Blind Mans Buffet
First things first… Some of you may have heard along the grapevine that we’re opening our first bar? You’d be right. We expect it to be fully open to the public at some point during the second week in October. Work is well underway and we’re busily preparing to throw open our doors and welcome beer lovers’ everywhere! As we’re constantly referencing Welbeck heritage in our beers and ethos, we take the name for the bar from the family lineage. ‘Portland House’ is situated on the busy Ecclesall Road in Sheffield.
Also new to the brewery is Pivo, our first keg lager. It’s brewed at 4.8% and is crisp, clear and fruity. We used Czech and Polish hops in the brew for lots of clean herbal flavours and a satisfying zesty finish.
19-20th September sees the return of ‘Clumber Food and Drink Festival’ where we’re setting up shop amongst friends with other Welbeck businesses. Come and say hello, we’ll be on hand to answer any questions or queries you may have about the brewing process. We’ll have bottled beer, gift packs, mini-kegs and merchandise. If you’re lucky you might even get a cheeky taster!
You may remember we brewed a lovely golden session-ale on behalf of ‘Worksop Guide Dogs’ trust last year? We thought it was a great fundraising opportunity for the charity and have scheduled another brew for the same ale in October. We’ll be donating 10p per pint to this fantastic organisation. On 4th October the launch night and fundraiser will be hosted by our brewery tap ‘The Grey Horses’ with a Blind Man’s Buffet organised by the charity. It’ll be great fun for all involved. For more information please contact Chris at The Grey Horses on: 01909 730252.
Now then, back to beer and our upcoming specials through September and October. We’re showcasing the fantastic qualities of British hops this month with Farrier our 5.5% ESB and Secret Wife at 4.9%. Farrier is a much more robust version of our best-selling ale Red Feather with superb bitterness complemented by warming caramel tones. Secret Wife is brewed using UK Cascade for a slightly softer fruit hit than the American counterpart. Fruit is best- backed up by strong bitterness and a dry finish and that’s what this cheeky little number does with great panache. Taking you into October we’ll see Kaiser straddling the end of September and the beginning of October. If you haven’t tried it before it’s a brewery favourite. At 4.1% it’s not too naughty but drinks as refreshing, dry and biscuit-y with lovely cereal malt flavour and a hint of lemon. German hops are used for authenticity plus lager malt is included in the mash. Going through to October we’ll see beers new and old: Firehouse Red 4.5% brings in the new with rye added to the mash for spice and loads of delicious American hops to keep it punchy and fresh. Then we journey to the other side of the world with Cubitt’s Voyage 3.5% and a resinous, pale New Zealand hop explosion! This is no shrinking violet, what it may lack in alcohol it makes up for in hop character.
There have been a few new arrivals at the brewery recently notably four ex red wine casks which we’ve begun experimenting with- watch this space for more updates! In other news we have finally bottled Harley, our 4.3% golden citrus ‘quaffing ale’. It’s sold exceptionally well this year hence the move to bottling. Also new to the bottled range is Cocoa Noel. Just in time for Christmas (!) our very tasty Chocolate Stout brewed at 5.5% is the only one in the UK that uses Duffy’s Cocoa Nibs. Aside from a devilishly-dark mash the cocoa nibs impart fantastic bitterness and depth of flavour to this very indulgent stout
