Spice & Beer

The Regency in north London was originally set up as a members’ club in 1991 but don’t be mistaken into thinking it was an exclusive joint. The licensing authorities didn’t trust a bunch of Gujuratis who descended from India but moved to the UK from Kenya in the 70s and made them operate a member-only policy with blacked out windows - ghettoising their business. It was a huge success despite this and fast forward to 2023 and now the Regency offers the dining splendour of a decadent East Africa where fiery curries and sizzling grills are so popular that evening bookings are now a must.

Most crucially your dining and drinking - there’s a bar where uncles sit - experience has been expertly curated so even the smells are important. A wooden-shack-style open kitchen pumps out dishes and the spice aroma it produces mixes in with a sandalwood, vanilla and cloves scent which is wafted into the air with incense sticks.

This is a desi pub (a British-Indian boozer) which offers something different and instead of the usual industrial lagers you can have a Rothaus pilsner with your food. Sadly, most other desi pubs offer the beer range you’d expect in a local curry house despite the food being a step up from the British institution that relies on pre-made sauces and colourings. Cobra’s marketing of lager as the ideal pairing with a hot dish, though, has meant most people believe it - or Kingfisher - to be the best match with a saag, korma or karahi. 

As the Regency’s incense sticks show, spices can - and should - be delicately balanced with other flavours. So when you’re eating a curry it’s important to consider what spices are in it and match them with a beer which has corresponding tones. For this I think pale ales are excellent especially if the different flavours in the drink are subtle as they really can bring out the spice in your food. (It’s worth noting that often people will often call curries “spicy” when they mean “hot from chillies” and here I’m talking about spices you will find in your cupboard like cumin, coriander, fenugreek and cinnamon.)

Belgium-inspired Single Fluffy Rabbit (or SFR 5% ABV) brewed by Sheffield’s Saint Mars Of The Desert is a great example of this subtlety. Delicately fragranced with a range of floral (elderflowers), citrus (lime) and fruit (strawberry, lychee) tones it can work with a lot of Indian dishes that are finely balanced. Anything citrus-y, lime-y would complement dishes that contain ajwain (or carom) which has a thyme-like taste - fish pakoras often use this and, in fact, any spiced fish dish would work perfectly with SFR. 

Unbarred x Bird & Blend: Amazonian Zing Beer (2.5%), is a collab between the Brighton brewery (the former) and a tea company (the latter) that specialises in loose leaf tea blends. The low ABV Berliner Weisse (which isn’t a pale ale but then rules are meant to be bent, right?) means it’s perfect with drier meals and the lemongrass and ginger flavours will dovetail with any dish with cardamom - I particularly enjoyed it with a chicken biryani. 

Abbeydale Brewery’s Moonshine may have a daunting name but it’s actually a sessionable 4.3% classic pale ale. It had a pleasant citrus flavour - again great for fish or even marinated chicken, like tikka pieces - but the standout subtlety of its grapefruit tones makes it even more versatile as a pairer. Grapefruit is a bitter taste on my palate so it worked well with turmeric - found in most curries, especially deeply coloured ones - and any dish with amchoor (mango powder) common in certain aubergine dishes or samosas. 

None of the three pairings are based on hard and fast rules and - above all - I recommend experimenting with different beers with different spices. It’s time to look past heavily carbonated lagers and embrace the subtlety of craft pale ales. If it’s spicy - go pale!

David Jesudason is a freelance journalist, he writes a weekly essay on Desi pub culture here davidjesudason.substack.com and you can read more powerful and superbly written pieces HERE on the Bangladeshi legacy of the British curry house to IPA’s colonial identity and more. Which led him to be named Be Inclusive Hospitality's Writer of The Year in 2022. His first book has just been released covering Desi pubs which guides the reader through pints, food and the culture of this British-Indian institution (available to buy at Hop Hideout). Not all the beers mentioned in the piece above are available, due to being specials, however Abbeydale’s Moonshine is a regular beer and can be purchased HERE. However you can follow David’s beer and food pairing principles to find plenty of other tasty beers in our online shop, buy HERE.

Small Business Success Sees Sheffield Indie Beer Shop Hop Hideout Collaborate To Celebrate 9 Years

At a time when we're hearing the hardships many small businesses face, it's also a good time to reflect on those who continue to survive and thrive. As one of a handful of 100% female owned beer shops in the UK, Jules Gray has from the very start championed women brewers and breweries as a passionate core ethos of Hop Hideout. She knows and values how much visibility counts in making the beer world a broader, diverse and ultimately more rounder and improved place to be for those in it and providing her customers with outstanding beers to enjoy. After a two year challenging period over the Covid-19 pandemic, Jules stated,

”I wanted to celebrate women that really light up the beer scene, who I not only look up to, but who provide so much positivity and inspiration to the whole beer community.”

This November Hop Hideout will celebrate their 9th anniversary as an independent beer shop and tasting room, releasing their beer collaboration, a flapjack stout, brewed at Wild Card Brewery with Crafty Beer Girls. From Friday 11th November they'll be pouring Wild Card Brewery beers as part of a tap takeover including their special birthday collaboration release with Crafty Beer Girls and the brewery.

On Saturday 12th November, they’ll be hosting a relaxed celebration tasting with Jaega from Wild Card and Crafty Beer Girls organisers in attendance. Everyone welcome, tickets are £10pp and include 3 beer pours plus extras, full details and to purchase head to the link for their online shop:

https://www.hophideout.co.uk/event-tickets/birthday-bonanza

On Sunday 13th November they’ll be hosting a free and fun family social. As a new parent Jules knows how much of a challenge it can be to find a welcoming social space that’s easily accessible and with baby changing.

She continued,

”I'm absolutely delighted Jaega Wise of Wild Card Brewery and Natasha and Natalya of Crafty Beer Girls agreed to this collaboration. Jaega is a phenomenal technical brewer, having just released her first brewing book and presents on national shows such as the BBC Food Programme. The Crafty Beer Girls is a beer community safe space created for women and non-binary folks to come together in their enjoyment of beer. Co-organised by two passionate and brilliant women Natasha and Natalya. Through the pandemic I turned to this group for support and really valued their virtual meet-ups.”

The celebrations will continue at Wild Card Brewery's new pub in Walthamstow, London - The Tavern On The Hill on Thursday 17th November with a Crafty Beer Girls London meet-up.

L to R: Natasha (Crafty Beer Girls co-founder), Jules Gray (Hop Hideout), Manuela (Crafty Beer Girls member), Jaega Wise (head brewer Wild Card Brewery)

COPY ENDS

Hop Hideout owner: Jules Gray. For interview requests please contact Jules: hophideout@gmail.com

Hop Hideout beer shop started in November 2013 in the Abbeydale area of Sheffield. In 2015 they moved into a bigger cafe location focusing on drink in and take home as a beer shop and tasting room. One of the first 'drink in' beer shops in the UK. In 2019 they moved into a new city centre location at foodhall Kommune. Jules is also the organiser of Sheffield Beer Week, a city-wide beer celebration in her home city of Sheffield. First held in 2015 - now coming into its 9th year in 2023. In addition to running Indie Beer Feast, Sheffield's independent craft beer focused festival, started in 2018.

Twitter/IG: @ HopHideout / @SheffBeerWeek / @ IndieBeerFeast

Website: www.hophideout.co.uk / http://indiebeerfeast.co.uk/ /http://sheffieldbeerweek.co.uk/

Wild Card Brewery make award-winning seasonal beer and serve it in their E17 taproom and all over the country. www.wildcardbrewery.co.uk

Crafty Beer Girls, a group for women (inclusive of all, including non-binary and transgender) who work in, enjoy or support the beer industry. www.instagram.com/crafty_beer_girls

Hop Hideout’s Jules: “What were their roles; what were they doing? I want to discover more and tell their stories.”

Here we republish a recent blog from the Sheffield Feminist Archive, who kindly came to chat with Jules and allowed us to share this here in addition.

Content warning: Discussion of sexual harassment in the beer industry and the #MeToo movement

Sophie (left), Laura (right), and Jenny (not pictured), meet Jules Gray (centre), owner of Hop Hideout.

In our first #WomenMakeSheffield post, we’re spotlighting Jules Gray (@beer_revere), owner of the award-winning beer shop Hop Hideout (@hophideout), based in Kommune at the heart of Sheffield’s city centre. SFA’s Jenny, Laura and Sophie joined Jules last month to chat all things: women in the beer industry; recording and preserving the female narrative in beer; Jules’ journey into beer; and how we can continue celebrating the positive stories arising out of Sheffield’s diverse beer industry, to counterweigh male violence against women. We learned so much from Jules about all of the incredible people who work toward achieving equity for women, people of colour, and the LGBTQ+ community (to name a few!), in beer communities up and down the country, and we hope to shed light on all of this amazing work in this post.

Jules’ shop, Hop Hideout within Kommune in Sheffield city centre. [Permission granted by Jules Gray to share image]

Jules founded Hop Hideout in 2013, one of the first ‘drink in’ beer shops in the UK. You can choose from over 200 delicious beers to either take away, or to drink inside the independent food/drink hall of Kommune. Jules is also the founder and director of both Sheffield Beer Week (@SheffBeerWeek) and Indie Beer Feast (@IndieBeerFeast), which have grown immensely in terms of popularity and attendance nationally (more on that to come!). Hop Hideout has won a number of awards and commendations; it was the winner of Independent Beer Retailer of the Year 2018 in the Drinks Retailing Awards, and since then has also been highly commended or has reached the final stages of multiple awards ceremonies. Jules also recently appeared on Channel Five’s ‘Summer on the Farm’, hosting beer tasting for Helen Skelton and Jules Hudson, and can be watched at around 45 minutes on this episode. Hop Hideout’s beers have also featured on Sunday Brunch, Jamie Oliver’s Magazine, and in the Telegraph, showing just how much national coverage the business has had. These are just a few of the things that highlight the success of Jules’ business, not least the wonderful reviews on Hop Hideout’s Facebook page.

Jules’ appearance on Channel Five’s Summer on the Farm, where she hosted beer tasting. [Permission granted by Jules Gray to share image]

Jules’ Journey

Jules’ experiences in the beer industry have been incredibly varied, with many high points, as well as challenges, along the way. We asked Jules about what drew her to Sheffield in the first place. She was brought up in Durham and came to study at the former campus of Sheffield Hallam University at Psalter Lane in the late 90s, whilst also doing some volunteering for Sheffield’s International Documentary Film Festival in the early 2000s – she described Sheffield as a friendly and welcoming place to be yourself and to learn more about the stories of diverse people. There were also benefits to living close to the hustle and bustle of the city, while also being able to appreciate the outdoors in the neighbouring Peak District.

Jules pictured next to the Women of Steel statue in the city centre, near the City Hall. [Permission granted by Jules Gray to share image]

Jules pictured next to the Women of Steel statue in the city centre, near the City Hall. [Permission granted by Jules Gray to share image]

Jules moved away from Sheffield due to a lack of opportunities for her career, and began working in Leeds at Molson Coors brewery (who brewed the iconic Sheffield Stones Bitter, at a time when Wards Brewing Company had been closed down in Sheffield!). She also worked in technical support resolving issues in pubs, which eventually led to her working in sales in the North-East beer industry. Like the experiences of many other women at the time (and to this day), Jules was told she wasn’t ‘good enough’ for a sales job in the industry, but was able to work her way into the male-dominated sector as a result of her self-guidance and hard graft. The sales job allowed her to develop relationships with colleagues and customers in the industry; she enjoyed hearing about what others would like to achieve, and making it happen for them.

As Jules recognised, people often see bar work as transient; something to do on the side for extra money. However, Jules was excited by the possibility of gaining more and more knowledge about the inner-workings of the global beer industry, which led to her success today. She feels her journey has allowed her to run large-scale beer festivals today, and has given her the opportunity to connect with so many groups of people.

Recognising Women in Beer

Jules pictured with a Hop Hideout beer and some food from Kommune’s Fat Hippo. [Permission granted by Jules Gray to share image]

It was clear to us that Jules has a passion for learning about, and documenting, the untold stories of women and marginalised groups in beer. As Jules said, women often don’t get the recognition they deserve until they’ve passed away, and that we should also be recognising and celebrating the achievements of women doing amazing work in the present moment. Jules is also interested in sharing the stories of the women who worked in the large-scale breweries dotted around Sheffield, such as Whitbread Exchange Brewery; such stories dispel the myth of a solely male workforce. Jules also highlighted the importance of women during war-time who took up roles in production. The names of women appear on the doors of many breweries today, for instance, Abbeydale Brewery was founded 25 years ago by not only Patrick Morton, but his wife, Sue Morton, who oversees so much of the production, IT and admin. Additionally, at Saint Mars of the Desert (SMOD) in Sheffield there is a husband and wife team, with Martha (Simpson) taking on just as much as Dann (Paquette) in terms of the brewing, artwork for the beers, events marketing, and more. Martha also has a PhD in microbiology from MIT in the US, and oversees the canning at SMOD, and is therefore a prominent figure in her field.

Whitbread’s Exchange Brewery in Sheffield, on Bridge Street by the River Don. [Attribution: Chris Downer, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license]

Cannon Brewery Gates, Rutland Road, Neepsend, Sheffield. [Attribution: Terry Robinson, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license]

Jules also highlighted the work of Jaega Wise (@jaegawise), founder and owner of Wild Card Brewery in London, who recognises the importance of inclusivity in beer, and has done the groundwork in ensuring diversity is at the heart of the brewery’s message (see her incredible story here written by Beer52). Lily Waite (@LilyWaite_) also aims to raise awareness of LGBTQ+ people in the brewing and hospitality industries through The Queer Brewing Project. These are just a few of the stories and experiences by women that deserve recognition and celebration now, and beyond. SFA instantly saw a connection with the work that Jules is doing (alongside many other women in beer), and the aims of SFA, in telling and celebrating the untold stories of women in the Steel City and across the country.

Celebrating Diversity in Sheffield’s Beer Industry

Jules feels there’s work that’s yet to be done in Sheffield, but that there’s clearly an appetite for celebrating diversity. She recognised the need for representation across all communities in Sheffield, and that we should be collaborating on issues of equality, rather than communication about these issues being siloed to one area. Jules mentioned Migration Matters as one great example of this city-wide representation of marginalised groups, who celebrate the positive effects of refugees and migration upon Sheffield. Out And About also create and promote safe spaces for queer people and allies in Sheffield’s beer community. These types of events are necessary for sharing the stories of marginalised people, and Jules aims to build on the work of these projects.

‘Beer For All’ pin. [Permission granted by Jules Gray to share image]

Social media has been a powerful tool for Jules as a small business owner, and has given her the opportunity to find a voice as a woman in a male-dominated industry. She co-created Sheffield Beer Week with a friend, Clare Tollick (@FeastAndGlory). The yearly celebratory event has snowballed; starting as a Twitter and Facebook campaign in 2015, to collaborating with 10-15 venues to celebrate Sheffield beer and breweries for a week, to having 50-60 venues and multiple breweries signed up, along with the support of Sheffield City Council, and national coverage, in just six short years. Since then, she has continued to use social media to promote Sheffield Beer Week, particularly as a celebration of women in beer, with the festival falling in March (the month of International Women’s Day). The three key strands of Sheffield Beer Week are Beer and Food, Community, and Heritage, with the aim to bring together all communities of Sheffield to enjoy beer. Alongside this, Nicci Peet (@niccipeet), Freelance Drinks Photographer, has done so much work to capture diversity in the beer industry, with a photography trail up and down the UK of brewery owners. A result of Nicci’s work is that if women see people who look like themselves on the canning lines, delivering beer, behind pub counters, etc., then they are more likely to join the industry, making it a crucial project for celebrating diversity. During Sheffield Beer Week, Nicci’s work was exhibited as part of The People’s Photography Trail.

Every year, Sheffield Beer Week aims to foster different communities, and show that it is more than just beer. As Jules put it: “Beer doesn’t make itself; it takes people to make it!”, highlighting the hard work that goes on behind the scenes in the beer industry.

Male Violence & Male-Centred Marketing in the Beer Industry

In recent years, there has been a shift towards the awareness and recognition of violence against women in the beer industry. The #MeToo movement has extended to all sectors of work, including craft beer, with stories initially being shared in the US, and now in the UK too (see this article which highlights sexual harassment in the craft beer and brewing industry in the US). It began with Brienne Allan, a brewer from Massachusetts, who opened up her Instagram account to share stories of sexual harassment in the US beer industry (ratmagnet), leading to the launch of Brave Noise, a collaborative project working towards a safer and discrimination-free industry. To continue the #MeToo movement, Siobhan Buchanan (britishbeergirl), founder of Queer Beer Drinkers Edinburgh, opened up her Instagram DMs for people to share stories of sexual harassment in the UK. As Jules poignantly recognised, women take on a huge weight; not only are women taking on the brunt of violence and harassment from men, but they are also working to combat this. It is important to address such violence in the industry, whilst also spreading awareness of the positive stories arising from women in the industry – a powerful way to bring women to the forefront and celebrate their achievements.

Image of Hop Hideout’s beer taps. [Permission granted by Jules Gray to share image]

Hop Hideout is part of the Know the Line campaign, which was launched by Safer Streets South Yorkshire in 2017 to address sexual harassment and violence in public spaces in Sheffield. The campaign has also received support from Sheffield City Council and local Labour MP, Paul Blomfield. Jules recognises the need for more training in the industry to make venues safer spaces. Currently, alerts about crime and unsafe spaces are spread by word-of-mouth in Sheffield bartending Facebook groups and through the Purple Flag initiative, but there is more to be done. Jules said that while there are positives arising out of beer, in its ability to spread happiness and joy, you must be aware as a licensed premise that people can be at risk, and that you have a responsibility of care for vulnerable people. Jules always ensures to challenge discriminatory behaviour, but as a woman this can be difficult.

Marketing in the beer industry is also male-centred. There is a lack of stories about women in day-to-day advertising, and as a result, male customers are more likely to go towards the male bartenders if they have a question about it. On the other side of the bar, Jules emphasised how women often feel uncomfortable in bars and pubs with the focus shifted towards male consumers; she recalled her experiences working in men-only spaces with the exclusion of women in bars, and despite the eradication of men-only bars in the UK, there is still a long way to go. Jules said it is not surprising that there are a low percentage of women in Europe that drink beer; Women On Tap Festival’s Nichola Bottomley (@Nichola_b1) created an online survey about sexual harassment in beer to better understand the statistics surrounding female violence. Some key findings, as reported in Beer Today, were:

• “More than 80% of respondents said yes, they had witnessed sexual harassment while working in a pub or bar”

• “More than 80% of women said yes, they had experienced sexual harassment while working a pub/bar (more than 30% of men said they had, too)”

• “Only 30% of women said they felt comfortable going to a pub or bar by themselves (compared with almost 80% of men)”

An example of advertising in the beer industry in the early 1900s in the US (Boston Brewery), through the male gaze. [Attribution: Boston Public Library, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license]

While the findings may appear shocking, this only provides a glimpse of what women face on a daily basis, in all sectors and walks of life. When chatting to Jules we all recognised that women are aware of such violence and almost expect it. Data such as this are vital for documenting the problem; yet it is the small, independent businesses (often led by women) that are tackling the root, and not larger institutions or the Government.

On a positive note, some years ago, if you were to type in ‘women in beer’ into a Google search, there were likely to be many images of women in beer through the male gaze. In recent years, the work of Jaega Wise, Nicci Peet, and Lily Waite are attracting more attention and are being spotlighted, and bringing women and marginalised groups to the forefront of beer marketing. This type of positive work is an important method of counteracting violence against women in the industry.

Advice for Women

Jules is more than happy for people to contact her if they are looking to get into the beer industry. Here is some detailed advice she gave us for if you’d like to make a start searching for a career in beer:

Hop Hideout logo. [Permission granted by Jules Gray to share image]

Use Indeed.com to search for terms such as brewing, beer sales, beer marketing etc. – it’s generally a wide pool for jobs around the country. Follow your local brewery or fave venue on social media, visit them, talk to the staff, network, go on brewery tours if they’re available, do beer tastings if available; all of this will help you to be one of the first to hear if a job comes up and hopefully put you in good stead, as you have made the effort to make a connection already.

There’s also various groups on Facebook that post jobs such as UK Craft Beer & Beverages Jobs. Your local area may have a craft beer group to join which could be a good reference point, e.g. Drinking Craft Beer in Sheffield, Manchester Craft Beer Group, Crafty Beery Girls. Obviously ensure you have set up your security settings across all of your social media accounts and use two-factor authentication; Glitch runs great courses here.

Follow people on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) in the industry. Many great names have already been mentioned in the post but there is also: Maverine Cole, Melissa Cole, Rachel Auty, Annabel Smith, Jenn Merrick, Daisy Turnell, Jane Peyton, Emma Inch (British Guild of Beer Writers), Tasha Wolf, Natalya Watson, Ladies That Beer, Miranda Hudson (Duration Brewing). Daisy Turnell has created a list resource about women in all areas of the beer industry.

Check out if you have a local Beer Week and attend events, for example there’s events such as Sheffield Beer Week, Norwich City of Beer, Harrogate Beer Week, and more.

Sheffield Beer Week logo. [Permission granted by Jules Gray to share image]

If you have the resources, pay for courses from places such as Cicerone, The Beer & Cider Academy, you may want to do some more research as some may offer appropriate discounts or grants. Teach yourself and read up on the beer industry; there’s free online learning from a wealth of blogs such as Boak & Bailey (which do a good round up of reading material) Adrian Tierney-Jones (maltworms.blogspot.com), Good Beer Hunting, Burum Collective, Pellicle, The Brewery History Society, or Brew Your Own, which all allow some free reading online. Loan books from your local library, and some authors to check are: Garrett Oliver, Melissa Cole, Natalya Watson, Pete Brown, Jane Peyton, Adrian Tierney-Jones, Mark Dredge, Marverine Cole (print media – BBC Good Food), CAMRA books, Brewers Association books. There’s also information on local Sheffield historic pubs here. And finally, listen to podcasts such as Beer with Nat, Good Beer Hunting, Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine, A Woman’s Brew, Ferment Radio, etc.

Indie Beer Feast logo. [Permission granted by Jules Gray to share image]

Start homebrewing! Join an International Women’s Collab Brew Day in March. This is generally open to everyone, and is not just a trade event (https://unitebrew.org/) You can also volunteer at a range of beer festivals which will allow you to network with others in the industry.

And finally, join in the conversation! Sheffield Beer Week (@sheffbeerweek) has been held annually on 2nd March since 2015, and Indie Beer Feast (@IndieBeerFeast) has now been rescheduled to 4-5th March 2022. Be sure to check out their socials for updates on the events – it is a great opportunity to get chatting to other women in beer, find out more about the industry, and to socialise over a nice cold beverage!

Enjoyed this blog post and have an idea for our #WomenMakeSheffield blog series? Get in touch at sheffieldfeministarchive@gmail.com, or via Twitter @ShefFemArchive.

Shine A Light: Ross on Wye Cider & Perry

Ross On Wye Cider - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost

In a market stifled by years of inertia, Ross On Wye stands apart by having a product range that’s unique in the truest sense of the word.

How’d you solve a problem like cider? It’s the question routinely asked by those seeking to engage and elevate the drink - so oft associated with the pungent smell of morning-after regret - to higher planes.

In an hour long chat with Albert Johnson, the third-generation cidermaker at Ross on Wye Cider & Perry, doesn’t proclaim to have all the answers. But he’s got a few ideas…

Since returning to Broome Hill Farm to carry on the work of his father Mike and grandfather Kenelm, Albert has set about modernising Ross on Wye. A small, artisan producer, producing around 88,000 litres a year, the company has long been respected for the quality of its bittersweet, wild fermented ciders, but has mostly lived in the shadow of Hereford giants Bulmers and Westons.

“We’d find it quite tricky selling to the pubs, particularly round here,” he says. “We’d be going in and saying - we’re a local cider-maker, and we’re making real good stuff from 100% juice - and they’d go - we’ve already got a local cider, it’s made five miles down the road. So then you end up trying to compete on price, which you’re never going to be able to do with someone who makes 40 million litres a year.”

Instead, Albert has sought to reframe and reposition Ross on Wye to reflect the quality, time and care that goes into every one of the 80 or so ciders and Perries it releases every year. Part of this process has involved introducing larger 750ml wine-style bottles, after Albert was left distraught by the sale of 200 litres of oak cask-fermented cider to a Russian exporter for “around £1.60 a litre”.

“We found this 1000 litre IBC of Dabinett and Michelin that was 18 months old at that time, and it was just blew everything else that we tried on the day out of the water,” he says. “It was so silky, so creamy and delicious, and bagging it up and watching it leave the farm in the lowest value container possible just made me think this is ridiculous”.

Desperate to ensure the rest of the batch was sold at a price point and in a format that reflected the quality of the cider, Albert set about putting the remaining 800 litres into 750ml wine bottles, naming the cider ‘Raison D’Etre’ and putting it up for sale at £10 a bottle, more than 50% more expensive than any other cider or Perry Ross on Wye had previously sold.

“I wanted to make a big statement,” he says. “It was about finding a way to display the value in the product that justified all the work that had gone into it.”

Since then, Ross on Wye has gone on to put a the majority of its ciders into the 750ml format (Mike continues to bottle some single varieties into 500ml bottles under the company’s old branding). One such drink is their single variety Flakey Bark Perry, a Perry so unique that it quite literally couldn’t be made by anyone else, or anywhere else on the planet.

The Flakey Bark variety of Perry, you see, is so rare that it’s thought there are just six mature trees producing the fruit in the world. These trees sit atop of May Hill, just a stones throw from Broome Hill Farm. Incredibly astringent to the point of being inedible, these rare pears are known for making deeply expressive and complex Perries. Ross on Wye have been using them for a little over ten years, whenever they’ve been able to get their hands on them. The 2017 vintage of Flakey Bark SVP, however, was very nearly Ross on Wye’s last. “There weren’t enough fruits in 2018 to make it,” Albert says, “and then in 2019 the elderly couple who owned the land on which these Flakey Bark Perry trees grew moved away. We didn’t hear anything from the people who moved in initially, and so we weren’t sure if we’d ever be able to make this Perry again”.

“One day, our friend Pat at Jolter Press (cidery) received a call from them offering them these Perries, which they’d been told made amazing Perry. And Pat said, "They’re not the Flakey Bark Pears are they?”, to which they said “Yes, we think they are!” And of course, Pat said to them “Well, I’d love to have them, but I can’t. You have to sell them to Ross because they’re the ones that make the Flakey Bark. So then he rang me, and I rang them and we’ve got it all sorted out.”

With the 2020 vintage of Flakey Bark not likely to see the light of day until 2022, however, the 2017 batch remains your best chance to sample this expressive and unique Perry Pear. Deep, golden yellow in colour, with a light natural carbonation, it’s not like any other Perry I’ve ever drunk.

Delicate lemon and funk on the nose give way to a pronounced astringency and a dry, silky finish. If you don’t like tannin, this won’t be for you, but if you do - fortunately I do - you’re in for a treat.

Enjoyed reading about Ross On Wye? Grab their latest releases over on Hop Hideout’s online store today.

James Beeson is an award-winning beer writer and photographer. To see more of his work, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

New Year, New Beer.... At Least Something Nice in 2021!

If you haven’t signed up to our newsletter, why not…? Maybe something to keep you perky in 2021 hey.

Here’s a little excerpt from the welcome intro below and you can read the rest (and sign-up)
here at this link:

https://mailchi.mp/d73ba273b23b/hop-hideout-brewsletter-ding-ding-4824526

Our 7th birthday Beer Cat (back in Nov 2020) new design by Kev Grey…

Welcome

I actually surprised myself logging into this Mailchimp account to find I'd managed to write three newsletters to you all in 2020. Last year was a bit of a blur, auto-pilot, just, just getting through and hoping for the best. Like most of you I feel. There's more I wanted to write but just couldn't find the energy or the time, so I'm sorry I didn't get round to sharing those 'doorstep Hop Hideout portraits', but there's still time hey now that we find ourselves back in national lockdown 3.0.

I hope this newsletter greets you well at home, safe and secure, it's been a tough bloody time for us all. Hope you're all ok. 11 months and ongoing, I don't think any of us imagined we would still be in this situation. Though positivity is on the horizon with vaccines, it is difficult to address all the pain and it'll be some time for that healing process to happen. If you are struggling, Sheffield Mind is a good place to look for help and support:
https://www.sheffieldmind.co.uk/


We continue to thank all our customers for your continued support and brewery/cider/wine suppliers who've kept us in tasty drinks over this tough time.

As a little re-cap of 2020, one line would say - one hell of a rollercoaster ride; one that I didn't pay to be on!

After the initial high of the beginning of the year leading into Indie Beer Feast and Sheffield Beer Week celebrations, within a few weeks we were closed along with the rest of hospitality in March, after a hectic time of re-launching our home delivery service. During that initial lockdown we closed the shop fully to try to understand and ultimately stay safe. After this period we returned to our Sheffield home delivery and UK mail order services. Driving out every weekend throughout Sheffield to bring you packages of beery joy. It felt like somewhat of an eternity, though sound tracked to better music (thanks to everyone on Twitter for the listening recommends).

We re-opened in the food hall July to November - with PPE, new till safety screens and hand sanitiser galore. Slowly starting with just walk-in retail, then adding back drink in a few weeks later. Face coverings came in on the 24th September (I remember the day as it was my birthday!), then the tiers with their substantial meals and table service (and many other requirements, big documents to read through from the Government website only hours before implementation, very stressful). In November, in line with our food hall home Kommune and Government guidance (from Thursday 5th November, Lockdown: The Sequel) we closed for walk in browsing and drinking in. Going to back home deliveries, mail order and with the additional pre-arranged click and collect.

Wanting to bring a bit of well needed joy and good light hearted fun back before the Christmas onslaught AND more importantly celebrate our 7th birthday. The only thing to do was to go virtual! Our Paws Party went ahead on ZOOOOOOOOOooooooooooom.

From December 2nd we were back open as a retail only space for walk in trade, with continued home delivery, mail order and click and collect. Newly located in a pop-up space at Kommune with its own access in what was the bakery space (door just up from main Kommune entry).

2021 didn't start how we all hoped. After a January annual holiday break, we are now back open (from Fri 8th Jan). However due to the new lockdown 3.0 and wider developments with new Covid strains, to do our part and as safely for everyone as possible, we will still be operating bringing you packages of boozy joy but reduced hours and services (Thursday to Saturday). We will only be offering UK mainland mail order, Sheffield home delivery and click and collect (the shop will not be open as a retail space for walk-in trade, you will only be able to enter for pre-arranged click and collect). Once you’ve placed your order online, we’ll be in touch to arrange and confirm delivery.

Cheers to you all,
Jules
Hop Hideout