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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!)

There's the usual beer talk, some summer plans, and an unboxing of some rather unusual sounding beers.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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 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.

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!

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!

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!

Expect some great beery (and often non-beery chat) as the team catches up on the last month's events.

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!

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.

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!

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?

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!

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

We chat a bit about what we've been up to since the pubs have reopened in April.

Except, there's no actual music. But we talk about it a lot.

We all pick a beer roughly along those lines and stake our claims for Irish heritage. Our guest Declan definitely wins that one!

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!

There's a real mix of locations and Sean's completely catches James out!

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.

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 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.

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

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

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?!

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 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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

And eeeh bah gum there's some reyt crackers.

And we add a Yorkshire BREWER into the mix too as Josh from Blue Bee joins us. There's plenty of chat about his other venture too, at Kelham Island Tavern.

It's a bit of a reduced team with just James, Adam and Sean on hand to compare notes on their vegan beer choices.

Plus a good natter about what's happening with pubs now and plenty more.

Plus there's plenty to talk about it, with pubs now open again - and one of the Hopcasters actually made their way to one on the day they reopened.

We reflect on the sad news that the Devonshire Cat won't be reopening, and we discuss the ill-thought-out Sheffield Council tweet warning people 'Coronavirus will be waiting for them' in pubs.

Fancy joining us on a future episode? Email beer@sheffieldhopcast.co.uk

Sean was the host with a theme of Stout Sunday.

This is the full raw session, which you can also watch back on YouTube channel.

Thanks to everyone who took part in the first Hopfest, we had a fantastic weekend!

Adam was the host with a theme of 6% and up beers.

This is the full raw session, which you can also watch back on YouTube channel.

Thanks to everyone who took part in the first Hopfest, we had a fantastic weekend!

Laura was the host with a theme of Sours and Mixed Fermentation beers.

This is the full raw session, which you can also watch back on YouTube channel.

Thanks to everyone who took part in the first Hopfest, we had a fantastic weekend!

James was the host with a theme of Loud & Proud beers.

This is the full raw session, which you can also watch back on YouTube channel.

Thanks to everyone who took part in the first Hopfest, we had a fantastic weekend!

With shops reopening we reflect on our lockdown experiences so far.

Our key point of conversation is the Black Lives Matter movement, and particularly the representation of black and ethnic minority people in the beer world. We've looked at a few different ways of tackling this subject during the week before deciding the best thing to do is just to have a real honest and open chat.

We welcome your feedback: email beer@sheffieldhopcast.co.uk or drop us DM via Twitter.

If you haven't already be quick to reserve your place for next weekend's Hopfest: sheffieldhopcast.eventbrite.com

Stay safe.

Sean tells the longest story ever to introduce his beer selection, but it's worth it.

PLUS - we have details of the Sheffield Hopfest coming up in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS! We've got the dates, the details of the sessions and most importantly the info on how you can get involved. Please come along and join for a beer as we all help each other get through these tough times.

Safe safe, and stay brilliant.

We all crack open a can of the classic with Abbeydale Brewery's Sales Director Dan Baxter.

We chat about Moonshine's move into can format since lockdown and share our memories of a real staple beer in the Sheffield pub scene.

Plus Beer of the Month makes a return and Sean has big news about Beer Cental.

Aaaaand.. we reveal details of the first ever Sheffield Hopfest giving you as a regular listener first dibs on being involved. Email beer@sheffieldhopcast.co.uk or DM us through Twitter to stick your name down.

Stay safe, and drink Moonshine*

*responsibly

The four of us pick out a beer inspired by our guests, with a few fruity numbers making an appearance.

Out and About is a none-profit group in Sheffield helping to find and create safe spaces for queer people and their allies. Find out more on their social media accounts, all under the username OutAndAboutShef

We also talk pubs - with Heather and Michael managing the bar of The Rutland Arms and Devonshire Cat respectively.

Stay safe, and try not to travel to Durham.

The gang all pick beers with a connection to Eurovision - some a little looser than others.

We also discuss all things beer including another couple of big local events which have just been cancelled this year.

And our special guest is the extremely lovely Darren Hebden.

Stay safe, and safe alert.

We're joined by Mark Gannon and his bulging fridge to talk all things hoppy.

And it's the return of Sean's ridiculous bottle opener which seems to do many things - apart from actually open bottles. Want it? Listen in for your chance to win!

A huge thanks this week to Heist and Thornbridge who have sent some fantastic beers to try - including two we crack open on this episode. Uase the discount code HOPCAST15 on the Thornbridge website for 15% off pick and mix beers.

Stay safe, and safe home.

We hear about what they SMOD has been up to and how they've found these more challenging times and also look ahead to what they have coming up in the coming weeks and months.

Dann also relives a few stories about how they ended up over this side of the pond.

Big thanks to Utopian Brewing for sending us some top notch lagers to try out as we sample their Unfiltered British Lager and their seasonal Dark Lager.

Sean sets a record for the most expensive beer we've featured. Well, we think it's Sean, it might be his clean-shaven and fresh-faced nephew.

Adam and James manage to bring the exact same beer, but thankfully James has a more than adequate replacement.

Laura's got a hoppy beer. Or is it a sour?

And our special guest this week is the lovely Rob from HopZine. He has a lot of subscribers on YouTube because he's bloody good. Have a look if you haven't before: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQCHf0Oq6YHqi35qMyZE4gg

Stay safe, and safe home.

And this week we all crack open the same beer despite the miles between us - a real classic too: Timothy Taylor's Landlord.

Sean possibly enjoyed it in 1952 when it was first brewed while James is drinking it for the first time (which is a bit criminal, really).

We're joined by fellow podcaster Nick Law (check out http://hopforward.beer/) to hear how he's getting on during lockdown.

Stay safe, and safe home.

So there's only possible theme for this week's beers: Easter, of course! Unless you're Sean, that is...

We're also joined by the super lovely James Buxton of Thornbridge Brewery fame to see how he's coping with lockdown (and to sink a cool 12.5% imperial stout too, obvs).

We hope you're doing alright in these challenging times and that we're able to provide a little bit of company once a week - please let us have any feedback and if you have any ideas or potential themes we could do let us know. And we're always looking for guests to join us too.

The team get together remotely to share a beer of their choosing and a chat about things - and this week are joined by a friend from a fellow beery podcast.

Laura, Sean, Adam and James get together (virtually) to enjoy a beer and reflect on what's going on in the world - and particularly in our local beer scene.

It's a hard time for just about everyone in the beer industry, but we try to find a few more positive notes as well.

Plus four very good beers (hint: three of us go hard for a Sunday afternoon tipple!)

There is also a video version of this podcast coming soon on our Facebook and YouTube channels

We chat about this year's Indie Beer Feast and Sheffield Beer Week over beers from Donzoko, Torrside, Turning Point and Kees.

As money can be tight in January, we were each tasked with finding a great beer for under £3.50.

We also hear from some of our social media followers about what beer they would choose on a budget and finally have a chat about our favourite breweries from the past year.

As the colder, darker nights draw in we opt for some winter warmers from Titanic Brewery, Peak Ales, North Riding Brewery and Brouwerij De Halve Maan.

We drink beers from RedWillow Brewery and Alvarado Street Brewery and chat about what we’ve been up to since the last show along with some regular beery news.

James and Adam are part of the judging panel this year so we hear how that went.

We’ll also be picking a beer each from the beer list to talk about along with all the usual beery talk.

Finally, we had the pleasure of chatting to acclaimed beer writer Roger Protz.

James and Adam sample a couple of beers from Sheffield’s St Mars of the Desert and Nottingham’s Black Iris Brewery.

We chat about our recent visit to Abbeydale Brewery’s Funk Fest, the opening of the new Industry Tap and other local pub news.

We also look forward to October and the Sheffield Steel City Beer Festival.

The now-legendary Schofferhofer is first on the agenda, followed by a Northern Monk lemon raddler, North Brew Micro IPA and a typically stupidly named Cloudwater.

Which will get the vote of Adam, James, Laura and Sean as the best?

Plus we talk Funk Fest, a sour beer festival at Abbeydale Brewery this weekend, and look ahead to the Sheffield Beer Festival in October.

Beers from Vocation Brewery and Siren Craft Brew.

Recorded at The Rutland Arms on 8th August 2019

Recorded at the famous Kelham Island Tavern, we chat to Josh who took over the pub 8 months ago to see how things are going on after taking on the multi-award-winning pub.

Sean has been tasked with picking 4 ‘sunshine’ beers and opted for offerings from Brass Castle, Shindigger, Northern Monk and Thornbridge.

James is away this month so, friend of the show, Lucienne joins us and tells us all about here beery history in Sheffield and beyond.

Adam and James are joined by Tramlines organiser Alex Deadman at Cutlery Works to try to cram Tramlines into just an hour.

We have beer – of course! But how has James picked out the cans to go with our Tramlines theme?

We have food cooked up for us by of Gravy Train, residents at Cutlery Works, and also serving up at Tramlines this year.

And we have live music from two bands who will be performing at the festival:
– The Seamonsters
– Oddity Road

Both perform amazing stripped back acoustic tracks for us.

Alex gives us the lowdown on the festival itself, Leah from Cutlery Works tells us about the food court they’re doing at Tramlines, and we learn a bit about what poutine actually is from Harry

Tramlines is 19-21 July at Hillsborough Park. For ticket information head to tramlines.org.uk

Sean’s in charge and all he tells us is to be at Sheffield station at 9.30am.

Join us to hear how the day unfolds including some nice beers, great pubs, excellent toilets, plenty of rain, slot machine winners and losers and some rather messy ice creams.

* Our rather swanky equipment is from Rebel Base Media and is available for hire: to enquire please email HelloThere@RebelBaseMedia.io