Year: 2026

It’s been a little while since we’ve released a beer from our big, bold and boozy barrel aged series, known as Methuselah. But in honour of our 30th anniversary, we thought we’d roll out the barrel for this auspicious year. Plans began back in April 2025, when we decided to invest in some new stock for our barrel store… and these were destined to be kept separate from our Funk Dungeon mixed fermentation project, with the emphasis for this specific idea being on decadent barrel finishes making full use of what rested in them before, rather than the interplay between wood, yeast and time which our funkier releases thrive upon. 

From this new (to us) selection of barrels we are releasing – initially – a pair of fun 8% dark ales, a statement of intent for what lies ahead and building on our cult classic, Black Lurcher. As some of you may know, Black Lurcher is a rich, toasty and very hoppy dark beer, which we brew exclusively for the Three Stags Heads in Wardlow Mires (our very first customer, declared by our barrel manager Jim as “one of the very best pubs in the world”, a sentiment many of our team share!). You can only try this beer in its original form by making the pilgrimage into the peaks. 

For these two special barrel varieties, we’ve diverted some of this unique strong ale and split it across freshly emptied Madeira and Islay barrels, each aged for around 9 months prior to packaging. The barrels themselves have each left a distinct imprint on the beer, making them very worthy of sampling alongside each other. 

Whilst the Madeira release offers waves of rich fortified wine and a warm booziness, decadently aromatic with dried fruit sweetness and flavours of brown sugar, the Islay barrel has given intense layers of rich smoke and a briney texture, with waves of potent, phenolic peatiness. Both weighing in at 8.0% ABV and retaining the sticky hop character of the original beer which is still present even after extended ageing, they’re available now in 750ml bottles (and we maaaay just have reserved a keg for our upcoming taproom, Abbeydale Beerworks…!)

Please join us in raising a glass to our 30^th anniversary with one of these complex, audacious and satisfyingly flavourful beers… and as just as teaser of what’s still to come, we’ve also got rum, brandy and Cabernet Sauvignon barrels filled with a selection of different styles, patiently waiting their turn.

Cheers!

Team Abbeydale 

Next in our series introducing you to the people who make up Team Abbeydale (our Co-Owners), we’d love you to meet Jono, one of our fantastic team of delivery drivers! Jono is well known as a friendly face to our pub customers, and you may also have spotted him behind the bar at one of our brewery events, but as he’s mostly based out on the road we thought it’d be nice to spend some time for the rest of you to get to know more about him too! Over to Jono!

First up, the basics! What’s your name and where do you come from?

I’m Jono and I’m from Derbyshire – Matlock specifically!

What is your role at Abbeydale Brewery?

I’m a drayman, so my days are spent on the road delivering beer to the many fantastic pubs we supply. I’ve worked here since June 2024.

What’s your favourite beer/beer style and why?

Pale and golden beers are my bag – Moonshine, and Peak Ales Chatsworth Gold are just the kinds of thing I enjoy. I’m also pretty partial to a Guinness 0.0 when I’m up early the next day!

What’s your favourite thing about working at Abbeydale Brewery?

The colleagues! We’ve got a great bunch here, whether it’s among the drivers sorting out the day’s runs or the wider team.

Favourite pub to enjoy a pint?

I’m a big fan of the Thorn Tree in Matlock, it’s just a short walk from home and it’s got gorgeous views. The Laburnum Inn is near me too and also has a great beer garden. The Farmacy has some great beers (it’s a brewery based on a farm, with beers made by an ex-pharmacist!) and for a beer to enjoy alongside some live music I’d pick Twenty Ten.

Where did you have your first (legal!) pint?

Oh I’ve got two answers to this – technically, my first legal pint was in a pub in Pembrokeshire as part of a geology field trip, I was only 17, but it was with a meal!

When I turned 18 my first pint was actually a double pint in the Railway, Matlock. For some reason I mysteriously can’t recall the specific beer!

Favourite snack to enjoy alongside a beer?

Pork scratchings (or a kebab, yes, I’m counting that as a snack).

When you’re not out on the road delivering beer, what do you get up to?

I mainly like to play live music. I’m a drummer, currently in an indie rock band with a lead singer who’s fittingly named Indi, and have played in metal bands in the past too. As well as being on stage myself I also enjoy going to gigs to watch live music, and I’m currently building a house as well!

Who’s your hero?

My dad – he’s 78 and still working harder than most!

And finally… If you were a cartoon character, who would it be?

Do comic books count? I’ll go for Wolverine!

Our much acclaimed Dark Mild is back, for the third year in a row and arguably now a bona fide part of our range of seasonal specials! Dare we dream that gone are the days of a decade without one?!

From the archives, here’s the story of this particular Restoration.

This post was originally published on 1st April 2024.

We’ve been having a mild disagreement. You’ll have to excuse the puns – we’ve been working on them for some time.

We last had a mild available in early summer 2014. Dr Morton’s The Wrong Stuff, as it was cruelly named, was a bit of an experiment for us at the time – a somewhat controversial style with a fusty reputation, and a hard sell. But the times they are a’changing after all, and mild is finally having its day – a revival, a resurgence, a renaissance. We’ve formed two distinct “camps” amongst Team Abbeydale, one side hankering after that smooth, sweet nectar served in a dimpled glass, donning our flat caps and kicking up a grass roots movement for mild, evoking charming pubs of yore with a roaring fire and horse brass galore… and on the other side, the sales team, still traumatised by their past memories of a beer that outstayed its welcome.

The pro-mild side of the fence has finally got their way. And almost a full decade later, or 3,577 days to be precise, a Mild is back on our availability list.

Introducing Dark Mild, from our Restoration series, brewed using entirely UK grown ingredients. Characterised by a smooth, malt-driven sweetness, balanced by a touch of roast character and hints of coffee. The ultimate British hop, the unsung hero that is Fuggles, were added to our beloved hopback. These delicate hops provide a grassy character and a gentle bitterness in keeping with the traditions of this historic style, with a finish that invites you straight back for more. It’s classic, comforting, rounded and mellow. 4.0% ABV, vegan and gluten free. Anyone else thirsty?!

Mild at heart or mildly perturbed – which side are you on?! We’d love you to let us know.

Cheers!

Laura – A Mildly Delighted Marketing Manager

PS – Such has been my yearning for a mild that I first started writing notes for this blog post in February 2021. Once it was (a little reluctantly) agreed that this beer could be added to the plan, we came to officially give it a place it on our recipe database. A list of beer styles is pre-populated for us to choose from… and out of 43 in total ranging from imperial stout to gruit, there was no option for mild! Consider this heinous oversight officially rectified. The mild comeback is well and truly on.

We’re delighted to announce that we’ll be working with the fantastic Friends of the Porter Valley as our charity partners for 2026-27.

Friends of the Porter Valley work to conserve, protect and restore the ecology, landscape and cultural heritage of the Porter and Mayfield Valleys, for the enjoyment of all and the benefit of future generations. These beautiful green spaces connect the brewery to our pub, The Rising Sun, so the parks, woodlands and wildlife the Friends of the Porter Valley help to look after are especially meaningful to our team. 

As always, we’ve planned in an exclusive cask only fundraising beer to be released in the summer – look out for more news on this coming soon. As well as the beer, we will also be working with the Friends of the Porter Valley on other projects and fundraising campaigns throughout the year, starting with the famous Duck Race, which we’ve donated a number of prizes towards! Taking part in Endcliffe Park on Easter Monday (Monday 6^th April) it’s a fantastic place for us to get started with our support, we hope to see lots of you there! You can get your duck in advance here if you want to join in the fun.

Long time followers of the brewery may recall that we have worked with FoPV twice in the past, including raising funds for the restoration of Shepherd’s Wheel in 2009, and Forge Dam in 2013. We felt that as part of our 30^th anniversary celebrations, working again with a charity we have supported previously and building on that relationship would be a really nice way to feed into celebrating our history and the community that surrounds us. This year, the funds we raise will go towards the repair of and upgrades to the Forge Dam Playground, which is in need of a little bit of TLC. We hope to contribute towards a replacement for a broken seesaw, and a new climbing frame, as the current one is reaching the end of its life.  This small playground is hugely popular and very heavily used, including by many of our Rising Sun regulars’ families, so it’s in need of continual investment.

Head here to visit the Friends of the Porter Valley website, to find out more about the work they do and how you can support them, including how to make a donation. You can also find them on Facebook here.

Thank you so much, as always, for your continued support of not just our employee owned business but our wider community too – it really does mean the world to us!

Team Abbeydale

Introducing Amass! A convivial new addition to our Funk Dungeon range of mixed fermentation beers, with a focus on community and good cheer.

The first release of Amass is a mixed fermentation heritage saison, aged in English red wine barrels and “wet hopped” during conditioning with freshly picked UK Cascade, grown in our designer James’ Yorkshire garden in the peaceful suburbs of Boston Spa. Light and refreshing with a zesty aroma and notes of oak and marmalade, rounded off in a delicately funky finish. We’ve put this in the yellow region of our special International Goat Unit (IGU) scale, reflecting that the “farmyard” character of this particular funky fellow is apparent without being too overwhelming – a relatively accessible beer with a nicely tart pH of 3.4.

The base beer is constructed using the preferred blend of malt and hops that has come to be known as the house style of the Funk Dungeon, using a hefty dose of heritage malt Plumage Archer alongside our house grain (Maris Otter), wheat, rye and a hint of crystal malt, with a sizeable addition of English grown hops.  A variation of this base beer has formed the core of many of the Funk Dungeon releases over the years.

The difference with Amass is that we’re looking to use ingredients found within and collected by our local community to finish these releases, establishing an ethos of making best use of abundance and celebrating by sharing the rewards reaped from our collective endeavour!

Our designer James started growing his Cascade hops in West Leeds after getting involved with a local brewery’s hop-growing scheme in 2019. Despite moving across the city in the spring of 2023 when the hops had started to regrow after their winter dormancy, he managed to keep them alive with the help of his neighbour who was a professional gardener. In sunny Boston Spa, the hops have gone from strength to strength, doubling their yield each year since – culminating in the 2025 haul making its way into our very first Amass release. Commenting on the process, James said “It’s a really pleasurable experience growing hops – they’re fairly easy to manage and the speed at which they grow means you get to see progress throughout the summer – with numerous green leaves and bines shooting skywards joined later by the hop cones that produce that pleasant aroma. As long as they’re watered, managed and get access to whatever sunlight we are afforded – they make a great addition to a garden of any size. I encourage anyone with an interest in beer to look into growing hops themselves in whatever space they have available.”

Whilst this year’s release of Amass – Green Hop Saison features hops from a single garden, for future releases we hope to introduce a “forage to funk” scheme, in keeping with our pub, The Rising Sun, who operate a “field to fork” initiative whereby local growers can swap their surplus homegrown produce for beer tokens! We plan to offer drop off dates in September at our taproom (COMING SOON!) once the growing season is coming to an end. There’ll be opportunity to pick the hops ready for production with your fellow growers (we’ll provide the refreshments) and an event for the release of the beer with a free drink for hop growers – quality control is very important! The names of all contributors will be added to the bottle label too. So, if you already have hops with a home in your garden, or if you’re feeling inspired by James’ story above, keep your eyes peeled for details of how to get involved in time for this year’s harvest.

Amass is available now in 750ml bottles, both to trade customers and via our own shop (you can pick one up online, or pop into the shop to see us!). Just 5 kegs exist, which are already all spoken for! A couple are saved for some super special secret projects (more on that soon!) but look out for it on keg at the Draughtsman Alehouse, The Selden Arms in Worthing 10-12 April, and at our tap takeover at the King’s Arms in London on April 16^th.

Join us in celebrating the finest of English terroir!

Have you been to our fabulous Fulwood pub, The Rising Sun, recently? It goes without saying that our beautiful S10 retreat is home to a huge selection of Abbeydale beer – but it is also host to a new chapter in pub dining.

We would love to introduce you to Joe Grayson, who we’ve newly welcome aboard the good ship Team Abbeydale. Joe comes with a lofty reputation and a plethora of fresh ideas. Most recently seen as part of the duo at the helm of Frerot in Cambridge Street Collective, Joe is perhaps best known for Juke and Loe – a pair of restaurants that saw some of the most exciting and inspired cooking in Sheffield. Nationally renowned (including being lauded by none other than Jay Raynor!), and known and loved around his home town already, we know how lucky we are to have the mind behind those menus in our local pub kitchen.

Joe’s culinary confidence sings from his dishes, blending well-loved classics with the ingenuity and flair for erudite flavours that Joe has come to be known for. Our Rising Sun dining room has never been more tantalising and we can’t wait to share more developments from pass to plate, shout about the fabulous independent suppliers we’re working with, and relish the spoils of the hard work going into elevating our offering.

Joe’s very own menu has just launched – it’s innovative, exciting and constantly evolving, changing with the seasons and making use of the best of what’s fresh. Head to the Rising Sun’s website to view the current menu and book your table to be delighted by Joe’s delicious dishes for yourself! And in the meantime, it’s over to Joe himself to tell you a little more…

Hiya, Joe! What’s your name and where do you come from?

I’m Joe Grayson, and I’m from Sheffield.

What’s your favourite beer and why?

It’s got to be Daily Bread – I’m not a big fan of light beers, so prefer a bitter. If I can’t find Daily Bread, I enjoy an Acorn’s Barnsley Bitter.

And you’re the chef who’s newly in charge of the kitchen at our pub, the Rising Sun – so moving away from beer a little, what about your favourite cuisine?

It’s not what a lot of chefs would say but I’m going to go for British – there’s a wealth of great ingredients and the seasonality is so diverse. Game season is my favourite time of year.

What’s your favourite dish on the menu?

At the moment I’d say the fish and chips, we get the fish couriered up the day it lands from St. Ives so it’s super fresh. It’s such a classic dish that deserves more than the generic treatment a lot of places give it! We use our very own Heresy lager in the batter, too.

Best place to enjoy a pint?

Brother’s Arms, my local up in Heeley. Snug in the winter, great beer garden in the summer.

Favourite snack to enjoy alongside a beer?

I like a pickled egg, so should everyone else.

When you’re not creating delicious dishes, what do you like to do in your spare time?

Hill walking and generally enjoying the Derbyshire countryside.

And finally… If you were a cartoon character, who would it be?

Elmer Fudd.

Sheffield Beer Week is a city wide celebration of independent beer, and everything that makes this industry in Sheffield so special. Having first taken place in 2015, this year Sheffield Beer Week falls from Monday 9^th to Sunday 15^th March, and shines a spotlight on not just our beer scene but the connection that has to the food, music, community and heritage of our city. So we thought we’d put together a few beer, food and music pairings to get the full sensory experience!

To kick things off, we’d love to introduce you to our Sheffield Beer Week collaboration beer, Synth City! This year, one of the key messages of SBW is focused around celebrating the sonic and synth musical heritage of our hometown, as diverse and unique as our beer scene, and our latest pale ale is inspired by that vivacity. Featuring Krush, Vic Secret and Mosaic hops, it’s hop-forward with flavours that oscillate between notes of pulpy tropical and juicy citrus fruits, which harmonise beautifully with a lightly herbaceous finish. It launched at Indie Beer Feast over the weekend and it’s available NOW in cask, keg and can, including on tap at Hop Hideout, where Sheffield Beer Week organiser Jules can also be found! So who better to suggest a snack and song pairing for this one than Jules herself?! Here are her picks:

 “For a song I’d go for Heaven 17 ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’. With founding members of Heaven 17 coming from a strong Trade Unionist family background in Sheffield, it was a response and warning to what was going on around them at the time. I feel it’s a song as pertinent in meaning when written in 1981 as today. And I’d pair this beer with a packet of Brown Bag Crisps’ Oak Smoked Chilli flavour. They’re small batch cooked, independently family-owned, gluten free crisps. The punch of the Scotch Bonnet chillies and natural smoke hit match the beer’s intensity without overpowering its juicy and intense tropical notes.” Make sure you pop to Hop Hideout in Leah’s Yard to try this combination for yourself!

Next up, we’re thrilled to welcome back an Abbeydale classic – in celebration of our 30^th anniversary, we’ve brought back Vespers for the first time since 2015! A 4.2% English Porter, back from the archives with reimagined artwork as part of our Legacy Series. Full of rich roast coffee and dark fruit notes, it works fantastically as a partner to a cheeseboard. And for a song, we’re choosing something else a little dark and brooding – pop Being Boiled by the Human League on the stereo and tuck in to some creamy blue cheese or a nutty aged Gouda, which contrast deliciously with the malt forward sweetness in Vespers.

This week also sees the launch of our new head chef’s superb new menu at our pub, The Rising Sun – look out for more on that later this week! We’ve paired the lemon and white chocolate cheesecake with a pint of It’s Always Sunny in Shireoaks – a beer we made with the fab Ticking Clock Brew Co just over the border in (yep, you guessed it!) Shireoaks. This Dolcita hopped pale is full of notes of tropical pineapple and juicy peach, with a luscious creamy finish, which compliments a sweet treat very nicely indeed. And moving away from synth but staying with the local theme, who could resist pairing a beer brewed using a hop whose name means “little sweetie” without turning up the volume to a bit of Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar On Me?! 

For our final suggested pairing, we’re going for Moonshine – preferably a pint of it. The archetypal Sheffield beer, best enjoyed in a local pub, paired with good company. Yeah, we know that’s kinda cheating. We’re going to recommend you stick Common People on, get a bag of ready salted on the go and don’t think about it too much – just enjoy.

Cheers!

Team Abbeydale

Introducing Abbeydale Beerworks – the Abbeydale Brewery Taproom. Coming soon!

Yes, that’s right… after 30 years, we’ve finally found a perfect space for a taproom, just around the corner from the brewery. We’re excited to announce that we will be taking on the lease of the unit which was previously the fantastic Turner’s Bottle Shop, 298 Abbeydale Road. Our hope is for it to be a destination for beer lovers to find our latest brews and small batch specials, as well as a venue for hosting exclusive tasting events. And it’s just 200 steps away from the brewery roller shutters!

Our new space will be called Abbeydale Beerworks, and just like the brewery and our pub the Rising Sun, it’ll be 100% employee owned. We’re now working towards an opening date in early May, which we’re close to announcing – be assured we’ll keep you posted every step of the way!

We really hope we can take the venue forwards with the spirit of community that Rob and Alison so wonderfully instilled in Turner’s, and we can’t wait to play a new part in the neighbourhood that already means so much to us and that we’ve called home for thirty years.

Our onsite shop at the brewery itself is unaffected and will remain open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm, although once Beerworks is open you’ll also be able to get cans and other goodies from there outside of these hours too – opening hours for the taproom will be confirmed closer to the launch.

We’re all incredibly excited about this news, and we can’t wait to welcome you to Abbeydale Beerworks. In the meantime, you can follow our new venue on Facebook and Instagram where we’ll be sharing more of our journey.

Cheers!

The New Zealand hopped star of our core range has now been part of the history of Abbeydale Brewery for EIGHTEEN YEARS! Happy birthday, Deception!

Packed full of tasty New Zealand hops, bursting with an elderflower aroma and flavours of gooseberry and juicy white grape. Twice Champion Beer of Sheffield, and a firm favourite amongst both staff and customers, we really wanted to celebrate this much-loved brew becoming old enough to buy itself a pint… and fittingly, this occasion falls right at the start of our thirtieth anniversary year too! And so we’ve brought back one of our most requested specials, a beer that pays great homage to our Nelson Sauvin hopped pale and yet simultaneously brings a new twist to it too – it’s CRYO DECEPTION!

Using the same gorgeous hop, just in myriad different ways, Cryo Deception includes Nelson Sauvin in leaf, T90 and Cryo form, added throughout the brewing process. A slightly higher ABV than “regular” Deception at 4.8% helps all those delectable aromas come to the fore with an extra oomph of flavour. Light, luscious and very refreshing.

The story of Deception starts back in 2008, when we were trialling some new hops in a series of specials.  Friend of the brewery Stuart Noble wouldn’t stop talking about a new hop from New Zealand, Nelson Sauvin, a hop that supposedly brought with it flavours of Sauvignon Blanc, and so we thought we’d give it a go.  Our hop suppliers, Charles Faram, also knew how much our brewery owner Pat loved experimenting with new varieties and so were happy to help us get our gauntlet gloves on some. We brewed one full brew length of it, sold out of it within weeks and promptly had to brew it again!   

We then had so many requests for it we brewed it every year. (As a slight aside, the following year, word on the street was a hop called Citra and we used that in Duck Baffler – another perennial beer, also available now as a cask special!) Deception remained an annual release until 2013 when we were finally able to pin down a regular supply of Nelson Sauvin and fulfil the demand all year round! Deception is now one of the longest standing beers in the UK to make use of Nelson Sauvin, and is right at the heart of our range, second only to Moonshine in terms of the volumes we produce.

Deception was formative in the beer journeys of many of Team Abbeydale and holds plenty of fond memories for us all.  It was the very first beer our brewer Christie both bought for himself, and served a pint of as a bartender at the Kelham Island Tavern, and many of you may know both our Export Manager Robin, and our Retail Manager Lucienne from their days slinging a LOT of pints from behind the bar at Shakespeare’s – still one of our biggest customers .

To help us celebrate this milestone, here’s a list of some of the venues joining us to showcase Nelson Sauvin at its fruity, fantastic finest! At all of these below you’ll find either Deception and/or Cryo Deception from the week of Monday 19^th January:

• Rising Sun, Fulwood… who are also hosting Deception’s birthday party! Drop in between 5-7pm on Wednesday 21^st December for a FREE tasting with our brewer Christie! Donations to our charity of the year, Ben’s Centre, would be much appreciated.
• Wonky Labrador, Hangingwater
• Shakespeare’s, Kelham Island
• Harlequin, Kelham Island
• Cremorne, Sheffield
• Bath Hotel, Sheffield City Centre
• Lord Nelson, Sheffield City Centre
• Hop Hideout, Sheffield City Centre
• Itchy Pig, Banner Cross 
• Banner Cross, Banner Cross
• Dark Horse, Banner Cross
• Crown and Cushion, Burncross
• Brothers Arms, Heeley
• Broomhill Tavern, Broomhill
• The Local, Ecclesall Road
• Devonshire Arms, Dore
• Commercial, Chapeltown
• Three Stags Heads, Wardlow Mires
• Beer Parlour, Chesterfield
• Jack Hawley at the Grange, Doncaster
• Old Hall Inn, Chinley
• Rambler Inn, Edale
• Clarkes Sibin, Chorley
• Jacobs Beer House, Bradford 
• Crafty Fox, Brighouse 
• Victoria Inn, Rugby
• Draughtsman, Doncaster Train Station
• Whaley Nook, Whaley Bridge
• Nook & Cranny, Harwood
• Dandy Cock, Kirkby in Ashfield
• White Lion, Barrow-in-Furness

And cans of Cryo Deception will be available from Wednesday 21^st January (Deception’s actual birthday) from the following retailers:

• Beer Central, Sheffield City Centre
• Starmore Boss, Sharrow Vale
• Premier Valley Road, Sheffield
• Dunston Hall Food and Deli
• Trembling Madness, York
• Penistone Beer Shop

… with more to follow! And of course you will be able to find it at our online and onsite shops too.

Happy 18^th birthday, Deception!

Cheers,

Team Abbeydale