Steel City have dark and light beers doing the rounds at the moment. On the Dark Side is Unholy Trinity, brewed with David from Raw and Chris and Robin from the Shakespeare. The brew-day was going unbelievably well, until it came to time to transfer from the copper to the fermenter – the filter plate got clogged, so what should have been a 45 minute transfer took about 5 hours! It was worth it in the end, Unholy Trinity has come out as an intensely flavoured stout with massive coffee and chocolate taste. A variant was produced with half a bottle of rum in each cask, entitled Captain Morgan’s Revenge (after an Alestorm album, as well as the rum of course). On a lighter note, the latest brew is Phantom of the Hopera, and uses a standard Steel City mash of Low Colour Maris Otter and wheat malts. Hops are Admiral and Magnum for bittering, and Citra and Sorachi for flavour. The minikit saw its first action in its new home, and was used to brew Phantom IPA, essentially a stronger version of Phantom of the Hopera, featuring early runnings from Phantom, followed by almost the same bittering charge and the same ratio of flavour hops. Both ‘big brother’ and ‘little brother’ are dry hopped with Mosaic. Unholy Trinity, Captain Morgan’s Revenge and Phantom are all available in bottles from Beer Central – bottling has been a big success so far, with Beer Central shifting a hundred bottles of Communication Breakdown and All Hallows Eve in their first week! Finally, Hop Hideout are hosting a Steel City Meet the Brewer evening on Friday 21st March – only the second official MTB for Steel City. Beers expected to feature include All Hallows Eve, Unholy Trinity, Phantom of the Hopera, Phantom IPA, Grim Overlords (March’s planned collab with Great Heck), and one or two surprises! Places are limited to only 14, so don’t hang around – tickets available now from Hop Hideout.
The latest in the pUnK-tuation series is out. Solidus is described as a 5.4% ABV one-stop-hop-shop, deep gold/amber in colour. And that, folks, is a Solidus, nestling ‘twixt ‘gold’ and ‘amber’. The hops featured are Willamette (USA), Cascade (USA) and Admiral (UK). And fermented out to the sounds of the first Leatherface LP, for added wow-factor.
After a cracking New Year’s Eve at the Cross Scythes on Derbyshire Lane to the south of Sheffield, King Bee Rich got chatting to Boss-of-the-Cross Steve.
The result is that Blue Bee will be featured at the pub in February, with at least four different ales available on hand-pump; Solidus is likely to feature.
Local artist Martin Bedford is putting on a monthly blues night at Bar Abbey on Abbeydale Road (under the old picture palace). He is calling it Honey Bee Blues Club, and approached Rich with a view to producing a special beer for the event.
It will be 4.0% ABV, and similar to Nectar Pale. There is a wealth of local blues talent lined up; the first night in January featured The Mudcats and M&J Blues, amongst others. “Knock 3 times and say necessity sent you!”
We saw out the year with the highest sales ever seen at Abbeydale. As quick as the production team were filling the store room, our draymen were filling up their vans and delivering our beers throughout Yorkshire and beyond. Humbled and exhausted by the demand, it was nice to have a few days off to recuperate!
The New Year has also brought some new beers as well as the return of some old favourites: White Knight and Black Bishop. Last brewed in 2010, the pair of polar opposite ales make an appearance this month.
The 4.5% White Knight is a beautiful blonde session ale with aromas of grapefruit and elderflower and flavours of citrus and pine.
Contrasting this, the 4.2% Black Bishop is a full flavoured porter with a sweet and malty aroma. Driven by its complex roast malt and black treacle character, Black Bishop‘s pleasant bitterness is complemented with citrus and spices from the hops.
Anyone who missed the exquisite dry hopped Dr. Morton’s Crispy Automatic Duck, you need not worry; the good Dr. will be cooking up some fantastic new pale and experimentally hoppy specials throughout February.
Chronoform 4.1%, Reality Filter 4% and Pylon Climber 4.1% all will make an appearance this month. So, to those still going with New Year’s resolutions of gym sessions and healthy eating, make sure you find time for a pint or two, it’s what the Dr. ordered!
Our Christmas seasonals will be out and about from late November: Fairytale Of New York 4.2% dark Christmas ale is a fine full-bodied winter warmer brewed with a specially selected Belgian yeast, a trio of roasted malts and Slovenian hops resulting in a spicy, sweet toasted aroma with hints of chocolate and a lavish warming flavour.
The Adventures of Captain Chrimbo 5.4% strong IPA is full flavoured and golden with a blend of our favourite hops. Fruity with a full malty body and perfect for the festive season.
The Kelham Brewery shop is now fully stocked with a great selection of gifts and beer gift packs. Beer for your Christmas celebration is available in bottles, 5 litre cans, 18 and 36 pint boxes. Our brewery tour vouchers make great Xmas gifts or treat a loved one to our Brewer for the Day experience.
Our Port & Cheese evening in November sold out straight away so we have added a second Port & Cheese night on Saturday 14th December. We have various tours and tastings throughout December so check out the website.
Finally a big thank you to everyone who has supported Kelham Island Brewery over the last 12 months. It is much appreciated.
Jim Harrison, Thornbridge’s MD, reports that a massive 845% increase in exports in the past year has led the way for further investment in production capability at the brewery in 2013.
“Unbelievable” says Harrison to the export increase “for a small brewery in the Peak District it’s great to see our beers being enjoyed across the world. We began exporting small quantities of bottled and keg beers about three years ago to a couple of countries but we now export to around twenty with the USA, Sweden and Italy being our major markets. Getting our head around the requirements of exporting was a bit of challenge at first but we have partnered with some great importers and this has been crucial to our success”.
Thornbridge launched its flagship Jaipur IPA bottled beer into Sweden early in 2013 and has seen it rise to being one of the best selling beers in the country. Simon Webster, Thornbridge’s Chief Operating Officer, reports that “the team at the brewery has been working very hard to ensure supply, not only for our UK customers, but also the overseas demand. We expanded production by about 30% in 2012 and are just finalising some further investment in brewing vessels to increase this again in late 2013”.
Always concerned to ensure that quality is paramount Webster says “we have stopped short of introducing 24 hour brewing as we want a spirit of “one team” to be preserved and a focus on quality and consistency for all that we do”. I can’t see us expanding production beyond this next increase so we will continue to build a worldwide reputation based on the quality of our beers not ubiquitous supply”.
Thornbridge started brewing in 2005 from a 10 barrel plant in the grounds of Thornbridge Hall. It opened a new brewery at Bakewell in 2009. It now employs 30 staff at the brewery and around 300 in a number of bars, pubs and restaurants.
Sheffield Forgemasters has swapped castings for casks in a partnership venture with The Sheffield Brewery Company.
The iconic 200-year-old engineering heavyweight has teamed up with the brewery to deliver a tailor-made Forgemasters beer at the company’s historic brewery building in Neepsend.
It is now widely available in traditional casks via an initial 16 independent pubs across the city and through a limited bottle-run which is only available to purchase directly from The Sheffield Brewery Company.
Numerous local luminaries gathered to sample the brew and gave it the thumbs up at a launch event at The Sheffield Brewery Company.
Forgemasters’ beer has been created by the company’s chief executive, Graham Honeyman, who recognised Sheffield’s growing status as the real-ale capital of the UK and saw an opportunity to team up with local brewery boffins to engineer the perfect pint.
Graham said: “Sometimes it is good to step back and take on a new challenge. And with some of the county’s finest breweries right here on our doorstep it seemed like the ideal project, to engineer the perfect pale ale and to market it through the region’s best pubs.
Sheffield has a status of quality across the world for its engineering achievements and this is simply an extension of the philosophy which underpins that ethos, to take something and make it to the best of your ability.
Crucially, I wanted the beer to become a household name in the region. I’d like people to walk into the pub, see the Forgemasters’ beer label on the bar and order it, confident that it will be of the best quality.
We chose to work with a small, artisan brewery that could deliver the beer to our specific requirements, which involved a significant amount of research and development to get the correct balance of qualities – as do all of our projects! Even the bottles for the beer have been hand selected because nothing about this beer is run-of-the-mill.”
Peter Rawlinson, director of The Sheffield Brewery Company, said “We were delighted to be selected and the venture between the brewery and Sheffield Forgemasters is a great initiative and celebrates all that is good about the city.”
Tim Stillman, the brewer, said “We have delivered a bespoke beer for Forgemasters, to their specification, which uses Lager malt and Maris Otter pale malt to give a very pale, straw colour, with Saaz hops used at the beginning of the brewing process and American Cascade hops at the end to give a really nice citrus twist to the drink. This has created a beer which we think has broad appeal.”
Pubs serving the Forgemasters’ cask beer initially include The Old Monk, Crucible Corner, The Red Lion, Shakespeares, The Fat Cat, Kelham Island Tavern, The Ship Inn, The Gardeners Rest, The Sheffield Brewery Company, The Cremone, The Place, The Jolly Farmer, Sheaf View, George & Dragon (Rotherham), Rutland Arms (Holmsfield) and The Wentworth, which is located next to the Forgemasters facility in Brightside.
3rd Prize for Black Mass at Sheffield Steel City Beer Festival! Dan at Abbeydale says, “We never expect to win an award at any beer festival. It’s always a great feeling when we get something and joint 3rd prize for Black Mass is no exception. It’s great to know our prized Black Mass still cuts the mustard.” Black Mass is a 6.66% rich, aged and complex stout. Truly some to savour in front of an open fire in the cold winter months.
On a similar note, Abbeydale were absolutely thrilled also to learn that Absolution 5.3% took 1st prize at North Cheshire CAMRA’s Northwich Beer Festival. The presentation for this was on Saturday 16th November at the Rising Sun, Fulwood. Keep an eye on Abbeydale’s blog page on their website for details on that.
More great news, thanks mainly to the efforts of John Parkinson (production director) Abbeydale have been awarded a gold standard by the NSF for the second year running. NSF International is the most widely known and respected food assurance brand and an independent, accredited organisation that tests, audits and certifies products and systems.
Over the last Christmas period, Abbeydale just about managed to hang in there in terms of quantity of specials available despite their 190 barrel week! So, in an attempt to keep up with demand this year, they’ll be brewing a great range of six tantalising, festive treats. By the time this is out, the seasonal Winter 5.2% IPA with juicy New Zealand hops will have hit the streets along with the first of the festive specials, Chocs Away. This 5.5% belter is a full bodied chocolate stout… enough said! Let’s also not forget Baubles! A 4.1% pale ale with subtle marmalade and figgy pudding.
Kicking off the famous Dr. Morton’s range they’ll have; Dr. Morton’s Christmas Hamster 4.1%. A very drinkable session beer with additions of Munich malt turning it a lovely deep golden colour. You’ll also get a Christmas hamper of biscuit and caramel derived from further additions of Caramalt (in the beer not actually a free gift!).
Then, leave the brandy aside for Santa this Christmas as the pumps will be alive with the sound of Dr. Morton’s Christmas Cheer 4.5%. It’s brim full with hard hitting hops and expect to taste coconut and lemon from the superb Sorachi Ace. It doesn’t stop there! You also have Dr. Morton’s Paranoid Snowman 4.1% with a stunning line-up of Wakatu, Motueka, Rakau and Galaxy hops.
Beery bits. The sound of punk-rock continues to emanate from Blue Bee. Solidus, at 5.4%, is the latest in the pUnK-tuation series. The odd hand-full of black malt in the mash gives a bit of an amber hue to the beer. On the hop front, plenty of Admiral (UK) for bittering, with a good charge of Willamette and Cascade (both USA) for aroma. And it wouldn’t be Solidus if it hadn’t fermented out to the sounds of Leatherface’s first LP “Cherry Knowle”, 13 songs in 35 minutes one second; in yer face.
Festive fare comes by way of Chrimbo Hopping. Originally brewed at Raw three years ago, this 4% pale ale is big on hops, and a nice partner to the flagship Nectar Pale. Artist Nick has re-designed the pump-clip as well, to great effect.
We hear that both Bees Knees Bitter and Lustin’ For Stout went down a treat at Norwich Beer Festival in November. Always good to see our locally brewed ales being well received by drinkers from farther afield. And the topers of Rotherham seemed to be fans of Tangled Up, if reports are to be believed.
Finally, the next batch of Dark Blue should be arriving in a pub near you soon. Nicely spicy.
Richard Hough
Steel City’s collaboration brew-day at Fullers was a great success, though in true Steel City style things didn’t all run smoothly, with the computer system having to be completely rebooted mid-brew – in a brewery that size, if the computer’s not working, the brewery ain’t working! The brew process was a surreal experience for gazza and Dave, being mostly clicking a mouse and pressing keys – the only manual labour was tipping in hops (all 100+kg of them!). Big thanks to John Keeling for the invitation and hospitality, look out for Steel in selected local pubs (and apparently the M&B estate!).
Back home, the lads skipped November brewing due to Dave playing dodge-the-typhoon around the Far East, but December will see a long-overdue stout. Unholy Trinity will be a coffee and chocolate stout featuring Bramling Cross and hopefully Sorachi hops, and is a three-way collaboration as Dave tries to clear the backlog he owes from ‘away’ collabs!
Dave Unpronounceable
Wood Street had a really busy month in November. Alison made a one off special brew Doe a Deer to commemorate being in the Roebuck one year.
December sees the return of Old Mans Beard, a ruby ale at 4.1%, and Sassafras, a golden ale at 4.7% both which were very popular last year.
Dronfield’s new fermenter has now been fitted and is up and running ready to prepare a new beer in time for Christmas.
