Are you already thinking of how to reward your employees this Christmas? Why not choose the Harrogate Gift Card?

The Harrogate Gift Card can be spent in over 100 businesses in Harrogate town centre including retail, hospitality and leisure, whilst keeping the spend locked into the local economy.

Complete a corporate bulk order of over £250 and receive 15% discount from November 1 to 15 with the code ‘HGT15’.

Ventilation manufacturer EnviroVent had its products brought to national attention by contributing them to BBC One’s DIY SOS: The Big Build for Children in Need.

The Harrogate-based company donated six ventilation units to Treetops Hospice in Risley in Derbyshire, which was being built for the show. The EnviroVent ECO dMEV units were used in a new counselling and therapy centre for traumatically bereaved children and young people.

In just 10 days, the DIY SOS team, led by presenter Nick Knowles, created the purpose-built counselling and therapy centre, which is expected will support hundreds of young people in difficult circumstances every year.

EnviroVent key account manager James Garland said:

“It was fantastic to be able to provide assistance for such a wonderful cause. All parties who contributed to this project did some great work, which will benefit the lives of so many children and young people.

Indoor air-quality is so important in keeping people healthy and ventilation systems like these ensure condensation and mould is not able to form and cause an issue.”

Black Sheep in first collaboration

Black Sheep Brewery in Masham has unveiled the fruits of its first ever brewery collaboration.

Ensueño is a joint effort with Piglove Brewing, a Leeds firm whose owners hail from Venezuela.

Ensueño is a Spanish term meaning “to aspire to do something that is unlikely to happen”, a sentiment deemed appropriate for brewery start-ups by the two breweries’ founders, Paul Theakston and Marcos Ramirez.

The ale was devised by Marcos and Black Sheep’s head brewer Alex Brandon-Davies, and features Pilsner malt, wheat and two types of oats, as well as Citra, Mosaic and Sabro hops. Each of Piglove’s beers includes a special ingredient, and Ensueño’s is the dried coffee cherry, cáscara.

Ensueño will be on tap soon at the Black Sheep Brewery Visitor Centre in Masham, The Three Legged Mare in York, and Piglove by the River in Leeds.

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Are you already thinking of how to reward your employees this Christmas? Why not choose the Harrogate Gift Card?

The Harrogate Gift Card can be spent in over 100 businesses in Harrogate town centre including retail, hospitality and leisure, whilst keeping the spend locked into the local economy.

Complete a corporate bulk order of over £250 and receive 15% discount from November 1 to 15 with the code ‘HGT15’.

The Institute of Directors and the Family Business Community have teamed up to hold an event around the theme of “the art of decision-making”.

Sponsored by Harrogate firm LCF Law, the evening event will feature speakers from two North Yorkshire family businesses: Rudding Park, in Harrogate, and Skipton-based Whitakers Chocolates.

Rudding Park director Matthew Mackaness will share insights into his family’s 50 years of ownership of the estate and some of the decisions that had to be made to sustain the growth and ambition of the business.

Rudding Park now has 90 bedrooms and suites, a spa, two restaurants, two golf courses, a private cinema, and conference and events space set in 300 acres of grounds. Earlier this year, it revealed plans to create Yorkshire’s first ever five-star country club at a cost of “between £30 million and £40 million”.

The Whitaker family has been in the chocolate business for over 135 years; they started with a small greengrocer’s shop and now have a factory making over 10 million chocolates per week.

In recent years, managing director William Whitaker had a key decision to make. At this event, he will play back his scenario to a team of business owners and gain their perspectives before revealing the decision he actually made.

‘When you run a family business don’t be afraid to make decisions’ will be held from 6pm to 8pm on Thursday, November 16 at Rudding Park.

Tickets cost £25 and include drinks and canapés throughout the evening. Booking fees apply.

Roosters celebrates anniversary with new supermarket listing

Harrogate‘s Rooster’s Brewing Co is celebrating a decade of selling its flagship IPA with a new supermarket listing.

From today, Waitrose will stock 440ml cans of the international award-winning Baby-Faced Assassin, which is already available at Asda and Morrisons.

Baby-Faced Assassin was first brewed as a hobby homebrew recipe by Rooster’s commercial director, Tom Fozard, in 2011 while he was working at a local specialist beer shop in Leeds, and the 6.1% ABV brew gained some notoriety among fellow enthusiasts due to its strength. Later that year, Tom, alongside twin brother Oliver, now Rooster’s head brewer, joined Rooster’s as part of an eventual change of ownership spearheaded by their father, Ian.

The first commercial, cask-only batch of Baby-Faced Assassin was released in November 2013 and eventually added to Rooster’s core range in 2014. It went on to pick up awards at the International Brewing Awards in 2015, 2017 and 2021.

Tom Fozard said:

“Having first created Baby-Faced Assassin as a homebrew recipe back in 2011, I never could have imagined the success the beer would go on to enjoy in the years since. As a small, family-owned, independent brewery, we’re delighted to mark its 10th year of being a Rooster’s beer with the news of its continued success.”

Read more:

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This story is sponsored by Rooster’s Brewing Co.

Brewers from across the UK and the United States have been invited to bring their finest beers to Harrogate for Rooster’s Brewing Co’s first ever Suds With Buds festival of beer, street food and music. 

The event on Saturday, July 1 will see more than 20 breweries converge on Rooster’s Hornbeam Park home, spanning the brewery and yard, Taproom, beer garden and The Sample Room upstairs. 

Tom Fozard, commercial director at Rooster’s, said: 

“Suds With Buds is an event we’ve been wanting to put on for several years, but one thing or another has stopped initial ideas from becoming reality… until now! On the back of Rooster’s celebrating our 30th anniversary in 2023, we’re biting the bullet and making it happen. 

“Some of the UK’s most respected and talked about breweries will be descending upon our little corner of the world, as well as a handful travelling from much further afield, creating a truly unique, combined line-up of over 100 beers.” 

Brewers and food from across the world

Joining brewers from Britain, such as Burning Sky in Sussex and Cromarty Brewing Co in Scotland, will be Colorado brewers Odell Brewing Co and Crooked Stave, and Stiegl from Austria. Some brewers will even be flying in specially to pour their brews in person, including: Jeremy Grinkey, co-owner of California start-up Everywhere; Kevin Smith, head brewer at Bale Breaker Brewing Co in Yakima, Washington; Evan Price, owner of Green Cheek Brewing Co in California; and Jaakko Saivosalmi, managing director of Finnish cider company Brinkhall. 

On top of the beers, some of the tastiest street-food the North has to offer will be served up by local legends Paradise Tap & Taco and Jack In A Box, as well as Knead Pitta and the Pizza Bus from further afield. 

There will also be live music on a specially-built stage in the beer garden, featuring Sheffield two-piece Hot Soles, Ralph Pelleymounter, David Broad, Ramona Rose, The Silver Reserve and Trainer Trouble. 

Tom said: 

“To say this is the first event of its kind we’ve decided to put on, we can’t quite believe the quality of the musicians we’ve managed to secure! It really is just a ridiculous line-up.

“As with the previous annual open days we used to host back on our old site in Knaresborough, we’ll have Tony Safari spinning his ever eclectic collection of funky vinyl in The Sample Room throughout the day too.” 

Suds With Buds will run from 2 to 8pm on Saturday, July 1. Tickets cost £25 and the price includes a souvenir Suds With Buds glass, as well as an event programme with full beer menu. The price of the tickets will also cover all of the associated costs of putting on the break-even event, including staffing, equipment, the provision of a wellness area, security, the musicians and additional facilities. 

Find out more: 

To secure your ticket for this unprecedented celebration of modern UK and US brewing and to sample some of the finest beers in the world, some of them never before served on this side of the Atlantic, just head to the Suds With Buds page of Rooster’s website.

Use code FERRET_10 at checkout and save 10%!

A Harrogate man with a lifelong career in beer is brewing up a project to support the hospice that cared for a relative in his final days.

Mark Noble has paired up with Bosun’s Brewery to create Crimple Valley IPA, which will be sold in aid of Saint Michael’s Hospice.

Mark’s father-in-law was cared for at the hospice, on Hornbeam Park, until he died two years ago. Mark said:

“It’s a fantastic place. They really cared for him. He went very peacefully and calmly in there. It was a very dignified end to his life.

“The hospice have chosen the pump clip and design — they’ve incorporated the viaduct across Crimple, which is one of the last things people there see.

“It’s a beautiful view and it has made a really nice design.

“We’ve chosen an IPA because they’re popular beers at the moment. It’s 4.2% so not too strong and palatable for most people.

“It’s a pale colour with fruity notes. The key thing is it’s brewed locally.”

The IPA will be officially launched tomorrow (Saturday, June 3) at Bosun’s beer festival at its tap room in Sandbeck Park, Wetherby.

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Mark, who spent his career working for large breweries before retiring briefly at Christmas, set up The Crafty Caskman in January and is working independently this year to sell beer into bars and restaurants on behalf of Bosun’s and several other local breweries.

He hopes to do the same with the Crimple Valley IPA and has already found it a spot on the pumps at the Shepherd’s Dog on Otley Road, Harrogate.

For every pint sold, 15p will be donated to Saint Michael’s Hospice, making each barrel worth £10 to the charity.

Mark said:

“The more we can sell, the better. It’s still early days, because it’s not officially launched until Saturday, but people are saying they’re interested in having it.

“Next week I’ll be out there promoting it to pubs, hotels and restaurants. I want to get it in as many places as possible, and I hope people will look for it when they’re out.

“The way they economy is, there’s less funding going towards charities, but everyone still finds the time to go and have a pint. If you have a pint of Crimple Valley, you’re doing something you enjoy and also contributing to a good cause.”

Any pubs, hotels or restaurants interested in buying Crimple Valley IPA to support the fundraising can email Mark Noble for more details.