Category: Breweries

Two great returning classics from the Kelham stable will be in the pubs for November. Bud Ekins 5% – Superb amber bitter, brewed with a selection of traditional British hops and a blend of maris otter and crystal malt. Bud was the hard drinking trials rider who stood in for Steven McQueen to make the jump in the ‘Great Escape’ and drove the 67 Charger in ‘Bullitt’. It’s a beer that Bud would have approved of. Get Your Kicks 6.6%  – With this epic American IPA. We have found a selection of the best hops the USA has to offer & carefully blended them to create a monster of a beer with a huge, pungent aroma of citrus, passion fruit, lychees, strawberry & blackberry. This golden beer takes you on a journey of mouth watering juicy flavours seducing the palate into thirsting for more. We look forward to seeing everyone for the 40^th Steel City Beer & Cider Festival 29 Oct to 1 Nov). If you’ve never seen our brewery you will pass us as you walk in so give us a wave. Call in the brewery shop and say hello.  

  With National Guide Dogs Week getting under-way on the 4^th October Steve Bowles a Worksop Guide Dog owner wanted to come up with an innovative way to raise awareness and much needed funds for the charity. Steve says; ‘A friend mentioned that he had seen a beer that had been brewed for another charity and I thought what a great idea, so I had a look for a local brewery and up popped Welbeck Abbey’ Steve made contact with Head Brewer, Claire Monk, who herself had said she was looking to work with a local charity and so a partnership was brewed, so to speak. Welbeck Abbey is an independent micro brewery based in the grounds of The Welbeck Estate. Steve, his guide dog May, and local volunteer Eddie, went along to meet Claire and set about choosing ingredients for their beer. The recipe was finalised with the help of Pete and Kimberley, two other Worksop Guide Dog owners.  Claire says ‘They knew exactly what type of beer they wanted and were instrumental in the whole process’. On Wednesday evening at The Grey horses Inn, Carlton in Lindrick, the first pint of ‘Barley May’ was pulled for the public and it went down a treat.  The beer is aptly named after the two guide dogs in the Worksop volunteering group Barley & May, and May was there to take centre stage at the launch. Over 3000 pints of Barley May has been brewed and is available in over 40 pubs in the area with 10p from every pint going to Guide Dogs.  ‘It was a pleasure to meet Steve and May and to be able to help a local charity’ says Claire. ‘We are very grateful to Claire and the whole Welbeck Abbey team for supporting Worksop Guide Dogs; this was a great start to the Guide Dogs Week activities’ Says Jo Berry Community Fundraiser for the Charity. This year we are asking people to Donate an Hour during guide dogs week and become one of ‘Hour Heroes’ to find out how you can get involved please go to www.guidedogs.org.uk/GDW14 ———————– In the event of the Greendale oak closing for refurbishment, Claire Monk of local craft brewery Welbeck Abbey Brewery is teaming up with Joe Parente of Quo Vadis, Soho, to create the Cuckney House Pop Up Pub. In the old village manor house recently used as the film set for ‘testament of youth’ starring Kit Harrison, a no frills bar will be set up to provide the local community and beyond a chance to get together and sample award winning real ales, perfectly executed classic 1920’s cocktails and the chance get a sneak peek of the inside of a wonderful old house. The venue will open it’s doors from the 23rd of October until the 15th of November, opening on Thursday and Friday evenings from 5pm, and Saturdays from 2pm. Parking is provided in the field opposite the entrance to the house itself. A percentage of the proceeds will be donated to the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance which is so vital in helping rural communities such as Cuckney get the immediate medical aid that is occasionally needed.

The Great British Home Brew Challenge – the winning beer now available In Waitrose

In August we announced the winning beer from this year’s Great British Home Brew Challenge, organised by Thornbridge Brewery, Waitrose and Brew UK. The competition, which had over 200 entries, was launched in June to find the best home brew. The prize, to see the winning beer turned into a commercial product for Waitrose, has been championed by Derbyshire-based Thornbridge Brewery, who already have a successful range of craft beers at the supermarket. Drinks writers Victoria Moore, Jamie Goode and Daniel Tapper joined Waitrose experts Anne Jones  and Kate Prall and Thornbridge brewers Rob Lovatt and Dominic Driscoll along with Greg Hughes of Brew UK, formed a panel to judge the entries in August, eventually deciding that Graham Nelson’s Vienna IPA was the deserving winner. Since hearing about his beer winning the competition Graham has worked with the Thornbridge Brewing Team, headed by Rob Lovatt, and has visited the brewery to be involved in the brew and the bottling of his Vienna IPA. Graham says “Since learning that I’d won it’s been a fantastic experience to be involved in helping Thornbridge’s brewers scale up my recipe and make the beer. I only make forty bottles when home brewing so to see ten thousand bottles packaged and ready to be sent out was quite humbling! The beer tastes fantastic – a flavoursome, amber-coloured IPA with the big hop aromas very evident. It was clearly the same recipe as my beer but as I expected, Thornbridge’s attention to detail had taken it to the next level! Rob Lovatt reports “I knew Graham’s beer was going to be in the running for the winner the moment I tasted it. It was solid, well balanced, clean and had a modern hop profile which really stood out. I think we really did Graham’s beer justice and the final product produced in our Riverside Brewery is something he can be really proud of.”

Seasonal beer for November are Ella IPA, a 5% ABV Australian hopped IPA displaying floral and subtle spice notes along with Thunderstruck Black IPA at 5.7%, this is named after the classic AC/DC song, smooth malt base, packing a powerful aroma from the dry hopping with American Simcoe hops. We’ve won an another award! Our Barnsley Bitter was voted Champion standard bitter at the SIBA Yorkshire and North East regional beer competition. Judged by our peers this award comes on the back of a successful Export order which sees Barnsley Bitter heading over to Italy.

Spire Brewery is now under new management and will be trading as  Spire Brewing Company

As of the 22^nd September  2014, the assets of Spire Brewery have been transferred over to a new company trading as  Spire Brewing Company . Over the next 4 months there will be significant investment into the new Spire Brewing Company, building on the legacy and hard work put in by Dave McLaren, the previous owner and founder of Spire Brewery Ltd. Dave incidentally has not gone away and will provide some advice and guidance to help the new owner in this venture. The key milestones will include:

• Transfer old brew house to new premises better suited to brewing.
• Investment in a brand new 15bbl plant.
• Recruitment of a new full time head brewer.
• Clear identification of the Core Brands and road map for seasonal production.
• New web site and Facebook page
• Various launch events.

My personal investment in this venture has been driven by a passion for beer and the desire to ensure we produce beer both of quality and consistency. I have lots of ideas as to what we want to produce, but at the core will be many of Spire’s traditional brews. In short, I like a good pint, each time every time. Gareth Jones Owner (and CAMRA Member)

Quite a bit happening down here. After months of hard work preparing the groundwork, a variety of Acorn Beers finally left Wombwell on Wednesday 10th September bound for Italy. The fashion concious ‘stylistas’ of Northern Italy will for this Autumn’s season be mostly drinking Barnsley brewed Barnsley Bitter, Yorkshire Pride, Old Moor Porter, Barnsley Gold and Gorlovka. Bellisimo!! After even more hard work the team in S73 are delighted to announce that Old Moor Porter has just been listed regionally within Morrisons stores across the north of England. New beers: Waimea IPA 5% – Brewed with New Zealand Wiamea hops that impart an intense citrus fruit aroma with subtle pine characteristics   Strongheart 5.1%, a strong version of our very popular Summer Pale, A clear, light straw coloured wheat beer with slight bitterness and a floral aroma. Dave Hughes