Category: Breweries

Brewery Closures – Local Quality or National Mediocrity ?

On 26^th May, the BBC ran a story with the headline: ‘Beer boom goes flat as breweries call last orders.’ This was featured on their website and even led to a pre-breakfast interview on Radio Sheffield with one of our Committee. Their story was based on a mix of Companies House and national CAMRA data and stated that:

• ‘In April, the number of UK beer brewing companies fell to 2,320. It peaked at 2,594 in 2022.’
• ‘Across the UK 320 businesses shut last year, Companies House data shows. Yet only 170 opened, resulting in a net loss of 150.’

The story takes no account of the many nuances which are hidden in the figures. For example, Grizzly Grains ran successfully for four years from 2020. It closed when the owner and sole employee, Sam Bennett, became Head Brewer at Little Mesters as they moved to their new premises in Attercliffe. The result was a net loss of one brewery but an increase in both numbers employed and beer production. It’s also worth mentioning that the effect of one closure can vary dramatically. In February, Molson Coors announced the closure of Sharp’s Brewery in Cornwall with the loss of 50 jobs.

It would also be interesting to see more depth. Perhaps, only consider, breweries which have existed for over five years? Sheffield currently has 17 independent working breweries. Of these, 15 have been in operation for over 5 years: they are established, have a working business model, and, most importantly, customers. In the last five years, another three breweries have come and gone (BrewSocial, Heist and HQ Brew).

Local independent breweries have many pressures: post-covid, energy costs, the rising cost of ingredients, the effects of Brexit … however, the main challenge is getting to market, making their beers available for sale. If you visit a big supermarket, how many indie beers are on the shelves?

Sheffield City Council missed an opportunity with the Cambridge Street Collective. The ‘largest food hall in Europe’ has very little local indie beer on the bars, However, recently, the council do seem to have seen the errors of their ways. One of the key strands of their Sheffield Inspires marketing campaign is ‘The Craft of Beer’

Taxation is another issue. It’s difficult not just for breweries, but for all small independent businesses. However, breweries do seem to have to engage with a perhaps excessive amount of paperwork: perhaps the indie beer companies need a special overseer who will bring things together?

It’s also worth noting in addition to 20% VAT, alcohol is also subject to specific duties. The UK tax on beer is one of the highest in Europe. For example, a 4.5% beer sold at £4/pint : beer duty 13% , VAT 17% : 30% of your spend is on tax (£1.31). A reduction in alcohol tax would be welcomed by our local independent breweries.

The BBC did note that both Bristol and Sheffield have one of the densest brewery scenes in the country, each with over 10 breweries within a mile of each other. Sheffield is a strong beer city due to local co-operation, collaboration and support. In short, the things that make Sheffield a great city, make it, possibly the best beer city in the world.

As co-founder of Triple Point, George Brook said in the BBC piece: “One of the reasons why I love this city, and also Bristol, both are so much more accepting of independents than anywhere else I have been or lived. The culture of drinking local beer is one of the things that makes Sheffield great.”

Choosing an independent pint genuinely makes a difference. It supports local businesses, local employment and is also good for the environment.  Do you really want to drink Doom Bar which has travelled over 300 miles from Cornwall, when there is a choice of many excellent, locally-made beers? The difficulty for the small brewery is getting to market, not the quality of their beer. Consumers deserve the opportunity to choose: local quality or multinational mediocrity.

• Dave Pickersgill

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Current Sheffield Breweries:

Abbeydale                                                  1996 – established

Bradfield                                                     2005

Blue Bee                                                      2011

Tapped                                                         2013

Toolmakers                                                2013

Emmanuales                                             2014

Fuggle Bunny                                            2014

Stancill                                                        2014

Neepsend                                                  2015

True North                                                  2015 (brewery available for outside use)

Little Critters                                            2016

Loxley                                                           2018

Dead Parrot                                               2018

Saint Mars of the Desert (SMOD)     2018

Triple Point                                                 2019

Little Mesters                                            2020

Duality                                                         2024

AleChemist                                               2025

NOT IN SHEFFIELD BUT STILL IN SHEFFIELD & DISTRICT CAMRA BRANCH AREA:

Eyam 2017

Intrepid 2014

Contour

Two beers in the Stancill brewery core range won awards at the recent Barrow Hill Rail Ale Beer Festival 2026. Our No7 and Barnsley Bitter won Gold and Silver respectively in the same category (Low Gravity Copper/Golden 4.5% and below).

Special Brews: The latest special brews are inspired by the locations of the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament taking place this summer across the USA, Canada and Mexico. All single-hopped pale ales, each offers something a little different – For the USA we have Willamette-hopped Rutherford (4.2%), for Canada we have Columbus-hopped Canuck (4%) and for Mexico we have Golazo (4.4%), a more golden hued ale appropriately featuring El Dorado hops. More details about the inspiration behind these beers can be found on their website. Of course, fan favourite Sweet Caroline (4.1%) will also be available throughout the tournament!

July always marks the release of our annual charity beer, which this year is in support of Friends of the Porter Valley, and it’s a 4.1% pale ale called Golden Duck, in honour of their incredibly popular annual duck race! Chinook and Mosaic hops combine for a flavoursome citrussy character with notes of grapefruit, lemon and dare we say even mandarin. Do a runner to the bar for this one – it’s quacking! 10p from every pint sold is donated to the charity. 

Our seasonal specials see three more cask only pale ales making a return to our offering. Dr Morton’s 4 Yorkshiremen (4.1%) is light and orangey with Amarillo hops, we have the always popular Belfry (4.5%) which is single hopped with Cascade for characteristic fruity, floral aromas, and Phoenix from our Mythical Creatures inspired series, 4.1% with notes of elderflower and a delicate bitter finish.

Onto the Brewers Emporium and Steel & Grit (4.4%) sees us team up with fellow Sheffield independents, outdoor gear specialists Buffalo Systems, to create a globally inspired pale ale with a spirit of adventure. Showcasing Citra, Mosaic and new experimental hop HPA 065, expect a diverse flavour profile of juicy citrus fruits – notably grapefruit, alongside tropical pineapple and a spicy edge. Untamed and hazy with a tantalisingly crisp bitter finish.

And finally, in honour of our 30th anniversary, we’ve taken the flavours of a classic “Millionaire’s” shortbread and given them an extra layer of va va voom in Trillionaire Shortbread Stout, new to our Indulgence series! Luscious and full of flavour with biscuit malts, silky chocolate, unctuous caramel and rich vanilla.

St Mars of the Desert has some new releases. Owd Eerie, An old ale inspired by the great traditional British beer style, a dark but drinkable, all-British, complex ale, 6.2%. Clamp, their returning Mosaic and Waimea-hopped koelship IPA. Fresh, zingy, and fruity, 5.5% Also Lovely Saint Winefride is a golden barleywine, a beer style invented in Sheffield. It contains all British ingredients, with Goldings hops and Maris Otter barley, 8.3%

Additionally dates for their Annual SMODFEST lager celebration have been announced – 31st July/1st August, 7th/8th August and 14th/15th August

It’s been a while since I last sent an Emmanuales update to Beer Matters, so thought it was about time to fill you in with where I’ve been up to with ’that Jesus beer’.  The last you may have heard, Emmanuales was operating on a 100L kit from a cellar of a terraced house in Walkley.  Since then, we’ve moved, upscaled and re-established the brewery on the outskirts of Sheffield.

Having bought an angle-grinder, many tins of anti-mould white paint and about 50L of epoxy resin, I spent the Christmas of 2025 doing up the space ready to install our new brew kit, which we purchased from Middle Child Brewing in Twickenham.  Before them, the kit was owned by Verdant Brewing Co – famed formatting some incredible IPAs – who started their brewery on it in 2014, which is when I started Emmanuales.

(I guess that means every beer I make now will taste like Putty, right?!)

Whilst Emmanuales has been out of action, I’ve also had the opportunity to work on the production team and a role in marketing at Mount St Bernard Trappist Brewery, aka Tynt Meadow. It’s been very nice working on a fully-automated German-built brewhouse and hone my beer-making skills producing Trappist beer… a far cry from making small batches of beer in my garage!

Finally, after having had the fallow period between Easter 2025-26, I brewed and released two new beers, Haze The Lord – a 5.2% Hazy Pale Ale, very much a homage to Verdant’s ‘Lightbulb’, which felt fitting given the kit launched their brewery – and an Old English Ale (8.0%), All Hail Redeemer Ale.  Additionally, two new beers should be landing just in time for summer – Hosanna in the Rye-est (a big, sticky West Coast Rye IPA) and Sanctus Tripel(a Saaz hopped Abbey style strong, golden ale… which may be called Blessed-malle if I can get away without trademark lawyers knocking on my door).

As ever, beers are available in 440ml cans and stocked in and around Sheffield, in venues such as The Old Shoe, Walkley Beer Co, The Dram Shop, etc.  Find out more about Emmanuales at www.emmanuales.co.uk and follow us on Instagram @emmanuales where I’ve taken up the challenge to become the brewing equivalent of @eatingwithtod

NICK LAW

As part of a programme of campaigns to highlight classic beer styles that some may consider to be endagered CAMRA has for many years championed Mild during May. Mild is a style that is designed to be easy drinking with subtle flavours and low bitterness. There are both dark and pale versions.

A couple of local breweries were promoting a mild in May with Stancill brewing a range of three!

Mild Steel 3.5%- If you like Stancill’s Stainless pale ale, you’ll love Mild Steel. With all the fresh, crisp character of their iconic core ale, but with a much milder ABV. Mild Steel is made with all-British hops.

Tom’s Mild 3.4%, Stancill’s regularly available signature mild, is named after their co-founder Tom! This is a smooth, creamy, dark mild with a nutty biscuit note. Tom’s Mild is characteristically sweet with a gentle late hop aroma. Well balanced, moreish and extremely drinkable.

Ruby Mild 4.9% – It’s been over five years since they brewed a Ruby Mild. This one is ruby red in colour with a strong nuttiness and flavours of berries. A velvety mouthfeel of melted milk chocolate make this a luxuriously pleasurable pint.

Meanwhile over at Thornbridge the May cask release in their year of beer programme of monthly seasonal specials was a mild, although perhaps a less traditional version being a coffee mild, although at 3.8% ABV is still easy drinking!

Joining our Legacy Series of fondly remembered beers from the archives as part of our 30^th anniversary celebrations, we’re bringing back Drop Hammer (4.3%) for a limited time only. A classic copper coloured bitter, satisfying and well-balanced.

We’ve got an exciting collaboration on the way with the excellent folk at Colbier, from Liverpool. In the Elements will be a 6.5% Baltic Porter brewed using a No. 19 Maris Otter, a special heritage floor malted version of our base grain, riffing alongside UK grown Olicana and Jester hops. Expect layers of robust, toasty flavours alongside smooth waves of caramel sweetness, with a rounded bitterness encore.

And of course we have our usual vast selection of delicious pale ales available too! Returning specials this month are Summer (3.9%), hopped with Vic Secret, Mosaic and Galaxy for a tropical, approachable and aromatic pale ale, and Doctor Morton’s Cask Paint (4.1%), with Amarillo and Chinook hops for notes of subtle tangerine and a punchy bitterness. Joining them we have a new addition to our botanical print inspired range, Sunsprite Rose (4.3%). This one is hopped with Styrian Dragon which holds delicate rose notes, and Styrian Eagle, bringing a pleasant citrussy character.

Here’s what we’ve got coming up this month… and hopefully, you’ll be able to come and try them at Abbeydale Beerworks, our new taproom on Abbeydale Road! At the time of writing work is well underway and we hope to be open by early May, but please do check before you make the journey. This is a really exciting time for us and we can’t wait to welcome you! Anyway, here’s what we will have available for pubs across the city and beyond…

Hop on the Penistone Line (4.0%) will be a collaboration with Woodland Brewing – where we’ll be welcoming back Ash, who has recently started working there after almost 5 years with Team Abbeydale! Citra, Riwaka and Nectaron hops combine in this tantalisingly tropical pale ale with notes of juicy peach and aromatic passionfruit.

From our Restoration series of classic styles we’ll have a 4.1% Yorkshire Bitter, well-balanced and easy drinking with a delicately floral flavour set alongside hints of pine, followed up with a pleasing bitterness in the finish.

There’s some kind of international sports ball tournament on the horizon so a new Willamette hopped pale ale, Dr Morton’s Verified Ale Recipient (4.1%), is here to ease the misery of constant kicking. It’s a game of two halves, no wait, that’s a pint.

And Cardon Cactus (3.9%) is new to our series with artwork inspired by vintage botanical prints. As this one features a giant Mexican cactus, we just had to go with a hop from the Neomexicanus subspecies! This tasty pale ale showcases Sabro, joined by spicy, grapefruity Chinook.

Finally there’s a couple of delicious stouts on the way too – the latest in our Salvation series will be a smooth, sweet and fruity 4.8% Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Stout. And as part of our 30^th anniversary year we’ve got the first imperial stout in a while due for release too, Lost Souls will be a big, bold and boozy 11.0% classic impy. Complex and carefully crafted, full bodied and warming with luscious vanilla bringing a hint of extravagance to the drinking experience.