Category: Breweries

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

Punch Taverns teamed up with Everards Brewery to give four lucky Partners the chance to brew and brand their own beer. Every Punch Partner who bought the ‘Beer with No Name’ was entered into a prize draw and the winning four were selected at random: • Karen Lang-Norris of the Hop Pole, Beeston • Gary Fanton of the Rutland Arms, Holmesfield • Ian Jackson of the Black Swan, Henley in Arden • Alan Gibbons of Hen House, Cannock. As part of the prize, the four Partners attended the Everards Gold Cask Ale Champion course at The Brunswick microbrewery in Derby, where they learnt about the brewing process, raw materials and selected ingredients to brew their perfect pint. The Partners drew inspiration from the beers they know and love and used tools such as Cyclops to gauge what styles are working in their pubs. They put together their knowledge and experience to design their own beer recipe, create a name for their beer and design a pump clip to suit. This resulted in Amberella being born – a 4.1% golden amber ale, made with Maris Otter Malt and Ella, Summer and Cascade hops. With the recipe now logged, Everards will produce this beer which will be available through the Punch Finest Cask scheme throughout October. Stephen Martin, Category Manager for Punch Taverns, said: “It was a fantastic opportunity for our Partners to get involved, learn about the complexity of beer brewing and create their own ale. “We are delighted to work with Everards and produce an autumn-inspired beer and following the success of the Beer with no Name, I am expecting Ambrella to do really well.” Everards are giving those that try it in their pubs the chance to enter the same prize draw to brew a beer for next year. Keep a look out for the competition when Ambrella goes live in Finest Cask Rotation 6.

Situated near Worksop, the Welbeck Abbey has been home in the past to monks, earls and an army training college. Most recently it has become home to the Welbeck Project, a community of business, education and arts initiatives. Part of this is Welbeck Abbey Brewery. Founded in 2011 with a little help from the late Dave Wickett and Kelham Island Brewery, this 10 barrel plant is producing some very good cask ales. And on an overcast Tuesday night members of Dronfield CAMRA sub-branch paid a visit to the brewery for a tour. We were welcomed with pints of Red Feather, a best bitter and a new pale ale called Harley. Harley is a new beer, although some of us had already sampled this beer at the Travellers Rest in Apperknowle the previous weekend and pleased to be reacquainted with this beers hoppy flavour. There followed a tour of the brewery lead by head brewster Claire Monk, who was an excellent host who explained the brewing process, took us through the ingredients and answered many questions of the curious Dronfield CAMRA members very well. Welbeck Abbey concentrate on the local market, and look more to produce good characterful beers at sessionable strength over the more experimental beers (or ‘faddy’ beers as brewster Claire put it). They are also looking at the possibility of using barley grown on the Welbeck Abbey estate for their own malt in the future. After the tour was over and more Harley and Red Feather had been drunk, we made the short trip to the Butchers Arms in Woodsetts near Worksop. This is a village pub run by Raw Brewery with an excellent array of cask ales from the likes of Black Jack, Darkstar, and of course Raw themselves. A very good end to a most enjoyable evening.