Author: abbeydale.admin

Rejoice! As we start to work towards our 30^th anniversary next year, legacy beers from the Abbeydale Brewery archives are being re-released, with a fresh new look.

First up… it’s the return of Holy Water! A much-requested favourite, and now brewed again to the original recipe, which dates back over 20 years. Packing a punch at 6.0% ABV but still wonderfully smooth and well-balanced, made using Willamette, Citra and Centennial hops. Notes of zesty citrus and juicy nectarine are backed up by delicately sweet orchard fruits, followed up with a gentle yet lingering bitterness. It’s an Abbeydale classic!

We know of many of our early regulars who have fond memories of this beer, so we hope to bring back a little nostalgia as well as welcome Holy Water to a new audience too. Holy Water could be thought of as a precursor of the IPAs we make today – stronger than our pale ale specials, and more heavily hopped too, it was originally created to be a more potent version of Moonshine (but not quite to the same extent as Last Rites, of course!). Typically, Holy Water would find an annual spot in the brew plan (including one brew on Valentines Day 2007 which we’ve hunted out in our archives – very fitting for this much loved beer!), but this release marks its first appearance since 2014.

Holy Water was also one of the first beers in which we trialled dry hopping – a small number of casks would be set aside from each brew, and different hops added directly to each. Back in 2008, Pat said of this exercise “I intend to continue these experiments but I think they will always be outside the mainstream of our work.” How things change!

The artwork has been reimagined by our designer James Murphy, and is intended to pay homage to – and sit beautifully alongside – our classic core range. It marks the first of a small series of legacy beers that have meant a lot to us throughout our history, which will be released as limited edition batches in the run up to our milestone 30^th birthday next year. Brimstone and Matins are also in the pipeline to join this historical line up, and we’d love to hear if there are any other beers from our back catalogue which stir up a strong sense of reminiscence for you!

Holy Water is available in cask (of course) right now, and for the first time ever you will soon be able to enjoy it in keg and can (including from our online shop) too – we’re currently taking pre-orders, and expect these to ship during the week commencing 14th April.

If you’re a trade customer who’s interested in becoming a stockist, please give us a call on 0114 2812712 if you’d like a cask or keg for your venue. 

Cheers!

Team Abbeydale

We’re on the lookout for someone to join our team as a Brewery Assistant, and Co-Owner of our Employee Owned Trust, on a full or part time basis.

The role will be predominantly manual and quite varied, but will mostly entail:

• Packaging beer – cask, keg, can and bottle
• Warehouse work – handling weights of 25kg+
• General brewery maintenance – cleaning, tidying, basic DIY
• Helping with our shop and subscription service
• Delivery driving for the right candidate – a full clean driver’s license would be an advantage, but is not essential

Please note this is not a brewing role, however you will be regularly working alongside our production team.

We are an employee owned company, so working with us means you will have a real say in how the business is run and play a meaningful part in its future. We are flexible and supportive employers who take great pride in training and developing our team. We recently won the Employer of the Year category at the 2025 SIBA Business Awards too!

Part of being an independent company means it’s important to us to give all our staff the opportunity to contribute their own skills, so if there’s something else you can bring to the team in addition to the above job description, be it cellar knowledge, photography, retail or something we haven’t realised we need yet, we’d love to hear about it!

We will consider applicants for either a full time (37.5 hours per week) or a part time role, and we can work around school hours or any carer commitments you may have.

Usual working hours are within 8am-5pm Monday to Friday, and evening and weekend work may also be requested at times.

Salary £25k / annum (pro-rata for part time) plus staff discount across the business (including at our pub, The Rising Sun), health insurance following successful completion of your probationary period, future potential for profit share and the opportunity to join a growing and progressive company which holds community, quality and above all its people at heart.  

If it sounds like you could be the reliable and proactive team player we are looking for, please send a CV with references and covering letter to [email protected] by the closing date of Thursday 17^th April.

You are welcome to email us or call 0114 2812712 if you have any queries.

Cheers!

Team Abbeydale

We are absolutely delighted, humbled and proud to share the fantastic news that we have been named the Employer of the Year! This accolade celebrates our pioneering transition to becoming 100% employee owned in 2024, recognising the commitment made by founders and selling owners Pat and Sue Morton to ensure a true legacy of independence and cement our people right at the very heart of the business.  

Earlier this week some of the team, including our Employee Reps Christie and Fin, headed over to Liverpool for Beer X, the UK’s largest beer and brewing trade event, where the SIBA Business Awards were held. These Awards aim to highlight the UK’s very best brewing businesses, pubs and retailers of independent beer, in an annual celebration known as the “Oscars of the beer industry” and judged by a panel of industry experts. We were thrilled to have made the shortlist and National Finals amongst some incredible company (more on that here), and to come home with a win was really the cherry on top.

The awards were hosted by Sunday Times Beer Columnist and acclaimed author and broadcaster Pete Brown, who said of our award “the judging panel were unanimous in their praise for Abbeydale who this year were trailblazers in the UK as the first employee-owned brewery, building a future for this much-loved brewery whilst giving back to the team who built it.”

Brewery Rep Christie took the opportunity whilst collecting our beautiful shiny new trophy to say thank you to Pat and Sue for their leadership and their trust in the team which has got us to where we are today – he speaks for us all in saying this award is for them.

Cheers!

Team Abbeydale

We’re thrilled to share the news that we have been shortlisted as finalists for three awards across two nationwide competitions, with the results due to be announced next week.

Firstly, we’re incredibly proud to announce that in our first year of being 100% employee owned, we’ve been named as finalists in the Employer of the Year category in the SIBA Business Awards. As the first brewery in the UK to move to becoming an Employee Ownership Trust, this demonstrates a genuine commitment towards ensuring a true legacy of independence and puts our wonderful team right at the very heart of the business.  

Also in the Business Awards, our beautiful Travel Poster series is up for Best Concept Design. Congratulations to our designer James for creating such a stand-out series – there’s so much hard work and research that goes into each and every design, and it’s great to see that recognised. You can read more about this range here.

The SIBA Business Awards will be held next Wednesday at Beer X, the UK’s largest beer and brewing trade event. Referred to as “the Oscars of the beer industry”, Neil Walker, SIBA Head of Comms & Marketing, said of the awards; “I can speak on behalf of the entire judging panel to honestly say this was the hardest judging year yet, with a really incredibly high level of entries across the board.” So it is a huge honour to have made the shortlist in two very strong categories – we’re up against some absolutely fantastic fellow breweries and are looking forward to celebrating with them, whatever the outcome. The awards will be hosted by Sunday Times Beer Columnist and acclaimed author and broadcaster, Pete Brown.

And in the Independent Beer Awards, taking place next Thursday, our Black IPA Black Mass has made the national finals, having come out on top in the Speciality IPA round of the North East regional bottle & can awards for the third year in a row!  These awards see beers marked against internationally recognised style guides, looking at appearance, aroma, flavour, aftertaste and saleability. The judging panel is made up of fellow brewers and some of the country’s best beer experts, who blind taste every entry. Black Mass is a beer which has been with us for our entire history as a brewery, so it’s one that’s pretty special to us. We can’t wait to find out how it gets on next week.

Wish us luck!

Cheers,

Team Abbeydale

Our much acclaimed Dark Mild is back… and it only took us 11 months this time, rather than the DECADE we waited previously! So we thought it was worth sharing the history of this deliciously humble beer again. From the archives, here’s the story of this particular Restoration. Alternative titles suggested by the team for bringing it back for a sequel included “Mamma Mild, Here We Go Again”, “2 Mild 2 Furious”, “The Mild Strikes Back”, “Mild Reloaded” and “Breath of the Mild: Beers of the Kingdom”.

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. Dark Mild launches TODAY, April 1^st (and no, it isn’t an April Fools), – cans are available from independent retailers, including from our online shop, or give us a call on 0114 2812712 if you’d like a cask for your venue. Our sales team are still mildly unconvinced (I’m nearly done, I promise), and I’d love you to help me prove them wrong! [*Edited to add on 01/04/24 at 12.37 – cask all gone, thank you Mild Things!]

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 very excited to announce that for the first time, we will have our very own brewery bar at the Great British Beer Festival – Winter edition, taking place at Magna in Rotherham from Wednesday 12^th – Saturday 15^th February! We’ll have a great selection of beers across both cask and keg on the bar, including Deliverance IPA (one of our highest rated beers of all time!), Last Rites Barley Wine, and of course, plenty of Moonshine!

It’s the debut for our shiny new events bar, which we’ve had specially commissioned to ensure we can look our best when pouring at events such as this. It’s super snazzy and we can’t wait to pull some pints from it!

In addition, we’re taking over the CAMRA Discovery Bar on Saturday 15^th. Come along to hear from Team Abbeydale about our long-standing love of hops, and how we have been at the forefront of hop usage and development for the last three decades. We’re incredibly proud of the diverse range we’re bringing along for this bar, all of which say something different about our brewery and the hops we use. From Black Mass, a beer we believe to be one of the world’s first and longest standing Black IPAs, to a 3.9% pale ale from our Through the Hopback series featuring UK grown Ernest hops, and samples of our alcohol free Nelson Sauvin Sparkling Hop Water too! Plus, we’ll have a selection of hops for you to be able to experience our ingredients in their purest form.

The team from the brewery and our pub, The Rising Sun, will be around on our bars all week to chat about our beers and our new status as Co-Owners of the business.

Of course, there’s beer from a huge range of breweries from all around the UK too (you can find the full beer list here), as well as an international bar and a dedicated Champion Winter Beer of Britain bar too where you can head to sample all the nominees and winners!

Tickets are available here, buying in advance gets you a little discount and the ability to beat the queues, or you can pay on the door too. The ticket price includes your souvenir festival glass, and all the entertainment of the event too – there’s some fantastic live music lined up! We really hope to see you there!

We’re excited to announce that our on site shop wasn’t just for Christmas! After many years of our offering being online only, you can now pop down to see us and buy your beer in person.

From January 2025 onwards, our opening hours are browsing are 1pm-5pm Thursday & Friday. As well as two massive fridges full of deliciously chilled beers and our lovely alcohol free option, Sparkling Hop Water, you can also pick up full cases of cans which we’ll bring to you straight from our cold store. Party coming up? We can sort you a full 72-pint cask along with everything you need to serve it. And in addition we’ve got plenty of merchandise, glassware and other goodies for your home bar along with a myriad of gift ideas!

Outside of the above hours, you’re still very welcome to pop by any other weekday afternoon – simply ring the bell on the door and someone from the office will be happy to help.

For those of you that prefer to order online, our click and collect service remains unaffected, and please note the offering in store will be the same as online, although we do have some in store exclusives to come! All beer is served on a strictly takeaway basis only – unfortunately we don’t have a taproom.

Please do come down for a browse and a chat – we’d love to talk you through our brews!

You can find us on Aizlewood Road – S8 0YX. We hope to see you soon!

Wow – what a year! I think it’s fair to say that 2024 has been one of the most important yet for us here at Abbeydale Brewery, and it’ll go down in the history books as the year that we – along with our wonderful pub, The Rising Sun – became employee owned! We hope and truly believe as a team that this move secures the legacy of the wonderful independent business Pat and Sue Morton have worked so hard to build over the past three decades, ensuring success for many, many more years to come.  You can read more on this, and the establishment of Sheffield Beerworks EOT Ltd, here.

Talking of success, we’ve won some fantastic awards this year which definitely deserve another shout out! Our Funk Dungeon Lead Brewer, Jim Rangeley, won the auspicious title of the Brewer of the Year at the 2024 Brewers Choice Awards, where we were also shortlisted for the Branding of the Year for our beautiful travel poster inspired series. And Black Mass retained its Champion Speciality IPA title (for the third year in a row!) at the SIBA North East Bottle & Can Awards. We’re looking forward to the national finals in March!

In terms of the numbers, here’s a little look at our year in beer. We’ve brewed a total of 389 times, creating 92 individual beers, adding up to over 3 MILLION pints! Our first brew of the year was Moonshine, and the last beer of the year? You guessed it, Moonshine again! It’s not all about our flagship though, as we’ve continued to cover a huge range of styles, from the zesty, zingy Passionfruit & Lime Sour from our Unbeliever series, to our much revered (and really quite boozy) Last Rites Barley Wine. It was also the year we finally made a mild!

Cask beer still reigns supreme here, amounting to over 75% of our total output – although it’s worth pointing out that we also sold over a quarter of a million cans too, including lots and lots in our newly opened on site shop! Although cans are a slightly lower proportion of our sales this year, this means more of our beer is being enjoyed in one of the hundreds of wonderful pubs we supply, which is great to see. Support your local!

Moonshine is still our biggest seller, but it has dropped slightly as a proportion of our total in recent years, now sitting at just under 40%. And our alcohol free Sparkling Hop Water has become a firm fixture of our range, going from strength to strength since its introduction last year with sales doubling in 2024. Overall, it’s been our best year since the pandemic, which we hope demonstrates faith in our beers in what is still an incredibly challenging landscape to navigate for us all, including across our industry.

Our community continues to be absolutely integral to all that we do here. As part of this we were delighted to continue our charity partnership with Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust, rebrewing our very popular Swifty pale ale  – this year with a sustainable twist, as we were amongst the first in the UK to use ancient grain Fonio, raising over £800 in the process. More on that here.

Looking ahead to 2025, we have two shiny new tanks on the way as I type, which will increase our production and packaging capacity. We’ve already got some absolute TREATS in the pipeline, but there’s still space for more and we do take requests where we can… so do let us know if there’s a beer you’d love to see from us – whether it be a returning favourite or a brand new style for us, we’d love to hear from you! We’re even starting to make plans for some of the special beers we’ll be releasing to commemorate our 30^th anniversary in 2026 too, with some deluxe new additions to our barrel store in mind…

We’ve also already got some fantastic events booked in, including being at the prestigious Winter GBBF from 12-15 February, and we’re excited to be returning to Indie Beer Feast right here in Sheffield in March too. We hope to see you for a beer very soon!

From all of Team Abbeydale – the new co-owners of the business – a huge thank you to everyone who’s supported us this year. It really does mean so much to us, and we can’t wait to find out what the year ahead has in store.

Cheers!

We are THRILLED to announce that for the third year in a row, our Black Mass is a champion, again winning a top class Gold award in the Speciality IPA category at the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Regional Bottle & Can Awards!

A Gold award means that Black Mass scored over 90/100 and will go forward to the National Finals, due to be held in March next year.

Brewer Jim Rangeley (himself winner of Brewer of the Year!) says, “Black Mass has always been one of my favourite beers both to make and to drink, and it’s great to see that the judges agree! I’m looking forward to celebrating with a can of it.”

Part of our range for our entire 28 year history, Black Mass is one of the world’s first Black IPAs. A hop forward character coupled with delectable flavours reminiscent of bitter chocolate, fruitcake and raisins, meets aromas of fresh pine alongside coffee and just a hint of burnt toast – it’s classic and familiar yet simultaneously unique and boundary defying.

The SIBA Independent Beer Awards is the UK’s leading beer competition, which sees beers marked against internationally recognised style guides for the different beer award categories – looking at appearance, aroma, flavour, aftertaste and saleability. The awards are judged by beer sommeliers, experienced beer judges and fellow brewers too. The full list of winners from the North East region can be viewed here.

Cans of Black Mass are available now, direct from ourselves either online or in person, as well as from independent retailers nationwide.

Now that’s a Christmas present!

Cheers!

Team Abbeydale