Harrogate Town and Black Sheep Brewery launch new beer

Harrogate Town FC and Black Sheep Brewery in Masham have collaborated to launch a new beer.

Called Yellow Black Army, the launch is part of the brewery’s official sponsorship of the club.

The beer, which is a session IPA, will be available to buy online and from the club’s shop on Commercial Street from Monday.

Simon Weaver, manager of Harrogate Town, said:

“I’m sure our fans will be delighted to be able to drink our very own, official beer.

“Just like our club, Black Sheep does things its own way and has created a unique sense of identity in the process. We can’t wait to see our fans’ response to Yellow Black Army, and give them another chance to enjoy how far our club has come in recent years.”

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Charlene Lyons, chief executive of Black Sheep Brewery said:

“We’ve been working really hard behind-the-scenes to create a beer that perfectly encapsulates the essence of Harrogate Town AFC, and we think fans will absolutely love the final result.

“Given the club’s recent promotion to the Football League for the first time in its history, we felt it was only right to celebrate Harrogate Town’s success in true Black Sheep fashion – with its very own, official beer.

“Our deal with Harrogate Town is the first time Black Sheep has sponsored a football club.”

The sponsorship deal is for two years with an option to extend. It’s the first time the company has sponsored a football club.

Top of the hops: Knaresborough brewery’s road to Harrogate Beer Week

I am pretty clueless when it comes to beer. For example, I had no idea that IPA stood for Indian Pale Ale or that you some beers were more “hoppy” and “juicy” than others, depending on when the hops are introduced to the brewing process. Did you know hops could also come in a pellet form resembling fish food? Me neither.

So when I spent a morning with the guys at Turning Point Brewing Co in Knaresborough, I was ready to be educated.

I figured that, as Harrogate was launching its very first ever beer week on Monday, now was the perfect time to learn.

Turning Point co-founder Aron McMahon said:

“A hop is just like a little dried bud or flower and we use whole hop cones and also use pellets as well, which are like minced up hops. They are processed and packed into tiny little pellets, a bit like fish food, and they are supposed to give more of a stronger, more intense aroma and flavour.

“You can get different properties from the hops depending on how you use them and what stage you use them.”

Humble beginnings

The story of how rapidly Turning Point Brew Co has grown is an impressive one – particularly with a worldwide pandemic thrown into the mix.

The brewery was originally launched in Kirkbymoorside by friends Aron and Cameron McQueen in 2017. Aron worked for another brewery in North Yorkshire and Cameron used to run a pub in York.

Aron said:

“I used to be one of his customers and I was probably delivering to him for about 18 months before we set off on this magical mystery tour.

“We became friends, we had the same interests and the same sense of humour.

“I decided I was leaving my job at the brewery and didn’t know what I was going to be doing and wanted to stick with something in the beer industry and start a new brewery or bar.

“I said to Cam, just out of jest, if I started a brewery would you fancy coming on board with me and he didn’t really hesitate and just said yes.”

After Aron realised that Cameron was serious, the two friends got together, had a chat, and realised the idea had legs. Through contacts in the industry, they found out about the brewery site in Kirkbymoorside.

And in just four months the pair had gone from talking about running a brewery to actually making their first beer.

Aron said:

“We managed to do it so quickly because of our contacts. Everything just fell really well for us. The site the brewing kit and everything else. We started brewing in Kirkbymoorside in 2017 and quickly got busier and busier.”

Sales went from local, to national to global within a year and within two years they had outgrown their brewery.

New brewery

Aron said:

“Just by a chance conversation with one of the owners with Roosters brewery, they told me that they were looking at moving and their site would be up for grabs in the near future. That was in January 2019 and by August 2019 we were in.

“We bought their old kit and brought our stuff as well. We were in about three months and then covid hit and we worked out we have actually only traded normally for about six months, despite being here for two years.”

The company now has five employees at its brewery at Grimbald Park in Knaresborough, as well as three part-time members of staff who work in the taproom, which is open on Fridays and Saturdays.

A taproom – for those, like me, who don’t know – is a space in which a brewery serves its beer to customers. In most cases, this is either part of the actual brewery or is attached to it.

Co-founder Cameron McQueen pours a lager at the Turning Point taproom.

Aron said:

“Here you feel like you’re actually in the brewery. It’s a quirky location where people can come and try fresh beers brewed on the premises and we have a different street food vendor every week. We’ve had a really good reaction locally.”

When the pandemic hit, the duo had to move towards online sales to keep their business going.

Fortunately Turning Point already had an online shop set-up, so they were able to flip their production completely over from mainly cask and keg to cans, which had formerly only made-up around five per cent of their business.

Aron said:

“When covid hit we had a load of beer in the tanks and we then just canned all of it. We plunged all of our beer into cans then and started selling cans on the online store.”

Online events

Once they started selling cans online, they created four different collaboration beers with breweries they admired, including Roosters, and ran their first online event to launch the beers. This was to become the first in a series of online collaborative events aimed at bringing people together during lockdown.

They also started up a beer club called Disco Royalty, which is still running as a way of keeping up engagement with their drinkers – a positive that came out of the pandemic. Brand awareness also increased due to people physically being able to look at the bold artwork on the cans, rather than just a pint in a glass.

The brewery at Grimbald Park, Knaresborough.

And it is this continued soaring success that has led them to becoming a key player in the inaugural Harrogate Beer Week, which starts on Monday.

Beer collaboration

As well as offering live music and a brewery tour, Turning Point has created a special beer for the event in collaboration with local brewers. These include Roosters, Cold Bath Brewing Co, Harrogate Brewing Co and Daleside Brewery.

The result is a West Coast 6.2% IPA is called Out Spaced – named after a B-side from a Super Furry Animals album incase you’re wondering. It will be available in cask and keg at more than 10 venues in Harrogate and Knaresborough next week, before cans are sold online from next Friday.

Aron said:

“Harrogate and Knaresborough are totally the right places to really shout about beer right now because there is so much happening.

“The number of good beer places that have opened up in Harrogate have been phenomenal. There’s probably 10 to 12 really good independent places to drink craft beer now, which is absolutely fantastic. It’s a great place to go and drink.

“Knaresborough is always going to be like it’s little brother, but it’s really good as well now. The latest addition is the Track & Sleeper at the station.

“For Harrogate to have its own beer week and shot about these venues is great.”

Taste test – I tried three Turning Point beers and this is what I thought:

OUT SPACED
WEST COAST IPA 6.2%  Brewed for Harrogate beer week in collaboration with Turning Point’s local brewing friends, Roosters, Harrogate, Cold Bath, and Daleside. Tasting notes: A West Coast classic hopped with Simcoe, Amarillo, Centennial. Properly bitter just like in the olden days.

Aron told me that West Coast IPA has “massive aromas and flavours from American hops”. He explained that West Coast IPA is is often a light to dark bronze colour with “a malty backbonet. So you get a bit of juiciness from the malt and slight caramel and slight biscuity flavours”. They also have higher levels of bitterness than New England IPA.

I had no idea beer could be so complex. But I could definitely taste a slight bitterness, however it was nicely balanced out with the sweetness and juiciness of the malt and the hops – or so Aran told me when I was trying to sum up  what I could taste. I definitely got a caramel and slightly floral flavour and I actually really liked it, despite its slightly bitter flavour. The artwork on the can is outstanding.

DISCO KING
AMERICAN PALE ALE 5.1% Tasting notes: Big on American hop flavour and aroma from Mosaic and Chinook hops. Drinkability for its ABV from a clean malt base. A real juicy little disco of a beer.

This was one of the first beers Turning Point ever brewed and it has now become their flagship top-selling beer.  It is really light, smooth and drinkable. I actually went through a phase of liking German wheat beer when I was a student. This reminded me a bit of that. I loved its slightly floral taste and it is a beautiful colour – like an old fashioned English cloudy apple juice.

EXILE
PILSNER 5% Czech-style Pilsner with Saaz hops. Tasting notes: Bready and crisp with a balanced bitterness and delicate hop aroma. Showcasing perhaps Turning Points least celebrated ingredient: Soft Yorkshire water.

This is Turning Point’s lager offering and this was actually my favourite. Aron described it as “smashable” and he wasn’t joking. As it was only 11am when I visited, I just about managed to restrain myself from drinking the whole glass. It was really fruity in flavour and had a grapefruity taste. Apparently I had done well to pick this flavour out, so I felt pretty pleased with myself.

This one takes ages to make apparently. Once it has brewed it has to sit in the tank and “lager” – a German word for “store” – for around eight weeks. This is what makes it so drinkable. Totally worth it.

Venues

If all this talk of beer has made you thirsty, you can try Out Spaced at these venues during Harrogate Beer Week:

Major Tom’s – keg and cask

Cold Bath Brewing Co. – keg

Roosters – keg

Harrogate Brewing Co. – cask from October 1st

Tap On Tower Street – keg

Half Moon, Knaresborough – cask

The Disappearing Chin – keg

Devonshire Tap House – cask

Paradise Tap & Taco – keg

Little Ale House – cask

Husk Beer Emporium – cans and possibly keg

 

There’s something in the water as Harrogate brews up for Beer Week

As the craft beer explosion continues in the UK, Harrogate is set to launch its first ever Beer Week. The town is firmly at the forefront of the industry, boasting five breweries in the HG postcode alone.

So what makes Harrogate beer so special? There’s definitely something in the water..

Harrogate is undeniably famous for its water. Its development as a prosperous and flourishing spa town dates back to the 16th century.

William Slingsby discovered the first spring in 1571 in the area now known as High Harrogate. It was named the Tewit Well Spring and the water was found to be medicinal. People, rich and poor, began to flock to the town to test the curative powers of the waters.

Perhaps it is therefore unsurprising to learn that the district’s water – and Yorkshire water as a whole – is perfect for brewing some of the best craft beers in the country.

More breweries have been opening in Yorkshire than anywhere else in the UK, including London.

And Harrogate now boasts five breweries within the HG postcode – internationally-renowned Roosters; rising star Harrogate Brewing; Turning Point, which chose Knaresborough for its expansion two years ago; Daleside, the town’s longest-standing local brewery; and Cold Bath Brewing, which is making waves across the town with its beers, bar and clubhouse space.

The brewery at Roosters Brewing Co.

To celebrate the town’s growing brewing culture, as well as the bars, pubs and restaurants which support the breweries, this month Harrogate is launching its first ever Beer Week from September 20 to 26.

Harrogate beer communications specialist Rachel Auty, who founded Women on Tap and has secured backing from Harrogate BID to help bring the idea to fruition, said:

“I have been told by breweries that Yorkshire is a key place for brewing because of the water. Harrogate is known for its water so it’s a nice link. It is known for its water history and heritage and it is now attracting breweries to the area.

It [Beer Week] is something we have wanted to do for quite a few years now. We were hoping to get it off the ground las year, but Covid put a stop to holding any events.

“I have seen the beer scene in the town explode over the last seven or eight years. It has got really interesting. We have really exciting beer here actually being brewed.”

With special beer weeks being held in places like Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield, Rachel, who is delivering the event under her specialist food and drink brand TASTE, said Harrogate’s beer scene was strong enough to rival the cities. It’s thought Harrogate is the only town in the country set to host such an event.

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A programme of special events and initiatives will be hosted at bars, brewery taps, and eateries across Harrogate. The event will culminate in a big beer weekend in the town centre. Other features on the programme will include an ‘Indie Beer Trail’, live local music, and a home brewing competition, with some big names in UK beer heading to Harrogate to host a range of talks and tastings.

Guest headliners include award-winning beer writer Pete Brown presenting ‘Craft: An Argument’ at Cold Bath Clubhouse, a beer tasting and reading with author Matthew Curtis at Roosters taproom, a Conversation on Harrogate Beer with award-winning writer Melissa Cole and Discovering Harrogate Beer with beer sommelier Annabel Smith also at the Cold Bath Clubhouse.

And for those who have ever imagined beer and donuts as the perfect combination, there will even be a chance to try sour and stout-filled doughnuts at The Tap on Tower Street, which has commissioned Harrogate business Doe to create the unique flavour especially for the event.

A collaboration between all the local breweries will also see a special beer produced for Beer Week – a West Coast IPA brewed at Turning Point.

Co-owner of the Cold Bath Brewing Co Jim Mossman, who also sits on the board of Harrogate BID, said:

“I have been very receptive to the idea of putting something positive together with regards to an event in Harrogate, promoting not only breweries in the town, but all the local great independent bars and restaurants as well.

Harrogate is internationally famous for the quality of its water, so it’s by no coincidence you see some great breweries and gin distilleries in this geographical area. They are using it to make quality beer and gins.

We are hosting a series of events in Cold Bath Club House and we are really looking forward to a number of things, from just generating community spirit and bringing venues together, which is great after 15 months of the pandemic – from live music events, to some really credible industry speakers coming to town to do beer tastings and talks.”

Jim said the Harrogate brewing scene was mainly about craft beer, which has seen an explosion in the UK, including lager, pilsner, pale ale and West Coast IPA, but said it was impossible to choose a favourite due to the vast amount of different brewing processes and flavours.

However, he said Cold Bath Brewery was in the process of launching new barrel-aged beers. These are beers that have been aged in oak barrels, allowing the wood to impart extra flavour.

He said:

“We have launched a barrel-aged process in terms of flavours you can create, for example we are using old bourbon barrels.”

Cold Bath Brewing Co.

Pubs, bars and eateries taking part in Harrogate Beer Week include:

The Harrogate Tap

Starling Independent

The Tap on Tower Street

The Little Ale House

Major Tom’s Social

Cold Bath Clubhouse

The Disappearing Chin

Roosters Brewery and Taproom

Blind Jack’s, Knaresborough

Cold Bath Deli and Wine Bar

HUSK Beer Emporium

Turning Point Brewery and Taproom

Female-led beer festival to go ahead in Harrogate

Women on Tap, a community interest company in Harrogate celebrating females in the beer industry, is to stage its fifth festival from June 9 to 13.

The company, which was established in 2017 by Harrogate beer enthusiasts Rachel Auty and Andrew Cameron, has previously hosted four festivals.

Ms Auty hopes the festival will encourage women to explore beer and break the stereotype that it’s a man’s drink. She said:

“I’ve always been a beer drinker and I noticed that women drinking pints was seen as strange.

“I got in touch with women brewers and realised I wasn’t alone in seeing the gender stereotype, so I wanted to start something that would encourage women to be involved in the beer industry.”

Women on Tap’s 2020 festival involved a series of virtual events, including online beer tasting sessions, art exhibits, quizzes and talks from women, about women.

Women on Tap Festival in 2018.

The 2020 festival achieved a global reach, with people from as far as Australia joining in. This inspired Ms Auty to keep parts of this year’s festival online.

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But it is hoped there will be live events, depending on the latest government guidance when it takes place. She said:

“We obviously have to work with guidelines, but we have high hopes that at least two-thirds of the festival will go ahead live, even if that’s a tasting for two households in a Harrogate independent brewery.”

On International Women’s Day on March 8, the organisation set out to get 20 sponsors giving £300 each to fund the festival.

Today, exactly one month on, Women on Tap gained its 20th sponsor.

Ms Auty said she can’t wait for pubs to reopen on Monday.

“I’m so excited to see Harrogate hospitality reopen its doors, everyone seems so energised.

“Harrogate Brewing Company opens at 4pm on Monday, so you’ll bet I have a table booked at 4pm on Monday!”

Harrogate group campaigns to get more women drinking beer

A Harrogate-based equality initiative is launching a campaign to get rid of the stereotype that beer is a man’s drink.

The Beer Glass Project, which is being run by the community interest company Women On Tap, aims to showcase beer as aesthetic and indulgent rather than something “guzzled in a laddish manner”.

Women on Tap will post photos, key facts and articles on social media during the five-week campaign that sets out to challenge perceptions of beer – how it looks, tastes and who it’s for.

A report by women and beer interest group Dea Latis revealed the UK has one of the lowest percentages of female beer drinks in the world at 17%.

The report identified barriers that put women off drinking beer, including male-orientated advertising, judgement from others and the calorie content.

Women On Tap founder Rachel Auty said:

“We need a reset button to enable us to stamp out inequality so that beer is accessible to all.

“We need to change the way it is represented, talked about and marketed.”

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A different style of glassware will be used to present the beer throughout the project.

Rachel added:

“Women want great glassware and are more likely to choose a drink that is presented in a beautiful and aspirational way. Women are strong and independent and they will choose a drink that helps them make a bold statement about who they are.

“I hope to make more women realise there really is no better way to do that than with a great beer in a fabulous glass.”

Vital role of district’s village pubs revived

Queen’s Head regular Mike Smith has waited a long 105 days since the pandemic denied him his favourite pulled pint of draught bitter.

Mr Smith, who lives across the road from the Kirkby Malzeard pub that he and his wife Sally consider an essential part of local life, told The Stray Ferret:

“I’ve been looking forward to this day, having had my last pint of draught beer on the evening that the pub had to close down because of the coronavirus crisis.”

He said that he has had cans of beer at home, but drinks in isolation don’t come with the social interaction, friendly banter and ambience experienced in a pub bar.

Mr Smith pointed out:

“For us, the pub is a vital part of village life and if there wasn’t one here, my wife and I would move elsewhere.”

His words will come as reassurance to landlady Sue Maguire, her husband Paul (aka Rocky) and daughters Zanne and Lucie, who took over the Queen’s Head in April 2017 and have been running the only pub in the village ever since.

Sign outside the Queen's Head Kirkby Malzeard

 

Having missed out on the extra trade that would have come with Mother’s Day, Easter, VE Day, the late May Bank holiday, the Tour De Yorkshire and Father’s Day, the family hopes that a staycation summer with people coming to nearby holiday homes and caravan sites, will bring in the business that they need to keep their heads above water.

Sue said:

“I cried my eyes out the evening that we were told we had to temporarily close because of coronavirus. We had only just taken a delivery and had a cellar full of casque beer and lager we thought we might never be able to sell.”

Being enterprising however, they were able to draw the drink off into bottles and sell it in conjunction with the takeaway food service the family set up to help them survive through the lockdown period.

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Zanne, said:

“To sell the bottled beers, we put a ‘your pub needs you’ shout out on FaceBook and fortunately that worked and helped us with sales,”

Social media will continue to play a role in raising awareness of the village pub and the takeaway service, with the option of home deliveries, will continue, enabling villagers who remain in self-isolation, to have a pub meal.

Sue added:

“We are doing all we can, but at the end of the day, we need people to come through the door to put money in our till and both regulars and new customers can be sure of a warm welcome.”

 

 

 

 

 

Harrogate breweries prepare for pubs re-opening

Breweries in Harrogate and Knaresborough are reporting healthy sales ahead of pubs reopening tomorrow, but the long-term landscape remains uncertain.

When lockdown began, drinkers agonised at reports of breweries and pubs having to pour gallons of unwanted beer down the sink. However, Robert Millichamp, head brewer at Daleside Brewery, told the Stray Ferret they managed to bottle most of their stock as demand for drinking at home soared.

He said even though pubs have been shut for three months, “people haven’t been drinking less”.

Daleside is now sold out of bottled beers and is trying to meet a big local demand for cask ales. But Robert said beyond this weekend it’s hard to predict how busy pubs will be.

He said:

“We’ve no idea but we’ve brewed as much as we can with the ingredients we’ve got. We need to replenish the stock after running out very quickly in the last three days.

“After that, we’re going to have to be reactive. Within a few weeks we’ll hopefully find some stability.”

Daleside also sells its beer around the world and they’ve seen steady demand from Sweden during lockdown, one of the only countries in Europe where pubs didn’t close.

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In Knaresborough, Aron McMahon from Turning Point Brew Co, told the Stray Ferret he is looking forward to supplying beer and lager to local pubs again. Their stock is sold in several independent bars in Harrogate and Knaresborough including Major Toms Social, Blind Jacks and the Old Bell Tavern.

He said:

“They’ve all bought beer which is great but not many [of the pubs we supply] are opening on Saturday, which is probably quite sensible.”

Aron said one of their 4% beers takes around two weeks to brew, which posed a challenge as the government only gave the green light for pubs to reopen two weeks ago. He said Turning Point began pre-emptively brewing ahead of the announcement to ensure they’d have beer to sell.

Turning Point also has a tap room and Aron is looking forward to welcoming drinkers back from July 11.

“When people get a beer and chat among their groups then people will enjoy themselves despite the measures we’ve put in place.”

Harrogate Brewing Co is also gearing up for pubs reopening in Harrogate and Knaresborough. A typical barrel of beer has 164 litres but owner Matthew Joyce told the Stray Ferret they have been delivering smaller 20-litre boxes of beer to pubs who are unsure of how much footfall there will be.

He said:

“Some pubs requested them as they were conscious over whether people would come to the pub.

“They didn’t want to crack open a full cask and then tip it because they only have about five or 10 people coming to the pub. That seems unlikely and I think the pubs will be very busy.”