Steel City’s latest brew Protz’s Pleasure is currently doing the rounds in Sheffield and beyond, as well as appearing at the CAMRA AGM at the end of April. As there’s apparently no such thing as a Black IPA, Dave and ‘Collaborator In Grimness’ Stuart from North Riding brewed a normal IPA and used some dark malt to change the colour. Columbus at First Wort and Magnum at boil make up 139IBU of bitter goodness, while the ever-increasing flame-out charge consisted of Nelson Sauvin, Simcoe and Bramling Cross. Mosaic pellets in the fermenter complete the tropical fruit and strawberry flavours to contrast the bitterness.

The 6.5%+ minikit version has been named in reference to Roger Protz’s comment on Black IPAs in a recent blog – Insult To History packs 180IBU of Magnum followed by a big flame-out charge of Simcoe, and some Columbus in the fermenter for good measure. There will be a short break in production (too many bank holidays in April and May!), the next brew will be out in June. Also in June, Steel City will be making their third appearance at Birrasana, at Blanes (just north of Barcelona). Four beers are being shipped over for the event: Grim Overlords, Protz’s Pleasure, Insult To History and Unholy Trinity.

It’s not Bittern, it’s Butter Bump. When the local RSPB at Old Moor Wetlands ask us to create a beer to help their Bittern conservation projects on reserves across Northern England we decided to run a competition to name the beer. Local Sheffield lad David Woodhead won the competition with the name Butter Bump which is an old English name for the bird. It’s now also a 4.5% lovely golden ale, brewed using First Gold (an English Hedgerow hop), Chinook & Cascade hops to create a pale golden coloured beer with a slight bitterness on the palate and a grapefruit/citrusy aroma. A donation of 5p on every pint sold will be made by the brewery to the RSPB. Once again during May we will have our two distinctive Mild’s on various bars throughout the region. Lightness:  A Light golden Pennine Mild brewed with Fuggle hops that impart light noble aromas. Darkness: Aromatic roast malts give a deep red colour and Fuggles hops give a mild level of bitterness and aroma. Someone mentioned to us that a few cyclists might be making their way around Yorkshire quite soon and we were keen not to get left out of the peloton of local beers that will undoubtedly be brewed to celebrate the ‘Big Start’. Watch out for Acorn On Yer Bike hitting the roads towards the end of May, you might need your stabilizers.

After the success of our 6% full-bodied-belter of a brew North American IPA and our Belgian Saison, we’ve decided to pencil in a number of extra special brews in our brew plan, with a West Coast Pale being planned for later this month. May also sees the return of our very drinkable Surreal Ale series of 3 beers, starting with #1. This 4.1% pale was first brewed back in 2011, but its wonderful floral aromas and fruity flavours from the New World hops just had to be brought back for spring time supping. Dr. Morton started the month with two new brews; The Wrong Stuff a 4.9% Mild and The Right Stuff a 4.1% pale and plans on squeezing in one more new beer before the month ends; Dr. Morton’s Chicken Vindaloo. Our big news this month has to be our collaborative brew with American giants Founders Brewery.  Travelling nearly 4000 miles from Grand Rapids, Michigan to brew in the Steel City, brewmaster Jeremy Kosmicki and team are pairing up with our brewers to create a beer representative of both breweries. Ever the perfectionists, the Founders team are not committing to a hop grist until they have rubbed an smelt each hop variety in our hop store.  But you can almost certainly expect a strong, full bodied beer full to the brim with hard hitting hops. On a final note, we’d like to thank everyone who came down to the Founders “Meet the Brewer” at the Devonshire Cat at the end of April!

Forgemasters Ale is now available through SIBA and fast becoming one of the region’s favourite premium beers. Such has been the demand that it is joining our core range alongside our other award winning favourites, Five Rivers, Crucible Best and Blanco Blonde. Bottles are available only from the brewery and are selling out fast.

Sheffield Eagles “Champions Ale” launch night 16^th May

The Sheffield Brewery Co and Sheffield Eagles Rugby League Club are launching a special promotion with participating pubs in South Yorkshire. Long time supporters Adrian Bentley and Mick Pridmore (landlord at The Wharncliffe) approached the brewery to brew special ale and the popularity of Champions Ale has really taken off. The Sheffield Brewery Co & the Eagles will be hosting a celebratory launch night on Friday 16th May at 7.00pm at the brewery. Mick Pridmore said, “To kick start the promotion we thought we’d arrange a proper real ale and pie ‘n’ pea bash at the brewery.” Liam Claffey, Eagles Marketing Manager added, “The evening promises to be a great event with our Head Coach Mark Aston and a host of first team players in attendance.” “It’s a great chance to meet and chat with the players along with a quiz, a chance to win a signed shirt and a tour of the Brewery itself on the evening.” This limited ticket only event is offered at a reduced rate of just £20 per person including food and real ale with bookings being taken through the Eagles on 0114 261 0326. Don’t miss out and help make this a great night out of support for the Eagles! Pubs stocking Champions Ale in support of the Eagles are The Gardeners Rest, The Wharncliffe, The Bessemer, The Beehive, Shakespeares, Fat Cat, Rutland Arms (Brown St), Kelham Island Tavern, The Plough (Sandygate), Three Horseshoes (Wickersley) and any landlords wanting to take part should contact the brewery at sales@sheffieldbrewery.com

Grand Depart big screen open day cyclists’ party – 5^th July

All you cyclists (keen or otherwise) please book this date in your diary. We have ample space to park bikes safely in our cellars (should you choose to come on two wheels!) and thought it would be fab to watch the start of the race on our big screen. The plan is you can spend the Saturday afternoon with us and your pals enjoying a real ale and bbq while making your final plans of how you are going to watch the race stage as it hits our region on the 6^th. Look out for forthcoming details on our website.

By the time you read this the Snooker Wold Championships will be nearly over and I am wondering how many of you have ‘downed the brown’, ‘sinked the pink ‘or even gone Inhov the Black? As always Blue Bee Brewery pockets the colours of the snooker table, Brown Ball (a lovely dark bitter), Blue Ball (easy drinking American hopped ale), Pink Ball (Strong IPA) and the new edition to the mix and trying to make the maximium break is Inhov the Black! our brand new 7% Imperial Russian Stout. In other news, we are looking in to buying a new fermenter, FV3 will help us expand our capacity and enable us to brew three times a week, more news and updates soon so watch this space!

It’s been an eventful few months at Welbeck with building work starting, events being held and most excitingly, awards being won! We were extremely pleased that Portland Black, our 4.5% porter was crowned Champion beer of East Midlands to win its regional heat at The National Winter Ales Festival held in Derby. The final will be held at the same festival next year, so fingers crossed for a win. Thanks go to everyone who nominated our beer. The Brewery yard project is progressing at a swift pace. Our brewery is housed in a renovated farm building, however the buildings attached either side were not included in the project and are now being worked on. They will become purpose-built units for other food producers, and we already know that Boutique Aromatique, a fine chocolatier, will be a neighbour. A chocolate beer may have to be brewed! While the work is going on we will unfortunately be unable to host brewery tours but are hoping to start again once it’s completed. Meanwhile, we’re knocking some walls down in the brewery to make room for two new tanks. This will take our production up from 15,000 pints a week to 18,000! We’re confident that we can continue growing this way, particularly because the chancellor has seen the light and dropped beer duty AGAIN! It’s a good job I was sat down when I heard… Our latest collaboration with From the Notebook is going well, with our first beer, Deaths Head Hawk Moth, proving very popular. It’s a velvety smooth 5% stout with hints of chocolate and coffee but no burnt notes at all. The second moth beer brewed to support the Butterfly Conservation charity will be Merville Du Jour, a 4.6% IPA brewed with American and New Zealand hops. Another recent collaboration we are hoping to repeat was an event to demonstrate the Science Behind Beer. We were asked by Doncaster CAMRA and Sheffield Science Festival if we would be happy to host an event in the brewery for member of the public to attend. Of course, we said yes, and roped in the School of Artisan Food to provide a brilliant venue and superb food. The evening saw 30 people visit the brewery for a tour, take part in exciting science experiments, and have the chance to ask a panel of specialist brewers, publicans and academics about the science behind beer. It was a fabulous night and we have already been asked to take part next year. And finally it’s all change at the brewery again, as Kyle leaves us and Joe joins. Joe lives a stones throw from the Broadfield in Sheffield and is a keen real ale fan. We look forward to having him as part of the team.

Beer number four in our light versus dark series arrives in May. Mistress  Flames 5%  is an elegant Ruby Mild brewed with a sophisticated blend of amber, chrystal and black malts for a lavish sweet mild with caramel and malt flavours & subtle liquorice notes. A smooth, rouge, flamboyant mild for CAMRA’s mild in May. Our other seasonal for May is California Drinking 4.8% . A chilled out amber Californian common style beer brewed to an authentic American recipe using Cascade and Northern Brewers hops for a fresh fruity and woody aroma. The beer is fermented using a lager yeast at high temperatures followed by a prolonged cool conditioning period. This gives an extra sparkle and a smooth zesty fruit character.

Beer for the barbecue

Don’t forget the Kelham Brewery Shop, open in the week until 4pm and until 5pm on Saturdays. California Drinking could be the ultimate BBQ beer and will be available in 5 Litre (8.8pint) Minikegs – while stocks last !!

On Friday 4th April a select number of CAMRA members were invited to the Fuggle Bunny Brewhouse at Holbrook (just off the main road from Halfway tram terminus to Killamarsh) to see the brewery and try the first two beers. We tried and enjoyed ‘New Beginnings’, a 4.9% Malty amber bitter and ‘Cotton Tail’ a 4% pale ale brewed with a mix of 5 different hop varieties. The launch is a gradual one, the only confirmed outlets this month are Doncaster beer festival and Barrow Hill Rail Ale Festival but will start appearing in various pubs soon. The Brewhouse concept will also see the brewery welcome casual visitors wishing to drop in for a pint and they will also host tours and functions. Whilst there we observed brand new casks still on the pallet and wrapped stacked up, they didn’t have to be delivered very far however as the supplier is based three doors up in the same building!  

Glasses are being raised at Knaresborough-based Rooster’s Brewing Co, following the brewery’s double triumph in the 2014 Design Awards, which are run by the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA). The Brewery was Highly Commended in both the Best Range of Bottle Labels and Best Total Design Concept categories at the Design Awards held as part of SIBA’s national BeerX event in Sheffield on March 13^th. Established in 1993, Rooster’s has developed a reputation for brewing beers of the highest quality that showcase a wide range of new and exciting hops from around the world, scooping plenty of awards both at home and abroad along the way. The brewery was purchased by Ian Fozard and his two sons, Tom and Oliver, in December 2011, and the latest accolade follows the decision to re-brand and re-design in 2012. With the involvement of The Lift Agency, a creative design studio based in Harrogate, the new branding has maintained the iconic red ‘Rooster head’ as the focus of the brewery’s image, whilst also creating a clean and contemporary aesthetic that has a timeless appeal. Speaking of the awards win, Tom Fozard said: “We’re delighted to have had our efforts recognised with these two awards. We worked closely with our friends at The Lift Agency in order to ensure a very high standard was achieved, which has been acknowledged by the judges. The feedback we’ve received from customers and consumers alike, since the rebrand was completed, has also been very positive and reinforces our belief that it’s equally important that the quality of our design imagery matches the quality of the beer we produce in cask, keg and bottle.”

2013 was rather a hectic year at Peak Ales brewery, and since Easter, hardly a week went by where the brewery hadn’t brewed at full capacity, although the brewery has been grateful that the winter weather has (so far) not adversely affected deliveries. Personalised bottled beer was a big hit for Christmas presents, with over 60 cases going out. With the daylight hours starting to draw back out, hopefully they can look forward to the spring/summer seasonal, Summer Sovereign, being brewed before too long. A cask of Peak Ales’ Noggin Filler and a cask of Bakewell Best Bitter were served at February’s Chesterfield Beer Festival. Two casks of winter seasonal Noggin Filler were donated to the National Winter Ales Festival at Derby. Peak Ales are currently looking at moving the production side of the brewery to brand new premises near Ashford-in-the-Water  in order to brew more beer to be able to cope with the demand. It is still unclear when this will take place but they are working hard to arrange all the small niggly things that need to be dealt with. Exciting times ahead!