2025 – our year in beer
2025 – our first full year of being employee owned! Our team genuinely feels stronger than ever, and we believe that’s reflected in the beers we’ve released over the last 12 months. We’ve achieved close to 5% growth from last year, which is almost double our own hopes and expectations… and all against a general climate which is still making things incredibly difficult for our industry as a whole. We’re truly humbled to have somewhat bucked the trend here, and so grateful for the support of our customers to be able to do so – it really is something we would never take for granted.
Our first year as an EOT was recognised twice over! We won the amazing accolade of Employer of the Year at the SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) Business Awards , followed up by our founder Pat coming away with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Brewers Choice Awards. And we were the only brewery to make the finals of the BBC Food & Farming Awards, being named on the shortlist for Best Drinks Producer! All key highlights of 2025 for us.
There were more awards for our beers, too! Voyager cans scooped a Silver and cask Deception won a Bronze medal in the SIBA NE Indie Beer Awards, our thirst-quenching Nelson Sauvin Sparkling Hop Water was awarded a Silver at the World Alcohol Free Awards, and our Black IPA, Black Mass, was named Speciality IPA Category Champion at the SIBA North East Indie Beer Awards as well as taking away the Silver medal in the Champion Beer of Sheffield competition.
During the course of 2025, we brewed a total of 328 times, creating 96 individual beers (and two Sparkling Hop Waters!), adding up to almost 3 MILLION pints… over a million of which were our beloved Moonshine! Our first brew of the year was Moonshine, and the last beer of the year, which we’re making as I share this, is Heathen, beautifully bookending 2025 with our two most popular brews. And we strengthened our commitment to making our beer as accessible as we can to those who want to drink it, with our entire range becoming gluten free.
Cask beer remains the beating heart and soul of our business, with over three quarters of our output going to wonderful pubs nationwide and beyond!. But it’s not all we can do (totally intentional pun), with us filling over 250,000 cans too!
We had success internationally, almost doubling our export volumes when compared to 2024. We sent our beer to Ireland and Germany for the first time (including a collaboration brew and two tap takeovers in the Rhineland!), plus securing new distributors in Finland and Sweden. And the furthest apart you’d be able to find yourself an Abbeydale beer over the course of the year was around 1250 miles – from Dublin to Helsinki!
Our charity of the year was the wonderful local cause Ben’s Centre – we raised £790 which will go towards supporting vulnerable people in our community. And we gained a celebrity fan in the form of Sheffield legend Sean Bean, who sampled our beers whilst we celebrated Weston Park Museum’s 150th birthday together.
So after all that… what does 2026 have in store for Team Abbeydale? Well, it’s our 30th anniversary year! Our actual birthday isn’t until August, but we’re not limiting the celebrations to a single day and have a PLETHORA of exciting plans in the pipeline that we can’t wait to share with you! We hope you’ve already seen our limited edition bottles of Henderson’s Relish (the last of which are available exclusively in our on site shop, now open 5 days a week!). Stay tuned for some very special beer releases… starting with some Very Big News that we hope is going to tickle the fancy of those of you about to embark on Dry January!
Wishing you all a very happy new year, and a bountiful 2026.
Cheers!
Team Abbeydale
