Month: September 2015

As we are less than a week to go until CatFest, we have the following beers that will feature in the festival!

Abbeydale – Elgar (dry hopped charity cask)  – 4.2% 
Abbeydale – Black MagiK – 6.3% 
Crystal Black – Pearl – 5.0%
Dancing Duck – Dark Drake – 4.5% 
Driftwood Spars – Forest Blonde – 4.3%
Driftwood Spars – Lou’s Brew – 5.0% 
Exit 33 – Riverside Pale – 4.2%
Fernandes – Challenger – 4.1% 
Fixed Wheel – Blackheath Stout – 5.0%
Grain – 3.1.6 – 3.9% 
Magpie – Huginn – 5.6%
Merlin’s Micro – Morgana – 4.1% 
North Riding – Bramling Gold – 3.8%
Ossett – Best of British – 4.5% 
Ossett – Stocks Endevor – 4% 
Pictish – Crusader – 4.1% 
Rat – Ratworst – 4.8% 
Raw – Bramling X – 3.6% 

Revolutions – Cocker – 3.9%

Revolutions – Amnesiac IPA – 6.0% 
Sentinel – UK IPA – 6.5%  
Townhouse – Bramling Cross 4.0%
Walls – Northallerton Dark  – 4.4% 
Wold Top – Headland Red – 4.3%

*Please be aware the list may be subject to change, but this is how we intend to start the festival.

**All proceeds from the dry-hopped Elgar will be donated to Blind Veterans UK.

The recent trends in the beer world and the exponential rise in the UK craft brewing movement have resulted in a hugely increased influx of New World hops, with their promise of exotic aromas and tropical flavours often meaning that our more traditional hops fade a little into the background.

Well, here at Abbeydale we’re on a bit of a mission to rekindle the love for the humble British hop! We’re lucky to live in a country that takes great pride in its brewing heritage, with traditions that have spanned centuries continuing to this day (growing hops for a flavour addition to beer, rather than simply a preservative, first became popular in the seventeenth century). Our ways of growing hops are amongst the most cost effective and environmentally friendly in the world, with our mild climate and even rainfall throughout the year providing the perfect terroir for hops with delicate yet tantalisingly complex aromas.

The hop harvest for 2015 is now well underway, and continues throughout September and into early October. There are currently 28 commercially available varieties of British hops (more than double the number available less than 20 years ago) with a recent emphasis on intensifying hop flavour, to react to the changing taste buds of the beer drinker.

This year, Charles Faram hop merchants have reached their 150th anniversary. To partake in some of the celebrations, four of our brewery team headed down to the beautiful Stocks Farm in Worcestershire, where hops have been grown for over two hundred years… enough of them to make 46 million pints of beer! The farm is owned by the Capper family, who have decades of hop growing experience between them. Ali Capper also sits on the board of the British Hop Association (see www.britishhops.org.uk for more information) as well as chairing the Wye hops breeding programme, meaning there’s also something new and experimental being nurtured at the farm.

We arrived at Stocks Farm on a typically British gloomy day to be greeted by the Faram’s team and ten casks of beer, including a couple of Faram’s own creations and newly crowned Champion Beer of Britain, Tiny Rebel Brew Co’s Cwtch. After a few samples (all in the name of research of course), a good bit of networking with some fellow brewery folk, and announcements relating to this year’s hop harvest worldwide, we headed off around the farm to learn more about how this intriguing crop is grown and harvested. We firstly wandered through the low trellis hedgerow hops, including Endeavour, which are generally easier to pick but have lower yields. The tall hops in the next field we reached are more difficult to maintain, but are well known for their aromatic qualities – Jester, a relatively new hop variety, was my favourite, with vibrant citrus notes. You could certainly tell the harvest was in full swing during our visit, with the chugging of harvesters to be heard and the air full of enticing heady aromas from the fresh hops on the plants. Next stop was the picking machine, which is absolutely enormous – filling an entire barn with a maze of what look almost like conveyor belts, designed to gently slope upwards which separates the cones from the leaves (the cones roll downhill much more easily, meaning they come away from the more stubborn leaves!). Once separated, the hops are ready to be dried in the kiln, before being subsequently cooled to allow the remaining moisture to distribute throughout the cone. After around 24 hours, they are ready to be vacuum packed and sent to the brewers, to be used in the creation of any number of delicious beers!

From Thursday 1st to Sunday 4th of October, the inaugural Catfest at the Devonshire Cat will be showcasing 24 beers brewed using British hops, including two of our own specials, one of which is a one-off dry hopped cask. These dates also coincide with Cask Ale Week, so there’s even more reason to “hop” on board and raise a glass to our magnificent brewing heritage!

Cheers,

Laura

Come along to Catfest 2015 Beer Festival and support a local military charity

Sheffield based brewery Abbeydale have partnered with Blind Veterans UK to host a four day Beer Festival at The Devonshire Cat in Wellington Street this autumn.

The festival, Catfest 2015, will be a fantastic four day event of live music, beer tasting and delicious food from Thursday 1st – Sunday 4th October 2015.

Abbeydale Brewery are partnering with local military charity Blind Veterans UK to hold this, their first beer festival at The Devonshire Cat, 49 Wellington Street Sheffield. The festival coincides with Cask Ale Week and all proceeds from one special cask will be donated to Blind Veterans UK.

The beer festival will feature 24 specially selected cask beers all of which contain British hops.  With the breweries featuring coming from near and far, there will surely be something to suit everyone’s taste. 

On the four day event there is a chance to meet the Brewers, listen to live music and eat amazing food with the usual excellent menu featuring all locally-sourced (and, as far as possible, locally produced) produce.

Dan Baxter, Director at Abbeydale Brewery, says: “It’s going to be a great weekend all kicking off with a special quiz with the winning team getting a firkin of delicious Abbeydale Ale!

“We’re all thrilled to be raising money for Blind Veterans UK, they’re an amazing charity with a training and rehabilitation centre right here in Sheffield.

“So don’t forget to come down, have a great time, and raise money for a brilliant charity.”

Blind Veterans UK (formerly St Dunstan’s) was founded in 1915 and the charity’s initial purpose was to help and support soldiers blinded in World War I. But the organisation has gone on to support more than 35,000 blind veterans and their families, spanning World War II to recent conflicts including Iraq and Afghanistan.

For 100 years, the charity has been providing vital free training, rehabilitation, equipment and emotional support to blind and vision impaired veterans no matter when they served or how they lost their sight.

Andrea Hudson, Blind Veterans UK’s Regional Fundraiser, says: “This is a very special year for the charity as its 100 years since we were founded and the 10th anniversary of our Sheffield centre.

“All the money raised will go to supporting blind and vision-impaired veterans discover a life beyond sight loss.”

You can find out more information about the festival and tickets by emailing [email protected] or at devonshirecat.co.uk. 

You can find out more information about Blind Veterans UK at blindveterans.org.uk.

 

For all media enquiries please contact:

Mark Wheeler – PR Officer

E: [email protected]

T: 020 7616 7980

M: 07894 930352

Blind Veterans UK

12-14 Harcourt Street

London      

W1H 4HD

 

Notes to Editors

 

Blind Veterans UK

Blind Veterans UK (formerly St Dunstan’s) is a national charity that believes that no-one who has served our country should have to battle blindness alone. Founded in 1915, the charity provides blind and vision impaired ex-Service men and women with lifelong support including welfare support, rehabilitation, training, residential and respite care.

 

Find out more at: blindveterans.org.uk, follow us on Facebook at: facebook.com/blindveteransuk and on Twitter at: twitter.com/blindveterans.