Category: Breweries

Fresh back from the National Beer Competition at SIBA X in Liverpool (we didn’t win but we had a jolly good time anyway and did well just to get to the final with our porter, Brunswick Black), we’ve been putting into action the new phase of The Sheffield Brewery Company.  Having built upon our core range, re-inventing the recipes of all our core beers, we’re now looking to the future with creating some bigger, bolder beers throughout the course of this year. Over the coming months, we’ll be releasing beers in a variety of beer styles from across the globe. These include Common People (4.6%), a dry, hoppy California Common beer often referred to as ‘Steam Beer’, as made famous by Anchor Brewing Company.  Berlin Black (6.5%) will be a hearty breakfast stout made with coffee beans, smoked malt, oats, and lactose sugar.  And our biggest beer to date, Renovator (8.0%) will be a mahoooosive Double IPA with a serious hop bill that would make even the Treasurer faint! And, you’ll be pleased to know, we’ve just invested in some more bottling equipment to get these bad boys from fermentor to bottle whilst they’re super fresh. Don’t forget, as ever, the Brewery Tap Room is open during the first weekend of every month with beer being served fresh from our beer cellar, street food from a variety of artisan food vendors, and live music from local artists.  Be sure to check out www.sheffieldbrewery.com and our social media feeds for all the latest updates. Nick Law

After 13 years of brewing, our 4000^th brew milestone crept upon us last month – it was our much-loved Farmers Pale Ale that scooped the slot!

Returning on the seasonal ale schedule for May is Farmers Peach Ale (3.9%) – a nice, subtle, fruity number that’s a lighter option for the taste buds. Meanwhile, the England football team are warming up (and let’s hope the weather is too!) for this year’s World Cup! We’re playing the field with Farmers World Cup Ale (4.2%) this year. We’ll keep brewing it as long as England keep winning – how long do you think we’ll be brewing it for? Jackie

May is going to see some pretty epic changes for us here at the brewery and we’re excited to share that we will be installing 4 new fermentation tanks this month! This will increase our capacity by 44% and allow us to experiment more with flavour development. This will also reduce the amount of water and cleaning chemicals we use, helping reduce our impact on the environment around us. Once again we’ve got 3 fantastic specials this month, starting with The Governor.  This luscious, robust dark beer is black in colour but deceptively hoppy. There is a touch of light roast to give body and depth as a backbone for a blend of resinous American hops.  At 5.5% it’s a real treat. Our next special is a real beauty to behold. Our Rapunzel is a very pale blonde, brewed with a blend of New World Nelson Sauvin and continental lager hops. Subtle hints of summer gooseberries and floral overtones are present throughout.  Delicious! Finally from our Brewers Choice range we have Tom’s Firey Fox. This year, Tom graduated from delivery driver and occasional mash-tun digger, to a fully-fledged full time brewer. With renewed enthusiasm and vigour, this gas-fuelled, turbo-charged chap is virtually on fire.  His classic pale ale is brewed with the addition of fresh root ginger with a hint of lemon citrus. Lastly, if you’re interested in attending one of our seasonal brewery tours you can grab tickets via our website at www.welbeckabbeybrewery.co.uk.  Tickets cost £10 per person and include a guided tour and 2 free pints! Jess Low

I started Emmanuales in 2014 with big dreams.  I wanted to own a microbrewery, to join the great beer reformation.  Whilst brewing on my kitchen stovetop with friends on warm summer evenings, I would explain the grand vision:  to be a brewery with a difference; a brewery that brewed beers of biblical proportions in every aspect, where every beer is something special; to employ people who are as passionate and as dedicated to it as we were, who were more than employees but a family on a mission to spread the Good News one beer at a time, whilst never forcing religion down people’s throats – just beer. Having partnered with The Sheffield Brewery Company, where I am now the Head Brewer (and most other things!), I hoped the role would allow me opportunity to develop and grow the Emmanuales brand to a wider audience on a larger scale, finding a niche within the highly competitive and creative craft beer market. While the founders of the brewery have been supportive in allowing me to continue to brew Emmanuales under their roof, trying to effectively balance and operate two business models with separate visions has proven extremely challenging and unsustainable. Rather than being able to develop the products and ideas I’ve had for the brand, I quickly came to the realisation that I only had the personal and brewhouse capacity to focus on upscaling the Emmanuales core range – albeit irregularly – at a scale that I felt would satisfy both the cask, keg and small pack market. Although the long term dream was to run Emmanuales as an autonomous brewing business, without significant financial backing, going solo and entering the craft beer market would carry huge risks. After long deliberation, seeking wise counsel from trusted individuals, and many dark hours soul searching, I have drawn the conclusion that it is within the interests of the Emmanuales brand, The Sheffield Brewery Company business, and my own personal and family’s well-being to call last orders on Emmanuales. Although I still wholeheartedly believe in Emmanuales as a brand, an ideology, and the beers I’ve produced – which have been enjoyed by many over the several years I’ve been brewing them – the significant financial, time and personal investment required to grow the brand needs a laser-like focus which I simply do not have the capacity to give. Death is not the end, merely a new beginning.  One day, Emmanuales will be resurrected.  There will be a Second Coming, different and more glorious than the first.  But for now, we’re laying it in the tomb and offering it up! Of course, it wouldn’t be the perfect ending to this gospel without releasing one final beer.  The Last Supper (10%) is a worthy, divine, Holy Trinity of Hops, Double IPA, hopped with Loral, Citra, Amarillo, Falconer’s Flight, Simcoe, Mosaic, Palisade, and Brewer’s Gold.  It’s a small batch beer, like we used to produce in the early days, and will be available soon in limited quantities from a few outlets in and around Sheffield. I’d like to thank all my good friends who have helped and encouraged me on the journey so far, and all the customers who have supported the brand over the years we’ve been going. And finally, I want to thank you – our craft beer devotees. Without you, this never would have become a reality.  You came to the events, you purchased the beer, and you believed in it.  It made you smile.  You chatted with your mates over it.  You enjoyed a film whilst drinking it.  It spurted out over your kitchen floor.  For one small moment in your life, it brought you joy – the kind of joy and deep breathing out after a hard day at work that nothing else in God’s green creation can except a cool beer. Thank you, and see you on the other side. Nick Law

Stancill Brewery has given a makeover to one of its most popular beers after receiving a high number of requests from to produce a vegan-friendly beer. Launched in April, the unfined version of Stancill Blonde is served hazy, but according to head brewer Dean Pleasant, the removal of the finings has had an unexpected effect on the beer, enhancing the subtle flavours within the light, refreshing 3.9% ale. Hayle McPhie, manager at The Closed shop said: “There has been a noticeable shift in the tastes of beer drinkers and we have seen a noticeable increase in the numbers of drinkers requesting vegan friendly alternatives. The unfined version of Stancill Blonde has proved to be very popular amongst the pub’s vegan drinkers.” Dean Pleasant, head brewer at Stancill Brewery explains: “Finings are used to provide clarity within beer. Many drinkers are often deterred from drinking hazy or cloudy beer as this can sometimes be a sign that the beer hasn’t been looked after correctly. However, finings can also impact on the taste of beer. Removing the finings from Stancill Blonde has helped to bring out some of the subtle flavours in the beer.” Currently available on cask at The Closed Shop, the unfined version of Stancill Blonde can also be ordered by special request from the brewery. Meanwhile, hot on the heels of Stancill’s ESB beer launched last month, the latest offering in Stancill’s Full of Dank range is an amber ale, packed with fruity flavours ready to welcome the warmer summer weather. Brewed using a combination of German-produced Hüll Melon and New Zealand Wai-iti hop varieties, the result is an easy-drinking, refreshing beer with hints of strawberries, melon, peaches and ripe apricots. Set to be released in early May, the yet-to-be-named 4% beer will be available in cask, key keg and cans. The Full of Dank range, which includes Charlie Brown and ESB, is also vegan friendly.

Hope everyone enjoyed the wonderful whirlwind that was Sheffield Beer Week! We had a fantastic time taking part in events galore, hats off to Jules and all involved for organising another brilliant showcase of our beautiful beery city. Another festival kicks off this month with the return of Opus Independents’ Festival of Debate, now in its fourth year. We’ve teamed up with them again to brew a brand new collaboration, Agent of Change, a sessionable 4.0% pale perfect to ponder over. We’re also very proud to be sponsoring the Democracy and Activism strand of the festival, so do keep a look out for a whole host of events happening around the city. We’ve also got together with Lymington based brewery Vibrant Forest for a special collaboration. We met the guys at Zagreb’s first craft beer festival where we were both presenting our wares late last year, and over a few boozy shenanigans we discovered a mutual love for the Nelson Sauvin hop… so we’ve used absolute oodles of them in our deliciously fruity Nelson Sauvin DIPA (9.0%). Daredevil or not, you’re sure to enjoy a pint of our Stuntman (4.3%). A quaffable pale ale perfect for spring afternoons, just don’t try any daring antics after drinking! From the Brewers Emporium, a new Unbeliever is coming to town towards the end of April and we’re continuing our experimentation in this range by creating a dry hopped black Berliner Weisse, lightly tart with an amped up backbone from the dark malts used in the recipe. And finally we’re rounding off the month with the next of our Salvation series, back to a classic this time with a Dry Irish Stout (4.9%). Expect a roasty toasty character and a beautifully smooth mouthfeel. Laura

There’s not too much to report on the specials front this month at Exit 33, but there is one new offering. Spring Fever (4.4%) is a light session pale ale with a mixture of fruity hops including Citra, El Dorado and Mosaic. Meanwhile, there will also be the usual live music at the Harlequin on Friday and Saturday evenings. Bands for April include The Band With No Name, Gav Coulson Group, The Paddy Maguire Band, Ace in the Hand, Mahogany Newt and Searching for Sylvia. Pete Roberts

The long-awaited Loxley Brewery, based at the Wisewood Inn on Loxley Road, is now fully operational and the first pints of its beer have been sold. The idea of brewing beer using spring water from a well discovered underneath the pub was conceived last year.  Brewing equipment was eventually delivered to the pub—which was voted our July 2017 Pub of the Month—in January this year, and brewing commenced shortly afterwards. The brewery has also invested in branded casks and pint glasses. There are also plans to sell the spring water separately, as well as using it as the main ingredient in all their beers. Loxley’s first beer, Wisewood One blonde (4.0%), was finally released on 15 March at a special introductory price of £2 per pint. It proved extremely popular, selling several casks in its first evening. A second brew, a New Zealand-hopped pale ale, is also currently in production and should be available in the near future.

Steel City continue to release collaborations as Dave pays off his collab ‘debt’ (and not at all because it means someone else shovelling the mash tun, honest guv). The latest is with Neepsend and Lost Industry, a 5.0% Citra and Rakau dry-hopped sour named Medusa (thus fitting both Neepsend’s mythology theme and Steel City’s metal album theme). Although the beer has a slightly higher final gravity than most Steel City beers, any hint of sweetness is bludgeoned into submission by a citrus acidity somewhere between orange juice and grapefruit juice. Gavin and Hannah seemed to enjoy their introduction to sour brewing so hopefully we can look forward to Neepsend sours now! 200 litres of Medusa were transferred to a white wine barrel with grapes and will be launched at the Stout Wars event at the Shakespeare on the 4th of May. One keg will be bretted and left until the end of the year. The next brew was an ultra-short brewlength Flemish Oude Bruin. The unblended Bruin is rarer still, six bottles to be sold by Hoptimism, the rest was blended with a sour blond. Three kegs and 30 bottles of the blend were made, one of the kegs has been bretted and will also appear at the end of the year. Dave Unpronounceable