I’d like to add my thanks to all of the venues and to everyone who was out enjoying themselves during the course of the festival. I bumped into some Kent CAMRA members who were blown away by the festival and thought more CAMRA branches should run something like this to not only showcase some fantastic beer, but local pubs and bars too. I also met some volunteers from the previous Steel City Beer Festival who said the festival on tour was a fantastic idea, and would love to see it return in the future!
It made me feel so proud to visit the venues and see people enjoying themselves, and overhear conversations about the beer festival and where people were heading to next. After a tough 18 months for the beer industry, it felt as though this was the lift everyone needed, for both venues and punters. It felt like it really brought everyone together.
Every single venue has had something different from the norm, and I’m sure they will have gained many a regular as a result. From smaller venues like The Bear running their first tap takeover and meet the brewer event, to Heist managing to organise a tap takeover from Hungarian brewery Mad Scientist to showcase beers never before seen in the UK.
I took part in the Neepsend Brewery tour which was very interesting, especially as they had 20,000 pints in their tanks ready to go! It might have taken a while to drink them all though… Everyone involved should be proud of their efforts in putting on a fantastic citywide festival that showcased exactly why Sheffield is such a fantastic place for a pint.
Elliott
As well as Press Officer for the festival, Elliott regularly posts about the local beer scene on Instagram. Find him at thenotsosoberbarcrawl.
With pub going a bit more normal now the JD Wetherspoon chain is once again running a national beer festival this autumn with the Sheffield launch taking place at the Sheaf Island on Ecclesall Road on 20 October.
There is a list of 20 real ales in the festival in a brochure containing tasting notes with each pub being allocated around half of them which will be rotated across the pumps, so you will need to visit more than one pub to try them all!
On launch day the Sheaf Island will feature five of the festival beers alongside their regular ales and they will be celebrating the launch with a pub quiz and games.
The festival beers expected at the Sheaf Island are:
PurityAPA A 3.9% gluten free session pale ale brewed especially for Wetherspoons with Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy and Columbus hops.
AdnamsOld Ale A 4.1% ruby red ale with caramel and chocolate aromas, flavours offering hints of liquorice and berries with a bitter finish.
Bath Ales Queen of Hearts A new 4.3% amber ale brewed for Wetherspoons.
Hogs Back Citrus Pale Ale A new seasonal beer, this is a 4.5% pale ale offering floral and citrus notes, the bitterness from the Fuggles, Mosaic and UK Cascade hops balanced nicely by the subtle malt flavour making the beer an easy drinking, light hoppy beer with a dry finish.
Thornbridge Shelby A 5% golden/amber ale with aromas of stone fruit and berries which leads to a gentle maltiness on the palette balanced by a citrus and lemon bitterness from the Bramling Cross and Fuggles Hops. An official beer of the Peaky Blinders TV series and inspired by beer recipes of the era.
Greene King Ruby Abbot This 5.2% ruby ale is a special edition of Abbot Ale brewed for Wetherspoons.
Wadworth Sweet Molly A 5.5% red ale brewed for Wetherspoons.
Bank’s (Marstons) New Wave IPA A 6% golden IPA brewed for Wetherspoons.
For myself, the last beer festivals attended before Covid closed everything down were the Chesterfield CAMRA event at the Winding Wheel Theatre in February 2020 as a volunteer and the Sheffield Indie Beer Feast at the Old Abbeydale Picture House in March 2020 as a customer.
The August 2021 Bank holiday weekend saw our first festival social since then with the Old Hall Hotel in Hope putting on their Hope Valley Beer & Cider Festival with a marquee in the car park hosting a range of traditional ales and ciders, seating and occasionally live music whilst also outside was a pizza oven and gin & cocktail bar – with the pub itself also offering its usual food & drink.
An official Sheffield & District CAMRA outing visited this event on the Saturday as part of our monthly RambAle programme whilst a number of others including myself took a trip out there on the bank holiday Monday, combining it with the open day at Intrepid Brewery.
The following weekend saw beer festivals in Grenoside and Bolsover.
It has also been good to see a number of events recently that whilst beer wasn’t the focus, had real ale available for visitors, this included Rockin’ the Bowl, Bradway Family Fun Day and Worral Festival.
9-11 September saw the return of the Rail Ale Festival at Barrow Hill Railway Roundhouse near Chesterfield. This normally takes place in May and returns to its normal dates for 2022 following the cancellation of the 2020 festival and the 2021 event being postponed until September.
View from behind the Derbyshire bar before the festival opened
Rail Ale has a range of over 350 real ales spread across several bars along with craft beer on keg, cider & perry and gin.
Train rides were available on Friday & Saturday afternoon with classic shunter locomotives hauling Mk1 coaches up and down the short branch line from the platform within the festival site and there were plenty of other old trains stabled up outside next to the street food vendors for those interested enough!
Also supporting the fact the festival had something of a transport theme, there was a choice of ways of getting there for those that thought the Stagecoach number 90 was a bit too routine including a free volunteer run shuttle bus from Chesterfield station using preserved vehicles or for those with a bigger budget a locomotive hauled charter train shuttling from Derby & Chesterfield dropping off thirsty visitors inside the beer festival!
I joined a team from Dronfield CAMRA volunteering there on Saturday afternoon with the majority of us working together behind the Derbyshire bar. Whilst both serving and sampling some tasty beers there were bands on the stage next to our bar as well as the Ashover Brass Band on in the marquee and it was just wonderful to be able to be once again involved with such an event and catch up with all the old faces we haven’t seen for a couple of years.
Looking ahead it is disappointing that with the uncertainties surrounding Covid still being a worry during the planning process we aren’t able to bring you Sheffield’s Steel City Beer & Cider festival this October, we’re sure the pubs will do us proud however as part of Steel City On Tour.
The first CAMRA festival to take place in our part of the world will be Nottingham which takes place at its new home of Trent Bridge cricket ground from 13 to 16 October. This is always a fantastic event with a great atmosphere and an absolutely huge range of interesting beers and ciders to choose from!
(header photo: Nick Wheat, Rob Barwell and Andy Cullen behind the bar, selfie taken by Nick Wheat).
The normal beer festival at Abbeydale Picture House has been unable to happen this year due to Covid, but the Festival trail is here over the weekend of 6 to 8 August. Here is our mini-guide to the venues taking part.
The Indie Beer Feast Festival Trail Facebook event has the latest information.
There are some discount deals on public transport passes at the moment, for example a Citywide pass for all day unlimited travel on any bus or tram in Sheffield costs £3.80 (normally £5.10). More information about this can be found on the Travelmaster ticket website whilst timetables and maps are available from Travel South Yorkshire.
THE VENUES
Bar Stewardsget there on buses 57, 81, 82, 86 or Shalesmoor tram stop is a short walk away
Shakespeare’sget there on buses 57, 81, 82, 86 or Shalesmoor tram stop is a short walk away
THE BEERS
AT SHAKESPEARE’S
CASK
Neptune Enzili Pale Ale 4%
Neptune Galene Session IPA 4.3%
Neptune Mosaic Pale Ale 4.5%
Neptune Nelson Sails Again NZ Pale 4.5%
Neptune Camulos Belgian Dubbel 6.9%
Torrside If You Build It oak smoked Pale 4%
Torrside Slice of Heaven NZ IPA 6.2%
Torrside Valour 1917 Imperial Stout 7.7%
KEG
Neptune River Runs Free Pale Ale 4.5%
Neptune Ostara Currant Bun Saison 5.6%
Torrside Franconia Smoked Beer 5.2%
Zero Ducks Raspberry IPA 6.2%
AT BAR STEWARDS
Abbeydale DRY HOPPED Heathen 4.1% American Pale Ale which has been dry hopped in the cask with extra Mosaic for an extra hoppy kick!
Abbeydale Double Deception 8.2% Nelson Sauvin DIPA on CASK! An extra special beer to celebrate Abbeydale’s 25th birthday and we’ve only gone and got some on cask
Abbeydale Celebration 2.8% Mimosa Quarter IPA. To balance out the craziness of that DIPA we’ve got a nice sessionable fruity small IPA, an equally celebratory beer but at a lower ABV.
Abbeydale Wanderer 6.0% Outlaws IPA. A lovely Willamette and Nelson Sauvin IPA, a crispier take on the New England IPA.
PLUS – beers from Lost Industry and Turning Point.
AT HOP HIDEOUT (INCLUDES CIDER TOO!)
At Hop Hideout we’ll be pouring @rockleopardbrewing@pomonaislandbrew @wildernessbrew @rosscider @hoganscider (bottle only)Each day Jules will be hosting a short mini-tasting, limited samples, once they’re gone they’re gone! Head to the counter:Fri 6th 1pm Rock Leopard Sat 7th 1pm Hogans / Pomona Island 4pmSun 8th 1pm Wilderness / 4pm Ross
AT KELHAM ISLAND TAVERN
AT RUTLAND ARMS
AT THE CROW INN
KEG:
Duration: Shifting Bassline – 5.0% Mosaic pale
Duration/ Beak: Sail – 4.2% Cellared saision
Duration/ DEYA: Crocs in the Coolship – 5.7% Coolship wit
Mobberley: Summer IPA – 6.0% IPA with Citra and Mosaic
Mobberley: Circuit Breaker – 10.5% Imperial Stout
CASK:
Mobberley: Elysium – 4.7% Session IPA.
Black Iris: Divine Elements – 6.0% IPA.
Black Iris: Stab in the Dark – 5.0% New Zealand stout
No doubt you will have heard by now about the cancellation of the 2021 Steel City Beer & Cider Festival that was due to take place in October at the Kelham Island Museum. This is the second year running that we have had to cancel due to the situation surrounding the Covid 19 pandemic, but the planning committee felt that there were still too many uncertainties to be able to organise the festival to it’s usual excellent standard.
It is particularly frustrating this year as we had some exciting new things planned which would have made the festival even better. The Museum had allowed us the use of the rear Courtyardand adjacent room, which would have given us an extra bar area and additional food stalls.An extended range of talks and presentations was also being developed to add to the variety of events at the festival.
We are taking a positive view that we will be able to stage next year’s festival, so these ideas will be carried forward and should appear in 2022. Thanks must go to everyone who has worked so hard on the planning committee, the sponsors who had already pledged their support, and the volunteers who were eager to return and help play their part. Their efforts are much appreciated each year, but especially this year when there was no end result. One consolation is that a lot of this work can be carried forward to next year, which actually puts us way ahead of schedule for next year’s festival.
However in the last few weeks the committee has been talking to various pubs and breweries and we can now announce that the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival will be going on Tour!
Venues around the city will be arranging events to take place over the same weekend in October to bring you a flavour of the festival. Special Beers, Brewery Events, Tap Takeovers, Food Stalls, Live music and Talks will all be taking place from the 7th to 10th October.
The Festival page on the Sheffield CAMRA website contains all the details and will add extra events as they are arranged. You may have already seen posters and flyers around the city, and of course anyone who would like to be involved can contact festival@sheffield.camra.org.uk for more details.
One large festival may not have been possible, but with the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival On Tour we’ll have a plethora of mini-festivals bringing you the range and quality of beer and cider you have come to expect from us. Please come along and help support all our excellent pubs and breweries that have had such a difficult time during the pandemic.
If you haven’t got tickets to Tramlines music festival, which takes place in Hillsborough Park 23-25 July, but still want a weekend of live music, DJs and good beer, then there are many venues around Sheffield independently putting their own events on as part of the Tramlines Fringe, some of which are in real ale pubs!
To help you with some ideas of where to go over the weekend, we’re compiling a list of all the real ale pubs putting events on that we are aware of. If you know of any we’ve missed please send us the details and we’ll look at adding it to the list.
Each pub on the list has a link to its entry on whatpub.com where you can find details of their social media for more information along with a location map and public transport details such as the nearest tram stop!
The Indie Beer Feast normally takes place at Abbeydale Picture House each March ahead of Sheffield Beer Week and is organised by Jules Gray of Hop Hideout, who also organises the beer week. The format involves a number of craft breweries hosting their own bars at the event alongside a Hop Hideout bar and street food area.
The 2020 festival was one of the last beer festivals that took place before Coronavirus lockdown happened. This year the dates were moved from March to August with a hope that Coronavirus restrictions would be gone come 21 June. This has now been moved to 19 July but of course there are no guarantees that will happen and the August festival date gets ever closer, so the difficult decision has been made to cancel the event with tickets valid at the next one in March 2022.
We were hoping to welcome over 1000 beer tourists to Sheffield in April for the CAMRA Members Weekend but with the Coronavirus restrictions this was sadly not to be. So we are bringing you the next best thing, a box of six different beers from breweries in the Sheffield & District branch area to enjoy at home along with a live online tasting event with all six breweries included in the price
The online tasting event is at 6pm on Saturday 16 April and the beer box will be delivered to you in time for this.
The Beers
Neepsend Brewery Acadia 3.9% New England session pale (440ml can)
Kelham Island Brewery Pale Rider5.2% Premium golden ale (500ml bottle)
Triple Point Brewery Dyad #45.2% DDH New England IPA (440ml can)
Bradfield Brewery Belgian Blue4.9% Flavoured speciality ale (500ml bottle)
Abbeydale Brewery Black Mass 6.66% Strong stout (440ml can)
The price is £35, discounted to £30 for CAMRA members. Order your box online from CAMRA(don’t forget, if you are a CAMRA member, to sign in first to get the discount)
We are pleased to announce that subject to all the Coronavirus restrictions being lifted in time as expected, the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival will be taking place this year at Kelham Island Museum from 6 to 9 October.
Planning is still in the early stages but expect the usual large range of real ales and other craft beers along with traditional cider & perry, street food, live music and more.
The festival is organised and staffed entirely by volunteers who do it because they are passionate about celebrating good beer and cider, if you fancy getting involved you can register your interest in volunteering now and we’ll let you know when the staffing form goes live later in the year. Otherwise keep an eye on our website for announcements as things get confirmed!
In the meantime, have a look at the pictures below taken by Dave Pickersgill at our last festival in 2019 to get an idea of what you can look forward to!
The Upper Hall features a huge real ale bar, book shop, tombola and live music stageA range of craft beer in keykeg, bottle and can also features alongside the cask aleTwo bars at the festival are dedicated to traditional Cider & PerryWe have live music Thursday and Friday night plus a programme of entertainment throughout Saturday included in the entry fee.The courtyard areas host a number of street food tradersA huge cask beer bar staffed by our volunteers can also be found in the festival marquee along with old skool pub games!All the drinks at the festival are served into your commemorative glass. The entry fee includes a deposit on the glass which you can either cash in as you leave or keep as a souvenir!On Saturday we encourage fancy dress and epic hats as demonstrated by team tombola here!
The AGM is where in addition to the mandatory business of an Annual General Meeting (AGM), CAMRA’s volunteer National Executive is elected: and Conference is where campaigning policy is democratically formed and updated by members via debate and voting. Also featured are award presentations and fringe activities along with a Members’ Bar at the venue and organised brewery trips.
This year the event was due to take place at Sheffield City Hall on the weekend of 16th to 18th April. Unfortunately whilst the Coronavirus restrictions are expected to be lifted enough to enjoy some beer garden action, this kind of event is still out of the question.
So, its all going online, even the members bar!
The Conference will take place in the daytime on Saturday 16th April then afterwards you can relax in the virtual members bar with a “Highlights of Sheffield” Beer Box and an online tasting with the brewers. To register for the conference log in as a member at camra.org.uk.
The Sheffield beer box and the live online tasting event is available to anyone, not just members, and can can be ordered here.
The box contains six beers sourced from the Sheffield & District CAMRA branch area, the brewers represented are Neepsend, Kelham Island, Intrepid, Triple Point, Bradfield and Abbeydale.
