Sheffield Beer Week – a guide to what’s on

SheffBeerWeek300dpi Sheffield Beer Week is a week-long festival celebrating the region’s brewing landscape – old and new! It’s also about highlighting the wonderful world of beer taking inspiration from across the globe. Collaboration is key with Sheffield’s bars, pubs, breweries (local, national and global) and restaurants joining forces to host beery events. Sheffield Beer Week happens across the whole of the city in multiple venues. Imagine a week where breweries hold open days for visitors to explore, pubs host beer festivals, bars have tap takeovers and restaurants offer menus with tailored beer pairings. Every day there will be a unique beer event to enjoy! Sheffield Beer Week is held the same week that the SIBA BeerX is in town, which combines an independent brewers’ conference, trade show and beer festival which means a lot of people from the beer trade are in town. It is also looking likely that True North and Sentinel will both be in their new breweries and offering the opportunity to visit.

Brewery News

Events are gathering pace with a number of breweries planning new beers to launch during #SheffBeerWeek. With St. Patrick’s Day falling in the week, it looks like a few breweries are taking inspiration from the classic Irish stout style, but I’m sure they’ll be big twists! Breweries announced so far include Thornbridge,Abbeydale (who celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2016) andTrue North Brew Co (who are collaborating with Manchester breweries BlackJack and Runaway). They’ll be lots of Tap Takeovers and Meet the Brewers going on around the city during Sheffield Beer Week. Exit 33 and Emmanuales will be joining forces to host an event at Exit 33 tap The Harlequin. Stancill and The Red Deer, on Pitt Street, are also planning a joint event to build on last year’s.

Events

Here is a list of events planned at the time of going to press. More may well have been added – visit www.sheffieldbeerweek.co.uk for the latest information. ALL WEEK Manchester tap takeover at the Broadfield SATURDAY 12TH MARCH Beer Week launch party at True North Brew Company and the Old House SUNDAY 13TH MARCH Speed Tasting hosted by Hop Hideout MONDAY 14TH MARCH Twitter Hour – Beer Cocktails at Picture House Social TUESDAY 15TH MARCH Fourpure tasting at the Sheffield Tap Brooklyn Brewery big bottle tasting at Hop Hideout WEDNESDAY 16TH MARCH Five Points meet the brewer at Brewdog Hump Day Social with Feast & Glory, various City Centre venues Beer Week Pub quiz at the Francis Newton Karma Citra Beer & food pairing at the Greystones Belgian Beer tasting at Shakespeares Meet the Brewer Traffic Street Special/Castle Rock at the New Barrack Tavern Beer tasting competition at the Three Tuns Brass Castle Meet the Brewer at the Kelham Island Tavern SIBA BeerX at Ice Sheffield THURSDAY 17TH MARCH Brass Castle meet the brewer & food pairing at the Tramshed bar Stancill Brewery tap takeover and meet the brewer at the Red Deer St Patricks Day Stout & Porter tasting at Shakespeares Chantry Tap Takeover and meet the brewer at the Railway Hotel (Bramall Lane) SIBA BeerX at Ice Sheffield Steel City beer festival award presentations at BeerX FRIDAY 18TH MARCH Founders Brewing tasting at Hop Hideout SIBA BeerX at Ice Sheffield SATURDAY 19TH MARCH Twitter Hour: The ingredients of beer at Sentinel Brewhouse & Taproom SIBA BeerX at Ice Sheffield SUNDAY 20TH MARCH Sheffield Beer Week Closing event hosted at Sentinel Brewhouse & Taproom Sheffield Beer Week Closing afterparty at Picture House Social

Dronfield CAMRA diary – February 2016

Thursday 28th January – Winter Pub of the Season award presentation Our members have voted the Dronfield Arms the winner of our latest Pub of the Season award, join us for a pint or two as we present the certificate and enjoy the pub’s celebrations! Tuesday 9th February – branch meeting The monthly meeting where all local members are invited to come along and get involved with the branch, catch up on campaigning issues and share pub, club and brewery news – all over a pint or two of course. This month the venue is the Cross Daggers in Coal Aston (bus 44). Saturday 20th February – train trip to National Winter Ales Festival in Derby We meet on the 11:15 train from Dronfield, changing at Chesterfield for Derby (arriving 12:00, this is the train that leaves Sheffield at 11:29) and attend CAMRA’s annual National Winter Ales festival, which takes place in the College Roundhouse campus next to the railway station and features an excellent range of beers and ciders. We then have the option of visiting a few pubs in Derby before catching the train back north. A return train ticket is £11.30, admission to the festival for CAMRA members costs £2 (plus £3 deposit on the festival glass). Tuesday 8th March – Branch AGM The formal legally required annual general meeting which will see Dronfield & District launch as a full independent branch and elect the committee for the year ahead. The usual monthly branch meeting is also incorporated. The venue is the Pioneer Club in Dronfield.

Sheffield Beer Week

SheffBeerWeek150dpi (2) March 2016 is going to be a good beery month with SIBA’s Beer X festival from March 16 and #SheffBeerWeek alongside from March 14. Events are gathering pace with a number of breweries planning new beers to launch during the week. With St. Patrick’s Day falling in the week, it looks like a few breweries are taking inspiration from the classic Irish stout style, but I’m sure they’ll be big twists! Breweries announced so far include Thornbridge, Abbeydale (who celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2016) and True North Brew Co (who are collaborating with Manchester breweries BlackJack and Runaway). They’ll be lots of Tap Takeovers and Meet the Brewers going on around the city during Sheffield Beer Week. Exit 33 and Emmanuales will be joining forces to host an event at Exit 33 tap The Harlequin. Stancill and The Red Deer, on Pitt Street, are planning a joint event to build on last year’s. They’ll be lots of events in the city centre AND the beery suburbs in venues such as Picture House Social, The Broadfield, Hop Hideout, New Barrack Tavern, The Hillsborough Hotel and many more venues. Let’s raise a glass to #SheffBeerWeek!

TRAVE-ALE! Yorkshire family open brewpub in Cyprus

AphBrew_098 (Cropped) - Melanie & Jules Courtyard Scene #1 Brewer, Melanie, Carrying Out Her Daily Checks AphBrew_098 (Cropped) - Melanie & Jules Andy & AJ Aerial _1 CYPRUS REAL ALE MICROBREWERY GETS THE FINAL GO-AHEAD! THE YORKSHIRE-FAMILY-OWNERS of the Paphos-based Aphrodite’s Rock Microbrewery & Brewpub, the first licensed microbrewery in Cyprus, tell CAMRA the incredible story of how they overcame years of the former administration’s rampant bureaucracy to start their brewery. Why Did You Decide to Start a Microbrewery in Cyprus? William Ginn, ‘Bill’, said, “I’m a Chartered Engineer in the oil industry and have travelled all my life.  We wanted to start a family business and saw real potential to establish a microbrewery in beautiful Paphos where we had happily settled along with many other British expatriates. Melanie, our daughter, studied in Sunderland as one of a growing band of British women brewers.  Then, in 2010, we prepared a full business plan for CIPA, the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency, who agreed to assist us.  We didn’t enter into this lightly nor, knowing Cyprus, did we expect things to be easy but no market research, business plan or MBA could have prepared us for the government nightmare to follow…” What Were the Problems You Encountered in Cyprus? “We found an old defunct winery in a lush green valley in the hills above Paphos.  The size was perfect plus it was full of charm and character with all permits as a ‘winery’.  CIPA said the ‘Change of Use’ application to ‘brewery’, “…should be straightforward”.  It was, however, Easter 2012, eighteen months of continuous and largely unnecessary work later, before our thick dossier of documentation was complete.  We were assured all was in order and we “…should receive the Permit to Brew in a week”.  Imagine our shock on receiving notification from Nicosia not with our promised Permit to Brew but with further demands, then further and then still further unreasonable and, often, impossible demands. It must be said that Jean, my wife, and I were treated very badly during these years and our health undoubtedly suffered.  It turned out that CIPA was, in fact, powerless to help.  It almost felt as if there was a deliberate attempt by the government to drive us out of Cyprus for some reason! We persevered and met all demands making it clear we would not just meekly go away.  Customs & Excise then dropped their bombshell, never previously mentioned, that should we ever receive a Permit to Brew we must pay a €51,000 bond and have a full-time Inspector on our premises whose salary and all expenses would be to our account.  The cost could be well over €100,000pa; a crippling sum for a small family business.” To Brussels and the European Parliament…  Bill said “With no options left to us, and feeling very alone, we took this to the European Parliament in Brussels with the support of our former Yorkshire MEPs.”   Questions put to the European Commission in 2012, were: “Will the Commission investigate whether the difficulties and very long delays experienced by Aphrodite’s Rock Brewing Company in its attempts to open for business in Cyprus are a function of:
  • The existence of non-tariff trading barriers
  • The Cypriot authorities manipulating regulations to prevent or discourage competition
  • Tacit and potentially illegal bureaucratic connivance in favour of existing Cypriot business
And, whether the brewing sector in Cyprus is operating in accordance with the requirements of all relevant aspects of EU law” “After nearly four years of struggles our Permit to Brew was finally granted with the resident Inspector and bond requirements dropped.” Bill said, “After all those years of Cyprus bureaucracy, I nearly called our Irish Red Ale ‘Red Tape’!”  He added, “Finally, however, we can say that a holiday in the ‘Med’ no longer condemns CAMRA real ale drinkers to long days of bland, commercial lagers.  Cheap flights and low cost accommodation make even a long weekend break possible so come to our little oasis in Paphos in 2016 and have a few great days with us!” Aphrodite’s Rock Microbrewery & Brewpub Today “Aphrodite’s Rock Microbrewery & Brewpub is in a lovely old winery 15 minutes from Paphos surrounded by beautiful olive groves and grape vine terraces.  You and your family can take in the views sat in the traditional stone courtyard shaded by walnut, hazelnut and mulberry trees and also enjoy regular live entertainment staged for your pleasure.  The kitchen offers delicious, great value-for-money meals plus authentic hand-stretched Italian pizzas baked-to-order in an Italian wood-fired oven.  Portions are generous – come hungry, you won’t leave that way!” Bill said. Despite its stunning location, great restaurant and warm ambience, Aphrodite’s Rock Microbrewery & Brewpub is still, first-and-foremost, a microbrewery.  Quality real ales and real ciders with real character are brewed by Head Brewer, Melanie, and her team for tourists and residents alike.   You can also join the highly popular, informative and complimentary Brewery Tour held every Monday to Friday after lunch.  This is an idyllic and inexpensive Mediterranean venue for birthday parties, anniversaries and wedding receptions with all special arrangements made. Aphrodite’s Rock Microbrewery & Brewpub is regularly #1 in Tripadvisor “Top 100 Things to do in Paphos” with a Certificate of Excellence. Holidaymakers visiting Paphos will enjoy a great, low-cost ‘sun, sea & sand’ holiday on golden beaches beside the crystal-clear Mediterranean Sea as well as experiencing some amazing historical sites in one of the safest overseas tourist destinations available in these troubled times. The family’s tenacity and determination to bring this much demanded microbrewery to fruition in Cyprus is to be commended.  Institutional problems continue for them but they say the support and solidarity shown by fellow CAMRA members, and friends & family, visiting them in Paphos is a great help.  Our mission is to let it be seen that British microbreweries overseas that are fighting to push back the frontiers of real ale in Europe are not alone but stand shoulder-to-shoulder with 200,000 CAMRA members.  Support Aphrodite’s Rock Microbrewery & Brewpub! Aphrodite’s Rock Microbrewery & Brewpub Opening Hours:
  • Monday – Saturday: 11.30am – 10.00pm (breakfast from 9.30am)
  • Sunday Roast: 12.00noon – 4.00pm
 Contact Information:

Good Beer Guide 2017 – the journey starts here

Although we are only just approaching Christmas 2015, when I’m sure a few people will find copies of the 2016 Good Beer Guide in their Christmas gift stocking, we are now starting work on selecting which pubs will be awarded a listing in the 2017 edition! In the pub section of the guide we have an allocation of 30 places for the City of Sheffield, 6 places for our part of Derbyshire and 3 places for Dronfield. Of course there are so many more good pubs in the area so it is all about featuring the best of the best, pubs where it is guaranteed to be worth making the effort to travel to and try, somewhere a visitor will be rewarded with great beer and more. The brewery section of the guide lists all the breweries in our area producing real ale, these entries are looked after by those who volunteered to be Brewery Liaison Officers. So back to the pubs – how do we choose them? Principally it is a vote open to all our members with the highest rated pubs in the vote getting in the guide. The pubs chosen by the members vote are then checked to ensure they are still up to standard though – via two methods. First of all we look at the beer ratings submitted to CAMRA’s National Beer Scoring System (now part of whatpub.com) and secondly we send surveyors to the pub who try the beer and check the facts to be written in the guide with the staff there. Voting papers will be issued at the December branch meetings in Sheffield and Dronfield – see the diary section of this issue for the venues.

Sheffield Beer Week back in March 2016

SheffBeerWeek150dpi (2) Thanks to all those who hosted and attended events during the first Sheffield Beer Week 16th March – 22nd March 2015. We have now started planning for 2016 – Sheffield Beer Week. YAY! The celebrations start from Mon 14th March. We know that every week is beer week in Sheffield, we’re just happy to be sharing that little bit more in March; we’d love you to join in. Follow us at @SheffBeerWeek for beery updates. If you are a venue or brewery, business or individual who would like to get involved please drop us an email on: sheffieldbeerweek@gmail.com Jules

Sheffield retains BeerX in 2016 for fourth year

Drinkers at BeerX's 30metre bar The 30metre bar at BeerX The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) has announced its annual BeerX event is to return to Sheffield for its fourth year in 2016.  The flagship beer industry event will take place at iceSheffield, located near the Sheffield Arena tram stop, from Wednesday 16th to Saturday 19th March 2016. BeerX will once again combine SIBA’s AGM, a trade exhibition, seminars, keynote speakers and business awards for SIBA members throughout the week. It will also open its doors to the Festival of Beer to enable consumers to attend and try hundreds of SIBA award-winning beers.  Nick Stafford, SIBA’s operations director, said: “BeerX has firmly planted its roots in Sheffield and the city has really embraced it. As well as BeerX hosting important events for our members we also have plans to make the Festival of Beer bigger and better this year. “We’ve seen beer tasting and food pairing sessions increase in popularity each year, so we are running more of these and giving the public additional unique opportunities to interact with brewers and industry experts. We will have a variety of brewery bars at which people can meet the brewers themselves.” BeerX will open its doors to the public for longer this year for the Festival of Beer. Ale lovers will be able to visit the infamous 30 metre bar to sup from over 250 beers from the Wednesday evening, the night of the SIBA National Brewing Awards, with sessions then running every day until Saturday.  Friday night’s headline music act will be former Inspiral Carpets lead singer Tom Hingley, supported by soul/Motown aficionados Vernon Lewis & E-Maculate. Saturday will once again show all the final Six Nations Rugby matches live on a giant screen, followed by live music from Sheffield supergroup The Bootleggers. BeerX is also becoming an event for foodies, with an increased and more diverse street food offering planned for 2016. Over 6,000 visitors are expected to attend BeerX throughout the week, including conference delegates, trade exhibitors and beer festival goers. Tickets for the festival are priced at £8 in advance and £10 on the door, with a £2 discount for students, CAMRA members and the Armed Forces who book in advance. They can be purchased in advance via the wegottickets and SIV websites from Friday 13th November. With further details still to be announced, beer lovers can get up-to-date news about the event on the BeerX Facebook page – facebook.com/BeerXSheffield – and follow @SIBA_BeerX on twitter for announcements and ticket giveaways.  

A Day in Liverpool

With there being a direct train in early mornings from Dronfield to the port city of Liverpool I decided on an overcast Wednesday in October to pay the city a visit, and to sample some of Liverpool’s finest pubs in the process. threegraces Dazzle-Ships-Liverpool-2 After a hugely enjoyable morning visiting Liverpool’s historic dockside, including the Merseyside Maritime Museum I decided to make The Baltic Fleet the first port of call. Located on the main road near to the Albert Dock, this is billed as Liverpool’s only brewpub. On walking through the doors I was told that the main bar area was shut (presumably for refurbishment) and ushered into a back room, where drinkers were being served through a small hatch, which lead to queues. In addition to all the inconvenience, the barman’s loud singing provided further irritation. It was nice to finally be able sample Brimstage Trappers Hat, a beer I have long been looking out for. However, as I wasn’t exactly impressed with this pub I didn’t hang around for long. From there I headed away up Dale Street, to The Excelsior, which had beer on from a new brewery called Rock The Boat. Two of their beers were on cask, Dazzle and Bootle Bull. Both beer names referencing Liverpool’s maritime heritage.
Ship & Mitre
Ship & Mitre
Barely 10 yards from the Excelsior is The Ship & Mitre. A busy, bustling pub with plenty of cask ale and world beers to tempt the discerning drinker. I settled on Woodland Midnight Stout as my beer of choice in here. I also ate in the Ship & Mitre and the food was good, although I have resolved to make sure I eat traditional scouse stew the next time I visit Liverpool! From the Ship & Mitre I headed towards the cathedrals and went in The Dispensary on Renshaw Street. This was my favourite pub of the visit. A good range of cask and keg options but above all, the friendliest pub I visited. The beer I sampled in here was the delightfully hoppy Hawkshead Cumbrian 5 Hop, which was the best beer I had all day.
Roscoe Head
Roscoe Head
From The Dispensary I headed to The Roscoe Head. This historic and traditional multi roomed pub is well worth a visit. However, it is currently threatened with redevelopment following its acquisition from Punch Taverns by New River Retail, a company with a history of closing pubs for conversion to retail use. The Roscoe Head is one of only five pubs in the whole of Great Britain that has been in every edition of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide. As such it’s worth fighting to save and Liverpool CAMRA is campaigning hard to that effect. You can sign the petition to persuade Liverpool City Council to make the Roscoe Head an Asset of Community Value here. https://www.change.org/p/liverpool-city-council-save-the-roscoe-head From the Roscoe Head I carried on up Hardman Street to The Fly In The Loaf, a modern pub with an emphasis on food and a good range of cask ales. And after a very enjoyable stout in the shape of Salopian Polygraph I headed round the corner to The 23 Club. located in the cellar of The Clove Hitch Bar & Bistro this has a wide range of draught and bottle beers. This was the final place I visited on my trip and Mad Hatter Penny Lane Pale was an ideal beer for the intimate surroundings of this venue. In conclusion, there are plenty of good pubs worth visiting in Liverpool serving good cask ale. And what’s interesting is that none of the above could be described as real ale “theme” pubs.

Woodthorpe Hall cider apple pressing

Back in early October, a small group from Sheffield & District CAMRA including festival cider bar managers Sarah & Hazel, festival equipment manager Rod Sprigg, Chairman Andy Cullen and a few others joined the apple pressing volunteers at Woodthorpe Hall. The equipment set up is quite Heath Robinson. The process involves washing the apples and sorting out rotters, putting them in a chopping machine then the results from that is put in an old garden shredder that has been adapted into a scratting machine. The apple pulp that results is then pressed to obtain the juice that goes into the fermenting tanks. There is currently just one Woodthorpe Hall cider – Owd Barker – at about 10.5% ABV although a sweetened version called Rubie Suzie is also sold. However come next year when this batch is ready, there will be a new lower strength version of Owd Barker – at about 5%, as one of the fermenting tanks this year will not receive any priming sugar. It is hoped this new more sensible version will be attractive to pubs in the area wanting to stock a local cider! As well as working as volunteers, there was a social side of the day too, with a pub lunch at the Angel in Holmesfield, afternoon tea in Woodthorpe Hall’s garden, a few social drinks of cider in the evening and supper in the Hall’s dining room. We’d like to thank the Shepley’s for their hospitality. 2015-10-03 16.31.48 2015-10-03 16.00.46 2015-10-03 15.29.31 2015-10-03 14.21.11 2015-10-03 14.20.51 2015-10-03 14.20.40

Festival workers and new members social

We’re running a coach trip to Huddersfield to do a crawl of some of the good pubs there and drop in to the Magic Rock Brewery Tap on Saturday 21st November. If you worked as a volunteer at the festival we would like to thank you and if you signed up as a new member at the festival we would like to welcome you, by offering you a free place on this trip. Please book your seat with our social secretary, Phil Wood. You can email him via socials@sheffieldcamra.org.uk. Huddersfield pubs