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 launched on 31 October at the historic brewery building in Neepsend.
It will be made widely available from 31 October in traditional casks via independent pubs across the city and through a limited bottle-run with bottles only available for purchase directly from The Sheffield Brewery Company.
Numerous local luminaries gathered to sample the brew and gave it the thumbs up.
Forgemasters beer has been created by the company’s chief executive, Dr 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.
Dr Honeyman 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.”
The beer has been tested in the market under a pseudonym and sold very well. Coupled with its real Forgemasters name, it could well become a staple drink for people who appreciate the company’s iconic name and want a beer that they’ll go back for time and time again.
The collaboration brew between Blue Bee and Welbeck Abbey proved popular. Intergalactic had a combination of four hop varieties – Cluster, Galaxy, Stellar and Pilot. Look out for the return leg to be brewed at The Hive in January (it may have hops in).
Awards corner. The illustrious Lustin’ For Stout scooped top spot at the Sheffield Tigers Rugby beer festival at Dore Moor recently. “Really delighted with this one”, said Rich, “because there was some stiff competition from a lot of excellent beers from other local breweries. And well done to Tigers for putting on this great little event”.
This followed on from Nectar Pale taking top honours at the inaugural Beer and Curry festival at Insch in North-East Scotland. A fine performance indeed.
Blue Bee’s new seasonal is out there. Dark Blue is a bit unusual, and, er, a little bit ‘out there’. So, a 4.4% dark ale that has had 2kg of fresh root ginger added to the boil. The colour is an enticing deep burnished copper; the flavours are warming and spicy. The ginger is there in abundance, without being overpowering.
– Brilliant on bonfire night!
– Perfect with parkin!
– A hit at Hallowe’en!
The kind of beer to be savoured next to an open log fire. Look out too for the latest in the pUnK-tuation series. Dinkus is a 5.2% pale ale with a riot of hops going on. Admiral for bittering, and stacks of Chinook and Cascade to follow. Think citrus…
And finally, the Tangled Trail II. Six of Sheffield’s finest hostelries will each have an aged Tangled Up so you can try the different ‘vintages’ side-by-side. This time, head for the Rutland Arms, the Closed Shop, the Uni Arms, the Gardeners Rest, the Dev Cat and Shakespeare’s. In whatever order you fancy, of course.
Richard Hough
Twenty years ago, the 1994 Good Beer Guide revealed that 30 new breweries opened in the UK during the previous year, including Rooster’s from Harrogate.
In contrast, the 2014 GBG mentions over 160 new breweries, but also lists 32 closures.
Dronfield Brewery, after a very brief relocation to Barlow Brewery, are back at Wood Street and now have their own fermenter.
Dronfield IPA has been brewed and supplied to Sheffield Beer Festival and a project in the near future is an attempt to recreate the old Stones Bitter using the same yeast and the classic recipe – although of course as Stones is still brewed by Coors the name will have to be changed!
After a bit of a summer break, Steel City have had a busy month! After the collaboration brews Four Horsemen of the Hopocalypse (with Raw, Trulla and Shakespeare’s) and CC (with North Riding), which are currently doing the rounds, Dave travelled again to Great Heck to brew Yule Twig, a humbug-themed ale but definitely not conforming to seasonal expectations!
The next collaboration is something you probably wouldn’t expect – Steel City and Fullers! Gazza, Dave and Shazz are travelling to London to brew at Fullers’ historic Griffin Brewery. Steel is very much in the Steel City style, being 3.5%, pale and very hoppy!. Steel City beer in the Fullers tied estate, who’d have thought it…
Back at home, the latest brew is All Hallows Eve, referencing Type O Negative as well as Halloween. Pale and hoppy, All Hallows Eve packs 135IBU (Summit and Chinook) with Galaxy and Mosaic (including 2.6kg Mosaic in the fermenter!) providing intense tropical fruit flavours.
Bottles should be available from Beer Central (in the new Moor market) when it opens late November, along with Communication Breakdown. The first bottled SCB beer, In The Nightside Eclipse, lasted only 2 days on the shelves of Cotteridge Wines, so don’t hang around – you snooze, you lose!
October has been a very busy month down at Kelham Island.
We would like to thank Pete down at Brew Co for all his hard work this year towards the Sheffield Co-operative, and of course everyone who turned up to work the event to make it the success it was.
This year’s down by the riverside at the Kelham Island Museum was another success with some great bands on complimented by some great beer really made for a fantastic weekend.
This month we have an extra addition to our seasonal range, Squeeze Me Pleeze Me a 4.1% copper coloured bitter which includes some British and Australian hops.
October also sees the return of the 5.5% Wild Rider, a strong full flavoured IPA brewed with a renegade of hops from all the UK, USA, Germany, and New Zealand for a massive, explosive hop aroma. Wickedly juicy, mouth-watering and satisfying aromatic.
Also a never seen before special, Radar Men from the Moon 4.0%. From the people that brought you King of the Rocket Men. A golden ale brewed with a bend of Australian and American hops. In this latest edition of the saga, a golden ale with an out of this world aroma of fruit and earthy lychee. Another exciting adventure in a pint pot.
On a separate note, Unfortunately next month there will not be any bonfire down at the Fat Cat. However keep an eye out for the posters and the website for information on what will be happening on that evening. Still plenty of reason to come down and join us.
Ed Wickett
