Category: Festivals

Visit our Steel City Beer & Cider Festival – open 21-24 October

Posted on by Andy Cullen
This year is the 41st beer festival Sheffield & District Campaign for Real Ale has run under the Steel City banner although only the second year at Kelham Island Industrial Musuem – the change of venue last year proved a very popular move. This year will be a very similar event to last year, not wanting to spoil what everyone loved, but there will be some tweaks to improve it based on feedback from both staff and customers. If you don’t know where the museum is, you need to be on Alma Street in the Kelham Island District about where the Fat Cat pub , Kelham Island Brewery, Craft & Dough pizza restaurant and Urban Quarter burger restaurant is located. This is a short walk from bus stops on Nursery Street (Harlequin pub – buses 47/48/53/87), bus stops on Gibralter Street (Shakespeare’s pub – buses 57/79/79A/81/82/84/85) and the tram stop at Shalesmoor (Blue/Yellow routes). There is a long driveway from here to the museum between the river and the apartment blocks. When you arrive at the admission gate you need to pay your admission fee, obtaining your wrist band (if you are a CAMRA member claiming discount entry please have your membership card ready to show) and also pay the glass deposit. We will have a choice of pint or half pint glasses (both will also have a third pint line if you want to drink in smaller  taster size measures). The glasses are branded with this years festival logo along with the sponsors logo. You can return the glass when you leave the festival to get your deposit back or keep the glass as a souvenir of your visit! Once in you need to buy beer tokens to spend at the bars. There are a number of stalls selling them around the festival. Our bar staff as a result do not handle cash which speeds up service and improves security for us. The merchandise, games and food stalls all take cash however. We will have around 150 different real ales available to try this year. Once again the main beer list has been put together by our branch Chairman Andy Cullen featuring a showcase of beers brewed in or near Sheffield along with some interesting, new and rare beers from further afield and of course some old favourites. Andy is being assisted in sourcing some of the beers by our friends at Blue Bee, Dave from Steel City Brewing and Tom at the Beer Engine. Tom will be organising a pallet load of beers from London breweries which will be split between the pub and the festival. Meanwhile our Cider bar managers Sarah & Hazel have been busy sourcing a selection of cider and perry – expect a range of around 20-30 to choose from, brought from across the UK although we will still as ever have the locally produced Woodthorpe Hall cider too. There are a number of different areas in the festival: UPPER HALL Access via the door on the right when you arrive on site then over the footbridge, here you will find a long beer bar and the main cider bar, the traders serving cold food and the live music stage. Expect a great atmosphere when there is a band on! The Upper Hall is also home to the merchandise stand and Tombola. VICTORIAN COURTYARD An atmospheric outdoor area, this links all the other areas and is also home to the street food stalls serving hot food. You will also find the smoking area and toilet facilities alongside the courtyard. MILLOWNERS ARMS Fronting on to the corner of the Victorian Courtyard, this is a recreation of a traditional local pub with seating and bar where our staff will assume the role of the pub landlord and serve from a variety of beers on handpump. This area of the festival will always offer a comfortable, quiet and relaxing atmosphere. The Millowners Arms is also home to displays of items from local brewery history. MARQUEE A large beer bar and a cider bar is in the marquee along with plenty of seating. The marquee is also home to the traditional pub games and the CAMRA membership stand. ENGINE ROOM This is a new area added to the festival this year, home to the steam powered River Don Beam Engine, one of the working exhibits the museum is famed for. We are hoping this will be fired up for a demonstration on Friday afternoon, the rest of the time this room will provide additional indoor space for drinkers, which I’m sure will be much appreciated if we aren’t as lucky with the weather as last year!

Volunteer at the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Fancying joining the volunteer team of organisers, managers and staff that make our beer & cider festival happen? The staffing form is now live on our website at sheffield.camra.org.uk/festival, please fill this in with your details and the hours you wish to work. Our staffing officer will then register you and allocate you a job and reserve you a staff t-shirt (note only a limited stock of t-shirts have been provided by our sponsors so these are first come first served). Volunteers also get a pack of complimentary beer tokens and of course free admission! There are a variety of roles at the festival, the most obvious being serving beer and cider at the bar but we also need staff at the entrance dealing with admissions, glasses, programmes and customer service; staff on the various stalls including merchandise, membership, beer tokens and games; staff in the office for various admin duties and of course members of the cellar team looking after the beer behind the scenes! We also really need volunteers to help on the site team setting everything up in the days before we open and taking everything down on the Sunday – we move in to an empty site on the Monday and build all the bars etc and have to leave an empty site with everything back in storage on the Sunday! We are always very short of helpers taking down and packing away on the Sunday – although it should be noted a change this year is the festival is closing a little earlier on Saturday where some of the takedown jobs will begin before the staff social – however on Sunday there will still be plenty to do including van runs to our storage location and as there will be no beer to drink we will provide volunteers with food – sandwiches at lunch time and a hot meal in the evening after work is complete. Working a beer festival is generally enjoyed by all – work is involved of course – however its is also fun and if you have a passion for good beer or cider then a successful event all feels worthwhile!

Steel City snippets

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Over the last few issues of Beer Matters, we have featured some of the volunteer staff roles at our Steel City Beer & Cider Festival. We are looking for as many of our members to help out as possible and the staffing form is now live on our website – sheffield.camra.org.uk. We’ve also mentioned sponsorship, corporate support and hospitality  – there are still some opportunities available – get in touch if you are interested in promoting your business at the festival. So we now turn to look at what is on offer for guests visiting the festival… The festival is split into various areas. Once you have passed the entry desk (where you pay your admission and pick up your glass) the choice is: Upper Hall – featuring the main real ale and cider bars, cold food stalls, CAMRA merchandise stall and the live music stage. Victorian Courtyard – featuring the hot food stalls and outdoor drinking area all atmospherically themed. Millowners Pub – a replica of a traditional local pub with local breweriana on display and a working bar featuring around 6 real ales. Marquee – the other main beer bar can be found here along with the CAMRA membership stall, games and seating. River Don Beam Engine Hall – additional indoor space is available for visitors here in the event of bad weather and on the Friday afternoon hopefully the museum staff will fire the steam powered beam engine up for a demonstration!

Festival Preview – Three Valleys

Posted on by Andy Cullen
As we get close to festival day, plans are starting to come together and we are able to share some of them in Beer Matters! This is a festival that began as a CAMRA campaigning initiative to help pubs in the area promote themselves and get the local beer scene growing. A few years down the line now it has grown into a big, popular event. The 2015 festival takes place on Saturday 6th June across 18 venues. A free bus service runs linking all the venues together on three routes, all of which start from Dronfield railway station. Therefore you can get the train to Dronfield then pick up the festival bus, hopping on and off at each venue to experience what each has to offer, with locations including town centre, suburban and rural providing as much variety as the lists of beers, foods and bands! As well as the bus service being free of charge, entry to all the venues is free as well, so you just pay for your food and drink, making it an excellent value for money day out. Barlow Brewery Barlowstage_3valleys11 – beer tent featuring a range of real ales from Barlow Brewery – Hot food provided by Moss Valley Fine Meats – Bands in the farmyard ————————————————————– Castle Inn 2123417_2de34b08 – Extended beer range including brewery showcase bar outside – Live music with Twelve Strings – Chef Jamie Bosworth’s gourmet American style burgers ————————————————————- Coach & Horses C&H Fest garden – garden bar as well as normal pub bar – beers featured from the likes of Thornbridge, Magic Rock, Squark and Brooklyn. – Proper cider will be available. – Outside will be a marquee and live music from 3pm featuring some great local talent from singer/songwriter to lively folk finishing with Solar Funk “Sax-led funky tunes, sizzling swing, full on funk” – traditional outdoor games including a coconut shy! – Food will be served all day, Chariots Kitchen will be running a BBQ featuring locally sourced burgers and sausages and their own marinated chicken. Additionally there will be a salad bar. ————————————————————- Dronfield Arms 10325392_665039373571926_7181637482497120453_n – Outside bar – range of real ales from RAW Brewery plus guests – Hot food provided by Cow Boys Burgers – Live music on the outdoor stage in conjunction with Honey Bee Blues Club DRONFIELD ARMS 3VALLEYS15 ——————————————————— Green Dragon green dragon ext – open from 11.30am  to 1am – Music from 2pm – 12am, featuring Tommy Jones playing Acoustic, local band The Score,  rocking it out and our resident singer Emma Rossi with music and song to dance the night away. – Large outside bar and 2 indoor bars featuring  10 cask ales from  – Abbeydale Moonshine, Bradfield Farmers Blonde, Black Sheep and The Reverend James and all our regular lagers .  Outside bar serving a selection of 6 cask ales from Copper Dragon and Dancing Duck Breweries plus cider – Aspells, Stowford press, Skorpian Black cider – Food available – curry from the Mint Leaf from 2pm and speciality burgers in the evening from Bradway Meats – 3  heated marquees with plenty of seating and cover for those annoying spring showers ————————————————————- Hyde Park Inn HydePark_3Valleys – Outside Bar – 14 real ales and 5 ciders across the two bars – BBQ until 9:30pm (or until food stocks sells out!) – Live Music performed outside: 2-5pm Colleens Fancy (folk);  6-9pm The Cannons ( Irishmusic) Sean cannon is the lead singer from the Dubliners ————————————————————- Jolly Farmer IMG_9577 (3) – extended beer and cider range, served from a glass fronted cellar – BBQ – Normal food service also in operation ————————————————————- Manor House Hotel The-Manor-House-photos-Exterior-Außenansicht – Themed Beer Festival tent with Real Ales from Abbeydale Brewery – I ♥ Ostrich cooking up superb burgers, fries and other street food – Music in the afternoon (3.30 ish start) on the outside patio from Sam Wain, a jazz/blues/boogie-woogie pianist & singer. – full normal bar and dining service inside hotel – quality hotel accommodation available with special festival rates ———————————————————— Miners Arms (Dronfield Woodhouse) miners dronfield woodhouse – Malt Whisky festival – real ale – food ————————————————————– Miners Arms (Hundall) inflatable pub – Pictish Brewery showcase in main pub – 10 guest ales outside in inflatable pub – Street food from Deli-licious including pulled pork sandwiches and burgers. – Live music: 1-4pm JACKSON, 4:30-6:30pm Russ & Andy, 7-10pm Blind Fever ————————————————————- Royal Oak – Patio at rear served by temporary cellar bar with additional guest beers ————————————————————- Shepley Spitfire – Outside bar with a wide range of guest beers – bar meals ————————————————————- Talbot Arms – Beers from Brampton Brewery – Cider – Themed event – “Soul” – Live music –  ‘The G Men’ and ‘Jack of Harps & The Dealers’ – Soul Food – 10% discount on pints of real ale for CAMRA members (show membership card when ordering) ————————————————————– Three Tuns 3tuns bar – up to 36 different beers and 16 ciders & perries available – Pizzas made fresh to order, hog roast and lamb kebabs – Live music – J33 Big Band, Dronfield Band and Blind Badger 3tuns_3valleys ————————————————————- Tickled Trout Tickled Trout external – festival tent behind pub – extended beer range – snacks – live music the festival begins at the Tickled Trout on Friday night, however note the buses are Saturday only. ————————————————————- Travellers Rest plans still to be announced – however expect a large range of beers and ciders, live music and food. Victoria plans still to be announced ———————————————————— White Swan white swan blackboard – Cider festival – BBQ – Live music

Steel City Beer & Cider Festival – entertainment line up confirmed for 2015 event

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The 41st Steel City Beer Festival planning continues apace with planning across a variety of areas happening all at once and being co-ordinated and taken forward at monthly meetings (see Beer Matters diary section for upcoming meetings, all volunteers welcome). The festival involves a myriad of tasks outside of just location, equipment, beer and staffing, such as sponsorship, publicity and entertainment. This years entertainment is already starting to come together and looking really good. On Thursday upstairs we have 2 sets from 9pm form Leeds City Stompers ared hot blues band, conjuring the spirit of prohibition America who headlined the acoustic stage on Friday at Europe’s biggest blues festival in Colne last year. With real 1920s drum kits, slapped double bass, metal resonator guitars from the 1930s and three voices—“making old sounds in a new way” we are really looking forward to hearing them at this years festival. On Friday night from 9pm the Downtown Roots will be taking to the stage. If you are luck enough to have seen them play in Sheffield already you will already know they have gained an enthusiastic following in a very short time and are now plying their musical wares up and down the country and getting the same response. With Pete Botterill, Bass, and James ‘Skinny’ Darnill, Drums, providing a solid rhythm section, Moz Casserly weaves his guitar with the ability of the some of the guitar greats they will bring their psychedelic tinged, Blues Rock to the festival to create a truly memorable evenings musical entertainment. Saturday afternoon between 2pm and 4pm sees the welcome return of Loxley Silver Band, established in 1889 in Loxley Methodist Church and rehearsing there until very recently, the band has a friendly family atmosphere with players ranging from 10-80 years. Last year saw the band celebrate their 125th anniversary and they recorded a CD, which is now available to buy. Loxley were also asked to help a Cornwall-based folk-rock band called ‘Love Street’ and played on their hit single “Susanna”, which is all about the Sheffield Pals regiment and their ultimate sacrifice in WW1. An EP including this single is also available, with part of the proceeds going to The Royal British Legion. Look out in future Beer Matters for details of Saturday nights band as well as something different for the afternoon entertainment. www.leedscitystompers.com @LCStompers https://www.facebook.com/TheDowntownRoots @DowntownRoots www.loxleysilverband.og.uk @LoxleyBand

Steel City Beer & Cider Festival 2015

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The Beer Festival Planning Committee are pleased to be able to report that the budget for this year’s festival has been approved and it will be from the 21st to 24th of October back at Kelham Island Museum. Planning has already commenced and various posts filled, however any additional help and input is always welcome (dates of meetings can be found in the Diary section at the back of Beer Matters). One area we are looking for is Bar Managers and Deputy Bar Managers so anyone potentially interested in this should contact us to find out more.  Finding people now gives plenty of time to train them in the role. We will also soon be starting to approach people about sponsorship so again if you want to help in this, or know anyone who might want to be a sponsor please get in touch.  E-mail us at festival@sheffieldcamra.org.uk, come to a meeting and follow us on twitter (@scbf41) to keep up to date.

On the Edge

Posted on by Andy Cullen
On the Edge Brewery are hosting ‘9 Pin’, one of their bi-monthly mini beer festivals on 27th March where they brew a small batch of a whole range of different beers to showcase. As the name of the event suggests, there will be 9 different beers and just a pin of each (a pin being a small 35 pint cask). The venue is the Old Junior School on South View Road, Sharrow, and will be open from 6pm to 10pm.

Three Valleys Festival confirmed for 2015

Posted on by Andy Cullen
It has been confirmed the Three Valleys Festival will be back for 2015 on Saturday 6th June, hardly a surprise given how it has been a hit from day one and grown in popularity over the years it has run! Three Valleys is an almost unique event – a multi venue beer festival with a free bus service linking all the venues every half hour. The festival buses link the venues over three routes, all of which commence from Dronfield railway station, so to take part simply catch a train to Dronfield (10 minute ride from Sheffield) and within no more than 10-15 minutes you will be on a bus to a pub! The buses will run from midday until 11pm. All the participating venues will have an extended beer range, there will also be cider, food and live music to be enjoyed. As well as the bus service running free of charge, all the venues will offer free entry so all you have to pay for is what you eat and drink. 2015 will see the biggest and best festival yet. 18 venues are involved and will be making an effort to do something special. In addition for those wishing to stop over, camping will be available at two locations – Barlow Brewery and the Miners Arms in Hundall – and rooms are available to book at the Manor House Hotel in Dronfield. The participating venues this year are: Barlow Brewery (Barlow) Castle Inn (Bradway) Coach & Horses (Dronfield) Dronfield Arms (Dronfield) Green Dragon (Dronfield) Hyde Park Inn (Hill Top) Jolly Farmer (Dronfield Woodhouse) Manor House Hotel (Dronfield) Miners Arms (Dronfield Woodhouse) Miners Arms (Hundall) Royal Oak (Coal Aston) Shepley Spitfire (Totley Rise) Three Tuns (Dronfield Hallowes) Travellers Rest (Apperknowle) Talbot Arms (Dronfield Woodhouse) Tickled Trout (Barlow) Victoria (Dronfield) White Swan (Dronfield) Look out for news over the coming months as to what each venue are planning or watch the festival website – www.threevalleysfestival.org.uk.  

Steel City Beer Festival – Tombola thank yous

Posted on by Andy Cullen
A thanks to the following for supporting Sheffield CAMRA by donating prizes… John Silburn, Andy & Julie Lee, Pete at The Brew Company, Blue Bee Brewery, Richard Ryan, Alan Gibbons, The Three Tuns, Peter Gardener, Susan Dolan, Sarah Mills, Rod & Hazel Sprigg and Sergey Ruzeinikov.  Also, apologies if we have forgotten anyone. We are always on the look out for more donations for future tombola’s, so please keep them coming. Also a thankyou to Wentworth Brewery for donating prizes for the festival games.