CAMRA Sheffield & District
Sheffield & District branch of CAMRA
Generous customers at our 46th Steel City Beer and Cider Festival, held at Kelham Island Museum in October 2022, raised £1,200 for the Children’s Hospital Charity by donating unspent drinks tokens or chucking cash in donation buckets around the festival.
We’ve been busy sourcing some excellent beer for our second Winter Ales Festival. We’re confident that all bases are covered, there will be traditional styles, hop forward, unfined, soupy numbers, along with a healthy dose of ridiculous imperial keg beer, (that will be offered in ⅓ pints) There will be delicious pizza from Sunshine Pizza Oven to soak it all up and music playing in the beer garden to dance it off, if you’re that way inclined!
Here are some of the splendid breweries, old and new, that we’re lucky enough to be showcasing…
The beers mentioned are guaranteed to be on, but we also have a load of favourites from the likes of Ashover, Pentritch, Distant Hills, Mallinsons, Triple Point and many more!
We hope to see you all there!
Jo
The Winter Ales festival takes place at the Sheaf View from 4pm on Friday 11 November and on Saturday 12 November. The pub can be found at 25 Gleadless Road in Heeley. Nearest bus routes are 20/24/25/43/44/X17 on London Road or alternatively buses 1a/11/18/252 on Prospect Road.
CAMRA holds its Members’ Weekend, AGM & Conference annually in April. While the primary purpose is to debate motions to steer the Campaign and to elect the Campaign’s new board of directors, the Members’ Weekend is also a chance for CAMRA members to socialise with like-minded individuals and to explore the beer scene of the host city. The 2023 event will be held at the Octagon Centre, University of Sheffield: April 21/23. It is expected that over 1000 CAMRA members will descend on Sheffield for the weekend, many extending their stay for a few days – most will explore our local pubs.
As part of the event, we (Sheffield & District CAMRA) are organising a Members’ Bar. This will be a beer festival only open to CAMRA members who register for the weekend that will be held in the Students’ Union, adjacent to the Conference venue. There will also be a series of organised trips and events. If you are a CAMRA member, please register, and attend the event. https://camra.org.uk/members-weekend-agm-conference/
Following the successful tutored beer tasting led by Roger Protz at the previous Steel City Beer Festival back in 2019, the recent 2022 edition saw three tutored tastings plus a couple of talks.
Mike Pomranz, from the Cider Hole, led participants through four ciders. These included Ross-on-Wye Cider & Perry, Flakey Bark S.V.P. 2020 (6.4%) and Sheffield brewed, Exemption Ciderhouse, Steel City Spontaneous Speed Run (5.8%). The latter involved apples which were on thru tree a few weeks earlier. Mike gave us the benefit of his experiences across the Atlantic, providing wide-ranging comments and opinions.
Julia Gray, the owner of Hop Hideout and the driving force behind Sheffield Beer Week, led two tutored beer tastings, each concentrating on a different set of five beers, a mix of cask and key-keg. Skilfully weaving her story and comments about beer history and production, Julia led us on an exploration of beer styles. A bonus was unscheduled inputs from Dan and Martha (Saint Mars of the Desert Brewery) who provided a potted history of their experiences in brewing and talked us through one of their beers. This was the music equivalent of attending a gig by the Rolling Stones and seeing Bob Dylan drop-in.
Dave Pickersgill twice delivered a talk about Sheffield, heritage and pubs. On each occasion, the slides were identical but different pubs were explored as comments from the audience influenced the verbal input. Several books were sold (and autographed) and the speaker was embarrassed when one attendee described the talk as ‘inspirational.’
One of the volunteer staff team who fetched and served the various beers and ciders described his Friday afternoon as different, eye-opening and to be repeated.
Thanks to all our speakers and the staff who made it happen. We intend to host similar events at SCBF47, and at the forthcoming national Members Weekend. We hope to see you at a future event.
A small number of new one off beers were brewed especially for our Steel City Beer & Cider festival and are likely to also appear in pubs afterwards.
Abbeydale Brewery produced a special edition of their Black Mass, in memory of the late Martin “SillyWabbit” Reville who was a long standing festival volunteer. The regular beer is a black IPA, the special is infused with coffee and is served from a wooden cask.
Collyfobble Brewery had former Dronfield CAMRA chairman Rob Barwell visit for a brewday to upscale one of his home brew recipes – you can read about that elsewhere in this issue!
Crosspool Ale Makers Society and Hopscotch Craft Brewers collaborated to put in an appearance with “GingerBix and Chill”. This 6% ABV beer has a biscuit aroma and a sweet but fiery flavour from ginger biscuits and habanero chillies. It is amber in colour and leaves a subtle but satisfying warmth on the back of the throat.
BrewSocial is another brewer that supplied a special edition of an existing beer. “Good as Gold” is a strong hoppy ale, pure gold in colour. Sweetish, but not cloying. Generous addition of El Dorado hops give a tantalising taste experience. This cask at the festival had been specially dry-hopped for added golden goodness!
Limited edition Steel City 46 beermats – available on eBay.
Three limited edition sets of 12 mint condition beermats, advertising Steel City 46 – Sheffield Beer & Cider Festival 2022 (SC46) will be auctioned on e-bay. On one side of each mat is the SC46 logo, with the reverse printed for the sponsor. The logo-side, when arranged, gives a large image of the festival poster.
There are 60,000 beermats available, 5,000 for each sponsor. Over the next few months, these will be distributed over Sheffield, the surrounding area and wider afield. However, a full set is very unlikely to be seen in one place at any one time!
Thanks to our sponsors: Abbeydale, Acorn, Blue Bee, Bradfield, Chantry, Little Critters, Neepsend, Peak, St Mars of the Desert, Save the Leadmill, Tapped, and Triple Point.
All profits from these eBay sales will go the official SC46 charity – Sheffield Children’s Hospital. The festival will be held at Kelham Island Industrial Museum from 19-22 October 2022.
A lot has changed since we last held our festival in 2019. It goes without saying that the last couple of years have been extremely difficult for a lot of people, including the hospitality industry that we all hold so dear. Victims of the times include Kelham Island Brewery and Sheffield Brewery, both of whom would always appear on our bars, and we are extremely saddened they won’t be here again this year.
There have been a few changes at the Kelham Island Museum too. The Millowners Arms is now being run as an independent venue, although they are working with us to be a part of the festival as normal. All this has meant a rejig of the festival layout. We have an extra room in the rear courtyard which will house our KeyKeg bar, and the Bradfield bar is switching to the Brearley Room, the old home of the keg bar. The marquee layout will also change slightly, but we’re sure that these improvements will make the festival better than ever.
No change in the range of beer and cider on offer though! Over 300 beers including around 50 keg beers, over 40 real ciders and two bottle bars featuring continental beers. The Sheffield Beer of The Festival award will take place again on Wednesday evening.
We have our usual array of live acts, and a great variety of food stalls, with extended vegetarian and vegan offerings this year. In addition to this we have our ever-popular tombola stall, traditional pub games and CAMRA merchandise desk selling books and t-shirts.
This year will see three charities taking a stall. Sheffield Churches Council for Community Care (SCCC) will appear on Thursday, the Stan Shaw Memorial Appeal on Friday, and the return of the Sheffield WI cake stall on the Saturday. Our overall festival charity is Sheffield Children’s Hospital, which will be grateful for any of your unused beer tokens, or festival glass deposit.
Although we’re not sure you’ll want to hand your glass back! We are delighted to announce that the half-pint glasses this year are being sponsored by none other than Henderson’s Relish. The distinctive orange logo will be gracing a 12oz conical glass which we’re sure will be in big demand.
No article on the beer festival would be complete without a word of thanks to our dedicated and hard-working volunteers. Each year they arrive to set everything up, man the bars, run the various desks, do whatever needs doing to ensure the festival is the success it is, and then dismantle everything and put it back in to storage for next year. We cannot thank them enough for the time and effort they give. The festival simply would not happen without them. As a thank you, this year we are running a free staff trip to Halifax, and as an extra reward for the Sunday takedown volunteers we have a free buffet at a yet-to-be-decided venue. If you fancy joining our happy band please visit our website sheffield.camra.org.uk/festival to get more details on volunteering. We’re sure that you’ll enjoy it.
Don’t forget to look out for our festival beermats around the locals pubs. As we have done for the last three years, the festival side of the mats are all different and once you collect all twelve they fit together to form an image of the festival poster.
We can’t wait to welcome you all back.
Steel City Beer & Cider Festival, 19-22 October 2022, Kelham Island Museum, Sheffield.
With summer well and truly in swing True North have revealed their exclusive 2022 festival season with a series of events popping up across Sheffield. Over the coming months they will be hosting a number of day parties including Crookes-Chella, JockFest, Blueberry and CrownFest.
All of these events will be filled with family fun for all. Children’s entertainment will run in the early afternoon, including a magician, comedian and glitter painters, continuing on with an eclectic mix of music throughout the day featuring everything from indie to rock and pop artists until 10pm. To make things even better, outdoor bars will be open at each of the festivals, including an exclusive Sheffield Dry Gin Bar, as well as an amazing outdoor BBQ with delicious food on offer all day long.
The festivities will span over the months of July and August with four True North venues participating: Punch Bowl in Crookes Saturday 2 July, Horse & Jockey in Wadsley Saturday 16 July, Blue Stoops in Dronfield Saturday 30 July and Crown & Anchor in Barnsley Saturday 27 August.
Each event will host a lineup of amazing local talent spanning across all genres of music including: James Scanlan, Steve Delaney, SUMO, What Katie Did Next, Risky Heroes and many more which can be found on the venue websites. As well as this children’s entertainer Barney Baloney will be on at each of these events between the hours of 12:00 and 14:00 performing magic tricks and comedy for all the family to enjoy.
This is the perfect opportunity for a day out with the family with things finally being back to normal after the struggle of the Covid-19 pandemic. When the weather is nice, what better way to spend the day than enjoying a few drinks at your local with the people you love?
Head of Sales, Emma Swales stated “These events are in place to give back and support the local community giving them a chance to get out and enjoy the sun with family and friends, with a showcase of locally sourced talent it’s a day people will remember!”
While you’re there, don’t forget to give all the True North Brewery products a try, including this summer’s exclusive new products to celebrate 30 years of True North: The Celebration Pale and the Celebration Gin as well as the core range including favorites such as the Sheffield Dry Gin Marmalade, the True North Haze and Sheffield Dry Gin Summer Cup which will be on offer to customers at the outdoors bars!
The weekend of July 22-24 is when Tramlines music festival takes place in Hillsborough Park and is advertised as a sell out event. It is a festival we are pleased to report that has a bar that serves real ale too.
However if you haven’t got a ticket for the main event and still fancy a bit of a party in Sheffield that weekend with live music and good beer then don’t worry, there’s also a fringe where many venues around the City put on free gigs.
The heart of the fringe is the outdoor stages on Devonshire Green and in the Peace Gardens put on by Sheffield BID (Business Improvement District), however we’ll ignore them and look at those venues serving real ale or other craft beer all year round that usually offer live music of some description.
The Washington on Fitzwilliam Street (the road from West Street to Moorfoot) has already announced their line up of bands for the weekend with a pre-party on the Thursday then live music from 5pm Friday and from 2:30pm Saturday and Sunday until the DJs take over at 11pm to dance through until 3am. There will also be some afternoon DJ sets in the beer garden. At the time of writing the cask ales available included Abbeydale Moonshine and Black Mass plus Bradfield Farmers Blonde. There are also usually traditional bitters from Marstons and Black Sheep on the bar.
Another Sheffield stalwart of live music and real ale has been the Dorothy Pax at Victoria Quays where you can be inside the cosy railway arch venue seeing the live entertainment or head outside to the waterside to sit and enjoy your beer. Six handpumps here dispense cask ale and cider and there are also some craft beer options on the keg taps too. In the past for Tramlines weekend the boat was really pushed out (so to speak) with their “Canal Lines” event with a music stage outside, however this year they are taking their stage and outside bar to Heeley People’s Park to put on a festival there!
Also in the City Centre, Church House by the Cathedral have live music every weekend, usually classic rock tribute bands, but something a bit special is usually arranged for Tramlines fringe – keep an eye on their Facebook page for announcements.
The Green Room by Devonshire Green can be a little hit and miss on beer availability but is quite music orientated and never fails to put a show on for Tramlines weekend.
The Frog & Parrot on Division Street, owned by Greene King serving their beers plus local guests usually also put live music on over Tramlines weekend.
A newer and less well known venue is Perch, the bar attached to Dead Parrot Brewery on Garden Street. Every day you can go and enjoy their beers and bar food is available in the form of burgers and pizzas, however now and again live music events take place outside in the courtyard, keep an eye on their Facebook page for news of events taking place.
Shakespeares Ale & Cider House on Gibralter Street are known for their Tramlines Fringe event, although of course have gigs in the upstairs room all year round. For the festival weekend they have a busy programme of free entertainment alongside a great beer range and stay open until at least midnight.
Heist Brew Co. at Neepsend have announced their Tramlines fringe events already too – Beer Lines. Music, beer, rum and burgers are promised with Saturday featuring Dat Brass playing live from 6:30pm and the University of Sheffield DJ Society on the decks on Sunday from 2pm.
Finally, a mention for those pubs that don’t specifically do anything for Tramlines Fringe but have live music all year round such as the White Lion at Heeley and of course those that regularly do smaller scale music events including folk sessions – pubs such as the Dog & Partridge, Fagans and Gardeners Rest. Also not to forget the Dove & Rainbow who we’re sure will be looking after the alternative crowd in their usual style!
If you want to escape Sheffield for the evening to avoid the Tramlines crowds but still see some live music then options include jumping on a tram to Rotherham to a live music pub such as the Bridge Inn, Chantry Brewery Tap and Cutlers Arms or catch a bus to Chesterfield to somewhere like the Neptune Beer Emporium.
For listings check out the Clashfinder website or the programme produced by Exposed magazine.
Sheffield has long been known as one of the best places for beer. Now, a forthcoming festival hopes to get the city as excited about its growing cider scene – teaming up with a brewery to lure in the cider-curious as well as cider lovers in general.
On Saturday 25th June, the Sheffield Craft Cider Festival will take place at the Heist Brew Co
taproom in Neepsend. The event – which will feature some of the best artisan cideries from
across the UK – is being curated by The Cider Hole, Sheffield’s only urban microcidery and bar,
home to the city’s only permanent cider brand, Exemption Ciderhouse.
“Sheffield has a great brewing history and today has many awesome breweries,” said Adam
France, owner and co-founder of Heist Brew Co. “What we haven’t had previously is great
cider. Now we do, courtesy of The Cider Hole, so we wanted to celebrate that and give rise to
the cider revolution.”
The free-to-enter festival – which runs from noon until late – will be pay-as-you-go with cideries
offering small pours, allowing attendees to experiment with a large range of different drinks.
Additionally, most tables will be run by the cidermakers themselves or representatives of the
brand so visitors can learn more about craft cider by meeting the people behind the products.
Cideries scheduled to attend include Blue Barrel, Butford Organics, Find & Foster, Galtres, Rebel
Root, Ross-on-Wye, Welsh Mountain, Wild West, and Wilding, along with Sheffield’s own
Exemption.
“At The Cider Hole, we offer over 60 craft ciders – but often times, guests haven’t heard of any
of them, despite representing some of the best cidermakers in the world!” explained Mike
Pomranz, the bar’s owner. “While craft breweries have become household names, equally
mind-blowing craft cideries often still languish in obscurity. By working with Heist Brew Co, I’m
hoping more drinkers will discover these two craft movements aren’t as different as they may
seem.”
Speaking of craft beer, Heist Brew Tap will be serving its entire selection of beer, wine, and
spirits, including its 30 draft lines, as usual. Additionally, Slap & Pickle will also be open as usual,
selling its beloved burgers, fries, and other items.
The Sheffield Craft Cider Festival will take place on Saturday 25 June, 2022, from noon until late
at the Heist Brew Co Tap, which is located at 107 Neepsend Lane, S3 8AT.
Entry is free. Children are welcome until 21:00. Dogs always welcome. For more info, go to
www.heistbrewco.com and www.istheciderholeopen.com.
