Category: Awards

Pub of the Month April 2015

Posted on by Andy Cullen
anglers bamford handpump anglers bamford The Anglers Rest, Bamford The Anglers Rest in Bamford is a truly unique venue. After a long, hard fought campaign, the pub was bought collectively by over 300 people and, in October 2013, re-opened under community ownership. The pub now provides a warm welcome to local people and visitors alike, under the management of a professional team, including Amanda Taylor, general manager, and Sarah France, cafe and post office manager. By coming to pay us a visit, you are not just buying a drink or a snack, you are also helping sustain a rural community! Since re-opening, volunteers from the village have worked hard to renovate and improve the facilities, including opening a day-time cafe and relocating the village post office. As the whole building is licensed, you can now enjoy a pint of real ale either in the traditional pub, or in the bright and airy cafe. And with five hand pulls, the pub has a wide selection of real ales from the local area and beyond. Beers from local brewery, Intrepid Brewing Company, regularly feature, as well as Black Sheep and ales from Kelham Island and Abbeydale Breweries. A recent beer festival brought in ales from further afield, including Whim, Big Hand and Bollington. The pub serves freshly cooked meals, with a regularly changing menu of specials and a great Sunday roast! A full events programme offers something for everyone, including a weekly quiz on Wednesdays, a folk session on the first Monday of the month and vinyl club on the third Thursday of the month. Live music events are usually on the second and fourth weekend of the month and all events are free of charge. In fact our quiz team are a force to be reckoned with, having won the Buxton Brewery Derbyshire quiz league for last 2 seasons! Bamford is well served by public transport so getting here is no problem. Bus numbers 244, 273, 274 and 275 stop regularly, between Sheffield and Bakewell. Bamford Railway Station is on the train line between Sheffield and Manchester and the Anglers Rest is in the village about three quarters of a mile from the station along the main road. The Anglers also has first-class cycle facilities for those feeling more active, including an outdoor tool station for emergency repairs and cycle racks. The Anglers Rest site is open from 8am-11pm Monday-Saturday (11am for the pub) and 9am-11pm Sundays (pub opens at noon). We look forward to welcoming you soon! All are welcome to the Pub of the Month award presentation at the Anglers on Good Friday, 3rd April at 5pm.

Dronfield Club of the Year 2015

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Dronfield CAMRA members have again voted for the Hill Top Sports & Social Club as the winner of their Club of the Year competition, which will be entered as our area’s entry into the Derbyshire competition. Hill Top SSC is a thriving and well supported club with a varied programme of events and entertainment for all the family as well as pool tables, TVs, quiet corners and a decent bar. The bar always has real ale available, up to 3 handpumps with a mixture of well known beer brands and local favourites such as Bradfield Farmers Blonde and Dronfield Pale Ale. The club hosts it’s annual beer festival over the first weekend in May which sees a load of additional handpumps added to the bar offering an interesting expanded beer range with the club’s normal programme of entertainment running alongside the beer festival including live music on the Friday night, family disco on the Saturday evening and a quiz and bingo on the Sunday. Dronfield CAMRA will be holding a social on the Friday night of the beer festival (1st May) and will be taking that opportunity to present the Club of the Year award. All are welcome to join us! The club is located on the Hill Top estate on Longacre avenue. Buses stop a few minutes walk away with route 43 on Hollins Spring Avenue or route 43A on Highfields Road or the club has it’s own car park at the rear.

Dronfield Pub of the Year 2015

Posted on by Andy Cullen
CAMRA members in the Dronfield & District sub branch  have voted the Travellers Rest at Apperknowle as the winner of their Pub of the Year competition, with the Coach & Horses in Dronfield coming a very close second. The Travellers is a traditional pub at the edge of the village in a rural and scenic location with outdoor seating on the grass over the road looking out over the valley which is quite pleasant in the summer. Inside the pub has lots of cosy corners and in winter a hot, roaring fire. On the bar a warm welcome awaits from Sara and her team with a changing  range of real ales on handpump with some additional guest beers and ciders listed on the blackboard available on a cellar run basis. There is always something on the bar to interest all and always served in top condition! The Travellers also takes part in the annual Three Valleys beer festival when the car park gets closed off to make way for a beer tent, music stage and food vendors. This years festival is Saturday 6th June. The Travs is pretty traditional country local and does not serve meals, however if you are hungry the pork pies and cheese platters never disappoint, they are top quality, filling and great value for money. Check out the blackboard listing the current choice of cheeses! Live music also features at the Travellers on a regular basis including a jazz night on Mondays. If you fancy paying the Travellers Rest a visit the pub has a car park and during the daytime there is also an hourly bus service from Dronfield Civic Centre and railway station via Coal Aston – routes 14/15. The pubs website is http://www.travellersrestapperknowle.co.uk/ and they can also be found on Twitter @Travsrest.

Steel City Beer Awards

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Several teams of judges blind tasted all the beers in the festival by category on the opening night. The category winners were then judged against one another to produce an overall winner. We’re running coaches out to Thornbridge Hall’s Carriage House venue for an awards presentation night to celebrate the good beers that won awards and you are all invited! A ticket costs just £20, includes travel from Sheffield City Centre or Dronfield to Thornbridge Hall, entry to the awards night, plenty of award winning beer to drink and a buffet supper. Please book tickets via our social secretary, Richard Ryan. The award winners: Porter category & overall winner – Thornbridge Cocoa Wonderland Bitter Category – Fernandes Half Nelson Best Bitter Category -Rat Ratweiller Strong Bitter – Skys Edge Citra Smash Speciality beer category – Liverpool Organic Josepehine Butler Stout Category – Fuggle Bunny Brewhouse Russian Rare Bit

Best beer off in the North!

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The country’s best beer retailers were honoured at the inaugural Celebrate British Beer Awards held at the House of Commons last night. Leading industry names and MPs attended the event organised by trade magazine Off Licence News to recognise the retailers both big and small making the biggest contribution to selling our national drink.

OffLicenceNewsAwards

The awards singled out the top independent beer shops from across the UK – along with the best national drinks chain and supermarket. The winners were voted for by over 500 industry experts. Rosie Davenport, Editor at Off Licence News Editor, said: “Pubs do a great job promoting beer, but the swathes of great beer shops play just as important a role in enhancing consumers’ appreciation. More people are drinking great beer at home than ever before and the businesses recognised at Off Licence News’ Celebrate British Beer Awards are dedicated to sourcing and selling interesting brews and supporting the UK’s vibrant brewing scene. “ List of winners
Category Company Name Location
Supermarket of the Year Waitrose
Chain of the Year Oddbins
Regional Retailer of the Year – London Real Ale Twickenham
Regional Retailer of the Year – North Hop Hideout South Yorkshire
Regional Retailer   of the Year – South Beer Emporium Bristol
Regional Retailer of the Year – Midlands/East Hopology Nottingham
Regional Retailer of the Year – Scotland The Beer Hive Edinburgh
Regional Retailer of the Year – Wales Gwin Llŷn Wines Gwynedd, Pwllhel

Pub of the Season Winter 2014/15

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Our Dronfield & District sub branch have voted the Miners Arms at Hundall as the winner of their Winter Pub of the Season award. POTS WINTER14-15 MINERS ARMS HUNDALL The Miners is a cosy, traditional rural community pub offering  a friendly atmosphere, pool table, TV and a civilised quiet lounge are across its 3 opened out rooms. There is also a conservatory area and outside a fantastic view towards over the valley towards Chesterfield. It also boasts a range of three well kept and keenly priced real ales. MinersHundallHandover At the time of making the award, the landlord of the last three years was Andrew Gledhill, however by the time this issue of Beer Matters is published he will have left the Miners and the pub trade, with the pub taken over by Lauren White who has previously worked as bar manager at the Tickled Trout in Barlow and Travellers Rest in Apperknowle. She plans on developing the winning formula further! The pub has a small car park, there is also a very limited bus service through the village that passes the pub’s front door – TM Travel route 14 from Dronfield to Chesterfield runs once every 2 hours Monday to Saturday daytime. There is no public transport in Hundall evenings or Sundays. The Miners will also be taking part in Three Valleys beer festival this summer on 6th June with a free bus every half hour from Dronfield Station.

Champion Beer of Britain nominations

Posted on by Andy Cullen
supreme gold 2014 Remember, the Champion Beer of Britain (CBOB) nomination period is open now and over 1,000 CAMRA members nationwide have already submitted beers from their region. As last year, all CAMRA members can nominate their choices via the national CBOB voting website and take part in choosing the Champion Beer of Britain. The beers judged in the national finals go through a very rigorous process to be selected, including a series of regional competitions in nine areas to find the best regional beer in each of the eleven beer style categories. In each region, the beers selected for the local competitions are determined by member nominations and Tasting Panel input. How to Vote Any CAMRA member can login into the CBOB website www.cbobvoting.org.uk using their member login details. If you have forgotten these details you can reset your password by clicking here. Alternatively, you can contact the Membership Services team by emailing membership@camra.org.uk or call 01727 798 8440. Having logged in you will be able to access information about the nomination schedule. If your Branch straddles more than one of the CBOB areas you will be able to vote, if you choose, in each area. The CBOB nomination process is broken down initially into a Regional competition. The website allows you to: •             Nominate up to five beers in each of the eleven categories to be put forward for the CBOB competition. •             If you only want to vote for a few beers that is permitted. •             You do not have to nominate all the beers in one go. You can alter your selections anytime up until the 30th November. •             Not all beers are eligible for CBOB, mainstream beer styles like Bitters, Best Bitters, and Strong Bitters & Golden Ales have to be available for at least 7 months of the year. Other beer styles have to be available for a lesser period depending on the rarity of the beer style. The CBOB voting system gives every CAMRA member the opportunity to have a say in who wins and becomes CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain. Last year we had a large number of members voting and it was the 2nd most supported CAMRA activity after the Good Beer Guide pub selection process. This year I hope we can further build on that success. So get online and get involved now! This year the nomination period runs until Saturday, 30th November 2014

Dronfield Cider Pub of the Year 2014

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The Three Tuns public house in Dronfield has been awarded the title of Dronfield CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year 2014 as voted by members of the local real ale campaigning group in recognition of the pub’s efforts in promoting the sale of ‘traditional cider’ in the Dronfield area. Sarah West (left) and David McLaren (centre) are pictured being presented with their award at the presentation on Tuesday 21st October by the Chairman of Dronfield CAMRA, Rob Barwell (right). The tub of cider pictured was ‘Owd Barker’ and is produced locally by Dick Shepley of Woodthorpe Hall in Holmesfield, Derbyshire – one of over a dozen different traditional ciders which are always available. The Three Tuns has recently produced it’s own cider at the Woodthorpe Hall cider press called ‘Owd Podger’, using apples supplied by regular patrons of this popular local pub. 3 tuns cpoty dronx