empty and near derelict for a number of years before Pivovar restored them to the full ornate glory, opened it as a real ale and craft beer bar with its own in house brewery. There is always a range of their beers on the bar at the Tap, additionally there is usually a Tapped beer on the bar at the Hillsborough Hotel.

Toolmakers

The Forest on Rutland Road near Neepsend is the dedicated tap owned by Toolmakers brewery, with the brewery located just around the corner. The brewery is in an old toolmakers workshop, hence the name, brewing a variety of beers named after the theme. The Forest pub is a traditional local with two rooms, friendly atmosphere and reasonable prices.

True North

True North operate a whole chain of bars offering craft beer, food and more – in the city centre there is the Old House, Common Room and Forum, in Broomhill the York is theirs, they also run the Broadfield on Abbeydale Road, the British Oak in Mosborough and the Blue Stoops in Dronfield – amongst others. The brewery itself is in Sheffield city centre alongside Devonshire Green.

Blue Bee Brewery

As summer draws to an end we keep ploughing forward with new specials. The first of which is brewed with the one of our favourite hops of the moment: Equinox. We have showcased this American hop in Equinox Pale 4.2% which has big tropical fruit and grapefruit flavours accompanied by pie like flavours leading to a dry finish. On top of this we have brewed Olicana Gold 3.8%. A crisp, refreshing, session pale which unusually for us is brewed using only English hops, the relatively new hop Olicana is used to give tropical fruit flavours with a slight earthy finish. As well as this we have re-brewed Motueka IPA 5.0% as our single hopped IPA for September. This beer showcases New Zealand Motueka hops which impart their lime and floral hop characteristics. And finally we are on American 5 Hop Version 15 4.3% which this month blends Columbus, Sorachi Ace, Equinox, Simcoe and Chinook.

Blue Bee Brewery

Two of our new beers are making the rounds of Sheffield pubs and beyond as November’s Beer Matters hits the press. First up is American Five Hop (4.3%) which uses five great American hop varieties: Sorachi Ace, Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe and Columbus to give fruity and hoppy flavours. On top of this is the extra special Galaxy IPA (6.0%). This is Blue Bee’s 200th brew and uses the superb Galaxy hop from Australia which imparts intense passion fruit and peach characteristics.
Also in the pipeline and available from early November is a one off version of our ever popular Reet Pale (4.0%) which is currently the house beer at both the Rutland Arms in the city centre and Closed Shop at Commonside. We will be making Reet Aussie Pale (4.0%) similar to the original version but using Galaxy, Ella and Summer hops all from Australia, expect an extra fruity hop kick.
Our next 5% special available on certain SIBA lists will be Centennial IPA, this is yet another single hopped IPA, once again experimenting with another American hop described as having lemon and herbal flavours. Finally, with winter approaching expect something new that is dark and delicious from Blue Bee in the very near future.

Charity Quiz 2014

The British Polio Fellowship 75th Anniversary Quiz Thanks to those of you who have given your previous support and a warm welcome to new supporters. Good luck with this quiz along with our hopes that you and your loved ones are having a great summer. Please feel free to share the quiz with family and friends – many thanks. Entry: £1 Prize: 10% of proceeds (90% to The British Polio Fellowship in aid of British Polio Month – July 2014) Closing date: Saturday 30th August 2014 [quiz] The following are cryptic clues related in one way or another to a 75th Anniversary (and others) or the work of TBPF.
  1. What do you get if you score three times + half score + half of a half score? [answer letters=”7-4″]
  2. Your wife wouldn’t mind you throwing this rock at her on this occasion. [answer letters=”7″]
  3. Who were those bugs who bit Uncle Sam all those years ago? [answer letters=”3, 7″]
  4. What the old sailor may expect to receive on this anniversary? [answer letters=”4″]
  5. Accommodation offered by TBPF in the west country where part of a pig’s leg smoked by a northern stream played about with a blow gun. [answer letters=”7, 8″]
  6. Spoil arose anew to raise the aim of this quiz. [answer letters=”5, 9″]
  7. All should become clear on the 15th. [answer letters=”7″]
  8. Twas on the Ides of March that the modern day Antony & Cleopatra would have for the first time around celebrated a golden event. [answer letters=”7, 6 & 9, 6″]
  9. No time for mixed talks whilst basin breaking – which leads us to the developers of polio vaccines. [answer letters=”4, 5″]
  10. An alternative to this tot somehow could result in you being given a bracing experience by him or her. [answer letters=”9″]
  11. There’s no way with a confused brain or regents could he have run that fast. But he did – it’s on the record – it was a gem of a year! His running mate couldn’t stop talking about it (once he got his breath back?). [answer letters=”5, 9″]
  12. Is this the colour of the ale CAMRA members will be celebrating with this year? [answer letters=”4″]
  13. Weave rug as gift on this occasion. [answer letters=”5″]
  14. After effects which lead to moodily person? TBPF does try to help those suffering from this. [answer letters=”4, 5, 8″]
  15. Probably not the preferred container for CAMRA members when celebrating this festival. [answer letters=”3″]
  16. Even though he wrote bugger all, on reflection he’s well remembered. [answer letters=”5, 6″]
  17. One way of coping with the ups and downs of life. [answer letters=”5, 4″]
  18. 4 fatalities short of a century but a quarter of a century later we’re still looking for those accountable for that tragedy. [answer letters=”3, 12, 8″]
  19. Can CAMRA members remember what they were celebrating 3 years ago? [answer letters=”8, 8″]
  20. Steal nine quinces? Naughty! We’ll not be around to enjoy them by this time but no doubt the TBPF will be celebrating this anniversary. [answer letters=”16″]
[/quiz] All entries must be accompanied by the appropriate payment to be entered into the draw.  To enter by post, please send your entry fee and completed quiz or donations (cheque‘s payable to: The British Polio Fellowship) to: TBPF 75th Anniversary Quiz, c/o 80 Kendal Road, Sheffield S6 4QH. Completed quiz sheets and entry fees/donations may also be left at The Hillsborough. The winner is the first most correct answer sheet drawn at random. The judge’s decision is final. image1 For further information about the work of The British Polio Fellowship visit their website. For details of local or regional branch activities please contact Ann Kay. British Polio Fellowship is a registered charity in England and Wales (1108335) and in Scotland (SC038863). A company limited by guarantee and registered in England and Wales No. 5294321.

District Pub of the Year 2014

Several years in a row now that the Anglers Rest at Millers Dale has scooped this award, our members seem to love the Anglers where Graham & Beryl Yates and their staff run a friendly and good value country pub with well kept beers. The Anglers offers something for everyone across its three rooms – the tap room with a pool table (where dogs and hikers are welcome), the lounge area and the small dining room. The pub is in a fairly isolated location and it’s main passing trade is from the Monsal walking and cycling trail on the former railway trackbed, however there are also regulars from the nearby villages drink there too. The Anglers regular beer is one that the regulars enjoy, Adnams Southwold Bitter, with guests generally sourced from breweries that qualify as LocAle with Storm brewery’s Silk of Amnesia being a favourite that makes regular appearances. Although ‘in the middle of nowhere’, the pub does have a community focus too with local village newsletters stocked and charity events hosted from time to time. Simple, good value home cooked meals are served daily at lunch time (12:30pm – 2:30pm) and evening (6:30pm – 8:30pm) with a pie night held on Thursdays. Accommodation is also available in the form of a self catering apartment located behind the pub. The top 3 pubs judged were: Anglers Rest (Millers Dale), Three Stags Head (Wardlow Mires) and Grouse (Longshaw). www.theanglersrest.co.uk

Pub of the Year 2014

The Kelham Island Tavern continues to maintain high standards and has reclaimed it’s crown after Shakespeare’s won last year. This is now the 10th Pub of the Year award scooped by the Kelham since Trevor Wraith and Lewis Gonda bought and reopened the pub in 2002. A huge range of 13 real ales are served, an effort to represent a cross section of beer styles is made with a Mild and a Stout or Porter always available, meaning there is something on the bar for all tastes. As well as a good range of beer, there are traditional Ciders and Perrys served, and all in oversized glasses meaning that even with a head, you get the measure you pay for – and the prices are reasonable too! Food is served Monday to Saturday lunchtimes 12pm to 3pm, a folk music night is held on Sundays and a quiz on Monday nights. It is also noticeable that the standards stretch beyond the bar with our judges noticing the pub was clean and tidy inside and out and the management particularly proud of getting top marks from both Cask Marque and the Council Hygiene surveyors! The top 6 pubs judged were: Kelham Island Tavern, Shakespeares, Blake, Fat Cat, Sheffield Tap and Rising Sun. www.kelhamtavern.co.uk

Marston’s

In late November, pub and brew­ing company Marston’s, sold 202 pubs to New River Retail. It is feared that New River will convert the pubs into stores. New River Retail is a specialist real estate investment trust (REIT) focussed on the UK food and value retail sector. Mike Benner, chief executive of the Campaign for Real Ale, said “This pub sell-off is bad news for communities which may lose their pubs as a result. New River Retail have seriously underestimated the challenges and opposition that they will face in trying to sell profitable community pubs and convert them into convenience stores and other uses.”

Stonegate Pub Company

Stonegate Pub Company has taken over 78 pubs from the administrators of the Bramwell Pub Company. Locally, these include the Bessemer (Leopold Street) and The Graduate (Surrey Street). Stonegate have 623 outlets across the UK, including: The Beehive (West Street), The Globe (Howard Street), The Cavendish (West Street) and Yates’s (Cambridge Street). They have a turnover of some £570M and are second behind JD Wetherspoon in the high-street sector. Also, with mention of the Cavendish on West Street, this pub will temporarily close in January for refurbishment.

Old Cart & Horses Inn, High Green

In April, Sheffield Planning Committee rejected a proposal to turn the Old Cart & Horses Inn in High Green into a Sainsbury’s ‘Local’ store. Following an appeal, the arguments will be heard by a Government planning inspector. No date has yet been set for the appeal, which will be either a public inquiry or a more informal public hearing.