Well we’re certainly ramping things up ready for the festive season so have loads of beers due out this month!
Firstly, you may remember that back in August we released Cryo Heathen, an amped-up, 5.0% version of our yummy Mosaic hopped American Pale Ale, as a special one-off for our 25th birthday… well, it ran out so quickly and we’ve had so many requests that we just had to make it again! It’ll be available on cask, keg and can alongside another variation – Fresh Hop Heathen! This one will be the same ABV as “regular” Heathen (4.1%) and sees us be amongst the very first in the UK to have access to fresh hops from America, frozen immediately after harvest to preserve all the gorgeous delicate nuances found within these amazing little plants. And just to round off the trinity of Heathen news, we’re happy to say that this is now a vegan friendly beer, across all dispense formats. So even more of us can now enjoy a pint!
As for non-Heathen related beers, we’ve rebrewed Salvation Sea Salt & Caramel Stout for a delicious 5.0% rich and creamy winter warmer. Damnation also makes a return – a 4.5% classic golden ale, with Columbus and Pacific Jade hops for a bold spicy character with notes of citrus to balance. The next in our Hopback series is due out mid-November too, at the time of writing the recipe is to be confirmed but expect a lovely light pale ale showcasing something delicious from our extensive hop store!
Doctor Morton’s Cold Store Jukebox is a brand new beer being released this month, this one will come with a QR code to take you to our brewery team’s current playlist of choice! (Assuming of course good old Doctor Morton can figure out the technology…!)
And after all that I think we’ll be ready for some Hibernation – our seasonal 4.2% dry hopped pale ale, with Centennial and Simcoe.
We have been super busy at Loxley Brewery over the last few months, brewing beer for various pubs, bars and bottle shops and also for MIND Sheffield. We teamed up with True North Brew Co to create 2 charity beers, for the Sheffield Half Pint Marathon. So many amazing reports and the people want more! Our brew pub The Raven Inn is one of the many venues taking part in the marathon. Our Citroen H van is finally back on the road after Covid, we have been to a wedding, Art in the Gardens and next week we have a stall at Penistone Show. We are gearing up for Christmas too, so watch this space.
September saw Thornbridge bring back a couple of their old beers as well as introduce some new specials. Hopton is a 4.3% English Pale Ale, light in colour and brewed using all British ingredients. A bountiful addition of East Kent Goldings hops brings a robust bitterness and a gentle citrus aroma, accompanied by just a touch of malty sweetness. Sequoia is a 4.5% American Amber Ale pours dark amber and exudes a beautiful citrus and pine aroma. Expect a smooth body with hints of roasted hazelnut and toffee malt flavours. Onto the new ones now, in can, Hay Bale is a collaboration with Lakes Brew Co, a 6.5% ABV lager with a tremendous punch of flavours from the hops. Whiskers on Kittens is a 5.3% Chocolate Dunkel Weisse, brewed with Phil Sisson, from Simple Things Fermentations featuring a tantalising amount of chocolate. The base is rich and complex, with a roastiness coming from the traditional malt bill. Characters of ripe banana, raisin, and coffee all present and the chocolate works as a fantastic finishing touch.
Abbeydale have launched a new beer in their Deliverance series, a 100 minute Double IPA weighing in at 8.5% ABV. If you like your beers with a good thwack of bitterness, this one’s for you! With Simcoe, Amarillo and Citra hops added throughout the boil, and at dry hop stage.
Bradfield Brewery are back as title sponsors for the new season at Sheffield Steeldogs ice hockey team.
Allsops beer has made a comeback! This was one of the first ever Burton on Trent brewed IPAs back in the year 1823. Ownership of the brand had ended up with Carlsberg whilst ownership of the red hand trademark was with Brewdog. Both businesses were supportive when Jamie Allsop looked to buy them back and two Allsop beers are now available in bottle and on cask, currently brewed in Sheffield at Dead Parrot Brewery and the beer has been on the bar at Perch, their new tap room.
Emmanuales have made some upgrades to their little brew kit and their next brew on it at the time of writing is to be a hazy IPA.
Little Critters have a new recruit to the brew team, Chris who has background with Buxton and Salt breweries. New beers recently produced include Great Danish, a 7.4% maple & pecan pastry stout; and Big Hoppa brewed in collaboration with Bad Co, a 6.8% New England IPA.
Lost Industry recently hosted a brewery bar at the Derby Beer Convention.
New from Stancill Brewery is Bavaria, a 4.5% golden bitter brewed with the Mandarina Bavaria hop variety from Germany which gives the beer a little bit of a sweet manderin and tangerine character to balance the bitterness.
You may recall the collaborations between Steel City Brewing, Lost Industry and Emperors producing some crazy beers themed with Star Wars puns with the last outing being “Stout Wars” and some talk at the time of further beers and barrel ageing. Well, the next installment, that was brewed back in March, is about ready to launch and the “Sour Wars” series along with some barrel aged stouts will be making their premiere at the Crow Inn on Saturday 16 October.
The First Trilogy – 13.7% Imperial Black Sour
Episode I – The Cranachan Menace Aged in Highland whisky barrel with raspberries and honey
Episode II – Attack of the Stones Aged in Bordeaux red wine barrel with cherries
Episode III – Orange of the Sith Hurricane-inspired sour aged in Caribbean rum barrel with orange, lemon, lime and passionfruit
Also featuring
Steel City – But… Why Is The Rum Gone? (cask) 5.4% – Rum barrel aged stout with Crow Blend coffee. Megacollab with Ridgeside, Neepsend, Beer Ink, Lost Industry, Silver Brewhouse and Imperial
Steel City + Emperor’s + Lost Industry – Stout Wars: Rogue IV (cask) 12.0% – Imperial stout with coffee, vanilla and almond
Steel City + Emperor’s + Lost Industry – Stout Wars: Rogue VI (keg) 10.6% – Blended wine barrel aged sour stout with raisins
Reptilian + Steel City – Reptile Steel (keg) 6.3% – Sour IPA with pineapple
Last October, the Sheffield Wheat Experiment invited two hundred locals to plant wheat in their allotments, gardens, pots, public spaces or schools. Earlier this summer, the wheat was harvested, allowed to dry and then at a communal event held at Bloc Studios in late August, threshed. 130 kg of grain resulted: 2 kg went to local brewery, Grizzly Grains.
Grizzy Grains Brewery – Dave Pickersgill
This brewery commenced in 2020, brewing at the owner’s home in Walkley, Sheffield. In March, this year, they moved to a 4.5 Bbl. plant in an industrial unit close to Bramall Lane. Their original brewing kit, now the seventy-two litre mini-kit, was obtained from Crosspool Ale Makers. When Crosspool became a cuckoo, their newer plant was purchased by Grizzly Grains, owner and brewer, Sam Bennett. The brewery name came from his young daughter. Originally, Operations Manager at Heeley City farm, Sam now splits his time between the brewery and the farms honey operation, the unit acting as headquarters for both.
The boil commences – Rachael McNiven
Two days before mashing, the grain was torrified (or as my spell-checker insisted: ‘terrified’). Using the large oven at the nearby Regather Co-operative, the wheat kernels were subjected to high-temperature heat treatment. This breaks down the cellular structure of the grain and pre-gelatinises the starches in the wheat so that they are easily broken down at mash temperatures. In beer, protein aids head retention by bringing foam quality and stability. Torrified wheat contains a higher percentage of protein than malted barley. Ideally, for good foam retention, 5/10% of the mash should be wheat.
On the 9 September, the mash for the Sheffield Wheat Experiment beer used spelt, crystal malt, rice husks and malted barley with the Sheffield-grown wheat forming the final 10%. Hops were a mix of East Kent and Northdown. The result was seventy-two litres : 210, 330 ml bottles of a Belgian style amber.
As for the rest of the grain: 1 kg will be seed for sewing in the Autumn and the remainder will become flour. For information about the Sheffield Wheat Experiment: thesheffieldwheatexperiment.co.uk
It’s been a strange eighteen months for everybody but it has meant quite a few changes for us at Blue Bee Brewery. As Covid lockdowns hit we decided not to branch out into to any form of small pack as it was not something we have ever tried before, therefore the brewery was put into hibernation twice. However, towards the end of 2020 we made the decision to downsize the brewery. The brewery use to occupy two units on our industrial estate so we have now moved into one. So the start of 2021 was a busy one even though we weren’t brewing any beer, we cleared out one unit, re jigged the brew plant, built a new office and cold store as well as having a good sort out and we are really pleased with the results. Although we now take up half the space we don’t intend on making half the beer as we are still brewing on the same 10 brewers barrel kit we have the capability to make the same amount of beer should demand allow it.
Anyway as things creep back to normal we are slowly ramping up production of cask beer. We have maintained our core beers of Reet Pale 4.0%, Hillfoot Best Bitter 4.0%,Triple Hop 4.3% and Tempest Stout 4.8% along with the ever changing American Five Hop 4.3%.
On top of this we have the following specials to look out for in September: firstly Azacca Zappa 3.9% is and American hopped session pale ale showcasing two varieties of US hops which impart citrusy flavours. Secondly Vanilla Stout 5.5% an oat stout brewed with the addition of fresh vanilla pods, so expect a nice sweet stout with smooth vanilla notes.
Finally we brewed our 700th beer in early August: Galaxy Enigma 5.0% is heavily hopped hazy pale ale showcasing two fantastic Australian hops. So it’s great to back brewing again and fingers crossed things keep going in the right direction.
It’s great to see things steadily returning to something more like normal, we couldn’t help but celebrate the much awaited easing of restrictions with a special brew for July 2021: Farmers Back to the Baaar!
Our seasonal ales have received a warm welcome back over the last few months and the next one out of the traps is our Farmers Cherry Beer: a 4.2% light on the palate beer with a hint of cherry and a dry aftertaste.
In the pipeline we also have the exciting release of our six month barrel aged Kerry stout. The original batch of this imperial stout, brewed with a variety of speciality malts, was released in April 2021 and was well received! We’re looking forward to the release of the six month aged edition! Date TBC.
Our Brewery Taps are all now back open seven days a week, with indoor and outdoor seating available. Weekly quiz nights have resumed and Homemade Food is served at the King & Miller at Deepcar and the Nags Head at Loxley. The Wharncliffe Arms is hosting regular Karaoke & Pizza Nights to bring back the good nights out!
Intrepid Brewery are hosting an open day and tap session on bank holiday Monday, 30 August. This is a rare opportunity to drink their beer on site at the brewery and if you want food to soak the beer up then Sunshine Pizza will also be there with their oven! The brewery can be found at Brough (near Bradwell and Hope) on bus route 271/272.
Recent brews from Grizzly Grains have included a 4.8% Elderflower Pale brewed with English and Czech hops, Sheffield Elderflowers and Limeflower Honey from Heeley City Farm along with a return of their Rye IPA.
Heist Brew Co are now up and running down at Neepsend with a few brews already under their belt and the tap room opened on 10 August. The tap room showcases their beers plus guest craft beers and has a games area as well as serving food from Slap & Pickle Burgers and Ritual Doughnuts.
Thornbridge have brewed a session IPA for the Leadmill music venue and nightclub which will be available at the bar in cans at all their forthcoming events.
The Brewery of St Mars of the Desert tap room is now open regularly every weekend – Thursday 4-8pm, Friday & Saturday 2-8pm. You can find them at 90 Stevenson Road in Attercliffe, bus 52/52a stops fairly close at the end of the road, it is walkable from Attercliffe tram stop or if you are feeling energetic and the weather is good you can walk from town along the canal towpath! You can just turn up like a normal pub but table bookings are advisable for groups. Their newest beer is Hop Stingo which has loads of hop aromas from a wood fermentation with warm hop additions as well as a secondary dry hop.
Little Critters have released a new batch of their 5% ABV chocolate orange stout, Orange-Utan. If you don’t see it in the pub on cask then it is also available in can to order from their website.
Drone Valley Brewery are hosting a bar at the family fun day hosted by the Bradway Community Action Group on Saturday 11 September. This is taking place from 1:30-4:30pm on the “village green” field next to the old school annexe on Bradway Road (by the shops at the top of Twentywell Lane, buses 25 and M17 stop there).
A recent cask release from Neepsend is Moirai, a 4.2% Pale Ale brewed with Bravo hops upfront and late and dry hopped with Amarillo and Simcoe for a pine and citrus hop character.
The first face-to-face CAMRA Sheffield & District meeting since spring 2020 recently occurred.
A week before their formal opening, newly re-located Heist Brew Co. (107 Neepsend Lane, S3 8AT) allowed us a preview of their new brewery and tap room.
This development incorporates their state-of-the-art brewery, in addition to a very large tap room, complete with benches, shuffle board and a skateboard. Beer-wise, plenty of KeyKeg, including a couple of 11% imperial stouts and various sours and IPAs.
Our next branch meeting on 7 September is, by contrast, at a very traditional pub, the Chantry at Handsworth (S13 9BZ), one of only four pubs in the UK that are claimants as built on consecrated land. There is also a cemetery on the grounds of the pub.
Firstly a big thanks to all who’ve joined us in celebrating our 25th anniversary so far by giving our special birthday releases a try! They should all still be around for the next few weeks so keep an eye out for Celebration(2.8% Mimosa Quarter IPA), Double Deception(8.2% Nelson Sauvin DIPA), Cryo Heathen(5.0% Mosaic Cryo hopped pale ale), Indulgencechocolate cake stout (7.0%) and Dr Morton’s Birthday Extravaganza(4.1% pale ale), plus this year’s vintage of Methuselahbarrel aged stout (9.7%) which has mainly gone into can but might make it on to a bar or two as a very special release.
As well as all of that, we’ve got plenty of new beers coming out for September too.
We’ve got those snack cravings sorted with Doctor Morton’s Bag O Nuts (4.1%), extremely thirst quenching with Cascade hops, and completely nut free! The ever popular Larcenyis making a return, a 4.2% pale ale hopped with Chinook and Columbus for grapefruity and piney flavours and a moreish bitter finish. And if the dark side is more your style, we’ve got you covered too with Salvationbreakfast stout (5.4%) – complex and malty, with oodles of roasty toasty character, oats, maple syrup and coffee. Perhaps the most important beverage of the day!
And finally, later on in the month witnesses the first of our returning autumnal specials… yes, it’s almost time for our 5.0% pumpkin spiced ale, Pilgrimto make a comeback!
Sheffield breweries, True North Brew Co. and Loxley Brewery have teamed up to bring the Sheffield Half Pint Marathon back for its sixth year.
The month-long charity event will run throughout September in 13 of Sheffield’s favourite bars and pubs, with each brewery creating a brand-new beer especially. One For t’Road from True North Brew Co. and Get Em In from Loxley Brewery will be available in all participating venues and with each Half Pint Marathon beer purchased throughout September, a donation will be made to local charity Sheffield Mind.
Sheffield Mind is a Sheffield based charity which provides support to people with mental health issues. Sheffield Mind Business Development Manager Lindsay Doyle-Price said ‘Sheffield Mind are delighted to be partnering with True North Brew Co. and Loxley Brewery in this year’s Sheffield Half Pint Marathon. We have been lucky enough to be beneficiary of the promotion for the last two years and are grateful to all the participating bars for their ongoing support.
‘We very much hope that the people of Sheffield get behind the promotion, as every penny donated to Sheffield Mind will be invested in local service delivery.
‘It’s been a tough year for local people and local business and talking part in the marathon is a great way to support both.’
The premise of the Sheffield Half Pint Marathon is simple – at the starting venue of your choice you will receive your Half Pint Marathon card, then for each venue you visit and purchase one of the speciality beers you will receive a sticker. When your card is filled simply register via truenorthbrewco.uk/halfpintmarathon by 30 September and you will receive an email to let you know when and where you can collect your limited-edition print.
The Sheffield Half Pint Marathon print features hand drawn illustrations of the participating venues by the incredibly talented Will Rea.
Participants can complete the marathon at their own pace, in a day, week or even over the whole month.
True North Brew Co.’s Marketing Manager Krissie Petfield said ‘Mental health is often ignored in the hospitality industry and there is still a long way to go to improve the mental health and wellbeing of those working within the industry.
‘The last few years have been especially difficult with the ups and downs of the pandemic and we’re working towards providing further support to those suffering at True North Brew Co.
‘We are happy to be bringing back the Sheffield Half Pint Marathon alongside Loxley Brewery to raise money for such a worthy cause. It’s a brilliant opportunity to get together with friends and family and raise a (half) pint to support one another.’
This month-long celebration of some of Sheffield’s best independent bars and pubs is aimed at giving people a chance to contribute to a great local charity whilst exploring Sheffield.
Hannah Hebb, Loxley Brewery’s Business Coordinator said ‘It was a great honour to be asked to be a part of the Sheffield Half Pint Marathon. Over the last 18 months mental health has become more important than ever, so we at Loxley Brewery are proud to be supporting Sheffield Mind.
‘It would be fantastic to see people get together for such an amazing cause, supporting local businesses as they go, having a pint and putting the world to rights. It is important to remember that mental health is real, and it matters.’
Whether you’re a local or a visitor, beer lover or beer novice, the Sheffield Half Pint Marathon is not to be missed!
The Sheffield Half Pint Marathon runs throughout September 2021. More information is available at truenorthbrewco.uk/halfpintmarathon or on socials @sheffhalfpint.
The venues
Bar Stewards (Gibralter Street, Kelham Island. Buses 57,81,82,86)
We’ve listed the bus routes and tram stops by the venues above. You can get network maps and timetables from Travel South Yorkshire and all day travel passes (currently discounted until 27 September) from TravelMaster. You can track buses live on a map using the independent BusTimes.org website.
