Month: April 2026

We’re excited to announce that we will officially be opening the doors of Abbeydale Beerworks, the new taproom from Abbeydale Brewery, from 4pm on Thursday 7th May!

Find us at 298 Abbeydale Road – just 200 steps from the brewery itself. Abbeydale Beerworks is a welcoming, inclusive destination for beer lovers to find our latest brews and small batch specials, as well as a venue for hosting exclusive tasting events. 

We’ve got 12 draught lines, 10 of which are dedicated to pouring an eclectic selection of our extensive range – 6 keg and 4 cask, with Moonshine, our flagship pale ale, always having a place on the bar (we don’t think we could have opened a taproom without it!). You will also find our freshest new releases, with a regular Funk Dungeon line showcasing our small batch mixed fermentation programme, plus cans of our alcohol free Sparkling Hop Water and Reverence 0.5% Pale Ale. All our beers are gluten free and you can find a fridge full of all our cans to take away too. We’ve also got one dedicated guest keg line – the “Friends of Abbeydale Brewery” tap.

And whilst Beerworks is our showcase venue for our beers (including for takeaway – we have a large fridge full of all our cans which can be taken home to enjoy at your leisure), we know that you might have friends that like your company more than they like a pint – so we’ve got a carefully sourced rotating draught cider, plus a small but delicious selection of spirits (including from some amazing local suppliers), wines and soft drinks too – as well as of course the all important crisps! In keeping with the ethos of our beer selection, we’ll have a core range of snacks that’s always available, supplemented with an exciting ever changing “snack of the moment”, curated by your friendly local crisp enthusiasts.

We’re dog friendly and families are welcome too (with the proviso to please make sure you, your dog and your little people are all respectful to others and remain with a responsible adult at all times!).

Our opening hours will be:

Monday – CLOSED

Tuesday-Thursday – 4-11pm

Friday – 2-11pm

Saturday – Midday-11pm

Sunday – Midday-7pm

We can’t wait for you to meet our new taproom manager Danny and the team, and to welcome you for a pint!

Cheers!

Team Abbeydale

Nothing beats a good pie. And Joe Grayson, our head chef at The Rising Sun (read more about Joe here), makes an absolutely fantastic one – using our very own multi-award-winning Black IPA, Black Mass, as one of the key ingredients.

Joe has kindly shared his secrets with us so you can have a go at rustling this up yourself! It’s a large batch, making it perfect for a dinner party, or the filling works beautifully as a simple stew too.

Alternatively, you can book a table at the Rising Sun to enjoy Joe’s handiwork in person… but be quick, our seasonal menu is due to change over the next couple of weeks so this particular dish won’t be around for much longer!

Makes 6 pies

Ingredients

• 1 kg oxtail on the bone
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 celery sticks, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped/grated
• 200g mushrooms, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 sprigs thyme
• 20g tomato puree
• 440ml Black Mass (plus extra for the chef)
• 1500ml beef stock
• 1 tbsp white miso paste
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
• Salt and pepper
• 2 packs pastry of your choice (Joe makes his own suet crust, but we recommend the easy way for home use!)

Method

Brown off the oxtail in a heavy bottom casserole pot (or Dutch oven) on a medium heat and render down the fat.
Remove to a plate. Keep the fat that has rendered down in the pan. Place this into a small bowl and set aside. 
Lowering the heat, fry the onion, celery, garlic and carrot in some oil until soft.
Add the tomato puree and cook out for 1-2 mins
Add the beer, beef stock, miso and tomato ketchup and stir through
Place the oxtail and herbs in the pan, cover and cook in a low oven at 120c (fan) or 130c (normal) for 3 hours.
Allow the stew to cool slightly before removing the oxtail and pick the meat off the bones, it should come off relatively easily. If not, pop it back in the oven until soft and falling off the bone.
Strain the casserole juices into a bowl and put the vegetables to one side
Place the bowl with the juices in a freezer and after a couple of hours you will be able to remove the fat that has risen to the top as it will have solidified
Place the juices and meat back into the casserole pot with the vegetables (now including the mushrooms) and stir through. Bring to the boil and reduce untll the desired consistency is achieved. If necessary, thicken with an equal amount of warmed oxtail fat and plain flour, mixed to a paste and whisked into the pie mix.  
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Encase in pastry and bake according to the instructions.

Serve with your choice of potato, lashings of gravy, and a pint.

Enjoy!

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