Recent beers produced at Blue Bee Brewery have included a 5% ABV pale ale brewed with Nelson and Nectaron hops and the 4th iteration of Five Malt Mild.
A beer making a comeback after 12 years is Sgt Pepper Stout. This was orginally brewed by David McLaren back in his Spire Brewery days, he was since involved with Drone Valley Brewery who are brewing it to his original recipe. The beer is a 5.5% ABV stout laced with black pepper to give it a mildly spicy kick!
Also new from Drone Valley, who are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, is “Community”, a 4.4% ABV English pale ale celebrating their status as a community owned enterprise where profits go to local good causes.
New from Bradfield Brewery is Holy Cow, a 7.8% IPA.This is a limited edition beer and is available in bottles and cask. It is the hoppiest beer Bradfield has ever brewed and the varieties involved are El Dorado, Azacca and Vista. In addition a rum barrel aged version is coming soon.
Recent brews at Blue Bee include a 4% pale ale brewed with a new hop called Karma and a red rye ale triple hopped with Mosaic, Citra and Ekuanot.
New from Drone Valley Brewery is “Route A61”, an American Red Rye Ale, celebrating the brewery’s 10th birthday. For those that don’t know the area part of the A61 road is the Dronfield bypass!
Another recent seasonal was Union Pale, a 4.1% ABV session pale ale brewed with Simcoe and Mosaic hops to coincide with the Six Nations rugby.
As is usual in February, Bradfield Brewery celebrated Valentines Day with their “Farmers Blushed”, a 4% ABV light fruity ale blushed with strawberries to give a sweet, refreshing finish. Then for March their Farmers Milk Stout is making a comeback in cask. Additionally they will be releasing a special beer for Sheffield Beer Week.
Chin Chin Brewery in South Kirkby near Pontefract is holding one of their regular open weekends from 6 to 8 March from 1pm to 9pm each day. It features craft beer, live music and food stalls. The brewery is a 10 minute walk from Moorthorpe railway station on the Sheffield to Leeds line.
Changes are afoot on the brewery side at Heist Brew Co. with the rented fermenting vessels being returned and new kit due to be installed.
Thornbridge has brewed a stout on their Burton Union kit for the first time and have gone big for this one – it’s a 7.7% ABV Imperial Stout!
Things have gone a bit quiet on the Eyam Brewery tap room front with planning applications required then once the conversion work is authorised there is then licencing to sort – it isn’t a quick process! In the meantime they may host another pop up or two using temporary event notices and of course there are a number of pubs in the area that sell the beer.
New from Tapped Brew Co in their single hop series is “Mandarina Bavaria”, a 4% ABV pale ale described as “fruity, fun and fresh!
Sam from Little Mesters Brewing has been over to visit Torrside brewery for a collaboration brew. The resulting beer is expected to be “a little liquid sunshine” – a New Zealand Pale Ale brewed with Nelson Sauvin and Nectaron hops.
Brews towards the end of 2025 at Blue Bee included American 5 Hop version 86 (Columbus, Citra and Azacca, dry hopped), Nectaron Superdelic 5.6, a stout, five malt mild v3 and Little Nectaron (3.5% ABV single hop pale).
Blue Bee have kicked off 2026 with three brews, the classic Hillfoot Best Bitter, Citra Simcoe IPA and Amercian 5 Hop v86 which includes Cashmere, Columbus and Comet hops among the five!
A planning application has been made to convert the former Kelham Island Brewery into a seafood restaurant and takeaway. The original brewery ceased trading after Covid and the current company brew their beer at Thornbridge, in Bakewell.
Thornbridge have published their “year of beer” planner for 2026. Cask releases include Salted Caramel Lucaria (ice cream porter) in January, Venn (blonde) in February, Hirundo (spring pale ale) in March, Quasar (European pale) in April and Present (coffee mild) in May.
Sunday 28 December saw the inaugural Great Drone Valley Barrel race take place. This saw teams competing to be the quickest to carry empty beer casks from Drone Valley Brewery up the hill to the Cross Daggers pub in Coal Aston. The pub’s festivities continued into the evening with live music to keep drinkers entertained!
Fuggle Bunny Brew House have announced they will be hosting additional tap events on Saturdays once a month throughout 2026, on the last Saturday of the month. The Saturday events also feature live music and a food vendor with the first one being on 31 January when the bar will be open 3pm to 9pm with live music from 5pm and wood fired pizzas available. The brewery is a short walk from Halfway tram/bus terminus towards Killamarsh.
The first seasonal brew of 2026 from Bradfield Brewery is Farmers Mild. It’s a rather sessionable 3.4% ABV with a well rounded malty body and moderately fruity hop finish.
Little Mesters have had some new brew kit installed, more about this soon!
Torrside Brewery in New Mills have now announced the dates of their tap weekends in 2026. These are 3/4 April, 29/30 May, 26-27 June, 24/25 July, 28/29 August and 25-26 September. In most cases they are open 4-9pm on the Friday and 12-8pm on the Saturday. These events see a bar open in the brewery and usually a street food trader outside. We are planning a branch social trip on the train in July. The brewery is walkable from New Mills Central station on the Sheffield-Manchester line but closer to New Mills Newtown station on the Manchester-Buxton line.
Ticking Clock Brew Co in Shireoaks continue to open their tap room Thursday to Sunday (4pm to 9pm Thur/Fri, 12-9pm Saturday, 12-6pm Sunday) often with street food traders outside. They have now expanded with a second room called “The Cold Store” which hosts events, including on Saturday 31 January a metal night with live music from 6pm. The brewery is a short walk from Shireoaks railway station, on the Sheffield-Lincoln line.
Recent brews from Ticking Clock include “Just Like Yesterday” (4.4% best bitter) and “Be There Two O’Clock” (4.2% oatmeal stout) in cask and “Where’d all the time go” (7% hazy IPA hopped with Strata and Talus) in keg and can.
Eyam Brewery Tap & Shop in Tideswell opened for its final weekend of the November/December run of pop up events on 30 December. Eyam are now going through the process of gaining planning permission for change of use and a permanent licence for the premises after which they’ll be getting the builders in to convert the industrial unit into a proper tap room bar, kitchen and shop. In the meantime you can order bottled beers to drink at home online with a click & collect facility at their brewery in Great Hucklow and of course various pubs in the region serve their beer including the Outbreak bar in Chesterfield.
Resting Devil Brewery, based at the Chesterfield Arms pub in, erm, Chesterfield, launched their take on a dark Belgian ale in December. It’s called Leuven, is 6.7% ABV and is brewed with an authentic Trappist ale yeast.
Ashover Brewery, based at Clay Cross in South Chesterfield, have launched a new range of merchandise.
Duality Brew Co took delivery of new fermenting vessels in December which will increase their capacity significantly.
Neepsend Brewery are brewing a Pilot series of experimental single hop beers. Spotted on the bar at the Wellington (their tap) recently was Pilot #2.
Brampton Brewery on Chatsworth Road, Chesterfield, have announced the dates they are hosting brewery tours this year. They take place on Friday evenings once a month, starting on 27 February. Tickets cost £15 each (from their website or brewery shop) and include 2 pints in their bar as well as illustrated talks and a tour. The hours are 7:30-10:30pm.
Intrepid Brewery in Brough (between Bradwell and Hope) have got the new year off to a start with a new brew of Pecsaetan IPA and a bottling of Stanage Stout.
The end of October saw Blue Bee brew version 84 of their American Five Hop, this time involving Columbus, Loral, Azacca, Cryo Mosaic and Idaho 7. Early November saw a Centennial hopped pale ale at 5% ABV brewed in a North Amercian style with different yeast.
Eyam Brewery hosted a pop up tap event on 7 and 8 November in the Tideswell building that is soon to be converted into a permanent brewery tap room and shop. The event saw a range of beers available on cask, keg and in cans plus on the Friday evening Sunshine Pizza oven joined them there. This is set to be repeated each weekend until 13 December.
Fuggle Bunny Brew House is hosting another bonus tap event (they open every Friday all year round) on Saturday 29 November from 3pm to 9pm. As well as their beers the afternoon will feature live music from 5pm. Food will also be available with Steak & Fuggle Ale pie & peas from Baker’s Dozen.
Triple Point Brewing are hosting a beer and chocolate pairing night in conjunction with Bullion chocolate. The event is from 6pm to 8:30pm on 1 December and the £30 ticket includes 5 beers and 5 chocolates and experts from both hosts to talk you through the decadent tasting experience! Advance booking required.
New from Drone Valley Brewery is “Yippee Ki IPA”, a 5.5% ABV pale ale hopped with Chinook, Citra and Mosaic.
Chin Chin Brewery near Moorthorpe is hosting a tap event 5 to 7 December. Open 1pm to 9pm each day.
Among the early October brews at Blue Bee was an IPA featuring Centennial and Simcoe hops.
Meanwhile at our Steel City Beer & Cider Festival were some oak aged special editions including their export stout and dark mild.
New from Intreprid Brewing Co is Black Gold, their “Schwarzbier”, based on the classic European black lager recipe. It was on the bar in cask at our recent Steel City Beer & Cider Festival.
Eyam Brewery have launched merch in the form of t-shirts and hoodies which will be available to order from their webshop soon.
An updated brew of Loxley Brewery‘s Pride of the Valley hazy pale ale was featured on the bar at our recent Steel City Beer & Cider Festival.
Little Critters won our Champion Beer of Sheffield & District competition with “Chocodile”, a chocolate milk stout. This beer proved very popular on the bar at the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival with several extra casks delivered, all of which sold out!
Also featured at Steel City 49 was a cask ESB brewed as a collaboration between Thornbridge and St Mars of the Desert which proved to be the quickest cask beer to sell out at the festival!
