Steel City are back at the collaboration game, and this time it’s big. Any time Steel City and Lost Industry collaborate it’s like a nuclear arms race of mad ideas, but this time the brand new Emperor’s Brewery was also involved. Damian of Emperor’s is an accomplished home-brewer who has just acquired his brewing license, and he doesn’t believe in beers being less than double digit ABV! One beer quickly escalated into six beers, all from the same mash. Damian is a big fan of a certain series of films (now owned by a mouse) and names and labels his beers accordingly. The Stout Wars collabs draw inspiration from the same source. The shopping trip the day before the brew may raise a few eyebrows among the more traditional drinkers, with a couple of hundred pounds spent on ingredients that were not malt, hops, yeast or water!
The main brew is a big Imperial Stout, with 377kg of grain and 735 litres of water crammed into a 1000 litre mash tun, physics be damned! This was then split into three separate fermenters each with different adjuncts, with the main fermenter then being further split into barrels for ageing. With such a huge mash, there was still plenty of fermentable sugar left in the grain after the copper was filled, so the second runnings were soured overnight, fermented and then put in a red wine barrel with a mixed Brettanomyces culture (courtesy of the Abbeydale Funk Dungeon!) for a few months. The variants are:
Episode I: The Phunky Menace – red wine barrel aged bretted sour stout;
Episode II: Attack of the Nibs – a solitary cask and ultra-limited bottle release, imperial chocolate stout;
Episode III: Revenge of the Pith – imperial stout with lemon and orange peel;
Episode IV: A Tiramisu Hope – rum barrel aged coffee and rum infused imperial stout;
Episode V: The Cookie Strikes Black – maple & pecan cookie imperial stout;
Episode VI: Return of the Cake – red wine barrel aged version of Cake, the chocolate cherry cheesecake stout
Episodes II, III and V will be released at a launch event at the Rutland on Friday 9
th February, while Episodes I, IV and VI will be released simultaneously at the Shakespeare on Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you…). The only places to get casks will be the Rutland and the Shakespeare, while kegs will be released into the wild, and bottles will be available from Beer Central, Hop Hideout, Cotteridge Wines and Hoptimism.
Also around during February will be the
My Wine In Silence white wine barrel aged grape IPA, while
The Blood, The Wine, The Roses red wine barrel aged stout will be launched at Sheffield Beer Week in March. The 2018 brew schedule is far from finalised, but will mostly consist of Dave clearing his ‘collab debt’! The next known brew is a home three-way with Lost Industry and Neepsend, a dry-hopped sour in time for Sheffield Beer Week.
Dave Unpronounceable 
We’re collaborating with some of our local friends to brew a dry hopped sour with Steel City and Lost Industry breweries, a grapefruit pale ale with Blue Bee, the latest iteration in our Breakfast IPA series brewed with Hopjacker and finally getting round to hosting the return collaboration brew with Sheffield’s smallest brewery, Regather.
We’re also brewing a beer to celebrate the connections between two of our finest beery cities – Sheffield and Norwich – with a Sheffield Beer Week and Norwich City of Ale collaborative beer, which will be made with Norfolk malt and a Sheffield ingredient.
If that doesn’t keep us busy enough we’re also hosting some of our very favourite brewers from a little further afield in North Riding, Hopcraft and Waen breweries. Expect hops!
All these beers will be showcased at the opening of our new onsite tap room for the closing party of Sheffield Beer Week on Saturday 17 March and you can keep up with details by finding us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
We have also, of course, kept the beers coming over the last few weeks. Our latest brews have included: Pax (5.7%), a transpacific IPA hopped with US, NZ and Aussie hops; Djanggawul (4.6%), an Australian pale hopped with Galaxy, Vic Secret and Enigma; Ottokar (4.1%), a Styrian amber ale; Raki (4.3%), a pale hopped with Nelson Sauvin and Rakau; Summit IPA (5.5%), the latest in our series of single-hopped IPAs; Lacuna (3.8%), a Mosaic and Ekuanot session pale and Zipa (4.7%), a Citra and El Dorado pale.
Heading to the Sheaf View, Wellington or Blake Hotel is – as ever – your best bet if you want to try some of these new brews locally.
Gavin Martin 
Bili Bili takes its name from a popular traditional alcoholic beverage brewed in rural communities in Cameroon. The drink is brewed at home, primarily using sorghum malt and is thought to have many health benefits. Village Aid works in partnership with human-rights based organisation MBOSCUDA in North-West Cameroon. They work to build peace between farming and grazing communities by increasing equitable access to natural resources such as land and clean water and working with the communities to resolve violent conflict peacefully. Find out more about this and Village Aid’s other life-changing projects in West Africa by visiting their website: 
We are also super excited to be teaming up with Malton-based legends Bad Seed Brewery. Seeing as we’re both breweries who are well known for our hoppy pale ales, we’ve gone double hopped for this collaboration! Final details are still to be confirmed but we can promise an outrageously hoppy, juicy, hazy delight.
And finally, in time for Sheffield Beer Week we’re heading out into the peaks to create a brand new beer with none other than the mighty Thornbridge! Keep your eyes peeled for more details, including behind the scenes insights on the brewday on 9 February. This one will be launching across all Thornbridge venues in March.
Obviously we’re also making plenty of delicious beers all by ourselves and Voyager 7, hopped with Sorachi Ace, El Dorado and Enigma, will be triumphantly setting sail from the brewery in cask, keg and can. Also coming up in our Brewers Emporium range we have the next iteration of our Salvation stout, which this time will be packed with the flavours of Rocky Road. Expect a full biscuity body, a rich, sweet mouthfeel and a marshmallow finish.
In our Doctor Morton’s series we have the return of Morton’s Caesar (4.1%), a pale ale with a combination of US and New Zealand hops for a bold citrusy character and inviting herbal aromas.
To round off the month we will be releasing the first in a new fairground inspired series designed by the wonderful Carl Flint: Waltzer (3.9%). An easy drinking, well-balanced blonde beer with a delicate fruitiness and a clean bitter finish.
Coming up next month we have LOADS planned for Sheffield Beer Week including a bar at the Indie Beer Feast held at Abbeydale Picture House, tickets available online now!
Cheers,
Laura
P.S. I’ve picked my favourite Untappd comment from last year. This dubious accolade goes to Sam K, whose Moonshine at Bungalows and Bears “tastes like Sheffield”. Keep a look out on our Twitter for my favourite comments each week and check in your pints for your chance to be featured! 
Little Critters has also been well represented locally with five beers present at the 43rd Steel City Beer Festival this October and White Wolf winning the bronze medal in Rotherham CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Yorkshire competition.
Changes also occurred at the brewery with two new fermenters and an extra chiller being installed at the end of October, greatly expanding the production capacity. Preparations for this expansion evolved throughout the year with head brewer Richard ably assisted by trainee Joe. The end of December saw Joe develop his first solo-brew, the aptly named Incubator Series. Similar to the Chameleon series, this will be a revolving project, with changing styles and ABV.
Looking ahead, 2018 looks set to hold yet more expansion with ales being distributed locally and nationally, both on cask and key keg. Little Critters hope to welcome you to the Fox and Duck or the Doctor’s Orders soon.
Allan Shaw 
