Category: Breweries

The last few weeks have been rather busy for Team Abbeydale, with tap takeovers and Meet the Brewer events taking place all around the country, from Edinburgh to Norwich with York and Leek in between! This month though, we’re definitely making the most of being back on home turf as we celebrate Sheffield Beer Week! We’re ridiculously excited to be joining in with the Indie Beer Feast which kicks off the week on Saturday 10 March. Our full beer list is to be confirmed at the time of writing, but we can tell you that we will be bringing along our inaugural DIPA, Deliverance (9.0%), for its first pour. Sheffield Beer Week also sees us launching barrel aged 1868, a strong Scotch Ale weighing in at 10% – some of you may remember the younger version of this beer from Steel City Beer Festival back in October. It’s aged beautifully and renowned beer historian Ron Pattinson, whose work inspired this brew and led to the collaboration, will be joining us at the Devonshire Cat on Monday 12 March to lead a tasting. The Devonshire Cat is also hosting a Sourpuss event on Thursday 15 March, which will see our Funk Dungeon brewer Jim pitting three of his creations against three from Chorlton Brewery. And finally, our brewer Christie has teamed up with the Rutland Arms to put together a Beers & Brunch event on Saturday 17 March. Each of the beers has had input from women from both the pub (thanks to Heather and Emma from the Rutland for joining us!) and here at the brewery to tie in with the Women in Beer theme which the Rutland are promoting throughout the week. Check our social media for ticket details for all of the above. We also have plenty more new beers for you coming out this month! Soundtrack your day with a 4.2% fruity American hopped delight, with Amarillo for floral and citrus notes backed up by a selection of other hops from the US of A. Soundtrack is the next in our film inspired series so make sure you check the QR code at the bar! We’re teaming up with our good friend Stu from North Riding Brewery in Scarborough for a long overdue collaboration, to create Hazelnut Coffee Baby Stout (3.8%) – a sessionable dark beer which is smooth and sweet with a rounded nutty flavour and lactose for a silky finish. We also have Prophecy (4.5%), a Summit-hopped golden ale with pine and tangerine flavours and a bitter backbone. And finally, it’s a return for Doctor Morton’s Safety Beer (4.1%), a delectable pale beer brewed with a delicious combination of Australian hops. Bursting with grapefruit, pineapple and passionfruit flavours, no helmet required! Cheers, Laura

In February’s Beer Matters, we announced Stancill Brewery was in the midst of producing a new range of premium beers consisting of twelve “memorable, challenging and unusual” brews scheduled for release throughout 2018. The Full of Dank range is a brand-new range of beers, designed to explore different brewing techniques. The first beer, released in mid-February ,is a full-bodied brown ale. Combining rich, malty flavours including a selection of chocolate malts and Brewer’s Gold hops, Charlie Brown (4.5%) uses a US yeast strain, resulting in a clean, crisp and refreshing taste. Charlie Brown and the rest of the Full of Dank range will be available in cask and keg variations from all Stancill pubs plus selected pubs around the region. The beers are also available in cans which can be purchased from all Stancill Brewery pubs. The second beer in the range is also currently in production. This best bitter will feature five different malts, balanced by Styrian Golding and Mittelfruh hops, typically used in lager-style beers. Thomas Gill, Stancill Brewery Managing Director said: “We’re thrilled to be able to announce the first beer from the Full of Dank range. We felt the dark US craft ales are something that has been overlooked and we wanted to develop a beer which combined all the hallmarks of a good dark ale, whilst also adding the hoppy characteristics of a typical American beer. The result is a fully flavoured drink featuring a strong body and plenty of taste.” “Our brewers were keen to explore a number of different beer ranges and techniques which are not currently produced by the brewery and we felt the new range would provide a golden opportunity for each brewer to add their own twist to their favourite styles of beers. The result is a special selection of brews which offer a very different taste experience.” “We hope everyone will enjoy the first instalment from the range and we look forward to announcing the remaining eleven beers throughout the year in Beer Matters.” Stancill Brewery is also currently developing a new blonde special (4.1%) which will be released under the Stancill brand. The as-yet-unnamed beer will feature three different hop varieties and will be released at the beginning of March.

We’ve had a busy few weeks at Neepsend Brew Co. with a number of exciting things to update you on. Neepsend are getting involved in Sheffield Beer Week in a big way this year and celebrating the collaborative and friendly nature of the beer industry by joining forces with a number of other breweries to produce some special beers. 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

Steel City’s Stout Wars launch at the Rutland with Lost Industry and Emperor’s was an epic success, the pub was packed all night, three Imperial Stouts were demolished along with most of the wine-barrel-aged beers. A similar event is planned for May featuring three barrel-aged Imperial Stouts. A single keg of Rogue One will be available at Brewdog  during Sheffield Beer Week. Dave has already brewed under his own license as many times in 2018 as in 2017, not bad for February! The first brew of the year was a dry hop sour in collaboration with Lost Industry and Neepsend. Named Medusa to fit both Neepsend’s mythology theme and Steel City’s music theme (being the name of a Paradise Lost album, as I’m sure you all knew), it has an ABV of 5.0% and a pH somewhere in the 3s. Citra and Rakau hops were used in both the copper and the fermenter, and combined with the acidity of the beer give a sharp grapefruit tang. Most of it has been released into the wild already, but a couple of hundred litres are currently sitting in a white wine barrel for a few months with some grapes. The second brew of the year is an ultra-small batch of a Flemish Oud Bruin. Brewed with a selection of Belgian malts and a Flemish yeast, a single keg of unblended Bruin was drawn off before the rest of the batch was blended with a sour blonde. Dave Unpronounceable

Keep your eyes peeled in the month of February for limited-edition ale Bili Bili, a collaboration between Worksop-based microbrewery Welbeck Abbey Brewery and Bakewell-based international development charity Village Aid. Hand-crafted on the Welbeck estate, this fruity pale ale is packed with hints of zesty orange, reminiscent of the fruits of West Africa where Village Aid works. 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: www.villageaid.org. This charity cask ale will feature in local pubs throughout South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The design is bright and colourful and features the silhouette of the African long-horned cow, an animal central to the livelihoods of grazing communities in this region of Cameroon. 10 pence from the sale of every pint of Bili Bili will go directly to Village Aid’s projects in West Africa, enabling their life-changing work to continue into 2018.

Welcome to 2018, everyone! After a hugely exciting and very busy 2017 we’ve got big plans for the coming year and we’re kicking off by getting involved in collaborations galore. First up, after last year’s Don’t Go Bacon My Heart went down so well, we’re revisiting the piggy theme with our friends from leading Sheffield beer snack producers SmoFo to create You Scratch My Back, a 5.5% smoked pork scratching porter. It’s a rich, smoky, salty sensation! 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!

It’s been a busy start to 2018! Firstly, Triple Hop (4.3%) has proven so popular we have added it to our core range. Starting with a personal favorite brew of ours, Born in the USA (6.0%), we dropped the ABV to create this session IPA. Combining three great American hops (Citra, Mosaic and Ekuanot) to give a big tropical and citrus hop kick, along with additions of both Vienna and Munich malts to give a slight sweetness to counteract the dry hop finish this is a great addition to our core range. If you are yet to try Triple Hop, it can be found on the bar at the Kelham Island Tavern as well as on the guest pumps of other great pubs throughout the city and beyond. February also sees a couple of specials leaving the brewery. First up is a rebrew from a similar time last year, Land of the Long White Cloud (3.5%). Slightly tweaked from the previous brew, this time this session pale is packed with Motueka, Dr Rudi and Waimea hops, all from New Zealand, to give resinous hop flavours with hints of lime and tangerine. Secondly we have Planet Caravan (6.0%) a black IPA named after a lesser-known Black Sabbath song. This black IPA combines Eureka, Columbus, Ekuanot and Simcoe to give the citrus hop flavours you come to expect from a conventual IPA but is balanced by a slight roasted malt flavour in the background. Both this beers should be hitting bars of Sheffield throughout February. Josh Jepson

A new line of premium beers is currently in development by Stancill Brewery with a unique range of twelve memorable, challenging and unusual brews set to be unveiled during 2018. Named the Brewer’s Range, each beer will explore different brewing styles and characteristics, each one having been developed under the watchful eyes of Jonathan Brown and head brewer Dean Pleasant. A new beer will be unveiled each month under the Brewer’s Range brand and following the success of Stancill’s first canned beer in 2017, the range will become the first to sold directly to the public in cans. The first (unnamed at the time of going to press) beer will be unveiled at the beginning of February, marking a subtle change in direction to Stancill’s beer offering. Managing Director Thomas Gill said: “Over the past few years, Stancill has built a solid reputation for its range of traditionally styled beers – from our award-winning Barnsley Bitter to timeless classics such as our Blond and Porter. The Brewers range is a new assortment of complementing, but very different, beers. “We wanted to give our brewers a completely free hand when it came to developing and trialling the new beers, with a brand new beer planned to be launched every month throughout 2018.” In addition to developing its new Brewer’s Range, Stancill is also planning to make some minor revisions to its core beer range, with an additional special brew adding a new twist to some of its popular beers. Stancill is currently looking for experienced managers and bar staff to support the brewery’s current venues and future growth plans within Sheffield. To find out more about the current opportunities, send your CV and a cover letter to adam@stancillbrewery.co.uk. The brewery currently operates four venues within Sheffield, and if you share a passion for real ale and think you’ve got what it takes to build a successful career in the pubs industry, please get in touch.

Happy New Year from all at Little Critters! 2017 was an exciting year with additions to the core range including King Crow (Imperial Espresso Stout, 7.2%) and Nutty Ambassador (Hazelnut Milk Stout, 6.0%) which were previously limited-batch runs (and therefore not truly inducted into the critter zoo!) in 2016. The Nutty Ambassador can also be found in bottles, along with C-Monster, available from the Fox and Duck and several local stockists. The Chameleon Series single hop pale has continued to be popular with six varieties now in revolving production. Furthermore, the last weeks of 2017 saw a new critter, the Great Weisse witbier entering the menagerie, make sure to catch a bite in 2018! Little Critters has also been well represented locally with five beers present at the 43^rd 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

Hoppy New Year everybody (it never gets old… well, at least for us!). Things are looking up at the Sheffield Brewery Company this year with some exciting things on the horizon. This month, we’ll be releasing our first collaboration beer… Based in Leeds, Eyes Brewing is the UK’s first and only wheat brewery and quite possibly the first wheat-focused brewery to open anywhere in the World since the mid 20th century. With a vision to create exciting and innovative range of wheat forward beers inspired by tradition, modern concepts and long-forgotten ale styles, The Sheffield Brewery Company and Eyes Brewing joined forces on a cold, wintry Tuesday morning to brew a Toasted Wheat New England IPA. Dry hopped within an inch of its life, look out for this exciting, hazy, hoppy beer available in limited edition cask and keg. We are also excited to announce that we’ll be celebrating Sheffield Beer Week with our own Sheffield Homebrewers Competition. As a brewery, we’ve always supported new talent and brewers passionate about making beer in the comfort of their own home (from little acorns, and all that!). Whether its friendly advice or inviting brewers to come in for the day and brew with us, we are taking it to the next step and launching a competition to showcase some of the best beers as brewed by you, the people. The winner of the competition will be invited to come and brew their beer with us, which will be made available commercially. Details can be sound at www.sheffieldbrewery.com/competition on how to enter. Whilst we’re on the theme of competitions, March also sees The Sheffield Brewery Company go to BeerX in Liverpool as a finalist in the SIBA Independent Beer Awards with our Gold-winning porter, Brunswick Black. Make sure you pick up a bottle or two from them brewery or your local stockist (see website for a comprehensive list). Keep an eye out on our website for more details about our forthcoming events and various new beers we’ll be producing this year. Nick Law