Category: Festivals

As we approach a year of Covid safety restrictions with a ban on major events and hospitality, including pubs, either closed or restricted in operation we have seen event organisers including CAMRA adapt to offer curated beer events to enjoy at home.

Established events that have already taken place virtually includes CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival (which normally takes place in London in the summer and Birmingham in the winter) and the Funkfest, a celebration of sour and mixed fermentation beers hosted by Abbeydale Brewery.

Both these events involved a choice of themed beer boxes delivered to you at home along with access to online content such as live tutored tastings, meet the brewers, discussions and brewery tours.

A further development of the format has been pioneered by the organisers of Manchester Beer & Cider Festival – normally run by local CAMRA branches in the Manchester Central event venue, but this year replaced by a #PubsMatter festival in conjunction with a number of pubs and bars in the area that are known for great beer & cider. Each pub are selling beer or cider boxes for home delivery and each are hosting a festival session online in a style that suits what their venue is known for. For example the Marble Arch bring you brewers hosting a live tasting session and discussion, Wigan Central are hosting a quiz and the Smithfield are presenting a live DJ set.

The CAMRA Members Weekend, AGM & Conference which was to be held at Sheffield City Hall this year also receives the “from home” treatment with all the conference business to take place online and a box of beers from Sheffield brewers available to order to enjoy in the “virtual members bar”. Details are due to be announced soon.

For details of CAMRA’s online beer tasting events visit the website.

Naturally we do look forward to the time we can once again attend actual beer festivals and fingers crossed we can go ahead with Sheffield’s 46th annual Steel City Beer & Cider Festival this October!

Held in the iconic, 1920s, Grade II listed Abbeydale Picture House, the only cinema I know which has spider plants in the toilets, the third incarnation of the Indie Beer Feast (IBF), the now traditional start of Sheffield Beer Week, occurred in early March. A  new glass design (16.5 Fl.Oz. Mencia Rocks Tumbler) greeted the wide beer range provided by over twenty brewery bars: some cask, some keg, but all interesting. For example: Torrside (New Mills) provided ‘Valour,’ a 7.7% Imperial Stout based on a 1917 recipe while London brewers, Orbit, provided an excellent Kolsh (4.8%) and a Belgian-style pale, ‘Cuvee de Bruxelles’ (4.8%). Closer to home, Sheffield brewers Lost Industry debuted an 8.7% ‘Wild Honey Braggott’ while St.Mars of the Desert (SMOD) exhibited the latest products from their Attercliffe hideaway. ‘Abbeydale BA 1868’ (11.7%), after three years in a cask, was a memorable, positive experience. IBF also provided an increasing international selection. FrauGruber Craft from Augsberg, in Germany, made their UK debut bringing a selection of brews new to the UK. ‘An eye for an eye,’ a 10.5% Imperial Stout collaboration with Dutch brewers, De Moersleutel (Alkmaar) was particularly impressive. SMOD recently made the international Ratebeer top ten list of best new breweries, a compilation compiled from over 4.2 million customer and industry reviews. One future innovation for IBF could be running a series of (silent) films on the big screen: perhaps beer related material from the last century. Such images would make an excellent contrast to the vibrant C21st.vibe emanating from the ample seating in the stalls. It would also be useful to have more opportunities to purchase take-aways: bottles and cans. Yet again, IBF proved a positive start for Sheffield Beer Week: lots of innovative variety in an excellent developing venue – see you there next year!

• Dave Pickersgill

Beer Week is a City-wide beer celebration hosted across multiple venues. Now in it’s sixth year, look out for brewery open days, tap takeovers, food and beer pairing menus, guided walks and more. The week itself runs from 9th to 15th March, however things kick off the previous weekend with the Indie Beer Feast, taking place at Abbeydale Picture House on the 6th and 7th March (advance tickets are advisable for this event). This is a celebration of great independent craft beer with brewery bars (15+), street food, gin, a Hogan’s cider bar, a Hop Hideout bottle bar and a new natural wine bar hosted by award-winning Sheffield bar Public. The beer festival champions and supports The Everyone Welcome initiative. British Guild of Beer Writers’ members and leading UK beer writers Adrian Tierney-Jones and Pete Brown will be heading up to host pop-up tastings and to judge the Indie Beer Feast ‘Beer of the Festival’. Breweries pouring include local outfits Thornbridge, Lost Industry, Abbeydale and Saint Mars of the Desert. Plus a London contingency of Orbit, Wild Card and Brick breweries, and from the North East – Anarchy Brew Co and Donzoko. In addition to Manchester’s Cloudwater, Liverpool’s Neptune, Reading’s Double-Barrelled, Cheshire’s Mobberley Brewhouse, Nottingham’s Black Iris, Cambridge’s Pastore Brewing and North Yorkshire’s Turning Point Brew Co. They’ll also be an international presence from Denmark’s Mikkeller, Germany’s Frau Gruber and Netherlands’ Kees. This year sees beer week themed around three strands – Beer & food, community and heritage – with Sheffield known globally for its brewing and nationally for its superb range of pubs serving cask ale with the care and attention it deserves, the city’s outstanding beer reputation precedes itself. As usual, Sheffield & District CAMRA’s Dave Pickersgill will be contributing to the heritage strand leading guided walks taking in a few real ale venues featured in our pub heritage guide he authored. Sheffield Beer Week has a number of local breweries involved this year including Abbeydale, Sheffield Brewery Company, Lost Industry, Thornbridge, True North Brew Co and Saint Mars Of the Desert. National and international breweries announced so far include Arbor, Duration, Marble, Adnams (with a specific cask showcase), Torrside, Alvinne, Siren, Salt Beer Factory, Pressure Drop and Mikkeller‘s wild beer arm Baghaven. Plus up and coming new UK breweries Vault City and Pastore Brewing and Blending. With pubs, bars and beer shops from around the city getting involved to showcase these breweries. Shakespeares pub will be going all out on a collaboration festival dedicated to cask ale which will be launching over the last weekend of the beer week. Look out for beer collaborations specially brewed for the beer week to be released through the celebrations. Not only will there be an official Sheffield Beer Week beer brewed for 2020’s charity partnership supporting The Friends of Edward Carpenter in collaboration with Sheffield based LGBTQ+ beer group Out and About and Lost Industry Brewing. But Out and About have been busy and will also be working with Abbeydale Brewery and The Queer Brewing Project. Both collaborations share a unified sentiment which champion welcoming everyone from across the spectrum of sexuality and gender identity-based cultures. A sentiment which Sheffield Beer Week fully shares and supports. Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) was a significant cultural and political activist around Sheffield in his life. Advocating the simplification of life through his market garden and grow your own approach to campaigning for many issues of social concern. These ranged from women’s suffrage to the protection of the environment, from sexual emancipation to the formation of trade unions. The Friends of Edward Carpenter group formed to celebrate this important figure and to endeavour to establish a fitting memorial as a public work of art. The official Sheffield Beer Week beer will be raising funds for this cause. In the group’s words, Edward Carpenter’s life: “…was one of quiet celebration while his writings and example laid the foundation for the gay liberation movement of the twentieth century. Through his many friendships, Edward Carpenter traversed the divisions of class, gender, sexuality, race and creed. Men and women from across the world and from all walks of life came into connection with each other through him and his connections with Sheffield.“ Sheffield Beer Week is proud to be a part of the wider ‘Festival of the Outdoors’ initiative from The Outdoor City. With walking tours and running events including local historian, Sheffield CAMRA’s Pub Heritage Officer and British Guild of Beer Writers’ 2018 awards shortlisted author Dave Pickersgill’s popular Sheffield Pub and Industrial Heritage Walk. In addition to a collaboration with Sheffield’s SheFest (which takes place during the same week and celebrates and promotes gender equality across South Yorkshire), Sheffield Beer Week and Hop Hideout on March 12th. With a Women in Beer and Brewing Walking Tour. As International Women’s Day on March 8^th precedes the beer week, it’s a timely collaborative event. There will be beer and food dinners and week long paired menus to enjoy, highlighting the wonderful pairing of beer with food. In addition to a first time collaboration with Sheffield’s annual award-winning Doc/Fest, Visit Sheffield, Sheffield Beer Week and the Showroom Cinema – news on this exciting UK film premier to be announced! For more information including the full events listings head to http://sheffieldbeerweek.co.uk Photographs: Mark Newton and Nicci Peet. Jules Gray.