Beer X Marks Sheffield as Hotspot
“Arguably one of Britain’s greatest brewing cities,”
Renowned beer writer and local lad Pete Brown, citing Sheffield as a brewing city to watch out for.
Closer to home I caught up with Richard Hough from Sheffield based Blue Bee Brewery eager to share his enthusiasm for British hops and the new brews they had inspired in his ‘Punctuation’ series. After completing a hop walk a number of months ago, Richard decided to use British hops such as Admiral to showcase the variety of flavours and aromas available. Natural products of UK provenance are perceived in a positive way by consumers for all the right reasons and British hops should be celebrated in this way too.
Dr Tim Stillman from The Sheffield Brewery Company was keen to revel in the history of Sheffield’s industry. The Sheffield Brewery is celebrating the city’s stainless steel historical 100 year mark with a whole series of beers. The Sheffield Brewery is based in the Albyn works, Kelham Island, a building which dates back to the 1830s and was famous for the “Blanco” polishing paste used for the flourishing cutlery trade at that time. Already having a core continental style lager in their range called ‘Blanco Blonde’ Sheffield’s heritage often shines through as the brewery’s inspiration.
A popular and engaging guest speaker over the conference was Garrett Oliver from the internationally burgeoning US craft beer makers Brooklyn Brewery. Having moved to London briefly in the early eighties he discovered beer whilst stage managing rock bands at the University of London Union, “You’re looking at a guy who has taken The Ramones bowling”, and booked, “REM as the opening band for The Beat”. An affable and thought provoking speaker, it was motivating to hear him share that, “It was when I came to the UK that I realised beer was actually supposed to be interesting and it was supposed to be fun”, and, “It was really what was going on in the UK that spurred what’s going on now in the United States and now we see the favour starting to get returned in the other direction”. Garrett finished with a toast of Brooklyn’s Sorachi Ace saison beer, shared with the lucky audience.
In the awards stakes Sheffield was heavily represented. The National Beer Competition saw three local breweries Abbeydale, Bradfield and Thornbridge taking home awards for their beer; in the business category local pubs New Barack Tavern and the Ranmoor Inn were applauded and Sheffield beer legend Dave Wickett was recognised for his contribution with a Lifetime Achievement Award, poignantly collected by his son.
Fundamentally brewing is a British manufacturing industry that is encouraging innovation and creativity, opening markets for local delivery of local produce and generating employment and growth. Enough said.
For more on The Society of Independent Brewers’ Association take a look online: http://siba.co.uk
Renowned beer writer and local lad Pete Brown, citing Sheffield as a brewing city to watch out for.
The Society of Independent Brewer’s (SIBA) annual conference welcomed beer producers, suppliers and consumers to Sheffield for a three day event culminating with an immense BeerX festival back in March. The occasion combined numerous events from the organisation to provide one platform wholly celebrating the success and importance of the brewing industry in Britain. Having gained 100 new SIBA members within the last year, the society represents a good chunk of the industry with 652 members.
Industry speakers at the conference included head brewer Garrett Oliver from Brooklyn Brewery, Shadow Minister for Small Business Toby Perkins MP, Community Pubs Minister Brandon Lewis and chef/TV presenter Simon Rimmer, providing a diverse mix of voices over the three day event. With the announcement a couple of weeks later from the Government confirming the beer duty escalator to be scrapped (and even a cut on beer duty!); I write this blog with a big smile on my face. Thrown into the mix daily seminars covering topics such as ‘The Explosion of New Hop Varieties’, ‘Export Opportunities’ and ‘Translation of Big Brewery Methods & Practice to Smaller Scale Operations’ the conference provided attendees at every level of the brewing game insight and knowledge share.
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| Behind the scenes beer logistics! |
I caught up with Julian Grocock, SIBA chief executive, who shared that after four years they had outgrown their previous site and had constructed a working party, including Alex Buchanan from Thornbridge Brewery, to find a new venue. Looking to combine elements of a beer festival offering over 500 beers to sample (cask and keg) for the first time, an awards and recognition ceremony (beer and business) and seminars for their members, Julian very much wanted to provide a “holistic” event for the brewing community.
One such new member I met was Shane Swindells from Cheshire Brewhouse. Having decided to follow his home brewing passion further he had commercially launched his brewery back in July 2012. A fervent supporter of the positive role of beer as it generates employment and economic growth in the UK; it was inspiring to meet a small scale new comer to the game.
Closer to home I caught up with Richard Hough from Sheffield based Blue Bee Brewery eager to share his enthusiasm for British hops and the new brews they had inspired in his ‘Punctuation’ series. After completing a hop walk a number of months ago, Richard decided to use British hops such as Admiral to showcase the variety of flavours and aromas available. Natural products of UK provenance are perceived in a positive way by consumers for all the right reasons and British hops should be celebrated in this way too. 
A popular and engaging guest speaker over the conference was Garrett Oliver from the internationally burgeoning US craft beer makers Brooklyn Brewery. Having moved to London briefly in the early eighties he discovered beer whilst stage managing rock bands at the University of London Union, “You’re looking at a guy who has taken The Ramones bowling”, and booked, “REM as the opening band for The Beat”. An affable and thought provoking speaker, it was motivating to hear him share that, “It was when I came to the UK that I realised beer was actually supposed to be interesting and it was supposed to be fun”, and, “It was really what was going on in the UK that spurred what’s going on now in the United States and now we see the favour starting to get returned in the other direction”. Garrett finished with a toast of Brooklyn’s Sorachi Ace saison beer, shared with the lucky audience. 
In the awards stakes Sheffield was heavily represented. The National Beer Competition saw three local breweries Abbeydale, Bradfield and Thornbridge taking home awards for their beer; in the business category local pubs New Barack Tavern and the Ranmoor Inn were applauded and Sheffield beer legend Dave Wickett was recognised for his contribution with a Lifetime Achievement Award, poignantly collected by his son. Fundamentally brewing is a British manufacturing industry that is encouraging innovation and creativity, opening markets for local delivery of local produce and generating employment and growth. Enough said.
For more on The Society of Independent Brewers’ Association take a look online: http://siba.co.uk
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