Month: September 2024

We’re incredibly proud to announce that our Funk Dungeon Lead Brewer, Jim Rangeley, has been named the Brewer of the Year at the 2024 Brewers Choice Awards!

Jim is responsible for heading up our mixed fermentation project, as well as being part of the wonderful team that crafts each and every one of our beers. Jim has worked in the beer industry for coming up to a decade, nine years of which have been right here as part of Team Abbeydale. The award, judged by a panel of industry experts, recognises Jim’s talent and passion, as well as his strong sense of values and commitment to progress within not just the Abbeydale team but the wider industry too.

Renowned beer writer and member of the judging panel Melissa Cole said of the award, “What Jim has achieved at Abbeydale is nothing short of excellent. From the Funk Dungeon to churning out great core ranges and being a decent human at the same time, this award is well-deserved.” Tim Sheahan, editor of the Brewers Journal (the industry magazine which organises the awards), added “The level of competition in the ‘Brewer of The Year’ category is always incredibly high and in 2024 this was no different. But the judging panel at The Brewers Choice Awards recognised not only Jim’s ability to produce a wealth of different styles with unerring ease but his commitment to the industry, too.”

Jim was shortlisted alongside Brian from Northern Monk and Alex at Full Circle, and said of the award (in his characteristically humble way) “to have even been shortlisted alongside two other fantastic brewers from the north, both of whom I have great respect for, was a real honour, let alone to have won! I’m privileged to have a job I truly enjoy, working for a company that puts its trust in me, and as part of a brilliant team. This award is for all of us.”

Previous winners of this prestigious award include Burning Sky’s Mark Tranter and Colin Stronge of Lost Cause Brew Co, so Jim is in very excellent company!

You can find out more about our Jim in his Meet the Team blog post here, and head to our online shop if you’d like to snap up one of the few remaining bottles of his recent limited edition Funk Dungeon releases.

(And yes, if you’re wondering, he did immediately have a well-deserved beer out of his engraved tankard prize!)

Congratulations, Jim!

Next in our series of introducing you to our team, here’s our Ops Director Toby to continue spreading the gospel of well kept cask and the benefits of mild!

First up, the basics! What’s your name and where do you come from?

Toby Grattidge, and I’m from a little village called Tarleton, between Southport and Preston

What is your role at Abbeydale Brewery?

Operations Director – basically anything financey, spreadsheety or businessy.  As well as being on the beer tasting panel. Smiley face.

What’s your favourite beer style and why?

As anyone who follows our social knows, I’m a founding member of the ABMAS (editor’s note, that’ll be the Abbeydale Brewery Mild Appreciation Society!).  Also love a well balanced West Coast IPA, and something low ABV but really well hopped – session NEIPAs really.  Plus any good cask in a pub over a Sunday Roast, preferably with an open fire. Also can’t not mention Last Rites – absolutely iconic beer.

What’s your favourite thing about working at Abbeydale Brewery?

The beer and the people.  Abbeydale were my favourite brewery long before I worked here, and it’s so refreshing working with people who love what they do.  We also get to make whatever beer the staff want to – I even got my Mild this year.

Best place to enjoy a pint?

Favourite pub in the world, I could probably narrow it down to about 100 if I tried hard, but I’ll name check the Rising Sun Fulwood (my last local) and the Waggon and Horses in Millhouses (my current local).  It’s entirely possible my first criteria when moving somewhere is a good ale pub.

Where did you have your first (legal!) pint?

The Coronation in Southport, favourite haunt in my college days. Recently closed, which was so sad.

Favourite snack to enjoy alongside a beer?

A handmade pork pie, Wateralls in the Moor Market do a great one.  Had Pate de Campagne in France recently too and that was great.

Outside of beer, what do you get up to?

Often found playing or coaching football, enjoy a good history book, and spending time with my kids. If I ever get the time I’ll take up making charcuterie.

Who’s your hero?

Anthony Bourdain, if you don’t know, find out.

And finally… If you were a cartoon character, who would it be?

Peter Griffin.

If you’d like to find out more about Toby’s journey into beer, particularly in terms of cask ale and his top tips for looking after it, head to this piece here!

We’ve got a new collaboration available now!

You may remember that back in autumn 2023, we were privileged to be invited to take part in Collabageddon, a wonderful celebration of our beery community organised by Elusive Brewing. And for our “away” leg, we were paired up with absolute lager masters Utopian, visiting their state-of-the-art brewery near Exeter to be guided through our first ever decoction mash, creating a magnificent (if we do say so ourselves) Nelson Sauvin single hopped lager.

Well, we’re excited to say that we have now got the “home” leg under our belts too! In a reflection of what we brewed together last year, we decided to stick with the same ABV and hop, and go for the style we’re best known for here at Abbeydale Brewery, just as we did by creating a lager at Utopian’s place.

And so, we’re thrilled to introduce Nelson Pale, a 5.2% single hopped pale ale which features the glorious Nelson Sauvin hop in whole cone, T90 and Cryo form. Using the same hop in three ways enabled us to make full use of our brewkit, including our traditional hopback where the hop flowers were infused into the beer – a heritage technique that was pretty novel for team Utopian!

The brewday also just so happened to fall on the 16^th August, our brewery birthday! So we decided having Jeremy, Ben and Richard from Team Utopian with us was the perfect way to celebrate and declared collaboration day our birthday party. The night before we were able to show them the sights of Sheffield, with the Bath Hotel being a fantastic venue for pints and the Crucible causing much excitement as a tourist attraction!

And as for the beer itself – bold and hop forward, expect tropical fruit, citrus and hints of elderflower on the nose, followed by a smooth body and a crisp, clean bitter finish. It’s also vegan friendly and gluten free, and is available in cask, keg and can (including from our online shop).

Thanks again to Andy from Elusive for pairing us up with Utopian and demonstrating the spirit of collaboration that’s so important to our industry – it’s a privilege to have made such excellent new pals (and two beautiful beers) as a result.

Cheers!