Great British Beer Festival – Winter

This month sees the arrival of CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) Winter edition at its new home of Magna, replacing the long established Rotherham Real Ale & Music festival which took place for the last time in 2024.

The festival features a range of over 300 cask ales served on either handpump or gravity with many Yorkshire breweries represented as well as plenty from around the rest of Britain; there will also be around 35 other UK craft beers on keg, a dedicated Champion Winter Beer of Britain bar, a learn & discover zone and a world beer bar with a rotating choice of imported beers in bottle, can and keg.

There will also be brewery bars where their staff will be hosting and available to answer questions about the beers which will be served on both cask and keg. Brewers attending are Abbeydale, Brew York, Chantry, Radio City Beer Works, Wantsum, Theaksons and Thornbridge.

A number of tutored tasting events have also been organised as an optional extra, these have limited capacity and need to be booked in advance, they are led by a knowledgeable and respected host and the price includes a number of beer samples and a talk. Themes include Champion beers, beer & cheese, beer & music and beer brewed on Burton Union sets.

Cider & Perry also features on a dedicated bar curated by a team that are very enthusiastic about the real deal, so expect everything here to be made from freshly pressed apple or pear juice, never from industrial concentrate!

If you’d like to come along and enjoy the atmosphere but aren’t into beer or cider, there will also be a bar offering wine, spirits, soft drinks and no/low alcohol beer. Food will also be available with pub grub style meals available from Magna’s own catering team plus stalls selling snacks.

A busy programme of live music is planned each day and included in the ticket price, this will take place on the stage in the main hall. Rotherham CAMRA branch members will also be there hosting a tombola and old fashioned pub table top games.

The entry price includes a souvenir glass featuring the festival artwork and the sponsor, with a choice of a pint glass or stemmed half, this is yours to take home and keep. There aren’t any programmes this year but the Rotherham Cancer Care charity will be selling printed beer lists for those that want one. This year all the bars will be taking card payment (contactless or chip & pin) on a pay as you go basis, alternatively you can buy £10 beer token cards to spend at the bars, the token sales desks will accept cash.

The festival is organised and staffed by volunteers, if you fancy joining the team please fill in the volunteering form on the website.

All the information and advance tickets is available online at winter.gbbf.org.uk.

OPENING HOURS AND TICKET PRICES

  • Wednesday 5pm to 10:30pm (with trade tickets offering access from 4pm)
  • Thursday midday to 10:30pm (please be aware that a small number of bars won’t be open until 3pm)
  • Friday and Saturday midday to 10:30pm
  • Tickets on the door £10 for CAMRA members, £12 for everyone else
  • Advance tickets online £8 for CAMRA members, £10 for everyone else. Group and season ticket deals also available online.
  • Trade tickets for those working in the pub, beer and cider industry for the Wednesday session are complimentary but must be applied for in advance online.

GETTING THERE

  • bus X3 (Sheffield to Doncaster, operated by First) stops on Sheffield Road, behind the venue next to the pedestrian entrance which takes you through to the car park. You can board the bus at Sheffield Interchange, Meadowhall Interchange, Rotherham Interchange and Doncaster Interchange. If you are connecting with other buses in South Yorkshire an all day pass may prove good value – see sytravelmaster.com or the Travelmaster app.
  • If you are going by train, the nearest railway station is Meadowhall where you can jump on the X3 bus for a 5 minute ride to Magna.
  • From 4pm each day there will also be a special festival shuttle bus running from Meadowhall Interchange and Rotherham Interchange to supplement the X3, this will drop off (and pick up) near the festival entrance and charge a flat fare of £2.50 (other tickets and passes cannot be used). This bus will be operated by Stagecoach and generally run every 30 minutes, ending at 11pm.
  • Car parking is available at Magna, which is close to M1 junction 34.

LIVE MUSIC PROGRAMME (timings approximate)

WEDNESDAY EVENING:

  • 18:30 Bone Broke Kings
  • 19:45 Lightning Threads
  • 21:00 The Fargo Railroad Co

THURSDAY EVENING:

  • 19:00 Floodhounds
  • 20:30 Northern Citizens

FRIDAY ALL DAY:

  • 13:00 Daniel Horsham
  • 15:30 Eboney Jayne O’Brien
  • 17:00 Kizia and the Kings
  • 18:30 Soul Battalion
  • 20:30 The Leptons

SATURDAY ALL DAY:

  • 13:00 Jack T Harper
  • 15:00 Maltby Miners Welfare Band
  • 17:30 Matilda Shakes
  • 19:00 Republic
  • 20:30 Handsome Dan and the Mavericks

TUTORED TASTING EVENTS

  • Champion Winter Beer of Britain competition tasting, led by Roger Protz – Wednesday 6:30pm and Thursday 2pm. Members £10, non-members £12. Six beers included.
  • Brewed on the Union tasting, led by Roger Protz and Thornbridge brewers – Thursday 6pm. Members £10, non-members £12.
  • Beer & Cheese tasting, led by Annabel Smith – Friday 2pm. Members £14, non-members £16. Five beers paired with cheese included.
  • Beer & Music matching, led by Pete Brown who is publishing a book on the subject – Friday 6pm. Members £10, non-members £12.

Please note the price of the tasting event tickets quoted are just for the tasting, a festival entry ticket is also required.

LEARN & DISCOVER ZONE – BREWERY PARTNERS

Themed tasting flights will be available from the Learn & Discover Zone, served in partnership with the following brewery bars:

  • Wednesday: Radio City Beer Works
  • Thursday: Brew York
  • Friday: Thornbridge Brewery
  • Saturday: Abbeydale Brewery

Sheffield Beer Week

Sheffield, UK – March 10th to 16th, 2025 – Get ready to raise a glass to Sheffield Beer Week! This city-wide celebration of craft beer will once again unite the community

This year, Sheffield Beer Week will shine a spotlight on the ‘Outdoor City’ it calls home during The Festival of the Outdoors and the unique blend of beer and food pairing. Showcasing the city’s vibrant culinary scene alongside its thriving craft beer industry. Expect a diverse program of events, including:

  • Brewery Tours & Tastings: Go behind the scenes at local breweries, learn about the brewing process, and sample their latest creations. Visit the wealth of pubs, bars, beer shops and taprooms to enjoy tastings and events.
  • Beer & Food Pairings: Indulge in expertly curated local menus featuring beers paired with delicious dishes
  • Pub Tours & Walking Trail Events: Discover the gems, explore the city’s diverse pub, bar, beer shop and beer scene with guided tours and self-guided trails.
  • Community Events: Participate in family-friendly events, charity fundraisers, workshops and book readings that celebrate the spirit of community.
  • Sheffield Beer Week will also delve into the city’s rich brewing heritage, exploring its historical significance”We are thrilled to bring back Sheffield Beer Week and invite the community to join us in celebrating the city’s vibrant beer culture,” said Jules Gray of Sheffield Beer Week “This year, we are focusing on the unique connection between beer and food, while also honoring our city’s brewing heritage and the stunning outdoor city we call home. We encourage everyone to come out and experience the best of Sheffield.”

On the weekend of 7th to 8th March, to start the week, Sheffield’s craft beer festival, Indie Beer Feast is back at Trafalgar Warehouse. It’s a celebration of great independent craft beer with brewery bars, street food, low intervention wines and fine cider. The beer festival champions and supports The Everyone Welcome initiative. British Guild of Beer Writers’ member and leading UK award-wining beer writer Adrian Tierney-Jones will be heading up, alongside Founder and Director of community initiative, Women in Beer, Amelie Tassin to host pop-up tastings.

Head to http://sheffieldbeerweek.co.uk/

Beer Week events

Guided walk: Little Chicago

Sunday 16 March 2025 – walk – start 11:00, finish at Kelham Island Tavern ~12:30

Following the success of previous guided walks, events during Sheffield Beer Week 2025 will include a guided historical walk in Sheffield’s Little Chicago Quarter. We will explore both the pub heritage aspects of the area plus the streets which feature in the book, ‘Sheffield 1925: Gang Wars and Wembley Glory.’ Thenarrative will explain how Sheffield briefly became the most turbulent city in Britain due to an escalating gang war involving the Park Brigade, Mooney Gang, the Gas Tank Gang and many others.

The short walk will also explore the beer, social and Industrial heritage of the area, examining the myths and reality of a tumultuous year in Sheffield history. Along the way, mention will be made of the 1884 ‘Sheffield Drinks Map,’ George Orwell, the establishment of a coaching inn and the Sheffield pub with the most local CAMRA awards.

The walk will be led by local historian and writer, John Stocks and ‘Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs’ editor, Dave Pickersgill. The comfortable walk of just over one mile, with one minor ascent, will last for approximately 90 minutes, including one en route stop, followed by post-walk drink and discussion.

Includes:

* Guided historical walk

* copy of the new Pub Heritage walk booklet which features Little Chicago (A5, 32 pages, rrp £2.99)

* the opportunity to purchase a copy of  ‘Sheffield 1925: Gang Wars and Wembley Glory’ (second edition) at the reduced price of £10 (cash only)

DATE: Sunday 16 March 2025

Meet: 11:00 outside the Sheffield Combined Court Centre, West Bar, S3 8BH

Finish: 12:30 Kelham Island Tavern, 62 Russell Street, S3 8RW

Cost: £4.95

Tickets available at:   Eventbrite

Number of places available: 20

  • Pub Heritage Talk: Little Chicago


Thursday 13 March 2025 – 20:00 – Harlequin

This event is a history/pub heritage talk which will concentrate on the Little Chicago area of Sheffield, taking you from the early part of C19th up to the current day. We will explore both the pub heritage aspects of the area plus the streets which feature in the book, ‘Sheffield 1925: Gang Wars and Wembley Glory.’ The narrative will explain how Sheffield briefly became the most turbulent city in Britain due to an escalating gang war involving the Park Brigade, Mooney Gang, the Gas Tank Gang and many others.

The talk will also explore the beer, social and Industrial heritage of the area, examining the myths and reality of a tumultuous year in Sheffield history. Along the way, mention will be made of the 1884 ‘Sheffield Drinks Map,’ George Orwell, the establishment of a coaching inn and the Sheffield pub with the most local CAMRA awards.

The talk will be led by local historian and writer, John Stocks and ‘Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs’ editor, Dave Pickersgill. The talk will last for approximately 60 minutes, followed by post-talk drink and discussion.

Includes:

* historical talk (one hour, including questions)

* copy of the new Pub Heritage walk booklet which features Little Chicago (A5, 32 pages, rrp £2.99)

* the opportunity to purchase a copy of  ‘Sheffield 1925: Gang Wars and Wembley Glory’ (second edition) at the reduced price of £10.00 (cash only)

DATE: Thursday 13 March 2025 – 20:00

Cost: £4.95

Tickets available at:   Eventbrite

Number of places available: 30

GBBF Winter

For 2025 the Winter edition of Great British Beer Festival moves to our area, being held at Magna Science Adventure centre, a former steelworks on the Sheffield/Rotherham border near Meadowhall.

If you’ve been to the long running charity real ale & music festival at Magna, which held its final event in 2024, you’ll recognise the layout but also notice we’ve taken the opportunity to update things a little. If you’ve previously been to GBBF Winter in Burton on Trent, you’ll find we’ve made it somewhat bigger and added new features!

At GBBF Winter you’ll find cask ales from breweries across our region as well as interesting choices from further afield. A number of breweries will also be bringing their own bar, often staffed by brewery representatives who can answer questions about the beer, these bars will feature their beers on both cask and keg. The festival will also have a dedicated bar for good quality craft beers in keykeg along with a world beers bar featuring a list of up to 100 imported beers in cans, bottles and on tap (the international tap list will be on rotation). All the bars will accept card payment, alternatively you can use cash to buy bar tokens from the token sales points around the venue.

The Champion Winter Beer of Britain is judged at GBBF Winter, with the winner going forward to the final of the Champion Beer of Britain competition which is judged at the summer Great British Beer Festival in Birmingham. At GBBF Winter there will be a dedicated bar featuring all the competition entries, this will open for service once the results have been announced on Wednesday evening.

There will also be a Cider & Perry bar with a list curated by CAMRA enthusiasts which will only feature your proper cider & perry made from fresh juice, never concentrate.

On the entertainment front there will be live music on Wednesday and Thursday evening then all day Friday and Saturday whilst throughout the festival volunteers from the local Rotherham CAMRA branch will be hosting traditional table top games and a tombola!

An optional extra you can book for is a tutored tasting events, however these have limited capacity! These include

  • Champion Winter Beer of Britain tasting led by veteran beer writer & journalist Roger Protz (Wednesday 6:30pm and Thursday 2pm) – £12
  • Brewed on the Union system beer tasting led by veteran beer writer & journalist Roger Protz and Thornbridge brewers Rob Lovatt and Dominic Driscoll (Thursday 6pm) – £12
  • Beer & Cheese tasting, led by Annabel Smith (Friday 2pm) – £16
  • Beer & Music matching, led by writer Pete Brown (Friday 6pm) – £12

There is a trade session on Wednesday for those that work in the pub and beer industry from 4pm (festival opens to the wider public at 5pm) and applications are open online for complimentary tickets for those eligible.

As with all CAMRA festivals GBBF Winter is staffed by volunteers, if you fancy getting involved please fill in the volunteering form on the website.

Opening hours: Wednesday 5pm-11pm; Thursday to Saturday midday to 11pm. Entry is £10 (£8 for CAMRA members) and there are also group and season ticket deals available online. The price includes a souvenir glass to keep. For advance tickets and information visit winter.gbbf.org.uk. If you can’t commit to buying tickets in advance don’t worry, you can simply turn up and pay on the door too!

Getting there: Bus X3, operated by First, runs from Sheffield to Doncaster via Meadowhall and Rotherham and drops off on the main road behind Magna. At Meadowhall Interchange the bus connects with trains and trams, the bus ride from Meadowhall is just 5 minutes. From Rotherham Interchange the bus takes about 10-15 minutes depending on traffic. The venue also has a large car park and is near M1 junction 34.

Steel City 48 – thanks from the Tombola

The organisers of the recent Steel City Beer & Cider Festival would like to thank the following for donating items to the festival tombola and to sell for this year’s festival charity – the Weston Park Cancer Charity :-  Ruth Grimsley, Phil Bayliss, Liz Aspden, Pete Roberts, AleChemist Brewery, Abbeydale Brewery, Docks Beers, Blue Bee Brewery, Kelham Island Tavern, Peak Ales, Paul Crofts, Sheffield Tap, Ossett Brewery, Contour Beer, Terry Palmer, MKM Building Supplies, Fairfax Chocolates, Bradfield Brewery, Les Greenwood, Thornbridge Brewery and everyone who donated anonymously.  Apologies if we have missed anyone.

Steel City 48 – charity

Thanks to everyone at the festival who supported Weston Park Cancer Charity (WPCC). Your generosity produced a record charity donation from the Steel City Beer Festival – a whopping £2700.00 – a donation rate of £1.20/minute!

This magnificent sum includes loose change, unused beer tokens, eBay sales of three full sets of SCBF48 beer mats and net proceeds from the charity beer. Thanks to everyone who contributed and thanks again to Abbeydale Brewery for providing the charity beer, ‘Together at Every Step,’ a 4.3% abv dry hopped pale ale.

 As Festival Organiser, Paul Crofts said, ‘It’s a fantastic sum to raise for such a good charity. It was far more than we predicted and shows how much local people appreciate the work of Weston Park.’

Sam Heritage, WPCC Fundraising Manager said, ‘we are very grateful for your generous support and for making our team of volunteers and staff, plus Brontë feel so welcome. I’ve had amazing feedback on just how brilliant it has all been …. it really will make such a difference.’

The festival was formally opened by local legend, and South Yorkshire firefighter, Brontë Jones. WPCC supporter, Brontë, was runner-up in the 2024 series of the prime-time BBC TV programme, Gladiators.

Located in Sheffield, Weston Park Hospital is the main cancer treatment centre for South Yorkshire and large parts of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. In the UK, around 1,000 cancers are diagnosed every day.

WPCC is here to face cancer with you. Their services, advice, therapies and support are for you and the people close to you, helping everyone to live with, and beyond, cancer.

Contact:  0114 553 3330   westonpark.org.uk

Photos: Dave Pickersgill (SCBF48) and Hannah Watson (WPCC)

Steel City 48 – a look back

The weather smiled on the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival this year, and brought in the crowds for another successful festival.

Bronte Jones did the honours with the official opening. A local firefighter and a recent finalist on Gladiators, Bronte has been working with our chosen charity, Weston park Cancer charity to raise funds. Shown here with Paul Manning the Chairman of the Sheffield & district branch of CAMRA.

Abbeydale brewery produced a special charity beer “Together at Every Step” to raise even more money for Weston Park. A dry-hopped pale ale which we’re pleased to say sold out!

Abbeydale also hosted a beer tasting event held by Jim & Laura Rangeley, which focused on the history of the brewery and it’s recent move to become an Employee Ownership Trust.

Andy & Philippa Morton with their beer goggles on. A perfect example of the “Finest Quality Merchandise” on offer at the Tombola stall. 

Wednesday evening saw our annual Beer Of The Festival award taking place. Each Sheffield brewery put forward a beer and a series of blind tastings arrived at the winners. This year’s winners were

1st – Tapped Brew Co. American Flyer. An American brown ale

2nd – Triple Point Brewery. Debut. A new-style IPA.

3rd – Little Critters Brewing Co. Vanilla Chinchilla. Vanilla Ice Cream Porter.

Picture courtesy of Pints Of Sheffield

Dan & Martha from St Mars of the Desert brought a Stichfass cask of their traditional old ale ‘Owd Eerie’, which managed to sell out in under 30 minutes!

A variety of street food stalls kept the visitors fed throughout the festival with a number of delicious options.

Thursday saw The Tigermen take to the stage with some rousing rhythm & blues.

Friday night’s entertainment was the excellent Highway Child, back for their third appearance at the festival

Loxley Silver band returned for their ever-popular usual Saturday afternoon slot. A particular highlight was the haunting ‘Gresford’, written in 1936 to commemorate the Gresford Colliery mining disaster in Wrexham where 266 miners lost their lives.

Throughout Saturday, sword dancing mayhem was provided by local favourites Kelham Rapper and Sheffield Steel Rapper. No area of the festival was left untouched by their lively performances (No, we don’t know how they do it without injuring themselves either)

On 3 of the days the mighty Rover Don engine was in operation to the delight of the visitors lucky enough to get in the room before it was full.

The cider team in jolly mood. (We don’t know if this was before or after they tried the 13% mead from local producer Paradise Garage!)

The staff at the Keg Bar had a very busy festival as usual, and obviously all enjoying it. Even Josh from Kelham Island Tavern was smiling! The tall chap at the back wasn’t much help though.

A familiar face! Sean Clarke, former owner of Beer Central working behind the bar in the Upper Hall.

A lively afternoon in the Upper Hall.

Overall, another great festival. Thanks as ever go to all the volunteers who showed up and put in all the hard work to make it happen. And of course to all our visitors who came along to enjoy it.

It’s a couple of well-earned months off now for the planning committee before we start the process again in January. We’re always keen for new people to join the team, so feel free to email us if you’d like more info.

the team of volunteers that stayed behind after closing time Saturday to make a start on takedown then enjoy a few beers and pizza slices after!

Great British Beer Festival

Tickets are now on sale for both the summer and winter editions of the Great British Beer Festival in their new locations for 2025.

The winter festival takes place from 12-15 February at the Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham, just 5 minutes bus ride from Meadowhall Interchange on route X3.

The summer festival takes place from 5-9 August at the NEC in Birmingham, which is a 5 minute walk from Birmingham International railway station.

Both festivals feature a huge range of UK cask ales, craft beers in keykeg, world beers, cider & perry, learn & discover bar, entertainment and more. Judging takes place for the Champion Beer of Britain at both events too.

The festivals are organised and staffed by volunteer CAMRA members with a little support from the team at CAMRA HQ, if you’d like to help out please fill in the online staffing form.

More information and advance tickets are online at greatbritishbeerfesitval.org.uk and winter.gbbf.org.uk.

Craft beer festival

Craftwerk

Arriving in Neepsend 40 minutes early, I took the opportunity to visit Alder for a couple of halves. Set in the old shoe polish works, they have 5 cask ales available. I sampled the Pomona Island – Tarquill and Quafftide, a 3.8% and 4.5% respectively.  

I then popped over to Peddlar Warehouse to find a relatively small queue, that was dealt with quickly. On entering, you were given a tickers lanyard and a half-pint glass. My first drink was a 5% Bombay Honey from The Indian Brewery, very Jaipur ish, with added sweetness. I then moved on to my second of the 16 brewers on display from around the UK, these included Lancaster, Surrey and Sussex, Kidderminster’s Copper Beach Brewing Company with a nice 4.6% APA. I then sat and had a chat with 2 guys who had travelled up from Nottiingham for the festival, I recommended that should they had room, and the legs for another, Kelham was just a short hop after the 23:00 closure. 

Next was Lune Brew Co and their LB201, a Citra, Centennial and Mosaic hopped pale of 4.1%. These beers were going down well accompanied by a DJ playing Indie classics. The next selection brought a change of flavour with a Pineapple and Passion Fruit Palaver, a 4.5% fruited pale ale. This also brought a change of entertainment with a singer/guitarist covering reggae to Indie rock. 

Seeing that beers were covered by the admission charge, it would have been rude not to try as many as possible. So, I then moved on to Bayonet Brewing – Delta Lima Six, a New England hazy pale at a sensible 4%. Next came my favourite of the festival, Only With Love’s Oh Yeah, an ice cream soda pale ale, but here’s what won it they topped it with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sprinkles. so nice I had 2 before it ran out. Even at this stage of the night with the hall full, there was never big queues and service was typically a minute or so. 

Next came our local Thornbridge – Kipling, New Zealand Pale Ale at 5.2%. The next ones in succession were Siren Craft Brew – Juicy Details, a New England hazy 6%, Jimbrew Brewing Co – Maybe It Was Two Times, a 4.8 Gluten-free pale, Disruption Is Brewing – Digital Code at 5.5%. With beer comes munchies, so I went into the courtyard to see what was on offer and decided on the Jamica food stall serving very tasty pattys,  I had the beef and it hit the spot. 

Being fed, it was back to the beer and more music in the form of a young Indie covers band. The accompanying beer was Cloudwater’s Fuzzy, another hazy New England pale. This was followed by Only With Love’s – Bongo Tropic IPA at 4.5%, yet another New England style Brew. Next was Siren’s Soundwave, an American IPA of 5.6%. 

As closing was coming up quickly, there was time for one last half from Pennine Brewing Co with Scapegoat, a Blonde Golden of 4.2%. 

All in all, a very well run and value for money festival. The range of brews in taste and geographical locations was well thought out, as well as brewers willing to chat. 

Here’s to next year. 

Oktoberblest

Our chair Paul Manning, his wife Bev and long standing Sheffield camra stalwart Alan Gibbons recently visited the Oktoberblest beer and gin festival at St Matthew’s on Carver street.

The church was built in 1855 amongst the slums of the city, is now grade 2 listed and has long been regarded as a sanctuary in the heart of the city. The church has an ambitious target to raise nearly £800,000 for interior restorations and money raised at the festival will go towards increasing the £450,000 raised to date.

The festival opened with Rt Revd Stephen Race, the bishop of Beverley blessing the beers accompanied by Fr Grant Naylor, the current vicar.

Nick Law the founder of Emmanuales gave a very illuminating talk on the brief history of beer and belief and we also enjoyed some great music whilst sampling the beers.

Nick had brought two beers – Noah’s Dark a 5.4% dark Belgian ale and Solomon’s gold a 4.5% Belgian golden ale. Both tasted great and we also tasted (mainly half’s!) of Reunion Witbier a 5% cloudy white ale from Mount St Bernard Trappist brewer in rural Leicestershire. This was followed by Juiceinator a 4.7% pale and Days of Thunder a 5% hazy pale both from Bang the Elephant brewery in Langley Mill, Derbyshire.

We ended with Santa’s Little Belter a 4.9% ginger and cinnamon dark ale from the recently closed Halton Turner brewery in Digbeth, Birmingham together with Jolly YPA a 4.8% pale from Jolly Boys brewery in Barnsley.

We enjoyed the evening and look forward to next years event as it becomes a regular on the Sheffield festival calendar.