Month: July 2019

Ryes from the Grave is the first of an ambitious series of beers released from our Funk Dungeon barrel ageing and souring programme. Each of these is to have their own distinct identity and will be intended to showcase both the diversity of the beers resting quietly in our cellars, and the skill involved in meticulously blending them together. While we are still at the behest of Brettanomyces and its ability to ferment all the sugars we let it feed upon, we are confident that we are definitely at a point where we can really be proud of the time and effort put into these beers. 

This beer is an expression of the history of the barrel project. It’s made up of beers which hold some of our earliest work with yeasts and bacteria and their relationship over time with neutral oak, to some of our more recent barrel acquisitions which exhibit additional flavour characteristics that work hand in hand with our yeasts.

So what came first, the beer or the name?! That is a very good question, and one that none of us can quite remember the answer to. Either way, the base beer designed to be the backbone to the final blend (and making up about a third of it) contains a high quantity of Crystal Rye, chosen as it provides a tasty residual sweetness coupled with a spicy edge that amplifies the fruit content of the beer.

This base beer was fermented with our house sour saison yeast blend, with added sour cherries and blackcurrant puree. Primary fermentation took around two weeks, after which the beer was racked into freshly emptied barrels. The barrels themselves are now on their fourth fill, so provide a neutral oak character with a gentle hint of vanilla tannin. We left this to rest for four months before completing the blend for the final beer.

We then used a mixture of beers from older oak stock, to really enhance the complexity found within the final blend, using beer which was initially put into barrel between early 2017 and mid 2018. In this way, we feel that the final beer best represents the development of our programme and helps to show the burgeoning history which can now begin to be found within it.

The main component of the beer (about half of the final product) is a saison which has spent time in ex-red wine barrels. This was chosen as it adds a fruity tannic quality and a brett character, but overall wasn’t particularly acidic. In order to reach the desired level of acidity, a small amount of a low pH imperial saison was blended in, which also helps to round out and amplify the cherry and blackcurrant notes without being overbearingly acetic. Finally, a small addition of a more simple and straightforward cleaner beer brewed with a hybrid yeast was added which helped to bring everything together, as our Funk Dungeon Lead Brewer Jim puts it “that was the seasoning for the rest of the blend”.

This beer has come about as the result of a long testing process, where a number of different options and beers blended at varying quantities were shared with the whole team to allow the final outcome to be a true collaborative process. This beer, while it shows the influence of some of the classic Belgian styles and more contemporary US sours, also highlights that we are brewing, fermenting and blending our beers our way, with the intention of producing modern beer that is still steeped in tradition.

The beer itself a deceptively easy drinking 7.2% sour, refreshing and rounded yet blisteringly dry on the finish, with a high level of fruit acidity and a funky twang on the palate. Kudos to designer James Murphy on the stunning artwork too.

Ryes from the Grave is just one of the thirty lines we’ll have available at Funk Fest this September 7^th and 8^th, head to bit.ly/funkfest19 to grab your tickets! We hope that you can get hold of this beer (it’s available right here on our online shop) and enjoy it as much as we enjoyed working on it, and keep an eye out in the near future for the next beers from the dungeon.

The second in our current series of collaborations with good friends from across the pond, Greetings from Charlotte is the culmination of a journey which began with a week spent at the incredible NoDa Brewing, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Our brewers Jamie and Christie were lucky enough to head out there last year, and we were massively excited to welcome them back to brew with us in Sheffield just a few weeks ago.

NoDa co-owners Todd Ford and Chad Henderson made the trip across the Atlantic along with Production Manager Matt Virgil. The beer we have created, “Greetings from Charlotte” is a Breakfast Cereal IPA, a new angle on the New England style, with a South Eastern US twang and an English twist, inspired by NoDa’s popular “True Grit” IPA. Chad is a scientific brewer who starts at a theory to get to a recipe, and his desire to get into the nitty gritty of hops, proteins, and yeast was definitely something for us to learn from. We used torrefied maize (the closest things to cornflakes we’ve ever added to a beer), oats and oat milk, coupled with Galaxy, Vic Secret and Citra Cryo, to create a hazy hopbomb with a smooth mouthfeel and a crisp finish.

We caught up Todd and Chad over a pint after the brewday to learn a little more about the company, their ethos, and their community…

Todd and Chad met when both were homebrewers attending the same club almost a decade ago, “having fun and expression with beer, not a business”, as the craft beer scene started to really take off in the States. More lenient laws were beginning to increase the possibilities of brewing, causing a booming interest in the trade country-wide. In North Carolina, things were slower to get started, with just one beer (a fairly traditional German style lager) brewed in Charlotte at the time. Charlotte is the largest city in North Carolina, and Todd and Chad began to question why there were no local options available.

Todd and his wife Suzie, also a co-owner of the business, wanted a change and the opportunity to work together, and to bring a local beer option to their beloved hometown. And so the Fords “put their lives on the line”, using their retirement fund to start the business. “We were at a time of our lives where we felt able to go for it… our kids were in or through college and we knew we could dedicate the time and effort required to build the business from the ground up”.

Since the inception of NoDa 8 years ago, the beer scene has exploded in Charlotte – they were the second brewery to start up in a town which now boasts over 50 breweries. But Todd says that “what has kept us at the forefront is a unique balance of quality products and the development of exciting, approachable, flavourful brands that offer a twist on the familiar”. By challenging assumptions to keep excitement and a high variety alongside quality and consistency, NoDa certainly set a high precedent for creativity and diversity. There’s now a thriving brewery community in Charlotte, coupled with a healthy level of competition, which as Chad states means that “our beer now is better than it’s ever been… we have to keep up with that rising tide”.

The driving force behind Chad’s recipes is an overall ambition to “create, inspire, educate and challenge. I want our beers to straddle the box of comfort… inside the box gets boring, and stepping too far away means you can make something so obscure as to become too challenging, but stepping 1 foot either side of familiarity means you can find a balance and have something for people to relate to”.

It was an award for their Coco Loco porter at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in 2013, followed by a Gold award in the American IPA category in 2014 (a category usually dominated by breweries from Colorado), which Todd credits with making NoDa a household name in the American craft beer world. Following on from this, they were able to open their second production facility, which houses a 60 BBL plant and still has room to grow. The 15 BBL original kit is now used for their limited release brews as well as their barrel ageing and souring project. More GABF awards have followed, covering many different beer styles including their spiced beer (the beer that Chad credits with getting him his first date with his now wife!), the mojito inspired NoDajito sour, and Gordgeous pumpkin beer.

NoDa are proud to have a tap room in the art district of Charlotte which emphasises their love for and commitment to their community. They have a crowd of loyal taproom regulars and (similar to how we like to work here) take care to embrace their local area – they showcase local artists, and arrange an array of different charity events, with Monday night fundraisers taking place every single week. Even the furniture is made from repurposed wood, from the building’s former life as a vinegar factory.

As the “old boys” in North Carolina, but still the ones known for pushing the boundaries and staying ahead of the curve, we can see many similarities between NoDa and ourselves here at Abbeydale. As Todd puts it, “we have to learn a lot as fast as we can and then implement it as hard as we can… but everything we do, we do it with love”. A sentiment that’s as true in Sheffield as it is in Charlotte, almost 4000 miles away.

“Greetings from Charlotte” is out now in cask, keg and 440ml can.

Cheers!

We are excited to announce that we are today launching Heathen in 440ml cans, sitting proudly alongside our brand new lager Heresy at the forefront of our Brewers Emporium range.

Heathen has been our most popular beer in can for the past two years, and in response to customer feedback we’ve decided that more of it to love (and fewer trips to the fridge!) can only be a good thing! 

Both are available now by the 6 pack or case via our online shop.

The rest of the range will soon be making the transition to 440ml cans too, so do keep your eyes peeled for news on all of our upcoming releases!

It’s just one week to go until the thirteenth annual Sunfest beer festival kicks off at our lovely pub the Rising Sun! The team have been working hard to rustle up a cracker of a beer list for you, so read on and draw up your wish list!

We’re also excited to announce that this year’s festival (running from Thursday 11th to Sunday 14th July) marks the official launch of Heresy lager. An Abbeydale lager has been a long time in the making (we’ve been saving the name for it since the 1990s!) so we can’t wait to get it out there. Please join us and help to welcome Heresy as the newest member of our Brewers’ Emporium family!

 

CASK

House Beers – Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield:

Blue Skies (4.3%) – *First pour* Special festival beer with 10p a pint donated to the James Brownhill Memorial Fund.  Easy drinking pale hopped with Mount Hood.

Bob’s Your Dunkel (7.0%) – *Festival exclusive* Imperial-ish wheat beer

Bretted Dry-Hopped Sour (5.5%) – *From the Funk Dungeon – One off cask* Lemon and lime sour, well hopped and finished with Brett

Cryo Huckster (6.0%) – *Collaboration with Peddler Market* – Cryo-hopped NEIPA

Forge (6.0%) – *Collaboration with Forge Bakehouse* – Ancient grain IPA

Last Rites (11.0%) – Full-bodied barley wine

Raisins to be Fearful (7.0%) – *Collaboration with Torrside Brewery* Smoked Belgian Dubbel with raisins and apricots

Reaper #4 (4.8%) – Grapefruit infused wheat beer

Rise and Shine (4.3%) – *Festival exclusive* Dry hopped pale with coffee

Serenity #9 (3.8%) – Session IPA with Citra & Sabro hops

Unbeliever #8.1 (4.0% ) – *One off cask* Mango & lychee kettle sour

Unbeliever #8.2 (4.4% ) – *One off cask* Raspberry & vanilla Berliner Weisse

Whoopsies (10.2%) – *Festival exclusive* Donut Imperial IPA         

 

Guest cask

Acorn Brewery, Barnsley – Summer (4.1%) – Wheat beer

Anthology Brewing, Leeds – New Zealand Pale Ale (4.0%) – Session pale with Rakau and Jester hops

Arbor Ales, Bristol – Mosaic (4.0%) – Single hopped session pale

Atom Beers, Hull – Blonde (4.0%) – Crisp session pale

Bad Seed Brewery, Malton – Rustic Charm (6.3%) – Farmhouse IPA

Bakers Dozen Brewing, Stamford:

The Turk (5.5%) – Turkish Delight Porter

Magic Potion #17 (3.8%) – Amarillo & Chinook hopped pale

Beat Brewery, Stourbridge – Skaburst (4.0%) – Farmhouse ale

Black Iris, Nottingham – Chasing the Sun (6.5%) – Juicy IPA with Citra, Amarillo and Motueka

Blackjack Brewery, Manchester – The Pokies (3.6%) – Session American pale

Box Social Brewing, Newcastle – Blood Eagle (4.2%) – Mosaic and Simcoe pale

Brass Castle Brewery, Malton – Eclipse (5.7%) – Black IPA

Brew York, York:

Tonkoko (4.3%) – Chocolate and tonka bean milk stout

Turtle Peach (4.4%) – Hoppy pale ale with peaches

Brewsters Brewing, Grantham – Lupi Lin (4.5%) – Golden Mosaic and Simcoe ale

Bristol Beer Factory, Bristol – Fortitude (4.0%) – Amber ale

Castle Rock Brewery, Nottingham – SIPAv2 (4.5%) – Session IPA with Galena, Citra, Simcoe and Loral hops

Crafty Monkey Brewing Company, Hartlepool – Moneypenny EPA (4.0%) – Traditional English pale

Crosspool Ale Makers Society, Crosspool – Delph House (7.0%) – DDH IPA

Don Valley Brewery, Mexborough – Kiss the Sky (4.0%) – Woodstock inspired pale

Fernandes Brewery, Wakefield – Blue Lady (3.8%) – Golden session ale named after the legend of the Ghost of Heath Hall

Fixed Wheel Brewery, Blackheath – Manx Missile (4.4%)  – Hoppy rye ale

Flagship Beer, Liverpool – Vandal (4.2%) – Easy drinking pale from the microbrewery at the excellent Ship & Mitre pub

Foolhardy Ales, Stockport – Run Riot (4.6%) – Peanut butter milk stout

Good Chemistry Brewing, Bristol – Natural Selection (4.0%) – American pale ale with Simcoe and Ekuanot hops

Great Yorkshire Brewery, Cropton – Yorkshire Golden (4.2%) – Refreshing golden beer

Half Moon Brewery, York – That Old Chestnut (4.7%) – *Collaboration with Raven Hill Brewery* Classic chestnut coloured bitter

Harbour Brewing Co., Lanivet, Cornwall – Daymer (3.7%) – Pale ale with Saaz, Celeia, Mosaic & Citra hops

Kirkstall Brewery, Leeds – Inman & Howgate (3.6%) *Collaboration with Vocation Brewery* Light session pale named after the 2 head brewers who created it

Little Black Dog Beer Co., Carlton – NEIPA (5.1%) – Hazy, hopfilled NEIPA

Liverpool Organic Brewery, Liverpool – Liverpool IPA (5.7%) – Hoppy pale

Loxley Brewery, Sheffield – Wisewood 7 (4.4%) – Five-hop pale

Magic Rock Brewing Co., Huddersfield:

Ringmaster (3.9%) – US hopped pale

High Wire (5.5%) – West Coast style pale

Magpie Brewery, Nottingham – Hoppily Ever After (3.8%) – Refreshing pale

Mission Creep Beers, Cuckoo Brewers – Temple (3.8%) – Session pale with Chinook hops

Moor Beer, Bristol – Radiance (5.0%) – Crisp and hoppy blonde ale

Neptune Brewery, Liverpool – Loreli (3.5%) – Summery pale with Mandarina Bavaria & Huell Melon hops

North Riding Brewery, Scarborough – Styrian Dragon (4.5%) – Single hopped pale

Pig & Porter, Tunbridge Wells – All These Vibes (5.3%) – Pale ale with oats and wheat

Rat Brewery, Huddersfield – Poirat (4.8%) – Belgian blonde ale

Revolutions Brewing, Castleford – Swoon (4.5%) – Chocolate fudge milk stout

Ridgeside Brewing Co., Leeds – Albion (4.5%) – Pale ale with Ernest hops

Riverhead Brewery, Marsden – Blueberry Pale (4.0%) – Pale ale with stacks of real blueberries

Rooster’s Brewing Co, Knaresborough – Gridiron (4.9%) – Dry-hopped American red ale

Sheffield Brewery, Sheffield – Get Thi’sen Outdooerz (4.0%) – Easy drinking session beer designed for outdoor drinking!

Shiny Brewing, Derby – Moa (3.9%) – NZ hopped pale

Silver Brewhouse, Staveley – Funky Summer (4.0%) – New world session IPA

Siren Craft Brew, Reading – Broken Dream (6.0%) – Breakfast stout, 2018 Champion Beer of Britain

Steel City Brewing, Sheffield – Åsane (6.7%) – Cherrywood-smoked rauch braggot

Team Toxic, Cuckoo Brewers – Milkshake Pale Ale (5.2%) – Milkshake pale with lactose

Thornbridge Brewery, Bakewell – Melba (5.2%) – Peach infused IPA

Torrside Brewing, New Mills – Margin of Error (4.8%) – “Traditional” English bitter, with loads of American hops!

True North Brew Co., Sheffield – DDH Pale (4.3%)    

Turning Point Brew Co., Kirkbymoorside – Off The Grid (6.2%) – *One off cask* Ultra pale hazy IPA with Simcoe, Cascade and Chinook

Vocation Brewery, Hebden Bridge – Jack of All Trades (3.8%) – *Collaboration with Blackjack Brewery* Citra and Enigma hopped pale

Waen Brewery, Llanidloes – Pamplemousse Grapefruit (4.2%) – Fruity, dry hopped pale with grapefruit juice

Welbeck Abbey Brewery, Worksop – Sleeping Beauty (5.3%) – A honey-sweet IPA with Beata hops

Wild Beer Co., Shepton Mallet – Bibble (4.2%) – Oat pale with Mosaic hops

Wilde Child Brewing Co., Leeds – Wheel of Fortune (4.7%) – Heavily hopped and hazy pale with Summit, Eureka & Simcoe

Wiper & True, Bristol – Kaleidoscope (4.2%) – A tri-hopped golden ale

 

KEG

House Beers – Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield :

Birdhouse (4.2%) – *Collaboration with Birdhouse Tea Co* Jasmine, green tea, summer fruits and hibiscus pinkish pale

Brett Force Trauma (5.0%) – *From the Funk Dungeon* Bretted pale ale with Mosaic

Greetings from Fort Mill (3.8%) – *Collaboration with Amor Artis, South Carolina* Orange peel and yarrow Grisette

Heathen (4.1%) – Mosaic hopped American Pale Ale

Heresy (4.5%) – Clean and crisp lager. Officially launching at the festival!

Keggy Bread (3.8%) – *Festival exclusive* Our Daily Bread best bitter served for one time only ON KEG! Fuggles, yum yum.

Lil Boochie (Low alc) – *Festival exclusive* Hopped Kombucha

Maize-Balls (6.2%) *Festival exclusive* Maize IPA with fresh blood oranges

Methuselah (Rum BA) (10.5%) – *From the Funk Dungeon* Barrel aged imperial stout.

Passion Fruit Lager (4.5%)  – *Festival exclusive* Lager infused with passionfruits

RITA (6.0%) – *Collaboration with Thornbridge Brewery* Black IPA #BIPAcomeback

Serenity #9 (3.8%) – Session IPA with Citra & Sabro hops

Unbeliever #8.2 (4.4%)- Raspberry & Vanilla Berliner Weisse

Voyager #17 (5.6%) – Citra, Cascade & Centennial IPA

 

Guest keg

Arbor Ales, Bristol – Space Hardware (6.6%) – NEIPA with Ekuanot, Galaxy, Mosaic and Simcoe hops

Atom Beers, Hull – The God Particle (6.0%) – *Collaboration with Abbeydale Brewery* Kveik IPA

Booch & Brew, Manchester – Ginger Kombucha (Low alc) – Kombucha brewed with ginger and lemon

Box Social Brewing, Newcastle – A Certain Shade of Green (6.0%) – Potent and punchy Citra IPA

Brew York, York – Empress Tonkoko (10.6%) – Tonka bean and coconut chocolate imperial stout

Gibberish, Liverpool – Chocolate Chilli Stodge Stout (6.0%) – Sumptuous chocolate stout with a hint of spice

Gipsy Hill Brewing Co., London – Swamper (3.5%) – Session New England pale

Kernel Brewery, London – Foeder Beer (5.0%) – Mixed fermentation Belgian-esque pale

Orbit Beers, London – Tzatziki Sour (4.3%) – Mint and cucumber Berliner weisse

Ridgeside Brewing Co., Leeds – Equator (5.6%) – Pineapple & grapefruit IPA

Steel City Brewing, Sheffield – Hammer Brew (7.2%) – NZ sour brut IPA with peach. One of only 2 kegs!

St Mars of the Desert, Sheffield – Endless Toil (4.0%) – *Collaboration with Hop Hideout* Orange zest pale ale.

Torrside Brewing, New Mills – Take My Bones Away (5.5%) – *Collaboration with Black Iris Brewery* Fresh and summery IPA

Track Brewery, Manchester – Out of Sight (9.0%) – Cryo-hopped DIPA with oats   

Wander Beyond Brewing, Manchester – Smoking Cinders (7.0%) – Campfire porter

Wilde Child Brewing Co., Leeds – Flow Rider (4.9%) – Key lime cheesecake sour

Wiper & True, Bristol – Citra & Rye (4.8%) – Full bodied amber ale

 

Sunfest runs at the Rising Sun (471 Fulwood Road, Sheffield S10 3QA) from noon on Thursday 11^th July until Sunday 14^th July. It is free entry and family (and doggy!) friendly. Please get in touch at [email protected] if you have any questions… we hope to see you there!