Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from everyone at Abbeydale Brewery. May we thank all our customers for their continued support this year.
Do let us know which you found to be your most favorite beer this year. Anything that stood out as especially memorable? Also, some interesting stuff to come next year so stay tuned.
The annual Northwich Beer Festival, the joint venture between North Cheshire CAMRA and the Northwich and Northwich Vale Royal Rotary clubs, took place over the weekend of the 20th September 2013. This year saw the festival take place at Winnington Park Recreational Club providing drinkers with a whopping choice of 40 different ales from all corners of England. One of these ales was our very own “Absolution” which to our delight, romped home to take 1st prize in the competition!
Members of North Cheshire CAMRA who combined their visit with a real ale pub-crawl around Sheffield presented the award to us at The Rising Sun on Saturday the 16th November.
Further information on the festival including pictures and final beer list can be found on camranorthcheshire.org.uk
It’s fantastic to see that beers from our core range still pick up awards. Absolution is one of the first beers ever made at Abbeydale and the recipe has changed very little over the years. Thank you North Cheshire CAMRA!
Every year when the weather worsens and the temperature plummets to just above freezing, we ale enthusiasts make a pilgrimage towards Ponds forge for the Steel City Beer and Cider festival, this year making its 39th appearance.
It’s a strange experience to say the least, witnessing the transformation from a sports hall usually filled with people fit and of fine fettle, to an alluring ale haven of liquid solace.
It’s no secret that here at Abbeydale we don’t shy away from hops. Those of you who have seen my short video blog showing off our hop back in "Abbeydale Brewery We Love Hops" will see how we try our utmost to get all the essential hop oils and good stuff out of them.
I personally have always said "Wherever you can grow good wine grapes, you’ll grow good hops" and while I still think this is true we don’t want our drinkers to overlook the fabulous range of home-grown little green gems on our doorstep. Of course when I say doorstep, I really mean the UK in general. There are over 20 different varieties to choose from and with such a wide spectrum of beautiful flavours why wouldn’t you!? Achievable characteristics commonly found in our native hops include: Citrus (well what else!), spice, pepper, grapefruit, tangerine, marmalade, mint and in some cases apricot and blackcurrant.
It is with this in mind we have decided to jump on the Charles Faram Well Hopped Campaign and aid them in showcasing exactly what our English hops can do. We have decided to run with Dr. Morton’s Four Yorkshiremen of the Apocalypse and packed it with East Kent Goldings, Challenger and Bramling Cross hops and – in true Dr. Morton style – each in suitably large quantities! Since we are so proud, we will be flying the flag and showing off the British Hop Association’s logo on our pump clip publishing the fact that this beer has been brewed with love as standard but also with 100% British hops. This 5.0% ABV monster will be on sale from Monday the 4th November 2013 and for the pump clip collectors out there, it will be the first pump clip to date with a collaborative logo on it.
For further information on British hops (including some pretty pictures), log on to britishhops.org.uk
Full tasting note: "An assertive English Pale Ale packed full of wonderful, juicy English hops. Mainly East Kent Goldings, Challenger and Bramling Cross and in abundant quantities. Flying the flag for our native hops. Offering sweet lavender, thyme and cedar- like aromas. Whilst berry fruit freshness like Loganberry and Blackcurrant come through, there is also a more-ish honey-like undertone. It’s also reit nice an that! "
Enjoy everyone and let us know what you think 🙂
I set out to source from a greater number of breweries this year. This means that many feature one beer, two should the criteria fit – new breweries / new beers (or at least new to us!). New breweries we have managed to pin down for a cask include; Mouslow Farm, Hamelsworde, Healey’s,Newark, Tiny Rebel, VIP, Talke O’Th’ Hill & Betjeman Brewery not to mention our new local breweries; Dronfield, Harthill VIllage, Toolmakers and On The Edge. Big thank yous go to Stu at North Riding Brewery for making us a special brew, a beer appropriately named Seventh Sun 4.0%, and also to Dave at Raw and Mark at Townhouse for sourcing beers for us.
For all you beer spotters out there, it may be good to know that all the beers selected are not souped-up, dry-hopped/blended, one-off festival specials concocted from existing brews. Each cask beer at the festival has been made in a batch or been on sale/will be on sale in the general trade. Actually, that’s not entirely true of the Abbeydales. The Milk Stout – we’re trying something there! Let us know what you think. Well it’s our festival and we’re allowed to play.
Back to this Milk Stout of ours at 5.0%. This beer style is something we have wanted to do for a long time. A few of these were sampled (just to make sure) at Rotherham CAMRA Real Ale and Music Festival at Magna (takes place in February each year, plug) and it was so good we decided to trial it and what better place to trial it than here at our beer festival. 
It is also worth noting that I massively over ordered (oops!) and the extra beers will be on sale in the pub throughout the coming weeks. So please come back after the festival for more beers from many of these breweries. Join YourRound and get emailed / texted / tweeted when they come on the bar.
Let’s also not forget the large selection of speciality beers available. From fruit, ginger and chocolate beers to spiced and wheat beers. They can be found in the Sunfest programme with a red box around the beer colour identifying them as extra special. For you newcomers out there, this is not to be confused with beer flavours. Beers are often described as tasting of something e.g. raisins or burnt toast. This flavour is obtained by carefully selecting the barley and roast type. This is not ‘Speciality’ (although special and yummy it may be) unless it had actually had burnt toast in the brew – if that floats your boat! Similarly a beer can be described as tasting of mango or grapefruit. These flavour compounds are found in certain hops, if added in sufficient quantity. To summarise, it’s "speciality" (red box) if the beer has something other than the four main ingredients; Water, yeast, hops and barley. We also identified a couple of beers which definitely did not use isinglass finings and marked these with a V. (others may not, but we’re not sure). Some vegans will know what we mean, the rest of you, don’t worry about it.
The craft keg beer bar is back again this year featuring some of the well-known micro brewery kegger’s out there. We have ten different beers here but are restricted to serving six at a time. We have given it a go, kegging some of our Ascension 6.0% on dry hops to compensate for the beer being served at a lower temperature than was initially intended for a cask product, if that makes sense?
Hopefully there will be something here for everyone. Enjoy the festival!
Dan Baxter
PS This year we have added a few favourite beer (and cider) quotes to the programme and would love to hear any particular beer quotes that have stuck in your mind. If you are a tweeter, Facebooker or emailer, send us in your favourites. Be it comical, factual or historical. I’ve always liked:
"I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s
as good as they’re going to feel all day." ~ Frank Sinatra
The "Tramlines" beer launch night started as you may expect any other Thursday to start in Sheffield; with intermittent downpours of Biblical proportion. We lucky few escaped the deluge and were pleasantly serenaded by a few of Sheffield’s sprites under the roof of one of the steel cities’ favourite institutions; The Harley.
The launch began with an explanation to the uninitiated on how this years beer would be chosen. Simply; we would be given the choice to vote for one of two different beers and the favourite would be put into production for the attendees of Sheffield’s "Tramlines" festival to enjoy.
After the excitable murmur of how retro the vinyl stamped pump-clips looked was brought to a simmer, it was time to get down to the beers themselves.
It was a pleasure to witness the ignition of senses by our beers, as it’s praises were sung by those whose taste buds were tantalized. A spectacle that humbles any hard working brewer.
The Golden "Tramlines 1" got my vote. The wonderfully subtle toffee flavour coming from the cara-malt seemed to be balanced beautifully with the US Cascade hops which both resonated harmoniously with my pallet.
However, it seemed that the paler, Galaxy hopped "Tramlines 2" made more of an impression in the Harley. With it’s tropical notes and citrus edge paraded around the place, I got the impression this may be crowned the victor.
If this is true, it affirms Sheffield’s insatiable appetite for pale hoppy beers. Good news for us at Abbeydale!
TRAMLINES FESTIVAL 2013 PRESS RELEASE
This year the official Tramlines Festival Ale comes from Abbeydale Brewery. The Sheffield based brewery has come up with two ales that will go head to head on Thursday 23 May.
The Harley on Glossop Road will be hosting the Tramlines Ale Launch Party from 7pm, giving punters a chance to enjoy some free music and take their pick of the contenders. Tramlines tipplers will be able to have their say on which of the two ales should be sold at the festival.
Both Tramlines Ale 1 and Tramlines Ale 2 will be available in venues across Sheffield on the run up to the festival but only one will be sold over the festival weekend.
Which side of the tracks are you on?
Punters can vote on their favourite Ale via a ballot box at the Harley or by using the hashtags #TRAMLINESALE1 or #TRAMLINESALE2. All the votes cast on the night will be counted and the winning ale will be sold across the festival weekend.
Sarah Nulty, Festival Director at Tramlines said: “Sheffield has a fantastic real ale community and some brilliant breweries and we need to celebrate that. The Blues Stage and Ale Trail are key parts of the festival and real ale is something that our punters love. A Tramlines Ale has become a staple part of the festival now. We are selling both Tramlines ales at only £1.50 for one night only while stock last and at that price you can afford to try both.
“We’ve got great ale, great music and lots to entertain. It should be a fantastic night, and what better way of starting the bank holiday weekend. Come on down and have your say on which ale should win.”
Live bands and DJs will be playing from 8pm including Ham Pocket,? 50 Sniffs and The Grand Old Ukes Of Yorkshire.
Tramlines, returns to Sheffield for its fifth year on Friday 19 July to Sunday 21 July with a bigger and better music programme than ever before.
Regular line-up announcements will be made over the coming weeks. Confirmations already include Lianne La Havas, David Rodigan MBE, Toddla T Sound, Maurice Fulton, Theo Parrish, New Young Pony Club, Shangaan Electro, Fenech Soler, Slow Club, Jim Jones Revue, The Invisible, 2.54, Friends, Duke Dumont and Dutch Uncles
A limited number of weekend tickets (priced at £15 plus booking fee) are available at http://2013.tramlines.org.uk/tickets/
Last year’s Tramlines saw over 150,000 people turn Sheffield into one massive festival over three days, creating the feel and atmosphere that rivals any green field festival site.
Find out more about the artists playing Tramlines 2013 at www.tramlines.org.uk
Happy Birthday to the guys at Now Then magazine Sheffield (and now Manchester).
To celebrate, they asked us to do a beer for them…again.
When you start serving this beer OR purchase a pint of it, please tweet @AbbeydaleBeers or @NowThenMag using the hashtag #nowthen5, or email [email protected]. Any stories you wish to share – let us know where you are, who you are and most importantly what you think cos we think it’s right good. Cheers!
Geoff & Pat Fuller at The Stags are our oldest customer (the first infact) being issued invoice number 1 – our starting point. So it only made sense that they receive invoice number 50000 17 years down the line.
Batch number 4300 Deception and a short video blog of my favourite stage in the brewing process – Casting. Especially when it’s Deception brew-day. Working with Neslon Sauvin hops is simply a dream 🙂
A true Sheffield institution founded in 1996 and based in the heart of the Antiques Quarter, Abbeydale Brewery blends heritage and tradition with creativity and innovation.
Abbeydale Brewery Ltd
Unit 8, Aizlewood Road
Sheffield
S8 0YX
Telephone: 0114 281 2712
Email: [email protected]
