The JD Wetherspoons pubs across our area are joining in the chain’s latest International beer festival, which runs from 28th March to 13th April.
This sees a selection of 50 real ales offered on rotation from breweries across the UK, 10 of which have been brewed by guest brewers from around the world.
Wetherspoons have produced a 36 page booklet for their beer festival which can be picked up in the pubs or downloaded from their website, this gives you all the background to the guest brewers and lists of all the featured beer with tasting notes, numbered 1-50 so you can tick off the beers you have tried and play beer bingo!
The beers from the international guest brewers always create a talking point at the bar, not only because their beers are not often seen in a cask conditioned format but they are generally doing something a bit interesting, different and extreme, often at a host brewer that can be quite traditional and conservative!
As usual we held a tombola stall at our Steel City Beer & Cider Festival to raise funds for the branch and we’d like to thank everyone who supported this and Andy Morton for organising and staffing, but special thanks to the following people who donated prizes:
Tom (ex of Univ Arms, now at The Anvil, Stannington)
Diane/Duncan (Fat Cat)
Chris/Robin (Shakespeares)
Pat/Eddy (Gardeners Rest)
Trevor/Lewis (Kelham Island Tavern)
Graham (Anglers Rest, Millers Dale)
Bradfield Brewery
Mike Humphreys
Alan Gibbons
John Silburn
Sarah Mills
David Little
Mike Rose
Mike Hensman
Two tasting competitions were held on the opening night of the festival, the Champion Beer of Sheffield and Beer of the Festival. Both were judged in blind tastings by panels of brewers, publicans and drinkers. And the winners are…
Champion Beer of Sheffield
Sheffield’s breweries can nominate one of their regular beers to be judged in this competition. The top three were:
1st – The Brew Company, Crazy Horse IPA
2nd – Sheffield Brewery Co., Sheffield Porter
3rd = Abbeydale, Black Mass
3rd = Bradfield, Farmers Blonde
Beer of the Festival
Beers available at the festival were separated by style and judged in these categories. The winner of each category went on to the Beer of the Festival competition.
Category Winners
Mild – Brampton, Mild
Bitter – Sportsman, Darker Shade of Ale
Best Bitter – Ashover, Littlemoor Citra
Strong Bitter – Tigertops, Black Hop
Porter – Acorn, Old Moor Porter
Stout – Wentworth, Sloe Stout
Overall Winners
Gold – Ashover, Littlemoor Citra
Silver – Brampton, Mild
Bronze – Tigertops, Black Hop
Congratulations to all of the winners. All are available at the festival so come down and try them.
