Category: Breweries

Kelham Island Brewery’s head brewer, Nigel Turnbull, has retired after a career spanning more than 45 years. Nigel had been working for breweries around Sheffield since 1971, when he joined the Hope Brewery on Claywheels Lane as a lab technician straight from school at the age of 16. He moved to the Stones Brewery on Rutland Road in 1993, which was followed by a spell in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, after production moved there. In 2009, Nigel joined Kelham Island as head brewer, where he worked until his retirement. The brewery itself was built in 1990 next door to the Fat Cat on Alma Street by the late Dave Wickett, whose son Ed now runs the operation. Sheffield & District CAMRA would like to wish Nigel a happy retirement.

Farmers Cherry Beer is returning to the brewing schedule for the sixth year running. Back by popular demand, this 4.2% ale is light on the palate with a hint of cherry and will be available in cask and 5-litre mini kegs from Monday 3 September The Bradfield Brewery Tap, the Nags Head at Loxley will be holding the annual harvest auction on Saturday 29 September. From 7:30pm onwards there will be a live performance from Bolsterstone Male Voice Choir followed by a charity auction with all proceeds being donated to Weston Park Cancer Charity. Bradfield Brewery are once again proud title sponsors of Sheffield Steeldogs ice hockey team for the 2018/2019 season. This will be the fifth year of title sponsorship for the brewery and the club are looking forward to an exciting and successful season. Staying with sponsorship and sport and we are also pleased to announce a further season as title sponsors for Stocksbridge Rugby Club. A pre-season friendly tournament marked the occasion, where teams competed in the tournament for the chance to be crowned Bradfield Brewery Cup Winners. Jackie

We’re in celebration mode this month – our beloved flagship beer Moonshine has won 3^rd place in the Golden Ales category of this year’s Champion Beer of Britain competition! This is the first time in our history that we have received such a prestigious national award, so we’re immensely proud of this achievement. This month also sees Team Abbeydale embark on something a little different to our norm, as ten of the brewery team swap their steel toe caps for running shoes! We’ve set ourselves the challenge of completing the Sheffield Run For All 10k, raising money for the wonderful local cause of Cavendish Cancer Care, a charity which many of the team have a personal connection to. Should anyone wish to support us, please visit , or if you are around the city centre on Sunday 23 September, please come down and cheer us on through the miles! After all that exercise we’ll definitely be in need of some liquid refreshment, so here’s what we’ve got coming out throughout September. A couple of beers are returning from the archives – firstly, Doctor Morton’s Perfect Number (4.8%), a pale ale with a combination of American and New Zealand hops, creating a piney aroma and a peppery flavour with a citrus hit. And after a two year hiatus, we’re resurrecting Iced Tea Dead People, a 4.6% peach iced tea inspired pale ale using Birdhouse Tea Co’s Princess Peach blend and El Dorado hops. This was a firm favourite of many in 2016 so we can’t wait to see it back on the bar! Finally, we’re hugely excited to be brewing up a brand new collaboration with Haandbryggeriet, who are joining us in Sheffield all the way from Norway. We’re getting together to produce an as-yet-unnamed Brut IPA (6.5%), which promises to be crisp, hoppy, and dry on the palate. Following on from last month’s collaboration with Yeastie Boys, the artwork for this is being created by Barnsley artist Lewis Ryan and will be the second element of a six piece beery jigsaw puzzle! Laura

Welbeck Abbey Brewery won an astounding six accolades in the recent Great Taste 2018 awards. Great Taste is one of the world’s most coveted food and drink awards, and over 12,600 products were entered this year. Our award winners included five 1-star accolades for bottled Portland Black and Henrietta, as well as for the mini-keg versions of Red Feather, Harley, and Cavendish. Red Feather in bottles was given a 2-star accolade. “It was our first year ever entering the awards and we were completely overwhelmed with our results,” Welbeck Abbey Brewery explained.  “We are incredibly proud to have our products recognised in these prestigious awards and grateful for the feedback we received from the judges”. Welbeck Abbey’s award-winning products can always be found at The Welbeck Farmshop, as well as a large number of pubs, restaurants, and independent bottle shops in the local area. Follow the brewery on Social Media or visit their website for more information at www.welbeckabbeybrewery.co.uk.

The Brewers Cooperative had two great days at the Folk Forest Festival in Endcliffe Park in July, serving an average of 185 pints an hour over the two days!  It just shows what an appetite for local ales there is. Following a successful charity quiz night at the Harlequin in support of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Exit 33 have released a beer donating money from the profits to the charity.  After suffering a sclerotic attack Pete Roberts of Exit 33 decided to help raise much needed funds. Pete said: “Attacks come without warning and can be very debilitating and frightening leaving the sufferer with long term issues. The MS Society does great work and it’s an honour to support this”. Surprise Attack, a 4.8% ABV pale ale, was brewed with the help of raffle prize winners from the Harlequin charity quiz night. Our next charity night will take place on 20 September. Once again, the Harlequin has been nominated for the national cider awards by the Morning Advertiser.  We await the result when we attend the award ceremony on 6 September. Fingers crossed! Pete Roberts

As many of you know, Nick Law – brewer of Emmanuales – joined The Sheffield Brewery Company two years ago to help develop the business, the beers and the brand.  After making the tough decision to put Emmanuales on hold for a season in March this year, Nick has decided to step back from The Sheffield Brewery Company and hand the reigns onto a new brewer, who will steer the ship through the next exciting phase of the company’s life.  Nick will be launching a podcast and website for the beer industry in the coming months called Hop Forward: Getting You Ahead in the Brewing and Beer Business at hopforward.beer. As of September, Marv White will be joining the brewery as Head Brewer, bringing with him several years of experience with Thornbridge as well as a GCB (General Certificate in Brewing) and his skills as a semi-professional musician, all of which will be a huge asset to both the production brewery and the Brewery Tap Room. As they say, the show must go on and – as ever – our Brewery Tap Room events are increasing in popularity, with more people discovering the brewery for the first time or making it a part of their regular jaunt during the Peddler Night Market weekends.  The Brewery Tap Room how has several keg lines and serves a wide range of gins, wines and spirits. Don’t forget to check out our new bottled beers, which include Get Thi’Sen Outdooerz (4.0% American Pale Ale) – available in bottle for the first time – and Sunburn (5.2% Raspberry Wheat Ice Cream Pale Ale), all of which are available from our usual stockists, including Beer Central, The Dram Shop and Beeches of Walkley. Nick Law

Hopscotch cask beers are now available at the Springvale on Commonside, Guzzle Micropub in Woodseats, the Fat Cat in Kelham Island and the Royal British Legion Club in Chapeltown. We will hopefully soon be appearing in the Rutland Arms on Brown Street too. We are also currently awaiting the delivery and installation of a shiny new 4 BBL brewing kit so watch this space!

We have been so busy recently we haven’t had time to write updates for Beer Matters, so here’s the first for a while. Back in May we celebrated our 500^th brew with Enigma 500 (5.5%) – you should still be able to get some if you are quick. But if you’ve missed that then here’s what should be making its way on to bars over the next few weeks… First up is (unusually for us) an all-English-hopped pale: Jester Pale (3.8%), brewed with the relatively new Jester hop which will produce a punchy grapefruit and tropical flavour. Our single-hopped IPA for August will be Mandarina IPA (5.0%), brewed with the German Mandarina Bavaria hop which produces tangerine and light citrus flavours and aromas. On to some more off-the-wall specials, the first of which is a Mango & Citra Milkshake IPA. Around 4.5%, this will be packed full of Citra hops and fresh mangoes with the addition of lactose and oats will result in deliciously smooth tropical fruity pale ale. As well as this our next big 6.0% IPA was brewed to celebrate The Bar Stewards first birthday, with Charlie and Alan coming down to brew with us. The IPA was brewed using generous amounts the guys’ favourite hop, Mosaic, along with New England yeast and oats – expect bags of tropical fruit Mosaiciness.

How do peeps, warm innit!  Don’t worry, we’ve got a few brews coming up to cool you down. Firstly, to mark the visit of the great ‘orange one’ we have Impeach Me (6.4%) a hazy peach IPA.  I’m sure he’d love it if he wasn’t banned from Sheffield!   We also have a summer refresher in the form of Mojito Pale (5.7%) a lightly soured version of our Mojito Sour.   We’re releasing a very limited run from our barrel aging project: I’ll Give It 6 Months (6.5%) an orange and lemon sour aged for 6 months in whisky barrels, in collaboration with Heist Craft. We also hosted the lovely lads from Bar Stewards and brewed a juicy and hazy New England IPA, yet to be named. We also had a joint brew day at Sentinel Brewing with Heist Craft, Sheffield Brewery and Brew Foundation to brew a charity pale ale, Bangers and Clash of the Tight Uns (approx. 4.5%) in aid of Roundabout.  Finally, we’ve had the Turning Point crew over to brew a Mango & Mint Sour (should be interesting). That pretty much sums it all up.  Keep safe and don’t get sunburnt!

Firstly, a huge thank you for everyone who joined us at the Rising Sun for our 12^th annual Sunfest festival. It was the biggest one yet and we had such a great weekend! We’ve got a brand new festival coming up later this month which we’re holding in the brewery itself… Funk Fest is taking place over the Bank Holiday weekend (25 and 26 August) and we can’t wait! Expect a celebration of all things sour and mixed fermentation, with 30 beers on offer from our Funk Dungeon project as well as our friends around the country, with street food and funk and soul sounds in keeping with the theme. Of course, we’ll have tank beer in abundance too to keep the palate refreshed (or for those who just fancy an afternoon in the brewery with the freshest Moonshine possible). Head to for tickets. Amidst all these festivities we do of course have plenty of new beer coming out too. Voyager 11 is beginning its journey, this time with a cargo of Ekuanot, Cashmere and Huell Melon hops for a veritably fruity and vibrant 5.6% IPA. Also new to the Brewers Emporium, our first single-hopped session IPA Serenity (3.8%) makes its debut, jam-packed with the newly released Idaho 7, promising big notes of resinous pine and a full bodied tropical flavour punch. From Dr Morton’s archives we’re reviving the original cure-all Snake Oil (4.1%), an English hopped pale with an earthy, grassy flavour. And finally… returning just after the Bank Holiday is a bit of a nostalgia for you all as we bring back Matins as a special release. This was our first ever beer way back in 1996 so we’re pretty excited about bringing it back. For those of you who don’t remember, it’s a 3.6% pale ale with a pleasant and grassy flavour and plenty of body for the ABV. Have a good one folks and hope to see you at the brewery over bank holiday weekend for some funky fun! Cheers! Laura