Month: January 2026

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

Introducing Reverence! A pale ale weighing in at just 0.5% ABV. Low in alcohol, but full of flavour, without sacrifice. Designed to sit comfortably within our already expansive range, further improving the extent of our creations and demonstrating our commitment to making our products as accessible as we can.

Reverence is packed full of Mosaic hops (including being dry hopped using innovative hop extract Hyperboost), inspired by our popular American Pale Ale, Heathen, which has been the flagship of our Brewers’ Emporium range since 2016. But a baby Heathen this brew is not intended to be! We believe it’s a beer that holds its own alongside the rest of our range – the ultimate session beer, crisp and crushable with an aromatic and punchy hop character. Expect refreshing tropical flavours and notes of zesty grapefruit, with a delicate bitterness in the finish to round out the profile beautifully. Juicy, easy-drinking, delicious. Like all our beers, it’s gluten free.

As demand for low-and-no alcohol products has grown over the past few years, we knew that this was a gap in our offering. And for a long time, we were ok with that – we weren’t sure that a low alcohol beer was quite in our wheelhouse (some of you may remember we explained the reasons for this back when we launched our Sparkling Hop Water in 2023). But after years of hard work, careful and extensive research, and meticulous lab analysis, coupled with an array of technological advancements in the wider field, we’ve changed our minds! We can honestly say we’re incredibly proud of the results. Something that looks like beer, tastes like beer, is brewed like any other beer… and simply is a proper beer, for beer lovers, but with just a tiny fraction of the booze.

For those of you who like a bit of technical spiel, here’s the method behind our Reverence. We produce a wort in exactly the same way as for our other beers – our base malt Maris Otter barley is the main ingredient, just the same as the rest of our range, with a little Caramalt and Carapils for a hint of biscuit character, and oats for a more luscious body. The differences are that we mash in at a higher temperature and using much less grain, which results in more complex sugars being produced. Regular ale yeast eats up sugar (especially maltose, the primary sugar found in most worts) and breaks it down into alcohol and CO2. We use a different yeast strain for this beer – Lallemand LoNa, which doesn’t like or eat maltose. We still get a little bit of fermentation from very simple sugars, which is important as whilst this doesn’t produce much at all in the way of alcohol, it does produce natural acids, reduces worty aldehydes from the grain and lots of other clever things that means we end up with something that tastes more like beer than Ovaltine. Hooray!

The name itself pays homage to the care and attention we take in the development of each and every one of our brews, and the high regard in which we hold them. We hope – and believe – that shines through in Reverence.

Cheers!

Team Abbeydale

Reverence is available now in 440ml cans, including from our online shop.

To herald not just the new year, but the start of our 30^TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR(!!), we’ve created our own take on a style we’ve never before brewed… an 80 Shilling Ale!

If you’re wondering what on earth an 80 Shilling Ale is, it’s a traditional, malt-forward and full-bodied beer. Ours is delicately constructed with our base Maris Otter barley and UK grown Goldings hops, before being coloured with caramel, as is tradition. The resulting beer is rich and smooth with a light copper hue and flavours of toffee and dried fruits. Simple yet satisfying and extremely well balanced, with a gentle bitterness in the finish. Our version is loosely inspired by a recipe dating from 1957, also the year the space race began and the frisbee won the accolade of most popular toy.

Sitting in our Restoration series, paying homage to the most classic of beer styles, the artwork takes inspiration from the Scottish heritage behind this brew, with Edinburgh Castle hand drawn by our fabulous designer James. The background image shows an etching by Scottish artist Walter Geikie of the Grassmarket in Edinburgh at the foot of the castle.

And of course, we couldn’t talk about Scottish beer and January without giving a shout out to Burns Night! We reckon this could just be the perfect accompaniment to your haggis, neeps and tatties (with a wee dram to follow of course) – in fact, it’s a beer that’s mellow enough to complement all manner of wintery dishes, from a rich beefy stew to a classic cheeseboard. The Rising Sun have a special Burns Night menu for one night only on Monday January 26th too – booking essential, head here to view the menu and reserve your table!

 80 Shilling Ale is available now in cask and can, including from our online shop. In the words of The Bard himself – “O gude ale comes and gude ale goes”… this one won’t be around for long, so don’t miss out!

Slàinte Mhath!

Team Abbeydale