Indie Beer Feast Sheffield 2026

 Hello there - am a bit delayed with my first post of the year, and this time its all about the Indie Beer Feast beer festival here in fine, sunny, Sheffield!

Am going to boldly claim that have never missed one, but am well aware that may not be true! The first time I went it was in Abbeydale picture house and I went with my chum Mr P, and I recall we ended up finishing in the Hop Hideout bar and bottle shop nearby - which is where it used to be, and obviously makes sense since it is the planning and organising skills of the fabulous Jules - founder and owner of Hop Hideout - that means the festival exists!

For the last three or 4 years its taken place at Trafalgar warehouse, Trafalgar Street, near Corp in Sheffield off West Street. It features a fascinating range of Brewers and Breweries from all around the UK and has tutored tastings, chances to chat with brewers, numerous food stalls, guest speakers, Sheffield history themed information and details of the city's numerous independent trades and and businesses. All breweries supply their own beers to taste, mostly on keg dispense, sometimes in bottles, and this year am sure Ashover and Thornbridge breweries served their beers from cask via handpump.

This year they gave out a Sheffield Beer Week map and Inside it listed the description about Synth City, an exploration of Sheffield's music history, specifically famous synth pop bands, and notable nightclubs and venues of the past, along with a map and a list of the 11 Sheffield Breweries involved in Beer Week collaboration brews!

It was great to catch  up with Abbeydale Brewery, Courier Brewing whom have found out are from Manchester, Liquid Light from Nottingham, Neptune from Liverpool, Cloudwater also from Manchester and Siren Brewing. I also talked to the reps from Kelham Island Brewery regarding their involvement with Fagans pub, and brewing a Fagans beer. I sadly missed the tutored tastings, but one of the things I always enjoy is meeting up with people I know - mainly from pubs  (supping or working in) or through breweries or working in beer shops.

Its difficult to recall exactly which beers I enjoyed most on my two visits (and I went with Tash for the first time on Friday) but the Cloudwater DIPA, Siren DIPA, Ticking Clock and Duality collabs for Beer Week were all excellent,  Ashover Zoo was delicious, Cloudwater Take it with you 7% DDH IPA was immense! Pink Moon raspberry wheat from Liquid Light, Thicane West Coast from Siren, Cloudwater export lager, were likewise noticably excellent - the only thing I didn't do this year was keep  the glass! Oh - and Tartarus Abbadon stout at 17% was mad......

I look forwards to seeing you again next year

kind regards

Beefy 

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Neepsend Craft Beer Festival

 Hello again readers - as usual am a bit late reporting events......

Also - if am honest - I  wasn't actually planning on going - it was only because my good friend J offered two free tickets for the Saturday session that I went at all - so I went with Meathill, obviously.

It was held at Peddlers Warehouse, right next door to the Factory Floor - there was a decent queue to get in, and you showed your ticket on your phone at the door, where you received a tag and a glass and a free pint card (where you could also choose your favorite cask pint) - in fact, the Sheffield cask bar was the first place I visited for a pint of Duality Citra on the Dock of the Bay - a tasty 4.1% session pale, followed by a half of the fabulous Neepsend Double Century IPA at 7.2%. One of the advantages of this festival was an old fashioned printed  list - of the cask beers, which I admit proved very beneficial in this post!

Other features included Pangolin Micropub and Bottle shop from Hillsborough, Quality Ferments drink  importers, a Low and No alcohol bar, and a fabulous selection of street food vendors - as you now I no longer eat food, but I did get some fabulous German Sausage from Get Wurst, with tasty  loaded fries.

So what about the keg beer bars?

Well, I have to say the selection was very good! Highlights included Anthology, Atom, DEYA, Neon Raptor, Dark Element, Sureshot, Zapato and Vibrant Forest - I had a fab pale ale from  Anthology, a strong stout at around 10% from ATOM, a marvellous cloudy IPA from Vibrant Forest, a strong Zapato ale, a dark and hoppy ale from Dark Element from their caravan, and having masticated, I finished on 2 whole pints of DEYA DIPA (possibly saturated in Citra?) from the lovely folks on their bar!

Sadly I was probably only there for a few hours or so as I was going to the secret Birthday do for my chum Dave "Hudares" Howard from the world of music, taking place at Sidney and Mathilda, but despite the shortness of my visit I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.

One last comment is that, discussing this festival with a person in the Harlequin where i started on two pints, one cftp, the other kftf, I was told that some of the brewers that had served there had been disappointed by the attendance, and it hadn't been considered a success - all I can say is that it seemed well attended in my experience, there had been plenty of locally brewed cask (from the past), the food had been excellent, and I had really enjoyed meeting representatives from all of the breweries I had bought from! I do also suspect that the spiraling costs in the brewing and hospitality sector could have likely undermined some of the excellent features of the festival, and maybe reduced visitor numbers?

Either way - am sending a big thanks to the organisers, traders and suppliers at the Neepsend Craft Beer Festival!

Warmest regards

Wee Beefy