Month: October 2019

Back in April this year, those of you who joined us for our second annual “Piss up in the brewery” event may remember a very special one-off beer brewed for the occasion. Our brewer Sam rustled up a rich and boozy imperial stout, infused with maple syrup, cinnamon, and loads and loads of Stroopwafels! The renown of “Smashwafel”, as it was known, quickly spread and it became our most requested beer of the summer.

So we are very excited to announce that we’ve scaled up the recipe and this week are releasing 2019’s Lost Souls imperial stout as a Smashwafel special!

A complex malt base with black malt, crystal, caramalt, Munich (the only addition from the original recipe, just to add another layer of biscuit-y pastry loveliness) and chocolate malt provides a deep and robust body. Comically large bottles of maple syrup, organic cinnamon quills, and of course plenty of actual Stroopwafels themselves were added to the hopback. Our house yeast would have struggled with this beast, so we enlisted the help of some London ESB to work its magic, all the way to our desired 10.6% ABV.

The result is a sumptuous and delectable imperial stout with a balanced bittersweet character, velvety smooth with decadent caramel flavours.

The cask was all spoken for on the first day of sale, but at the time of writing we have plenty of kegs remaining, so get in there quick if you’d like one for your venue! (Gold star if you can spot the little stroopwafel addition to this year’s edition of the artwork!)

Cheers!

Sheffield CAMRA’s 45^th Steel City Beer and Cider Festival kicks off TONIGHT at Kelham Island Museum, and we are very excited to be involved once more as keg bar sponsors!

Running from 5pm this evening until Saturday night, there’s an absolutely huge array of beers on offer, including six beers on cask and seven on keg from ourselves. Coinciding with the sapphire anniversary of the festival, Sheffield CAMRA are also celebrating the 500^th edition of their Beer Matters magazine, so we’ve rustled up a very special one off cask of an 8% IPA for the occasion!

Our full list is as follows…

ON CASK: Very Real Ale DIPA hopped with Galaxy & Nelson Sauvin (8.0%), Dr Morton’s Bag O Nuts pale ale (4.1%), Damnation pale ale (4.5%), Pilgrim pumpkin spiced ale (5.0%), Salvation Cranachan stout (4.5%) and Serenity session IPA with Galaxy & Vic Secret (3.8%).

ON KEG: Heathen American pale ale (4.1%), Wanderer lime & lemongrass saison (5.5%), Raisins to be Fearful Belgian inspired fruited Dubbel (7.0%, collaboration with Torrside Brewery) and Voyager IPA with Mosaic, Cascade & Idaho 7 hops (5.6%).

And also on keg, from the Funk Dungeon: Hop Bretta Vic Secret (3.9%), Red Wine BA Gruit (7.1%) and Slam Dunk Da Funk fruited dark sour (5.3%)

Do check out the festival website for copies of the full beer lists as there’s so much to try, we can’t wait to get stuck in. The website also has all the information you need about session times and entrance prices.

Other highlights of the weekend include an IPA tasting with the legendary beer writer Roger Protz at 8.30 tonight (ticketed event, click here for details), some excellent live music including local band Kingfisher Blue at 6pm on Friday night and Sunfest favourites the Loxley Silver Band on Saturday afternoon, and our friends at Seven Hills WI will be supplementing the tasty selection of food stalls with their homemade cakes to raise money for their charity of the year on Saturday too.

Please also cross your fingers for us in the Champion Beer of Sheffield awards which take place at the festival this evening! There’ll be quite a few of us from the brewery down there this evening so do come and say hello if you spot us!

Cheers!

Our charity beer has officially now all SOLD OUT  and we are delighted to be able to announce the total monies raised at Sunfest this year!

First up – our JBMF collaboration brew – Blue Skies – an easy drinking pale, hopped with Mount Hood named after one of James’ passions, Sky Diving, and it’s gone down a treat with pubs as far afield as Liverpool, Coventry and Cheshire (with plenty being supped in Sheffield too of course!). 10p from every pint sold will be donated straight to the charity – a grand total of £806.40.

In addition, James’ family and friends were a valuable presence over Sunfest and they raised an amazing £1096 during the festival, from a combination of cake, pork pie and sausage roll sales (hands up if you’re still dreaming about those!). Adding in your very generous beer tokens and spare change from the weekend gives us a total of £2286.20!

Some kind words from the family; 

"All of us involved in the James Brownhill Memorial Fund (JBMF), which was founded after James was killed in a climbing accident on Mont Blanc in 2011, would sincerely like to thank Abbeydale brewery for "adopting" the JBMF as their charity for the Sunfest festival in the summer of 2019 where we ran the "Munchies" stall selling homemade cakes, buns and sausage rolls.

The timing of the invitation was perfect as the JBMF is reaching the desired target of funds in order to run the JBMF for 22 3/4 years, James’ age, and offering bursaries to provide a week’s course for leadership skills in winter alpine climbing conditions.

So the substantial funds we raised has provided the vast majority of the remaining monies required. The funds came from a mixture of sales on the "Munchies" stall, donations and the generous scheme whereby 10p is donated to the JBMF by Abbeydale brewery for every pint of the festival beer (Blue Skies) sold. We even had the honour of naming the beer and the name came from one of James’ other pastimes which was Skydiving.

We have always been welcomed by the brewery and been given every opportunity to be part of the festival in order to keep James’ name and spirit alive."  

Whirlow Hall Farm raised £600 after all costs, to go straight to their charity, Whirlow Hall Farm Trust.

Last but by no means least, the ever popular Rain Rescue dog show raised £57.55 on the Sunday of Sunfest, and there were lots of waggy tails on the day, so another success.

A huge thank you to all of you who joined us for Sunfest, donated your beer tickets, munched on a hog roast sandwich or a sausage roll, or paraded your pooch in the dog show. And also of course to all of our customers who have had Blue Skies on their bars in recent weeks.