Category: Awards

Pub of the Month June 2016

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The perfect pub for a Saturday afternoon – pick up a paper from the bar and a homemade hot roast pork sandwich; a guaranteed tranquil day. Knowledgeable and friendly staff makes this Grade II listed pub (dating back to 1867) a popular watering hole. Inside you’ll find a remarkable tiled interior bar housing six hand pulled ales and six keg offerings, no wonder it’s listed in CAMRA’s National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors! Rotating Thornbridge Brewery kegs such as their big bourbon barrel aged Imperial stout Eldon in addition to regular guests from the likes of Tiny Rebel and Cloudwater, sit welcomingly on the bar. With regular pub quizzes, art exhibitions and music gigs, plus free Wi-Fi so you can check in and update friends on the beers they’re missing out on; this pub is a must visit on any city centre pub trail. Address: 66-68 Victoria Street, Sheffield S3 7QL www.beerinthebath.co.uk / @BeerInTheBath Jules Gray

Rural Pub of the Season

Posted on by Andy Cullen
New Award – Rural Pub Of The Season As readers may know, the reason we are known as Sheffield & District branch is because part of our area falls within Derbyshire. This means we have many excellent pubs which, due to their distance from the city, are perhaps overlooked in Pub of the Month nominations. To try and redress the balance, and to encourage members to venture further afield when looking for good pubs, we are introducing a new award. Anglers Rest Millers Dale [381855] The Rural Pub of The Season, as the name suggests will be a quarterly award, and will only be open to our pubs that are outside the Sheffield City Unitary Boundary. Like the Pub of the Month award, pubs must have served Real Ale for at least a year, and had the same landlord or manager for the last 6 months. Winning pubs will also be added to the shortlist for the Branch Pub of The Year competition. Members can nominate a pub at any point and vote using the online form on our website or at branch meetings. The first award will be the Autumn award, with voting lasting from 1st June to 31st August. We intend to be more proactive in promoting this award and helping to support our rural pubs. Beer Matters will feature frequent articles, and we will organise regular trips into the area. The full set of rules and a full list of the eligible pubs are on our website. Landlords or Bar managers wanting to know more can contact our Press Officer, Paul Crofts at press@sheffieldcamra.org.uk Picture shows a fine example of a Derbyshire pub, The Anglers Rest at Millers Dale, current District Pub of The Year.

Pub of the Month May 2016

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The Harlequin on Nursery Street used to be known as the Manchester, named after the nearby railway line. It became the Harlequin (with a nod towards a different Harlequin pub demolished to make way for the ring road) after being relaunched as a real ale free house and has since been taken over by the current landlady Liz Aspden and Exit 33 Brewing owner Pete Roberts. The bar features a range of around 10 real ales with the house beers provided by Exit 33, the pub also showcases all the latest Exit 33 brews as well as quality guest ales, generally from Yorkshire and the North East but sometimes beyond and the guest range is constantly changing. The Harlequin is also considered the best pub in Sheffield for cider lovers with a range of up to 14 different ciders which get their own section of bar, look for the cider board with the current choice including descriptions. This is our branch Cider Pub of the Year. There is also a range of craft keg and bottled beers including an international selection. The range of spirits is extensive and quality and the pub is particularly known for its range of gins with tasting events organised from time to time. Whatever your choice of tipple, the staff are knowledgeable, the quality is always there and the prices reasonable. A popular quiz is hosted on Wednesdays, a varied programme of events take place on Thursday nights and music features on Friday and Saturdays with rock bands normally dominating the Saturday slot. Food is served lunchtimes and evenings every day with a menu of freshly prepared meals, snacks and sandwiches. The £3 sandwich meal deal (includes crisps and soft drink) offered on Monday and Tuesday lunchtimes is popular with nearby office workers and the Sunday roasts are popular with all! There is also an upstairs function room available to hire with catering for private events. The Harlequin is a short walk from the City Centre or Kelham Island, it also has a bus stop right outside the pub served by routes 3, 7 and 8.

2015 Steel City Beer Festival Awards

Posted on by Paul Crofts
As you all no doubt remember, Sheffield had a very successful beer festival at the end of last year, complete with the regular judging panel selecting the best beers of the 200+ on offer. As the winning breweries were spread around the country, Sheffield CAMRA took the opportunity of presenting the awards during SIBA’s recent BeerX exhibition when they would all be available. In case you need reminding, here are the winners, with photos of them accepting their awards. 2015 Sheffield Beer Festival Winners Gold – Crafty Devil, Mikey Rayer All Dayer Silver – North Riding, Red Citra Bronze – Saltaire, Triple Chocoholic Mild Category – Brass Castle, Hazelnut Mild Session Bitter Category – Magic Rock, The Stooge Best Bitter Category – North Riding, Red Citra Golden Ale Category – Crafty Devil, Mikey Rayer All Dayer Stouts & Porter Category – Thornbridge Baize Strong Ale Category – Great Heck, Yakima IPA Speciality Beer Category – Saltaire, Triple Chocoholic

Pub of the Year 2016

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The annual Sheffield & District CAMRA Pub of the Year award winners have just been announced. Two are presented, one for the Yorkshire bit of our branch area (Sheffield Pub of the Year) and one for the Derbyshire bit of our branch area (District Pub of the Year). These winners are then entered into the county rounds of the national Pub of the Year competition. Our selection process has three stages. First of all, for pubs to qualify to be entered into the competition they first have to either be selected to be listed in the national Good Beer Guide or win one of our Pub of the Month awards over the previous 12 months. Pub of the months are nominate and voted for by our members. Pub of the month is not a competition between pubs – it is simply a way of our members highlighting and celebrating pubs they think serve good beer in a comfortable atmosphere day in day out. The second stage is the Pub of the Year vote. Every member of Sheffield & District branch gets a ballot paper either by email or post to vote for their favourite pubs, this forms a top 6 Sheffield pubs and top 3 Derbyshire pubs. The final stage is judging. A team of judges individually visit each of the shortlisted pubs and score the pubs against CAMRA’s national judging criteria. Our team of judges are varied in age, gender and CAMRA volunteering experience. The scoring criteria takes into account the quality of the beer and the range of beer styles, atmosphere, decor/style/ cleanliness, service & welcome, clientele mix, sympathy with CAMRA’s campaigning aims and value for money. The results SHEFFIELD PUB OF THE YEAR 1st – Kelham Island Tavern 2nd – Three Tuns 3rd – Sheaf View 4th – Shakespeare’s 5th – Fat Cat 6th – Sheffield Tap DISTRICT PUB OF THE YEAR 1st – Anglers Rest (Millers Dale) Joint 2nd – Cheshire Cheese (Hope) Joint 2nd – Three Stags Head (Wardlow Mires) So the Kelham Island Tavern and Anglers Rest are winners again having successfully defended their crown and with the pub scene in our area constantly seeing new and improving pubs creating more competition this is quite an achievement. Congratulations to both the winners – look out for news of the certificate presentation evenings – plus also a well done to all the runners up – to be in the competition in the first place is a sign the pub is recognised as a good one.

April Pub of the month presentation

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The evening of Tuesday 12th April saw a number of regulars and CAMRA members fill the Beer House Micropub on Ecclesall Road to see former branch Chairman and Beer Matters editor present the April Pub of the Month award certificate and enjoy some of the quality beers on the bar. Beer House POTM 12Apr16 Complimentary pork scratchings and cheese sandwiches were provided on all the tables but the real attention grabber was the celebration size pork & black pudding pie which had a formal cutting and serving after the presentation took place! 2016-04-12 19.56.54 2016-04-12 21.34.17

Pub of the Month April 2016

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The Beer House is Sheffield’s first full time micro pub and is situated at 623 Ecclesall Road, just before Hunter’s Bar. The pub opened in December 2014 by John Harrison, following conversion from a shop unit. The bar counter, tables and chairs came from the closed Bridge pub in Dronfield, the bar having been reconstructed to fit in the small front room. The six handpumps dispense an ever changing range of beers, sourced from microbreweries around the country, some obscure, and sometimes a beer can sell out in a matter of hours. The two rooms can quickly get full in the evenings and at weekends, and although there are also two tables for outdoors drinking, drinks are not allowed outside after 9pm. The pub is open daily from noon to 11pm and there is a regular quiz Wednesday evening. In addition to the cask beers the local Stancill Pilsner is the lager offering and there is an interesting range of gins. So congratulations then to John and his team led by manager Lucy on winning the Pub of the Month Award for April. The presentation will be on Tuesday 12 April from 8pm. Buses 81, 82, 83 and 88 all stop at Hunter’s Bar. Derek Longford