Sheffield Beer Week returns! Founder Jules Gray talks us through what we can expect from a week-long festival celebrating the region’s brewing landscape. By Jules Gray, Sheffield Beer Week Founder
Looking forward is about the most positive thing we can do now – and finally, it seems that there is a hopeful horizon in the distance. With that in mind, March is one of my favourite months – well, at least since Sheffield Beer Week launched in 2015. Sheffield’s craft beer festival, Indie Beer Feast, will be kicking off the week in style with a new central venue, the 1930s industrial space of Trafalgar Warehouse. This year the event will welcome 17 breweries, 2 cideries and a selection of Low Intervention wines from Naturally Wines.
Sheffield Beer Week officially launches on Monday 7th March and though this year may be a more relaxed affair citywide (hospitality venues and the brewing sector are still in recovery mode from 24 months of pandemic), this much-needed boost will be a huge bonus for the local scene. We also need/deserve every bit of joy we can get these days, so it’s a pleasure to see SBW making a triumphant ‘real-life’ return!
Beer tourism is a crucial cog to a beer city such as Sheffield; the footfall and financial benefit all round is a real win-win for the local hospitality and brewing industries (this includes taxis, restaurants and hotels). The immense sense of positive community and pride for residents can’t be knocked either, in addition to all the great events and beers we have to relish. Sheffield Beer Week will be working closely with North Yorkshire beer allies Harrogate Beer Week, celebrating a cross-county beer partnership. There’ll be a continued focus on a hybrid of online and in-person elements in light of the pandemic, enabling us to connect on a global level with supporters. All will be listed at sheffieldbeerweek.co.uk, so do head over for a browse!
Creating welcoming spaces for everyone in the beer scene has always been a focus for Sheffield Beer Week and this year is no different with Out & About (@outandaboutsheff) and International Women’s Day events. Sheffield breweries Heist Brew Co and Lost Industry will be brewing up beers for International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day (@IWCBD/ unitebrew.org), so keep a lookout on their socials for more information on those.
Visit Sheffield’s Festival of the Outdoors hosts a month-long celebration of the green spaces and adventure trails in the city through March – and Sheffield Beer Week are happy to be joining in the fun!
We’ll be showcasing beer and history walks (via local historian Dave Pickersgill, editor of CAMRA’s ‘Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs’); a running and beer social club, and highlighting the ‘Right to Roam’ campaign (righttoroam.org.uk) alongside the 90th anniversary of the Kinder Mass Trespass with a beer collab from best-selling author Nick Hayes (The Book of Trespass), Saint Mars of the Desert brewery, Sheffield Beer Week and Hop Hideout. Sheffield Beer Week’s key ongoing core strands focuses on Beer and Food Pairings, Community and Heritage – Sheffield really does punch above its beer weight on the global stage, let’s raise a toast to that.
sheffieldbeerweek.co.uk / @ SheffBeerWeek
indiebeerfeast.co.uk / @IndieBeerFeast
