Month: November 2022

We can’t quite believe 2022 is drawing to a close already, it’s been another rollercoaster of a year – what better way to round things off than with some Christmas magic, and beer of course!

We’ve got some ace gift ideas available, including our beautiful new gift boxes! Each features 3 beers and a glass, perfect for a Secret Santa present. Choose from our ever-popular core range gift pack, Brewers Emporium flagships, a hop forward selection box or a trilogy of dark beers. Plus coming soon we’ll have the Heathen Trinity box, featuring “regular” Heathen, Cryo Heathen, and Fresh Hop Cryo Heathen!

In other gifting news, we’ve got plenty of lovely merchandise available, so take your pick from glassware and other goodies to make your home bar feel more like the real deal, to kitting out in Abbeydale clothing from head to toe… we’ve got t-shirts, snuggly hoodies, and even Moonshine socks! Don’t forget we have gift vouchers available too if you’re not sure exactly what your beer loving pal is looking for.

And if you want to make it to the very top of the nice list, really spoil that special someone with a subscription to our monthly beer boxes – truly the gift that keeps on giving!

Moonshine minikegs are now available to pre-order for Christmas too – these will be filled the week before the big day so they’ll be tasting at their finest over the festive period. 

We can deliver to your door wherever you are (throughout mainland UK) and delivery is free for all orders of a case of cans or more. For those of you local to Sheffield, you can also choose to pop in to the brewery to collect your beery treats – do please note that we do not have an actual shop here though, so all purchases need to have been made online in advance. We’re open on Saturdays in the run up to Christmas (3rd, 10th and 17th December, 10am-2pm) as well as our usual 2pm-5pm weekdays, to make it as easy as possible for you to pop by. Full details of our delivery and collection options can be found here.

And don’t forget, if you’re still looking for the perfect spot for a Christmas get together, our lovely pub would love you to try out their delicious seasonal menu! Get in touch with The Rising Sun for further information and to book!

Finally, we’d just like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to our charity of the year, Roundabout. Their work at this time of year is as critical as ever, and they have an Amazon wishlist running to help make Christmas a special occasion for the vulnerable young people they support. They also have a downloadable activity pack full of puzzles and colouring in, available for a suggested donation of £2. Head to their Christmas fundraising page here if you’re able to support them.

Cheers,

Team Abbeydale x

Introducing Fresh Hop Heathen: Cryo APA! All the buzz words, all of the flavour. This year we’re pioneering the use of YCH 301 Mosaic hops from the Yakima Chief Hops Elite Product Trial programme… essentially freshly harvested, unkilned hops, which are firstly flash frozen (like peas or sweetcorn!) and then cryogenically processed. This state-of-the-art process keeps all those beautifully delicate fresh hop aromas and flavours, but with all that lovely lupulin concentrated down into a punchy little pellet! It’s another groundbreaking development in the hop world, and we’re thrilled to yet again be taking part in some of the very first brews making use of such an exciting hop product.

Using Cryo pellets (rather than the whole cones we used last year) means we can add them at any point in the brewing process more easily and more efficiently 2021’s edition (and as an added bonus, the shipping is more environmentally friendly too). The hops still arrived to us frozen, which meant that we had a 48 hour window after arrival to use them in the brew. This has meant keeping our brew plan in flux for the last few weeks, whilst we eagerly awaited them to reach us, but we were able to use them both hot side on the brewday itself and then dry hop with them on day 2 – meaning that there is no need for any other hop additions at all other than our usual bittering hops, making this a completely “fresh hopped’ beer. 3g/litre were added at the whirlpool stage, with a whopping 40kg (8.15g/l) of frozies added at the dry hop phase.

The aroma of the hops was absolutely spectacular – hugely zesty, with a fragrant lemon-lime character (does anyone else remember those Solero Shots?!). The brewday was a breeze thanks to our new kettle and its built-in whirlpool and the beer is now merrily fermenting away.

The recipe has been calculated to 40 IBU (lower than that of normal Heathen, which sits at 60) to allow for a little more room on the palate for the delicate fresh hop flavours to come through as clearly as possible, but still with enough whack to be Heathenesque!

We have kept the beer at the same ABV as “regular” Heathen (4.1%) to ensure the finished beer is light, refreshing and overall incredibly drinkable. Expect the classic Mosaic aromas of blueberry, citrus and tropical notes to come through, with layers of juicy mango and ripe papaya atop a gorgeously fresh, grassy backbone.

Cans are available via our online shop (including in a special "Heathen Trinity" gift pack), and trade customers can get in touch with us right now to reserve a keg or case – casks are already all spoken for, having sold out on pre-order alone! The beer is shipping from today (29th November onwards) and it will soon be available at our very own Rising Sun, as well as on bars in towns and cities including Leeds, York, Stockport, Huddersfield and many more, as well as all around Sheffield… give us a shout if you’d like any help in hunting down a pint!

Cheers,

Team Abbeydale

We’re super excited to announce the return our much-acclaimed Deliverance – Sabro™, Talus and HBC 472, originally created in collaboration with Yakima Chief Hops.

This variation of Deliverance was first released in March 2020, when it became one of our fastest selling beers of all time, meaning it swiftly made a comeback in July of the same year. And our Deliverance range has continued to go from strength to strength, which each version released since this time bringing something different to the party. When we had our new kettle and whirlpool installed last month (more on this here), we knew we wanted to test its full capabilities with one of our punchiest, most recognisable hop forward beers, so it seemed the perfect time to bring back this delicious and distinctive IPA.

Our Deliverance range uses different hop varieties in carefully selected combinations, and those featured in this version are a little family of three, which all stem from the wild Neomexicanus species. HBC 472 and Talus (previously known as HBC 692) are both hop varieties which stem from the amazing Sabro™ hop – which was itself known as HBC 438 until it was officially named.  These hops come from the same lengthy breeding process that brought you Citra, Mosaic and Ekuanot, and we’re definitely in love with Sabro™ and its family. 

The beer itself is bursting with aromatics and incredibly juice-forward – pineapple upside down cake and mango coulis on the nose with a heady, resinous character. Masses of tropicality on the palate, with notes of dessicated coconut teaming up with bags more pineapple, peach and zesty grapefruit singing together in perfect fruity harmony. Full bodied and creamy, super smooth but with a lingering bitterness in the finish which really showcases the complexity and diversity of flavour that this chosen hop combination brings.

Here’s a little more information on those little green nuggets of aromatic joy for all the beer geeks out there! Sabro™ Brand HBC 438 came into being from the Hop Breeding Company (a group of farmers and scientists dedicated to nurturing, cultivating and eventually releasing new varieties of hops for us all to enjoy, who are based in the Yakima Valley) which is supplied through YCH’s experimental hop program. Known for having a really unique complexity, it imparts distinct tangerine, coconut, tropical fruit, and stone fruit aromas, with hints of cedar, mint, and cream. Sabro’s sister and daughter, HBC 472 and Talus, share many of the same fruity, citrussy characteristics – we found a very distinctive Pina Colada note in the 472!

For all hops named HBC, this means that they are a newer hop from the Hop Breeding Company’s programme. Eventually, if the hop proves itself a worthy component of that beverage that brings us all together, it is rewarded with its very own name (Mosaic was once HBC 369, and Citra was HBC 394). The whole process can take a very long time, with Sabro™ only becoming commercially available after two decades of research and trials. As you can see, in the two years since this beer was last brewed, Talus has been granted a name but HBC 472 is still waiting patiently! With hops being a natural product and so susceptible to the environment they are grown in, it’s important to make sure that not only do they have desirable aroma and flavour characteristics, but also that they can survive and grow well.

The Neomexicanus subspecies, which all three of the hops used in our new Deliverance stem from, is itself interesting. Almost all commercially available hops are of European origin and descent, even those which are now bred in the USA, but in the Sabro™ family, we are able to make use of a genetically distinct sub-species of hops that have been growing wild in the New Mexico mountains for the past million years. Groovy!

There’s still much more to come from this series, and the possibilities are ever growing, thanks to the efforts of not just our brewers, but also the hop breeders, growers, farmers and suppliers, who work tirelessly to ensure that the humulus lupulus that gives so much character to your beer is the very best it can be.

This one isn’t likely to hang around for long, so don’t miss out! It’s available via our online shop in can here, and to trade in can and keg by contacting our friendly sales team ([email protected] or give us a call on 0114 2812712).

Cheers!