Month: February 2021

The next in our series of 25^th anniversary celebratory beers is back… and it’s Last Rites!

One of our most iconic beers and first brewed in 1997, our deliciously boozy (yet still very drinkable) barley wine has truly stood the test of time. Heavily hopped using a similar combination of hops to Moonshine (Willamette, Cascade and Chinook), Last Rites was originally created from the first runnings of our flagship pale ale. It’s always been dry hopped too – this batch has Cascade and Mosaic added for an extra level of citrussy oomph!

Weighing in at 11% ABV, Last Rites is one of the trickiest beers in our line-up to brew, particularly during the cold winter months, so as usual we haven’t made things easy for ourselves… but we simply couldn’t imagine as important a milestone as our silver anniversary without it! Smooth and robust with a huge depth of flavour and a lingering finish, it’s one to truly savour and a beer we’re very proud of.

Last Rites is available now on our online shop and to trade customers, and for the first time we’ve added Brewers Clarex to the recipe meaning it’s labelled as gluten free (if you’d like to know more about this process, head to this blog post).  

So whether it’s a nostalgic favourite or a beer that’s new to you, please join us in raising a glass to 25 years of Abbeydale Brewery. Cheers!

So February 14^th is looming and whether you like to celebrate Valentine’s Day or not we reckon it’s a great excuse to treat the one you love!

We all need to stay at home at the moment, but we’re here to help create a romantic night in… with three delicious beers! And so we’ve put together a new limited edition gift pack inspired by a three course meal.

STARTER: The Hero’s Showdown – 4.5%. A Watermelon & Hibiscus pale ale, delicate and refreshing with a gently aromatic fruity character and just a hint of tartness alongside. Wonderfully thirst quenching and a great beginning to an evening, this would pair well with a light first course such as a whipped goat’s cheese or a seafood salad – and who doesn’t like melon as a starter?!

MAIN COURSE: Wanderer Oat Cream IPA – 6.2%. Bold, juicy, creamy and laden with Mosaic hops, this IPA is robust enough to stand up to all manner of main courses with just enough sweetness to cut through a rich meal. It’d be the perfect accompaniment to a classic steak and chips, or would work well as a contrast to spicy dishes from curry to tacos.

DESSERT: Salvation Sea Salt & Caramel Stout – 4.5%. Flavourful without being too heavy, this beer is inspired by an ever-popular combination – it would make a lovely pud simply enjoyed on its own but could also work beautifully alongside a tasty dessert. Whether you consider the beer a smooth operator to enjoy with a sharp and zesty passionfruit panna cotta, or a sumptuous partner to a decadent chocolate fondant.

Head to our online shop to pick up one of these – designed to work well whether shared with a loved one, or supped by yourself – you deserve it!

Cheers!

Team Abbeydale

We reach an important milestone this year, as the brewery celebrates its 25^th anniversary! Just one of the ways in which we’ll be marking the occasion is via the release of commemorative beers, all marked with a special emblem. The first of those is a returning beer which formed part of our core range from 2006 to 2016… and it’s available now! Welcome back Brimstone!

Brimstone is an American Brown Ale, well hopped with Amarillo. As we mentioned in our earlier blog post, Brimstone is a particular favourite of our Sales Director Dan. And in his words… “For me the reason why Brimstone was so special was because it looked like a traditional brown bitter but drank like a pale ale. Due to our particular disliking of crystal malt, the beer was coloured with chocolate malt, flavouring beautifully with chocolate and toffee, which when coupled with Amarillo hops (the Sabro of its time!) balanced it with a dreamy, marmalade like flavour. At 3.9% it was perfectly sessionable. You couldn’t compare any beer like it that was on the market at the time. It was a “bridge beer” for many that wanted to explore more than the normal cask bitters that were more readily available and truly experience what American hops tasted like. It was revolutionary in my opinion.”

Brimstone was retired back in 2016 due to Amarillo being in too short supply to keep it as part of our core range, and Double Brimstone was the first beer we released in honour of our 20^th anniversary that same year (more on that here, for those wanting to take a little trip down memory lane!), so the timing of this release seems rather fitting! And for the first time ever, it’s available in canned format.

We first heard about the existence of the Amarillo hop through an odd coincidence. Brewery co-owner Sue’s first cousin, Iain Hill (her mother’s brother’s son), is some 15 years her junior and has lived his whole life in Canada. He and Sue have only met occasionally over the years when he visited England with the family to visit his grandmother. But he became a brewer! Iain now runs Strange Fellows Brewing in Vancouver, along with business partner Aaron Jonckheere. Iain visited England as part of a work trip in the early part of the millennium, and made a quick visit to Sheffield to see our brewery.

As part of the many conversations about beer, Iain mentioned a new hop he was using from Oregon, called Amarillo, and recommended it to Pat. Pat immediately contacted our hop supplier Charles Faram and was able to secure some. And from this, Brimstone was born! We believe it was one of the first UK beers that Amarillo was used in (just as a couple of years later we’d be amongst the first to make use of Nelson Sauvin in Deception).

Brimstone to this day remains the only beer for which we have won a national tender and was successfully rolled out to all Greene King pubs at a national level in October 2011 – something which was partly facilitated due to its success as a house beer at the Museum, Orchard Square in Sheffield City Centre. It also featured as a house beer at the Dog & Partridge on Trippet Lane and the nationally award-winning Kelham Island Tavern and has had a few different “faces” as the house beer of pubs including the (now sadly closed) Mill of the Black Monk – as per the image to the right – and the Old Bowling Green in Winster.

As well as being perfectly happy flying solo as a sessionable and tasty beer, Brimstone cooks very well too, serving as a marvellous ingredient addition to stews, pies and the like. As a food pairing, we recommend a contrasting spicy dish like a rich and warming lamb tagine, or firecracker chicken wings with big, bold flavours. Alternatively, work with the structure of the ale and pair with a chocolate orange mousse or Millionaire’s Shortbread for a delicious dessert.

Brimstone is available direct on our online shop as well as to trade customers, for a limited time only!