Category: Breweries

With summer drawing to a close we are coming up to our busiest time of year at Blue Bee. Which means we have plenty of specials out and in the pipeline. First up is Calypso Session 3.5% a cracking refreshing, tropical session pale ale showcasing the fruity American Calypso hops so hopefully the sun will hold on to make the most of this perfect quaffing beer. Next up after the popularity of our first cryo hopped beer: Hit the Ground we thought we’d make a second. This time Citra Cryo takes centre stage with a golden promise malt background in Beat too Much 5.5% so expect bags of mango and lychee hop flavours in this delicious IPA. If something a little darker is your thing we have a brand new stout out: Sorachi Milk Stout 4.6%, brewed using chocolate malt, cocoa nibs, lactose and a good hit of Sorachi hops. This smooth silky stout has a chocolaty base with hints of coconut from the Sorachi hops. Also keep an eye out for our 600^th brew: Mosaic Brut IPA 7.4% which should be still on the bars of Sheffield in September, as well as the return of the ever popular Coffee Milk Stout 5.4% and American 5 Hop version 40 4.3%.

We have a new addition to our core range that will be available in October. Our latest brew is a 4% dry stout called ‘Sorsby Stout’ named after Robert Sorsby, the first ever Master Cutler of Sheffield in 1624. We also had some staff from one of our bars in York, Pavement Vaults, brewing with us a few weeks ago. Polly and Scott helped choose the hops for our latest IPA. Our IPA is brewed with different hops each time, so keep your eyes out for this creation hitting the bar at The Sheffield Tap soon.

Kelham Island Film Club in collaboration with the Sheffield Brewery is excited to announce a weekly film club starting in October 2019. Based in the heart of Kelham Island and screening a season of films in the industrial setting of a working brewery, KIFC will be announcing the details of the first season of film screenings soon. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter at @kelhamfilm for all details of upcoming events and accessibility. New Beer – Fresh Start  Sheffield brewery continues to extend its welcome to the city’s student population back with a fresh addition to its craft ‘Gravity’ range and cask range. Fresh Start is the brewery’s annual nod to Sheffield’s returning student population; a special craft ale designed to mark and celebrate new beginnings. Fresh Start has a brand new recipe for a 4.5% New England IPA with amarillo, sorachi ace, columbus, mosaic and double dry hopped with citra. It will be available throughout  October, perfect for landlords wanting to welcome students who are starting or returning to one of the city’s two universities. Of course, Fresh Start isn’t just for students. October is the ‘back to business’ month for most of us after a summer break, so make the most of it and why not pay a visit to our community brew tap to enjoy a Fresh Start with Sheffield Brewery! We’re on Percy Street and will be open during October’s Peddler Market and for hire for special occasions. Plus grab a ticket for our first Film Night! Brewery Open for tours during CAMRA Festival For those that haven’t been to the brewery we will be holding a special Open Day on Sat October 19th where visitors to the festival are welcome to pop round and see the brewery, bar and its infamous cellars. Once home to Stones brewery – you can still see where the cart horse (drays) were brought in and loaded up.

We can’t believe it’s actually getting round to that time of year again…..time is flying by!

Belgian Blue Launch Date Announced! Our popular Christmas Ale Farmers Belgian Blue will be available on the bar at our Brewery Pubs from 4pm on Thursday 31^st October! It will be then available to order in cask from Monday 4^th November, with pre-orders now being taken. Bottles and Mini Kegs will also be available.

As we gear up for the crazy season, we welcome Kieran Chadwick to the Brewing team. Joining Head Brewer Sam Jubb and new brewer Bruce Woodcock, Kieran brings a wealth of scientific experience to the team and is enjoying his new venture within the brewing industry!

Two firm favorites on the seasonal ale calendar are available again for 2019. Farmers Jack-O-Lantern will tempt the taste buds with its lightly hopped flavour and dry aftertaste and will be available from 7^th October. Farmers Poppy Ale is returning for 2019 remembrance. This pale fruity ale is a must try, and with 10pence from every pint donated to the Royal British Legion’s local Poppy Appeal, who needs any more excuses to give this one a try!

It’s Birthday time for the King & Miller at Deepcar! The 11^th October marks one year on from when we opened the doors after an extensive refurbishment of the pub. The beer is flowing well through the pumps as customers continue to enjoy Farmers Ales from £2.50 a pint as well as home made food now being offered 7 days a week! Manager’s Nat & Tom will be hosting celebrations on the evening and look forward to continuing on their journey in the development of the pub.

Our original Brewery Tap, The Nags Head at Loxley is looking forward to hosting their annual harvest auction, to be held on Saturday 5^th October from 7:30pm onwards. Raising money for St Luke’s Sheffield Hospice, the auction will be hosted by local auctioneers Stephen Helliwell and Kyle Hawksworth and promises to be an action packed evening of biding and bartering!

Jackie.

Ah, those Autumn days are here once more, and we’ve got some returning seasonal favourites to cheer us up as the nights start to draw in!

First up is Pilgrim (5.0%), our pumpkin spiced ale, and the first beer that (at the time of writing) we’ve confirmed as being at the Steel City Beer Festival from 16^th-19^th October, so do join us at the bar for a pint! We’re also very pleased to have Iced Tea Dead People (4.6%) back – our peach iced tea pale, using tea from the lovely Birdhouse Tea Co. and hibiscus to add an extra layer of flavour and a peachy hue.

This year’s release of our imperial stout Lost Souls is a scaled up version of a beer originally released as a festival exclusive at our brewery event back in April. We reckon it’s been our most requested beer since then, so we hope you’ll be as excited as we are to welcome Smashwafel Imperial Stout!

We’ve got another dark beer coming out too, Baltic Up North (7.0%) – a Baltic Porter brewed in collaboration with London’s Hammerton Brewery. It’s not a style we’ve had much opportunity to create over the years so we’re really looking forward to getting stuck in.

To balance out all those rich, dark and brooding beers, we’ve got a thirst quenching sour session IPA coming to our Unbeliever range, tart and juicy with Simcoe and Centennial hops.

On the cask only side of things we’ve also got Dr Morton’s Non-Stick (4.1%) a very liquidy beer, and Devotion (4.4%), with Green Bullet hops providing notes of dried fruits and a spicy, crisp finish.

Until next month!

Laura

As usual, Kelham Island have brewed a couple of monthly specials for October.

Altered Beer, 4.4% Blueberry Stout – An oatmeal stout made with a select blend of roast malts and oats for a dark colour and hints of caramel and biscuit with added blueberries for a fresh fruity flavour.

 IPA of the Dead, 5.9% IPA – An IPA to celebrate Mexico’s Day of the Dead. A lively blend of both old and new world hops gives you a fresh tangy aroma of citrus fruits and a pleasantly bittered palate. A beer that’s definitely full bodied.

Perhaps a less impressive milestone than that of this newsletter, but this month is the tenth anniversary for Steel City Brewing. One September day in 2009 Dave and Gazza went to what was then called The Brew Company, now Exit 33, to take the first steps to becoming ‘cuckoo brewing’ pioneers.

With much technical guidance and advice from Pete, we were able to get our first beer out despite the minor technicality of not having a brewery – and we still don’t! As many will know, Gazza left to start brewing full time at Hopcraft and since then back to cuckoo brewing as one half of Team Toxic/Mission Creep, but will hopefully be at the anniversary brew, along with Pete, and also our former partner Hannah, back then the landlady of the excellent Harlequin pub.

Looking back over that decade, it’s truly impressive just how far the UK beer scene has come. The brew that day was ‘Hop Manifesto’, in the style for which Steel City would become best known,  dubbed by us ‘Transatlantic Pale Ale’ as it married a British-style 4-5%ish ABV malt base of pale malt and a bit of wheat (as opposed to ‘balancing’ with crystal malt, rye, etc and being 7%+ as was the style of the time Stateside) with very American hop dosage.

A sign of how the market has changed is that back then Hop Manifesto was seen as ‘extremely’ hoppy (or unbalanced, depending on viewpoint!), yet when we look back at the recipe today it would be somewhat underwhelming to today’s hopheads. Therefore the tenth anniversary brew ‘Manifesto Reloaded’ is a sort-of re-brew but also updated for a 2019 audience – same malt base, same bittering hops, and the same mix of flavour hops but twice the quantity!

Looking back it feels almost surreal to consider that what we wanted when we started brewing has mostly come true – it seems odd to think that it was genuinely difficult to find really hoppy beer, now that we see a new DIPA or DDH launch every five minutes. Similarly there was almost nothing in the way of sours, imperial stouts and all the other crazy stuff we now take for granted. Our pipedream was a US-style brewpub offering a wide range of styles rather than just a few very similar trad styles, at the time there really seemed to be no market for it in the UK, yet here we are just a few years later with brewpubs, taprooms and bars offering an amazing array of style.

The original Hop Manifesto was launched in October 2009, and Manifesto Reloaded will be launched at The Crow Inn on Saturday 5^th October at a ‘Decade of Bitterness’ event featuring other new and one-off Steel City beers along with a couple of away collabs. Provisionally this will include the only ever cask of Emperor’s/Lost Industry collab Stout Wars: Rogue Five and the launch of two or three barrel-aged beers.

What will the next decade bring? Wouldn’t like to even guess…!

Reading elsewhere of the new brewer at Bradfield Brewery, you may well have wondered where the original head brewer, Paul Ward, has gone! He’s left Bradfield to set up his own venture, Ward & Houldsworth, launching under the ‘Original Infused’ brand with a range of three flavoured beers – Fudge Cupcake Bitter, Vanilla & Walnut Dark Ale and a Strawberry & Cream Pale Ale. The beers are cuckoo brewed at Pheasantry brewery and available in cask, they are also getting them bottled under contract.

This September Kelham Island Brewery is celebrating its 29^th anniversary. Founded in 1990, we are the longest running independent brewery in Sheffield. With many more years to come of great beer made in the heart of the Steel City.

September Specials: I Tried So Hard, 4.8% Blonde. A clean refreshing blonde ale, with a smooth slightly dry flavour, a blend of Slovenian and U.S. hops gives this beer a vibrant, zesty citrus character. Made in honour of a legend of rock!

Rampant Ale, 5.8% Pale Ale An explosion of fruit characters from a trio of battling late added U.S. hops combined with a high ABV from a behemoth of a malt base for added punch! Not to be drunk whilst scaling tall buildings or during a monster dust-up.

Joe

Bradfield Brewery are pleased to have recently welcomed Bruce Woodcock to the brewing team. With over 10 years of experience in the brewery industry, Bruce brings a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm to the team and has settled in well!

Farmers Cherry Beer is complimenting the fruity ale range once again this year. A light on the palate beer with hint of Cherry and a dry aftertaste, it will be available from the beginning of September in cask and 5 litre Mini Kegs.

A range of our Farmers Ales made an appearance at this year’s CAMRA GBBF – the Farmers Blonde, Farmers Ale, Farmers Stout and Farmers Pale Ale were all well received at this great CAMRA event!  Bradfield Brewery’s original tap has undergone works to extend the pub. Now complete with new kitchen and increased seating areas, there’s more room for visitors to enjoy their homemade food offering washed down with a pint of their favourite Farmers Ale which you can still grab for £2.50 a pint.  Save the Date – our annual charity Harvest Auction will be held at The Nags Head at Loxley, Saturday 5^th October from 7:30pm onwards. Further details to follow.

Jackie