Open Kitchen? Open Brewery!

Today I went to The Sentinel Brewery in Sheffield; a raw real brewery, walking distance from the city centre of the industrial Steel City in the heart of England. Their artisan beers are served fresh from the brewery tank, a few meters from the bar. The beers are served unfiltered, unpasteurized, via hand-pull or tap (or cans and bottles for take away). If you want to see every element of the brewing resulting in an award winning and most importantly very tasty choice of beers, you’ve gotta visit it!

Sentinel is what I would call a fully transparent high quality craft brewery. Which is almost no surprise, as it is run by Alex Barlow – Master Brewer and Director of All Beer (an expertise centre when it comes to educating and engaging consumers, trade and the brewing industry) who has more than 30 years of experience in the beer industry.

Alex on Sentinel: “I’ve always wanted my own brewery, brew my own beer. With Sentinel I wanted to make sure that when you stand at the bar enjoying one of our beers you can see the whole process right in front of you, from the ingredients (hops, barley, etc.) in the back, to the beer tanks in which the beer is being made, to the fresh beer tanks down to the bar where it’s poured or pulled into the right glass at the right temperature.

The strength of this brewing brand is the fact every element is proudly part of it. Nothing’s hidden, because it doesn’t need to be. Everything you see (the tanks), smell (the brewing scent), hear (the beeps and the steam), touch (the wood, steel, copper) and taste (the beers, the food to go with it) reflects on the brand, breaths craft, man made beer, with a couple people doing everything to create something beautiful. It is as pure and true as a brand should be.

Well done Alex, Chris Carratt and the rest of the team. I will be back (and not only because of the t-shirt.

Wil | wilmar@nofilter.live