Issue 478 September 2017 @shfcamra /sheffieldcamra sheffieldcamra.org.uk e e h h ASE BEE CH R D R IR U E P C WHETHER YOU’RE HAVING A PARTY,T HOSTING AN EVENT, OR LOOKING TO BUY BEER FOR YOURSELF, YOU CAN NOW PURCHASE DIRECT FROM THE BREWERY. B R E W E ER NS Y OFF LICE MADE IN SHEFFIELD Find us at TEL. 0114 272 7256 THE SHEFFIELD BREWERY CO. sheffieldbrewery.com UNIT 111, JC ALBYN COMPLEX BURTON ROAD, SHEFFIELD follow us online S3 8BT @sheffieldbrewery The free magazine of CAMRA Sheffield & District Issue 478 September 2017 News 4 Beer Census 2017 app 3,500 monthly Opinion 4 circulation Dom’s Casks of the Month An apple a day... Editor Dominic Nelson Pubs 6 [email protected] Bath Hotel Heritage Pubs - Blue Ball Articles, comments and Harlequin suggestions are most Albion welcome so please send PUBlic Transport - The them in* Hillsborough Tramline Real Ale and the Beautiful Game Advertising Paul Crofts [email protected] Breweries 16 Welbeck Abbey, Lost Indus- Quarter Page £40+VAT try, Chantry, Stancill, Steel Half Page £60+VAT City, Exit 33, Neepsend Full Page £90+VAT Sheffield Brewery Co, Em- Inside Cover £100+VAT manuales, Abbeydale Back Cover £110+VAT Discounts for regular placements Awards 30 PDFs or high-res (300 dpi) Pub of the Month September bitmaps only please Cider Pub of the Year Design from £30 Updates from £10 Travel 32 A Grand Day Out Westport, County Mayo Next copy deadline The Town on the Hill Friday 8th September Festivals 38 Opinions expressed are those of the Sheffield Beer & Cider Festival author and may not represent those Introducing GBBF Winter of CAMRA, the local branch or editor. Beer Matters is © CAMRA Ltd. Diary 42 *For legal reasons a full name and address must be provided with all contributions. Committee 42 Dom’s Casks of the Month I’ve been thinking for a while about starting a new column where CAMRA members can write about their favourite cask beers from the last month. The idea was first brought up at the branch meeting back in June, but I’ve never got round to starting the ball rolling until now. So, here they are, in no particular order, my three favourite real ales I have tried in Sheffield over the last few weeks: What: Pale (4.1%) – North Brewing Co, Leeds Where: Devonshire Cat This beer was sampled as part of North Brewery’s recent tap takeover event at the Devonshire Cat. With its combination of German and American hops, the pint was attractive to the eye and the nose with a good-sized white head and a fruity, tropical Beer Census aroma from the Ekuanot. The flavour had defined citrus notes imparted by the Hallertau Blanc hop, without being overly bitter. 2017 app A good, sessionable pale. You might have seen the What: Drop O’ the Black Stuff(4.0%) – Springhead, Laneham article in the August edition Where: Sentinel Brewhouse of Beer Matters where we I’ve always been a fan of darker ales, and this porter was no ex- revealed the results of this ception. Not quite black but a very deep brown colour, the aroma year’s Sheffield Beer Cen- was packed with chocolate, liquorice and malt. Fortunately, the sus, which took place on 10 taste wasn’t nearly as sweet as the aroma might have suggested, June. Well, we have now re- with a delicious coffee bitterness from the roasted malt providing leased a web app designed an excellent balance of flavours. to let you explore the results for yourself! We might have What: Brewers Reserve (5.0%) – Kent Brewery, Birling given you the headline Where: The Drink Inn figures already, but there’s A little stronger than the other entries on this list, but no less much more to discover. drinkable. Poured a rich, clear golden colour with a clean white head. The nose had a strong hoppy character, with notes of citrus Find out the average price and farmyard. The beer was very easy to drink, with the bitter- of your favourite pint, ness of the hops complimenting a strong malty flavour. You’d discover the most popular have to be careful not to have too many at this strength though! beers and breweries avail- able in your area and see Have you tried any outstanding real ales around Sheffield lately? how the price of a pint is Send in your three favourite beers for the next issue of Beer Mat- correlated with its strength. ters. You can find the app at sheffieldcamra.org.uk/census Dominic Nelson Issue 478 4 News September 2017 An apple a day... There are many things I took from my time living in Bristol, a love of cider was not one of them. To this day that has always surprised me. My summers were spent sat in the garden with my Bath Hotel friends trying every type of cider produced in the South West. Yet much to their dismay my preferred choice always seemed to be The Bath Hotel’s building has ‘anything with blackcurrant’. With that I found cider became a firm reached the grand old age of fixture on my ‘no go’ drinks list. However, this past July two events 150! So over this summer we came up in Sheffield CAMRA’s diary that made me think I really have given it a bit of a spruce should give cider another chance; these being the Wetherspoon’s up with a new lick of paint Real Cider Festival and the Cider Pub of the Year presentation. while keeping all its heritage charm. This is all just in time After sampling many, many different ciders I found a preference for the national Cask Ale Week, towards the medium-sweet varieties as I found they had a much happening from 21 September fresher taste, perfect for the summer weather. I also preferred - 1 October. For this we have cask to keg – probably why I’d never truly taken to cider before as Moor Beer coming up from shop-bought is almost always fizzy. The cask ciders tasted had a Bristol for a tap takeover to smoothness that I didn’t experience with any of the keg varie- show off their range of tasty, ties, which made them a lot easier to drink and allowed any tart unfined cask beer. We will be flavours to come through the fruit. Although I tasted many ciders racking up 6 extra casks in the which were tasty and well-rounded (Scrummage by the Bottle pub, meaning a total of 12 cask Kicking Cider Company comes to mind), my top three reflect the beers will be available in the ones that I found perhaps a little too easy to drink! Bath during the week! Slack Alice (4.6%) – Celtic Marches The Bath team are also head- Over the course of the evening at the Cider Pub of the Year pres- ing up to Beer Ink Brewery in entation I found myself continuously coming back to this drink. Huddersfield in a couple of Described as a medium cider, I found it to be well rounded with weeks’ time especially to brew semblance to a fresh apple juice, if not a little tarter. something new for Cask Ale Week, although discussions Strawberry Cider (4.0%) – Barbourne Cider Co. are still ongoing as to what this Noted in the tasting notes as being voted cider of the festival at beer may be. the CAMRA Worcester beer festival 2016, this strawberry cider tasted in The Sheaf Island certainly did not disappoint. Unlike a To finish off the week, on lot of the other fruit ciders I tried it was not overly sweet and was Saturday 30 September we will extremely light and palatable. also be hosting a Record Fair in conjunction with Broomhill’s Thundering Molly (5.2%) – Celtic Marches Record Collector. This promises Also tasted in the Harlequin, Thundering Molly is a well-rounded DJs, bands and the chance medium cider. With a strong apple aroma, it tasted both fresh and to buy vinyl from the largest fruity and overall was a solid cider, if not a little better after a few independent record store in minutes left to settle in the glass. Sheffield! Poppy Chris Tremblett Issue 478 6 Opinion September 2017 Issue 478 September 2017 7 Heritage Pubs Blue Ball The Blue Ball (Haggstones There is a central bar with three Road, Worrall, S35 0PD) is be- rooms off. A 1930’s refitting has lieved to have been originally left bench seating in all rooms three cottages which were con- and ‘Tennants’ windows. The nected at some time to make Smoke Room pre-dates this bigger premises. refitting with quality 1930s (or possibly older) seating and There is no documented some parquet flooring. The date of origin although it was Public Bar (left) has an inter- registered as a public house in war graced counter to bar and the Sheffield Directory in 1825. 1960s timbering. There are also At one time it was a coaching a considerable number of Ten- inn with stabling. The name nants windows remaining. changed from ‘The Ball’ in 1854. Dave Pickersgill & Mick Slaughter Issue 478 8 Pubs September 2017 Inn Brief The first of the SCBF43 beer mat auctions on eBay raised £23.15 for Weston Park Can- cer Charity, so thank you to everyone who bid on them. The second auction is set to take place towards the end of August, ending on Bank Harlequin Holiday Monday. In an effort to reduce and The Bar Stewards micro- eliminate single-use plastic pub on Gibraltar Street is things we no longer provide now open on a permanent free drinking straws.