Brewing the Beer

Soon afterwards we brewed the beer with the Barley that we had ground. The Friends of Heage Windmill came to assist with the brewing and were delighted to aid in the “mashing in” process.

The Brew

The beer is called Six Sails and this is named after the windmill as it has the unique feature of having six Sails. It is a great flavoursome hoppy pale ale that has an abv of 4%. It will be on sale throughout Sheffield and Derbyshire- Particularly around the area of Belper and Heage where the Windmill is based. We think it is a great original idea that promotes the work of the windmill and Kelham Island Brewery

Kelham Island Brewery was one of the main sponsors at this year seventh annual atmospheric Barrow hill Rail Ale Festival.

With over 120 Ales available this festival it is an extremely popular annual event that attracts real ale lovers and train enthusiasts. As you sample the wide range of ales available you can tour the last remaining operational Roundhouse in Great Britain. They also feature a range of Steam and diesel locomotives.

As you can see from our picture – the bar which featured our ales was in front of the famous Blue Peter train.

We were happy to sponsor the event this year for the second year and were delighted to be awarded the accolade of fastest selling sponsor of the weekend.

At the Rotherham CAMRA OAKWOOD beer festival 2008 we were pleased to be awarded Gold in the strong ales Category with Pale Rider.

The Oakwood festival is an extremely popular annual event that combines real ale and music to produce a great festival. With over 250 real ales available and varied music throughout - this event is unmissable.It is always a pleasure to recieve praise and recognition from our local area and we thank you to all the members who took part.

On the evening of October 15 2007, members of the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA), plus various supporters, sponsors, including Lloyds TSB and the Morning Advertiser, and assorted media, gathered in the plush surroundings of the Institute of Directors, Pall Mall, to toast the winners of the second SIBA Local Brewing Business Awards. We were delighted to win the award for Best PR initiative.

Taken from the SIBA website-

Here are the reasons why we were awarded this truly great accolade.When the floods hit Sheffield in June 2007, we were left with a devastated brewery and no beer!!!! Brewing could not recommence for some time, and the potential loss of customers threatened longer-term commercial repercussions. But a hastily conceived and truly brilliant PR response enabled the company to rise above the water and turn disaster into a marketing opportunity. A press release targeted every media avenue within two days and customers were kept informed of developments via a newsletter and the brewery’s database. The PR campaign was rewarded with national and local TV, radio and newspaper coverage. A special beer and a beer festival including local flood-hit pubs maintained the interest and consolidated the success of the company’s initiative.

Pale Rider has won Gold in the premium ales category and bronze overall at the annual Peterborough beer festival 2007. It’s a great achievement for us and a great award to win as Peterborough is one of the largest CAMRA beer festivals in the country.

This year we faced stiff competition from a range of over 350+ different beers that were on offer at the festival. As usual the festival was a success .It attracted over 37,000 visitors, We are extremely proud of our latest award and continue to be pleased with the continued success of our champion award winning Pale Rider!!!

Sir Bob Kerslake(Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council) and Jan Wilson (Leader of Sheffield City Council) paid Kelham Island Brewery a visit after the flood.

(Pictured from left Stephen Fearn, Sir Bob Kerslake, Jan Wilson, David Wickett, Dominic Flynn,Micael Williams)

At around 2pm one of the staff said that the River Don appeared to be high. By 2.30 it was clearly rising fast.

Around 3.30 water started to fill the car park and it rose at an alarming rate. Three of us worked trying to fill bags with sand. At first it lapped around our ankles within fifteen minutes it was up to our knees. At that point I got all of the staff to leave the premises.

At 4.45pm the River Don burst its banks and a wave swept down the street. I just managed to get my car away, later on it would have been totally submerged.

Both The Fat Cat and the Kelham Island Brewery had extensive flooding. Remarkably the flood waters had gone by the following morning.

We were left with a six inch layer of contaminated, stinking sludge proved very difficult to remove !

Cleaning out the cellar of The Fat Cat on Wednesday we had numerous helpers and well-wishers including the Professor of Human Resources from the University of Sheffield. He remarked that it made a change from the work he should have been doing.

One of the buckets of sludge he lifted out from the cellar contained a live fish. We’ve kept him and called him nemo. He deserved to escape !!

Soon we were inundated with reporters. Radio 4 and Radio 5 did live broadcasts form the brewery and I was pleased to see that on the Wednesday BBC TV News covered Tony Blair leaving Downing Street followed by the flood at the brewery including an interview with the brewer.

BBC news 24 carried it every hour. The BBC obviously thought that the loss of 40,000 pints of beer was almost a big a story as the loss of a Prime Minister !

Stuart, who names our guests beers in the brewery and who is a massive Springsteen fan decided our first brew at the brewery once we were back in the brewery would be named after a Springsteen song “After The Flood”

Thanks to the dedication fo the hardworking staff - the Brewery started brewing on Monday- exactly a week later since the flood began.

We would like to express our appreciation for all the wishes of support we recieved during the flood.

The Dean was helping our brewers mash in and prepare a special brew called Deans Deliverance!!

Today we welcomed a very special visitor to the brewery -

The Very Revd Peter Bradley, Dean of Sheffield!!!

We were producing the ale to mark the opening of Sheffield Cathedrals new community resources Centre by HRH the Princess Royal on 6th March 2007.

Deans Deliverance was available in bottles and will be given out as commemorative gifts to all the generous donors to the project as a thank you for their support on the 6th March at the presentation day.It will also be available in cask form around the same time.

More About the Project

Dave & the Dean enjoy the sampling !!!

The Cathedral Community Resource Centre is almost complete. It will house the Cathedral Archer project and will allow Sheffield Cathedral to develop it ministry to serve the poor, homeless and vulnerable of Sheffield It will also offer space for mission through the arts, music, and education, and will be a valuable resource for the city and region. Kelham Island Brewery is proud to support such a vital and worthwhile project!!

Kelham Island Brewery was on BBC Look North on Wednesday 8th November. The piece was part of a 6 Part cooking series that Yorkshire Chef Richard Fox is hosting. The subjest is matching great beer with great food. And what better place to start than our very own Kelham Island Brewery!!!!

Dave Wickett -the owner of Kelham Island Brewery was on hand to help Richard and provide advice on the beers.With so much great beer to choose from Richard decided after great deliberation to use Brooklyn Smoked Porter 6.5% with a Venison Dish that he prepared using Venison sourced from The Round Green Farm Venison Company

Thornbridge also pictured is a brewer from Millstone brewery who won in the category for beer abv 3.5%-4%

Hop Metal is an exciting new beer that has been created by Kelham Island and it is especially for charity! We have produced it in conjunction with Siemens who are taking part in the Halliwells corporate challenge.

What is the Cavendish Centre?

It is a sheffield based charity that has been there for thousands of yorkshire people and their families since it opened in 1992. It provides help and support to cancer patients in their times of Hardship and distress.

What is the Halliwells Cavendish Corporate Challenge?

Halliwells Solicitors have donated £5000 and are challenging 100 businesses in Yorkshire to show off their entrepreneurial spirit by turning their own dreams into reality - and hard cash for the Cavendish Centre!! These organisations will be given £50 and 3 months to grow it by as much as is legally possible.

How is Kelham Island Brewery Involved?

The SIEMENS team approached us and asked us if we would help them . They came up with the name of the beer( Hop Metal) and we are selling it and donating part of the profit to the Cavendish Centre. They are also selling special Cavendish Pale Ale in bottles brewed by us which will be on sale at the End Of May.

On Wednesday 25th January 2006 Kelham Island welcomed a very special guest visitor- The esteemed American Brewmaster Garrett Oliver. Garrett was over in the UK to speak at a brewing conference on Monday. As a good friend of the brewery owner- David Wickett, Garrett agreed to brew a beer for us using one of his own special recipies.

The beer that was brewed was Brooklyn Smoked Porter and is 6.8%. This is a first for Kelham Island as we have never brewed a smoked porter before.

It was Garrett Oliver's first visit to the City of Sheffield although his association with David Wickett goes back some 15 years.It began when David's bar in Rochester, New York (The Old Toad) started to purchase real ale from the Manhattan Brewery, where Garrett started as assistant Brewmaster in 1989.Garrett then went on to become Brewmaster in 1993 before moving to Brooklyn Brewery a year later

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In the Fat Cat

Garrett & the Lord Mayor holding the Proclamation

More details on Sheffield's Brooklyn Bridge can be obtained from Kelham Island Brewery.
Also visit www.garrettoliver.com