Category: Breweries

Howdo folks, what a busy month!  There seems to be the odd festival on at the minute. We have plenty of new beery stuff coming out at the minute.  To get into the autumnal spirit we have Serie Saison – Le Pommier (6.8%), an apple saison brewed with belle saison yeast and just a hint of cinnamon, a collaboration with Ben of Brimming with Beer in Brimmington.  Also fresh out is Neon Kiwi (4.6%), a kettle-soured ale with kiwi fruit and a collab with our friends at Neon Raptor.  Last but not least, we have introduced a range of cask pale ales Shade of Pale (4.6%). We have created several varieties of this beer, dry-hopping and dry-fruiting (if that’s a thing!) in the cask.  Keep an eye out for these (a few will be appearing at Steel City Beer Festival). So far we have: raspberry/vanilla, passionfruit, Sorachi Ace/chilli, Citra, orange/lemon/Citra, blueberry, forest fruits and pink grapefruit. Oh, and we’re pleased(ish!) to announce that Dave Unpronounceable of Steel City infamy will be taking up some of our space (and generally messing things up) for the foreseeable future! And finally, we are proud to announce that we have adopted six oak barrels (four whisky and two red wine) and hope to be expanding our souring program in the near future.

There’s a chill in the air over here at Welbeck, and we can tell that the winter season is almost upon us. As such, we’ve brewed some impressive specials this month to help get you warmed up and ready for winter! We’re bringing back some seasonal favourites this November, starting with Morvern. Morvern is a 4.8% dark and rich Scotch Ale, a revival of this forgotten traditional style which is low in hop character but full of malted grains to give a nutty and slightly smoky character. Next we see the return of Pineapple Lodge. Named after a Grade II listed building in the heart of the Welbeck village, this full-flavoured IPA is made with the perfect balance of American malt and New Zealand hops. Notes of tropical fruits are enhanced with a rich and deep malt backbone from specialty Vienna malt, giving an almost pineapple-like flavour. With a healthy 5.0% ABV it’s definitely a winner. Finally for our Brewers Choice range we introduce Amie’s Outlander. Inspired by our manager at Portland House, this beer is a sessionable pale ale, brewed at only 3.7%. It may not be a high ABV, but it’s crammed full of Amie’s favourite American West Coast hops to give a zingy punch. Our 2018 brewery tour dates have now been confirmed, and we will once again be running six tours throughout the spring and summer months. Our 2017 tours were our busiest yet, completely selling out, so we’d recommend getting your tickets soon. They make an excellent Christmas gift or a great night out with friends. For details on how to book see our ad in Beer Matters. Now, roll on winter!

Movember is upon us which means Stancill’s sensational seasonal stout is heading back to the pumps! Available throughout November, Movember Stout (5.0%) features roasted coffee and chocolate flavours which evolve and develop throughout the drink. The result is a pleasant, tasty beer with plenty of character. To mark the launch of Movember Stout, all male members of the Stancill team will be growing moustaches, culminating in a yet to be announced charity evening which will see additional funds raised for Movember. For each cask sold, the brewery will be donating to the campaign, which aims to raise awareness and help fund a cure for prostate cancer. Thomas Gill, managing director of Stancill Brewery, said: “This year we’ve slightly tweaked the recipe and the result is a fully flavoured, highly enjoyable beer which also helps to support a really good cause. Since we first launched our Movember Stout back in 2014, it has helped to raise hundreds of pounds for the Movember campaign.” “All the staff at the brewery are getting behind our Movember campaign this year and we hope that with the return of our Movember Stout, coupled with a number of events due to take place within our pubs, that we can raise lots of money for this worthy cause.”

After a busy October, with students back in Sheffield and the Steel City Beer Festival, November looks just as hectic. First of all our cask beers will be feature at Peddler Market in Neepsend over the first weekend November; look for our Amarillo Pale, Ginger Beer and Waimea IPA all featured alongside some great street food. We have less time in October than ever to brew one-off beers with our core beers keeping us busy but we have managed to squeeze a few in. The one that we are most excited about is The Last Geek (6.5%), an IPA brewed with the addition of Vienna and Oat malt to give a smooth mouthfeel, but then with huge additions of Mosaic in both the copper and fermenter to give those big tropical and pine flavours we have come to except from this superb American hop. On top of this in November we will have Waimea IPA (5.0%), a beer we have brewed before but with its great tangerine characteristics and high Alpha content it was one we had to brew again. We have also got our hands on some US Amarillo hops that we haven’t used for a good few years and have produced a great little session ale, Amarillo Pale (3.9%); expect citrus orange hop flavours leading to a dry finish. Josh Jepson

In partnership with Sheffield Wednesday we have produced a special new beer for match days at Hillsborough. Wednesday Pale Ale (4.0%) was launched on the concourses and in hospitality lounges for the Championship clash with Nottingham Forest on Saturday 9 September. Simon Webster, Chief Executive Officer of Thornbridge Brewery, says “When we were given the opportunity to brew the official Sheffield Wednesday beer, we were delighted. Our Managing Director Jim Harrison and I have been season ticket holders for years so to have one of our own beers inside the ground is a perfect match!” Wednesday Pale Ale will be available in the ground at all home games and in local pubs. A bottled version will be on sale at the end of September. Alex Buchanan

Head brewer Steve Bunting recently visited Stocks Farm in Worcestershire to take part in one of their annual hop walks. Steve brought back with him sacks full of the precious fresh hop cargo and the following morning the Acorn team were busy using the First Gold variety for the latest brew of Pretty Green (3.5%). This will be a vibrant, fresh, straw-coloured pale with wonderful citrus, sweet orange-like aroma and slender spicy notes. The brewery’s single hopped IPA range continues unabated. We’re now pushing towards the 130 mark with the introduction of the English hop variety Ernest. The 5% golden ale will deliver apricot, citrus and spice characteristics in a wonderfully rich and complex beer. Finally Acorn Brewery is delighted to announce that two directors of the brewery recently tied the knot.  Founder and Managing Director Dave Hughes and Business Development Director Christy Winfield, were married at Rogerthorpe Manor near Badsworth. Of course the health and happiness of the bride and groom was toasted with a pint of Barnsley Bitter – what else!  Dave and Christy then went on to honeymoon in the Maldives – you find any Barnsley Bitter there Dave?!

The big news from Steel City is they have a new host, so after a 9-month hiatus can finally brew under their own license again. The first brew will be Demons Are Back (named after a Mortiis song, but you all knew that), and will be a Transatlantic Pale Ale featuring Rakau and Hallertau Blanc hops (so maybe this one is Transpacific…). Two special versions will be created, the first will be for Steel City Beer Festival and will be named Some Men Just Want to Watch the World Burn, featuring chillies, as has become Steel City tradition for the festival. The second will be aged in a white wine barrel with grapes and dry hops, and will be available later in the year. Also available later in the year will be Scraping the Barrel, a rum-barrel aged version of Mayhem stout, and an as-yet-unnamed red wine barrel aged version. Also currently available is the latest Imperial collaboration Get In The C, pale and bitter (160+ IBU!) with plenty of Chinook, Cascade, Citra and Calypso. A special version for the Shakespeare was also produced and is named ‘Scarface’. A slightly stronger version was made on the minikit, and with reference to the MPs who showed more concern for the temporary silencing of Big Ben than the tragedy at Grenfell Tower is named The Bell End Gathering, with all proceeds to charity. Also available in October is the Weird Beard collaboration, an as yet unnamed chocolate & coconut white stout. A cask of this will be at Steel City Beer Festival. Dave Unpronounceable

The Sheffield Brewery Company is pleased to announce that at the recent SIBA North & East Beer Completion, we came Gold in the small pack Mild Ales category for our light but highly flavoursome 3.5% porter, Brunswick Black.  The award was collected in person by our brewer, Nick Law, whose happy accident led to this slightly sweet porter (you can read the full story in a recent back issue of Beer Matters). In other news, our Brewery Tap Room will be open again on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 October.  Serving up a range of fresh keg and cask ales, food, and live music, our venue is the perfect place to hang out for good beer, good bands and good times. Finally, you’ll be pleased to know that over the next few months, we’ll be relaunching our Beer Club with a range of events including tap take overs, meet the brewer, specialised homebrewing courses and competitions, music nights, and more.  Our desire is to make The Sheffield Brewery Company the hub for all things beer, fostering a community of hop heads who are as passionate about the production – and particularly the consumption – of beer as we are.  Members will enjoy discounts on the bar as well as a range of other benefits. Details to follow at www.sheffieldbrewery.com. Nick Law

We have had a busy September both at the brewery and on the road. After previous collaborations at our place with Abbeydale and North Riding we have finally got round to visiting them and brewing up a couple of great beers. Firstly, at Abbeydale we brewed a mega-hoppy rye and oat IPA, Are There Hops in Hell? (7.3%), combining Eureka, Citra and Sorachi hops which will be available in both cask and keg. Over in Scarborough at North Riding we produced Variations (5.0%), a single-hopped pale ale using Enigma. This Aussie hop is said to produce pinot gris and raspberry flavours but we will have to wait and see. Back at base, we had Dan from Regather Co-operative over to help them produce one of their beers on a larger scale so they would have their beer in cask for the first time. For those of you have not heard of Regather they are trading co-operative based just off London Road and are home to one of Sheffield’s smallest breweries, producing bottled beers for events at their in-house bar. After chatting with Dan, we decided on a slight variation on their EPA and have brewed Regather Pale (3.9%), a fruity well balanced session pale using American Willamette hops with a floral and herbal finish. After initial tastings we are both really please with the outcome and look forward to seeing it on the bars of Sheffield. On top of all this we also produced a few specials by ourselves. Firstly we have re-brewed Coffee Milk Stout (5.4%) which went down really well this year. This smooth, rich stout is brewed with lactose and cold brewed coffee from local roaster Frazers Coffee. We will also be adding Tia Maria to a limited number of casks since it proved very popular at the Kelham Island Tavern’s summer beer festival. Next up is a brand new beer, Ekuanot Red (4.7%), with a biscuit malt body backed up with a big tropical hop flavour and aroma from the superb American hop Ekuanot (formerly Equinox). September also saw us finally get round to brew the missing American 5 Hop Version 13 (4.3%). After missing out number 13 for no reason other than to see if anyone would notice (and they did), we are trying out five of our favourite US hops together: Mosaic, Citra, Ekuanot, Simcoe and Columbus. So this one should be extra special! Look out for all of these beers in pubs across Sheffield and beyond as well as at Steel City Beer Festival in October. Josh Jepson

The latest special beer from Stancill Brewery is an experimental beer which has been named after the largest city in Kansas. Wichita is a 5.2% beer which features all the hallmarks of a classic American Pale Ale. Brewed using three different malts and generously hopped with a unique combination of Citra, Amarillo and Mosaic varieties. To help give the beer the classic taste of a US beer, it has been produced using a US yeast variety, packing every pint with plenty of flavour from first sip to last. Meanwhile, Brad Fitton has joined Stancill Brewery as director of sales. Brad has held previous roles at the now defunct Crown Brewery and Retford-based Springhead Brewery. In 2014, he was part of the original Stancill team who launched the brewery, and was responsible for developing the company’s sales strategy before leaving to pursue other opportunities. Brad returned to Stancill in August 2017, where he will be responsible for overseeing the company’s business growth strategy. Brad said: “Returning to Stancill Brewery is a really exciting challenge for me. I’ve spent quite a bit of time working in the brewing industry during my career and it’s great to re-join the brewery team. I enjoyed working with Tom and Adam when they first launched their business. It’s incredible to see how much they have achieved in such a relatively short period of time and I’m looking forward to helping support the brewery’s ambitious future growth plans.”