Sheffield Hopcast

This month we are back to full strength as we visit newly re-opened Harlequin.

Adam and James get together for our annual Tramlines preview episode.It's just the two of them - everyone else is too busy - but they share a beer together in James' kitchen to look back at last year's washout, and ahead to this year's festival.There's a big development with a new beer area close to the main stage and some awesome local breweries involved.And the weather forecast is good, so stop moaning.

It's been five months but we are finally back.James, Adam, Laura and Sean catch up over a beer at the Rutland Arms.We talk about new jobs, reforming bands and breaking bones... oh, and a teeny tiny bit about beer!

This month Sean, Laura and Adam venture to S10 to a new venue for the team. We are joined by Mac from the very excellent micro pub in the Nether green area of Sheffield… the Wonky Labrador.

T'was the night before Halloween and poor Sean has a bit of a technology horror show so only joins us half way through.But Laura, Adam and James persevere and get through some nice beers - along with one not-really-a-beer. All will be revealed!We're recording online this month but will be back in the wild in November.

This month we are back on zoom. With busy schedules and James swanning off abroad, Adam, Laura and Sean catch up over a beer. Laura chats about her trip to Stockport and Smokefest and we forward to October's Steel City Beer and Cider Festival

Our expedition doesn't take us very far - as we end up at Beer Central's home of the Moor Market in Sheffield city centre.James, Laura and Sean are joined by a special guest to talk about a special beer - called Coalition - and all the usual skulduggery to boot.

We visit the all-new The Old Shoe in Orchard Square... yes in an orchard! You can't write that can you. The Old Shoe is the new collaboration between Matt Beety (The Bear, Abbleydale Road) and Mike Pomranz (The Cider Hole).We talk to The Old Shoe's beer, cider, and wine experts (and all-round awesome guys) about the venue and what you can expect there.

Sheffield Christmas has arrived!We're joined by Alex Deadman from Tramlines to talk about this year's festival in Hillsborough Park.There's beers involved too (and a tiny bit of swearing too, just to warn you!)

We're at the Wisewood Inn in Loxley for May 2023's episode.There's the usual beer talk, some summer plans, and an unboxing of some rather unusual sounding beers.

This month we visit a new pub for the Hopcast but one that has been a Sheffield Staple for a long long time. The Irish run Freehouse, Dog and Partridge on Trippet Lane. Oh do we love a snug!

Sounds quite profound, right?We get the gang together to chat about Sheffield Beer Week earlier in March. Three of us made to Indie Beer Feast, Sean of course had Battle of the Beers once again, and one Hopcaster made it to a ton of other events. Hear about all that.This episode was recorded online - we just couldn't find a way to make our diaries align to get together in-person this month, but we'll be back in the pub next month.

Our February episode comes from Triple Point and was recorded on none other than Pancake Day, so of course there's almost as much talk about pancakes as there is of beer.We're joined by Triple Point co-owner George and Laura's colleague James to give us a busy episode, although we almost lost Sean after he got stuck in the loo.

Happy 5th birthday to us! We mark the start of 2023 by finally making our way to the first micropub in Sheffield - The Beer House on Ecclesall Road.Owner John Harrison joins James, Adam, Laura and Sean for a chat about all things beer and tells us about the second Beer House opening soon in Hillsborough.We share stories of good beers from over Christmas and pick out our favourite breweries that we discovered in 2022.And we look ahead to what could be a challenging year for much of the hospitality industry. Please support your local pubs and venues, if you can.Happy New Year!

Christmastime, mistletoe and mild.Yes, the festivities are upon us, and it's the return of our annual Podcrawl for Christmas 2022.James, Adam, Laura and Sean take in a route starting on Abbeydale Road and heading to Chesterfield Road in Sheffield with a plan of five venues and a couple of special guests.Unsurprisingly, all does not quite go according to plan, but much merriment ensues.Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year to all Hopcast listeners!

Bit of a special one this month, as we hear the amazing story of the resurrection of Kelham Island Brewery.James, Adam, Laura and Sean are joined by Simon Webster and James O'Hara, part of the consortium who have brought the brand back to life.Simon is CEO of Thornbridge, while James owns several pubs and bars around Sheffield as well as co-founding the Tramlines festival.They give us a unique insight into the last few months, which has seen the return of Pale Rider to - and revealed the beer's incredible reach and popularity.We also chat about future plans for the brewery and discuss the increasingly challenging landscape for brewers and venues.

It's back! After three years away, the Steel City Beer and Cider Festival finally returns at Kelham Island museum in Sheffield.James and Laura lead our special episode recorded on the opening night on Wednesday 19 October, with a bit of Sean thrown in when we can peel him away from his hostess with the mostest duties.Plus we have a fine line-up of guests throughout the episode.Depending when you listen to this - still plenty of time to get down to the festival, which runs until Saturday.

We're back after a longer than anticipated summer break and it's all change - we're binning off beer and chugging cider instead. James, Adam, Laura and Sean head to The Cider Hole in Kelham Island to meet Mike and try three very different and unusual drinks. It's described as 'Sheffield's only urban micro-cidery & bar'. This one is a real journey!

It's finally here, our (proper) Pod in the Park for Tramlines 2022. It's something like the 10th attempt we've made to do this episode, so it's great to finally get the Hopcast crew together in Hillsborough Park, overlooking what will be the main stage, along with Alex Deadman from the Tramlines team. We have a good natter about what's going on this year, both within the main event in the park, and also the Tramlines fringe around the centre of Sheffield and other parts of the city. Of course, it wouldn't be the Hopcast without beer, so we each pick out one or two to bring with us. Drinking beer in the park, in the sunshine, with microphones... what could possibly go wrong? PS If you're one of those listeners who don't listen right to the end, you'll want to this time, trust us.

This month we visited the very excellent, rather quirky Dorothy Pax down on Victoria Quays - a first visit for a couple of the team.

This month with James away on holiday in New York we decided to not let that get in our way and record April's episode anyway. We discuss New York and trips to America whilst using a transatlantic theme for our beers.

Alas it has arrived: Sheffield Beer Week 2022. We head away from the city centre and down London Road to the super Jabbarwocky - if you need a better description of where it is, there's a very very long one in the episode. James, Adam, Laura and Sean talk about their adventures for beer week so far including Indie Beer Feast and what else we have planned in the coming days. And of course there are some lovely beers consumed including the launch of something very seasonal!

A month later than our usual anniversary episode we are back at Bar Stewards and joined by Charlie and Al A.K.A THE Bar Stewards.

We're back online this month because of you-know-what, so we put a brave face on it and share our Christmas Leftovers. No, not turkey or nut roast - the beers we still have in the fridge after the festivities of the last few weeks. We also discuss an alpaca named Gordon, the beer names of Eyam Brewery, Mastermind specialist subjects and find out what Sean won a massive trophy for. Happy 4th birthday to us!

And so this is Christmas... and after spending it on Zoom last December, we're back out in Sheffield this year. It's not quite a pub crawl but we pop into the Beer Engine and our old favourite the Rutland Arms for a couple of beers and some festive chit chat with Laura, Sean, Adam and James. Whatever you're up to this Christmas - stay safe and all the best from us to you and your family. Merry Christmas!

This month we visit one of Sheffield's newest ventures, The Social on Snig Hill. Tune in to find out what makes them a little bit different. Expect some great beery (and often non-beery chat) as the team catches up on the last month's events.

James, Adam, Laura and Sean pay a visit to The Bear on Abbeydale Road - one of the newest venues in Sheffield. And it's October so that means Halloween. Each of the crew have to decide whether they want a 'Treat' - a beer they'll definitely like - or a 'Trick' - something a bit out of their usual comfort zone. We're joined by Matt, who runs The Bear, who tells us how his fledgling venue is already an award-winner. Happy Halloween folks!

September takes us back to Sheffield and to a new venue - Industry Hophouse on Leadmill Road. It's owned by our good pal Darren, of Industry Tap fame, who also joined us on one of our lockdown episodes. James, Laura and Sean set Darren the task of picking them each a perfect beer from his full to overflowing fridges. So where does the cock ale come in? Well have a listen and find out. Industry Hophouse is well worth a visit and is two minutes from the train station, so a pretty perfect location.

With restrictions lifted we finally got the chance to have our Summer away day this year and after a lot of love shown for York in a recent episode, we decided we should pay it a visit. In amongst all the beer chat we found time to check out Sean's best animal impressions and have a little chat about the recent Olympics... as you do!

James and Adam bring you a special podcast recorded live at this year's Tramlines festival at Hillsborough Park in Sheffield, including some highlights of the Everly Pregnant Brothers' set on Saturday afternoon and a chat with their lead singer, Big Shaun. It was amazing to see so many people back together having fun. Lots of smiling, and lots of laughing. Tramlines went ahead as a Government test event, with everyone needing proof of their Covid status using the NHS App. It was amazing well organised and run by the Tramlines team and a huge well done to all of them for making it all happen at such short notice. Tickets for Tramlines 2022 go on sale 6pm on Monday 26 July here: https://tramlines.org.uk/ Find out more about the Everly Pregnant Brothers at https://everlypregnantbrothers.co.uk/ and get tickets for their September gig at Sheffield City Hall at https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/event/35005859D8CAA4FC?did=ukvenpre You can also follow Shaun on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BrotherShaunEPB Roll on Tramlines 2022 :) WARNING: There's a quite a bit of swearing in this episode and if you're from Doncaster, Chesterfield, Rotherham, London or particularly Leeds, well.... if you're easily offended, you might want to give this one a miss hey?

The first in-person episode with the full team since Feb 2020. We visit new kids on the block, The Pangolin in Hillsborough. A fantastic little micropub and bottle shop and a much-needed addition to the area. Many of you will know owner Nick Davy from his time at Walkley Beer Co and his appearances on the show in the past. We look back at what was happening last time we all at together and in a change to the usual format we each pick beers from the venue for each other. It's great to be back!

It's a return to the virtual Hopcast and a return to a theme we've done before: Beer Cocktails. Each of the crew come up with own variation on the theme. Our guest is regular listener Paul who quizzes the team on their real Sheffield beer credentials (spoiler alert: it doesn't go well). If you don't want to ruin the surprise of just how amazing Paul's beer cocktail creations are, stop reading now. Here are his recipes: "For Crying Out Loud" (breakfast stout cocktail) Add a shot of espresso (Tiamo from Pollards is my choice), shot of Bourbon, (Knob Creek is my choice) tablespoon of Chocolate ice cream (Our Cow Molly is my choice) to !/3 pt of Thornbridge Necessary Evil Imperial stout, and mix. Whip 100ml of double cream with a shot of Coffee Baileys, and float on top of stout mix. Top with Coco pops if you are Adam! "Tropicana Royale" Freeze a can of Tiny rebel Clwb Tropicana for 90 mins (so it turns to a slush) Put a shot of Pineapple gin, shot of orange juice, and 1/2 shot of sugar syrup in a glass and top up with beer slushie

For the first time in 14 months, three quarters of the team got together for beer at an actual pub! So that was the perfect opportunity to record a little bonus episode. We chat a bit about what we've been up to since the pubs have reopened in April.

We're joined by Luke from the awesome Rhythm & Brews podcasts for a bit of a music special. Except, there's no actual music. But we talk about it a lot.

It's a few days afterwards but this episode is a bit of a St Patrick's Day special. We all pick a beer roughly along those lines and stake our claims for Irish heritage. Our guest Declan definitely wins that one!

As the reopening of pubs and bars moves closer, we focus on our favourite Brewery Taps. Adam, Laura, Sean and James are joined by guest Frank, who came up with the idea for the theme. We each pick out a beer from a brewery with a taproom that we love. Well... apart from Sean who has to be a bit different, of course!

The panel are joined by Robin Baker from Abbeydale Brewery as they each pick a beer that represents somewhere they'd reeeeeaaaally like to be right now. There's a real mix of locations and Sean's completely catches James out!

It's our valentines special 2021. This year we all simply pick a beer we think represents that theme - be it a beer we love or some other meaning. And Sean might just have met his beer for life! Have a lovely Valentines however you're spending it and remember - we love you. We really do.

Our guest is Tom Scott who started a digital agency called Little Mesters. Long story short, we use that as the inspiration for our theme this time: Sheffield Heritage. As ever, Sean's connection is quite tenuous! There's plenty of beer talk and a nod to a couple of new places opening in Sheffield too.

It's Dry January! It's Tryanuary! Well, for us, it's both. We give the panel the choice of 'Dry' - an alcohol free beer - or 'Try' - something they wouldn't normally pick off the shelf. We're joined by Robin who set up an alcohol free beer delivery club in the first lockdown which has gone from strength to strength (OK no pun intended) Of course, we're back in lockdown again so we talk about that too.

In 2015 when the beery podcast world was much more sparse, The Beer O'Clock Show rounded up a few other podcasters to discuss the Beer industry as it was in 2015. Five years later with over 50 UK beer podcasts, Steve (Beer O'Clock Show) rounded up a new selection of Beer Podcasters to take a fresh look at the beer world 5 years on to see what has changed. Here is part one. Big thanks to Steve for organising it and to Emma Inch for hosting and to all the following podcasts: Beers Without Frontiers, Rhythm and Brews, Beer with Nat, Men Beerhaving Badly, Beer O'Clock Show Hopinions, Points of Brew and Ferment Radio

In 2015 when the beery podcast world was much more sparse, The Beer O'Clock Show rounded up a few other podcasters to discuss the Beer industry as it was in 2015. Five years later with over 50 UK beer podcasts, Steve (Beer O'Clock Show) rounded up a new selection of Beer Podcasters to take a fresh look at the beer world 5 years on to see what has changed. Here is part two. Big thanks to Steve for organising it and to Emma Inch for hosting and to all the following podcasts: Beers Without Frontiers, Rhythm and Brews, Beer with Nat, Men Beerhaving Badly, Beer O'Clock Show Hopinions, Points of Brew and Ferment Radio

It's a bit of Christmas special this week as we help judge the Penistone Homebrew Club's 2020 competition. The standard is - frankly - phenomenal. We're joined by Geoff and Jack from the homebrew club and entrants in the competition. Eight beers but which will win it?!

It's just Laura, Adam and James for this one as we rock out three cracking beers all under 4%. There's a fair bit more ranting to be done as we head into the revised tier 3 restrictions next week. Somehow this falls as our penultimate episode before Christmas but we might try to sneak in another Christmas special too. Watch this space!

We're having an American Celebration on the Hopcast this week. We're joined by Darren from Industry Tap to share some beers with a US theme and reflect on the last couple of weeks. Mental health takes centre stage for a lot of the conversation this time around. It's really hard times for everyone right now and it's OK not to be OK. We will get through this, together, and we'll all be back with our friends soon. We're after your ideas for how we can mark Christmas this year, in the absence of our usual December Podcrawl. What do you want from a ho-ho-hopcast and would you like to be involved? And Sean picks the winners for our first ever prize draw. And the third round of the FA Cup.

We get in on the Funk Fest action with our own episode of funky beers. For some reason, we all end up picking two beers rather than one, this week. Laura and Jim fill us in on how the Funk Fest At Home weekend has gone, with a variety of virtual events led by Abbeydale Brewery and friends. Plus - there's plenty for us to talk about with several changes in lockdown regulations since our last episode - and now the second full national lockdown looming. And keep an ear out for our first ever Hopcast beer giveaway!

This week we are calling our 50th episode. We've done a few specials and Half-pint episodes but this is number 50 for the main show. We've 2 great guests, Jay Kerr and Nick Davy from Walkley Beer CO. and in a time where we are uncertain what the future of pubs looks like, we take a casual look back at the last few years of the pub scene in Sheffield. We enjoy beers from Thornbridge, Vibrant Forest, Cloudwater (soda), Beavertown, Team Toxic and Solvay Society.

This week with Sean and James away Adam and Laura are joined by Laura's other half and Abbeydale brewer Jim and a guest listener Simon Dewhurst. We drink beers from Yeastie Boys, Lost and Grounded, Kirkstall Brewery and a Solvay Society and Wilderness collaboration. We discuss thoughts on the recent changes to rules for pubs during the Covid-19 pandemic and look ahead to a virtual Funk Fest.

The sun is shining and so that calls for a good old summer slurper! James, Adam and Sean are joined by Laura live from Leeds and Sean brings along a special guest too - the legendary Dave Unpronounceable! With more uncertainty about where things are heading with new Covid rules, we have a good chat about pubs and various other topics.

It's another Bank Holiday weekend and so what better way to mark it than sharing a beer with friends? James, Laura and Sean are joined by Hannah from Neepsend Brewery to chat about vegetables, former jobs, and just a little bit of beer and brewing.

Yep this coming Friday *should* be the start of Peakender 2020, the three-day beer and music festival at Bakewell Showground organised by Thornbridge Brewery. Of course, it isn't happening, so instead we have our own petit Peakender art home. Indoors of course (it was raining heavily!) We're joined by Alice Batham from the Thornbridge brewing team as we reminisce about previous years and find out how things have been at the brewery over lockdown. Not forgetting sharing a beer each as well, themed around Peakender. You can have your very own Peakender at Home with Thornbridge's rather nifty box here: https://shop.thornbridgebrewery.co.uk/products/peakender-case (https://shop.thornbridgebrewery.co.uk/products/peakender-case)