Author: abbeydale.admin

As you may have read in our blog post last week, our brewer Jim and myself have recently been over to Barcelona to brew with the team at Instituto de la Cerveza Artesana (ICA), following on from ICA’s trip to us in February where we created our own interpretation of their renowned Encantada beer.

One of the main purposes of our trip was to celebrate this first collaboration, and learn more about the history of Encantada. As part of this, we were honoured to be able to visit the Cova de Can Sadurni, where the original remains of the oldest beer in Europe, the inspiration behind Encantada, were found. We took with us a few litres of our version of the brew, and the limited edition that we have barrel aged here at Abbeydale, for the team working on the excavations to try. I studied history at uni, so the history geek in me was SO excited for this trip!

The cave itself is located in the picturesque mountain municipality of Begues, about a 40 minute drive from the centre of Barcelona. The journey there was beautiful, (if a little hairy at times, not the widest of roads!) winding up through the mountains with stunning sea views and Barcelona city stretching out behind us. There was a short walk up to the cave once at the site, where we did some foraging for the berries that go into the beer!

The site is managed by Archaeological Collective CIPAG, who have worked at the site since 1978. Since then, they have found over 30,000 fragments of prehistoric material at the cave, including numerous human burials and the vessel which the oldest evidence of fermentation was found upon, which we were actually allowed to hold (inner history geek in massive overdrive at this point!). The cave is absolutely awe-inspiring, cool and silent in contrast to the raging heat outside, and it sounds clichéd but you can really feel the impact of the passage of time in there. This year’s dig was imminent when we visited so the whole team, led by Manel and Pablo, had transformed the cave into a hive of reverent activity. We’ll definitely be watching out keenly for what they discover this year!

Our own version of Encantada went down well with the team – we were very pleased (and a tad relieved!) to discover that they felt we’d done their beer justice. Although the main batch of our Encantada is now sold out, we snuck some away into barrels back in March – the first of which was put into keg and sent to Abirradero – but the rest is still ageing in a variety of wood with carefully selected additions in each one. Look out for these super special releases coming later in the year!

Cheers!

Laura

Remember back in February when the team from Instituto de la Cerveza Artesana (ICA) and craft beer bar Abirradero in Barcelona came over to brew the absolutely delicious Encantada with us?

Well… myself and our brewer Jim have just made the trip over to Spain for the return leg of the collaboration, including hosting a Meet the Brewer in Abirradero, showcasing four of our beers!

This will be the first of three posts from our visit, focusing on the event itself. Look out in a couple of weeks for loads more info on a very special trip we were lucky enough to be able to take to learn more about the history of Encantada, and also of course for details of the beer we have made with ICA.

Abirradero opened in 2015 as one of the instigators of the Barcelona craft beer scene. The emphasis at Abirradero falls keenly on gastronomy, and a commitment to flavour in everything they do… they even make their own sodas! Well over half of the 40 taps that line the bar are dedicated to their own beers brewed just 10m down the street at ICA, with styles ranging from a seaweed gose to an imperial ice cream stout. The menu is similarly wide-ranging, with flavour and innovation always being right at the forefront. Many of the dishes incorporate beer too, including Encantada battered calamari! We were lucky enough to make our way through most of the menu during our few days there, and seriously cannot recommend the bar enough for both beer and food… everything was exceptional.

Onto the event! We sent four different kegs of our beer along with cases of Heathen and Voyager cans, in our first ever international export, so it was already a really big moment for us. Our Encantada, of course, made the trip (as did a very special one off keg of barrel aged Encantada), along with plum porter Salvation 3 and Voyager 3 IPA, hopped with Galaxy, Lemon Drop and Centennial.

Having covered the bar in Abbeydale merch and decked out the staff in Moonshine t-shirts, we were ready to kick off the event. There was a great turnout and loads of interest in what we do as a brewery. The fame of ICA’s Encantada in Barcelona meant that many people were keen to try the “new” Encantada all the way from Sheffield, and from there we were happy to persuade them to sample our other brews… we even managed to convince a Guinness drinker to try a Salvation 3 (and are happy to say he enjoyed it)! Our beers were all met with a great reception from the locals, and a Sheffielder even turned up!

We were particularly honoured to have been introduced to special guest Manel, head archaeologist for CIPAG and the Cova de Can Sadurni, the site where the oldest remains of beer ever found in Europe and which inspired ICA’s Encantada was discovered… more on that in our post next week.

A huge thank you to the team at ICA and Abirradero for inviting us to showcase our beers internationally for the first time ever, and for being such fantastic hosts.  We had the best time!

Cheers!

Laura

We are excited to announce that for the third time we have teamed up with the guys down at Brewdog Sheffield to brew up something delicious, fruity and unique.  This time, our collaboration has been completed by local band Alvarez Kings, who have named the beer Cold Conscience in honour of their brand new single. The beer itself is a 4.5% pale with a difference… it’s packed full of mangoes and lychees! New Zealand hops help to emphasise the fruity characteristics of the brew and provide a light but lingering bitter finish. Quaffable, refreshing and absolutely perfect for summer!

It’s always a fun brewday when we have the Brewdog guys around – thanks to Jack, Matt and Kyle for the inspiration behind this delicious brew and of course for digging out the hopback!

Come on down to our launch event at Brewdog Sheffield from 6pm on Thursday 20^th June for a fantastic warm up to Tramlines. As well as the first pour of Cold Conscience, you can meet the team and witness some live Abbeydale-themed artwork coming to life!

Don’t forget you can also catch Alvarez Kings at Tramlines Festival, taking place this weekend at venues around the city.

We are pleased to introduce to you our charity beer for this year -Triple C! Dreamed up in collaboration with local charity Cavendish Cancer Care, 10p from every single pint sold of the 40 brewers’ barrels brew will go to support the charity.  Taking inspiration from the charity’s name, this 4% pale ale has been created with three hops that all also begin with the letter ‘C’ – Cascade, Centennial, and Columbus – which provide a vibrant fruity flavour with tropical and citrus notes alongside a spicy hint of resinous pine.

We have a long standing relationship with Cavendish Cancer Care, having worked with them on and off for a number of years. We are delighted to have teamed up with them as our charity partner for the whole year and be organising a variety of events with them throughout 2017, at both of our pubs as well as at our upcoming beer festival Sunfest, which is where you will have the opportunity to drink the very first cask of our charity brew!

Cavendish Cancer Care (reg charity 1104261) is a Sheffield charity dedicated to improving the quality of life for people living with cancer in South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire. They believe no one should face cancer alone, so provide emotional and physical support through counselling and complementary therapies. Their services are provided free of charge and they rely on the donations from supporters and help from volunteers to continue their very valuable work, with only two weeks per year of NHS funding provided.

See www.cavcare.org.uk for more information, including if you would like to get involved with Cavendish or might know someone who needs their help.

HOW is it almost July – or as it’s known here at Abbeydale, Sunfest Month – already?!

This year, Sunfest takes place from Thursday 6th to Sunday 9th July, and as always is based at our lovely pub, The Rising Sun. We’ve searched far and wide for a huge selection of cask ales yet again, with our own team here also rustling up some extra-special limited releases; these are marked with an asterisk in the list below.

Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	Triple C	4.0%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	Birdhouse	4.2%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	Cosmology	5.0%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	*Dock of the Bay*	8.2%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	*Elderflower Deception*	4.1%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	*Fields of Wheat*	5.7%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	*Gonna Guava Good Time*	5.3%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	*Mango Heathen*	4.1%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	*Peanut Butter Janie Time*	7.0%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	*Princess RaRa*	8.1%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	Salvation 3	4.7%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	Summer fruit cup	3.2%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	Voyager 3	5.6%
Acorn Brewery, Barnsley	Fiesta	4.5%
Arbor Ales, Bristol	Gingerly Pale	4.5%
Ashover Brewery, Ashover	Haylo	3.0%
Bad Seed Brewery, Malton/Northern Alchemy, Newcastle	Chucklehead	5.0%
Beer Ink, Huddersfield	Styrian Wolf	3.8%
Beer Nouveau, Manchester	Government Ale	3.7%
Blue Bee Brewery, Sheffield	The Final Geek	4.5%
Brass Castle Brewery, Malton	Misfit	4.3%
Brew York, York	X-Panda	4.5%
Brightside Brewing Co, Manchester	Kashmir IPA (GF)	5.0%
Bullfinch Brewery, London	Rascal	4.4%
Burning Soul Brewery, Birmingham	OCT IPA	6.7%
Campervan, Leith, Edinburgh	Leith Juice	4.7%
Cromarty Brewing Co, Cromarty	Happy Chappie	4.1%
Cromarty Brewing Co, Cromarty	Hit the Lip	3.8%
Dancing Duck Brewery, Derby	Donald *Uck	4.2%
Elusive Brewing, Finchamstead, Berkshire/Torrside Brewing, New Mills	Creature of Havoc	4.6%
Emmanuales, Sheffield	Beer Thou My Vision	3.8%
Fallen, Kippen, Stirlingshire	New World Odyssey	4.1%
Fernandes Brewery, Wakefield	Double Chinned	5.5%
Fintry Brewing Co, Stirlingshire	Clachertyfarlie	3.9%
First Chop, Salford	Hop (GF)	4.1%
Five Towns Brewery, Wakefield/North Riding Brewery, Scarborough	Seasoned Old Pro’s	8.3%
Fixed Wheel Brewery, Birmingham	Blackheath Stout	5.0%
Great Heck Brewing Co, Great Heck	Black Jesus	6.5%
Half Moon Brewery, York	Midsummer	3.6%
Harbour Brewing, Cornwall/Zipline Brewing, Lincoln, Nebraska	Relax	4.5%
Harthill Village Brewery, Chesterfield	Dark Hart (GF)	4.8%
Hopjacker Brewery, Dronfield	Papaya Don’t Preach	4.0%
Horbury Ales, Ossett	JFB	4.9%
Hybrid, Grangemouth, Stirlingshire	Apex	4.1%
Ilkley Brewery, Ilkley	Crossroads	5.4%
Lawman, Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire	Mr Beast	5.0%
Lost Industry Brewing, Sheffield	Chocolate milk stout	5.0%
Mallinsons Brewing Co, Huddersfield	Daniella	4.5%
North Riding Brewery, Scarborough	Huell Melon	4.0%
North Riding Brewery, Scarborough	Mosaic	4.3%
Ossett Brewery, Ossett	Simcoe Solstice	4.8%
Rat Brewery, Huddersfield	Rat to the Future	3.8%
Raw Brewing Co, Chesterfield	Raw DOG	6.1%
Red Willow Brewery, Macclesfield	Faithless 71	4.1%
Revolutions Brewing Co, Castleford	Back II Life	3.6%
Riverhead Brewery, Huddersfield	Redbrook Premium	5.5%
Saltaire Brewery, Shipley	Raspberry Blonde	4.0%
Siren Craft Brew, Finchamstead, Berkshire	Yu Lu	3.6%
Sonnet 43 Brewhouse, Co. Durham	Aurora	4.4%
Tempest Brew Co, Galashiels	Little White Cloud	3.7%
Titanic Brewery, Stoke-on-Trent	Captain Smith’s	5.2%
Torrside Brewing, New Mills.	Snap Decisions	5.2%
Torrside Brewing, New Mills.	Kuwa-Niwa	4.5%
Totally Brewed, Nottingham	Blueberry Muffin Mild	5.6%
Track Brewing Co, Manchester	Sonoma	3.8%
Turning Point Brew Co, York	Lucid Dream	5.0%
Welbeck Abbey Brewery, Worksop.	Paul’s "Get On Parade!"	3.9%
Whippet Brewing Co, Leeds	English Whippet	4.2%
Wild Weather Ales, Reading	Sub Lime	3.8%
Wilde Child Brewing Co, Leeds	Hedonistic Existence	6.3%
Wilde Child Brewing Co, Leeds	Opaque Reality	5.9%
XT Brewing/ Animal Brewing Co, Long Crendon.	Fantail	4.8%

 

And as well as the above cask selection, we’ve increased our keg offering to 30!

Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	*Black Hole Sun(dae)*	5.6%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	*Chuckle Vision*	4.1%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	*Double Brimstone – BA*	8.1%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield/Instituto de la Cerveza Artesana, Barcelona, Spain	Encantada	7.1%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	Heathen	4.1%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	*Orange You Glad It’s Summer?*	8.5%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	*Passionfruit lager*	5.4%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	Reaper 2	5.5%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	*"Strong and Stable"*	8.4%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield/Beer Ink, Huddersfield	Tropic Like It’s Hot	6.0%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	Unbeliever 2	3.9%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	Voyager 2	5.9%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	Voyager 3 [Reserve]	5.6%
Abbeydale Brewery, Sheffield	*"Weak and Wobbly"*	3.8%
Boundary Brewing, Belfast	Forever Ago	6.0%
Cross Borders Brewing Co, Dalkeith, Scotland	Braw	5.2%
Fallen Brewing Co, Stirling, Scotland	Chew Chew	6.0%
Fierce Beer, Aberdeen, Scotland	Tropical Tart	4.5%
Founders Brewing Co, Michigan, US	Nitro Oatmeal Stout	4.0%
Bifficio Hibu, Milan, Italy	Avanti March	6.5%
Hopjacker Brewery, Dronfield	Papaya Don’t Preach	4.0%
Hopjacker Brewery, Dronfield	Styrian Wolf	4.8%
Lost Industry Brewing, Sheffield/Steel City Brewing, Sheffield/Beer Ink, Huddersfield	Do You Even Iron Bro	4.9%
Mallinsons Brewing Co, Huddersfield	Nelson Sauvin	3.8%
Odyssey Brew Co, Herefordshire	Little India	4.5%
Oedipus Brewing, Amsterdam	Slomo	4.5%
RedWillow Brewery, Macclesfield	Godless	5.6%
Revolutions Brewing Co, Castleford	Dominion	5.0%
Time & Tide Brewing, Eastry, Kent.	Domino	8.6%
Tiny Rebel Brewing Co, Newport	Gin & Juice	4.5%
Totally Brewed, Nottingham	Sorachi Mango	6.0%
Verdant Brewing Co, Falmouth	Headband	5.5%
Wild Beer Co, Somerset	Rooting Around (Spring)	3.0%

 

It’s shaping up to be an absolute cracker of a weekend, so please join us for a pint or two!

Cheers!

Cask

Abbeydale  – 4 Degrees of Separation – IPA – 7.0% – Collaboration with Magic Rock, Northern Monk and Siren

Abbeydale – Black Lurcher – Stout **served from the wood** – 7.0%

Abbeydale – Burnt Ends – Rauchwine – Event Exclusive – 8.0%

Abbeydale – Daily Bread – Best Bitter – 3.8%

Abbeydale – L3mon Cub3d – Lemon, Lemongrass & Lemon Thyme Pale – Event Exclusive – 6.5%

Abbeydale – Mango Heathen – Event Exclusive – 4.1%

Abbeydale – Marauder – El Dorado Session IPA – 3.8%

Abbeydale – Reaper 1 – Hopfenweisse – 5.0%

Abbeydale – Salvation 1 – Coconut Stout – 5.5%

Abbeydale – Salvation 2 – Rice Pudding Stout **with jam** – Event Exclusive – 5.9%

Abbeydale – Voyager 1 – Citra, Centennial and Mosaic IPA – 5.6%

Abbeydale – Voyager 2 – Galaxy, Vic Secret and Sorachi Ace IPA – 5.9%

Abbeydale – Why Not Give Even More of a Toss – Pale Ale – 4.0% – Brewed for the Festival of Debate

Beer Ink – Starbeer – Peanut Butter, Chocolate and Caramel Stout – 8.5% -Collaboration with Steel City and Lost Industry

Magic Rock – The Magic Spanner – Pale Ale – 3.9%

Northern Monk – Patron’s Project Helvellyn – IPA – 5.0%

Siren Craft Brew – White Tips – White IPA – 4.7%

Keg

Abbeydale – 4 Degrees of Separation – IPA – 7.0% – Collaboration with Magic Rock, Northern Monk and Siren

Abbeydale – Boston Booze Party – East Coast IPA – Event Exclusive – 9.9%

Abbeydale – Burnt Toast – Toasted Oatmeal Stout – Event Exclusive – 11.0%

Abbeydale – Deception – Dry Hopped Pale Ale – Event Exclusive – 4.1%

Abbeydale – Double Brimstone – American Brown Ale – 8.1%

Abbeydale – Encantada – Neolithic Fruited Gruit – First Pour – 7.1% – Collaboration with Instituto de la Cerveza Artesana

Abbeydale – Last Rites – Barley Wine – 11.0%

Abbeydale – Old Smoakey – Barrel Aged Smoked Porter – 5.7%

Abbeydale – Salvation 1 – Coconut Stout – 5.5%

Abbeydale – Tangerine Pale – Brett Fermented Pale – Event Exclusive – 5.6%

Abbeydale – Tropic Like It’s Hot – Pineapple and Grapefruit IPA – 6.0% – Collaboration with Beer Ink

Abbeydale – Unbeliever 1 – Barrel Aged Berlinner Weisse – 4.0%

Abbeydale – Unbeliever 2 – Gose **with Japanese pea flowers** – Event Exclusive – 3.9%

Abbeydale – Voyager 2 – Galaxy, Vic Secret and Sorachi Ace IPA – 5.9%

Abbeydale – Wanderer – Belgian Tripel Saison – 8.5%

Beer Ink – S’more Than A Feeling – Imperial S’mores Stout – 9.0% – Collaboration with Abbeydale Brewery

Magic Rock – Fantasma – IPA **Gluten Free** – 6.5%

Northern Monk – Esben Bø Jensen – Double Dry Hopped Saison – 7.0% – Collaboration with Alefarm

Siren Craft Brew – Acid Jam – Imperial Kettle Sour – 9.7%

Twisted Barrel – Detroit Sour City – Berliner Weisse – 4.5

Please note that due to the limited availability of some of these beers, although each session will have them available to start with, we cannot guarantee their availability all day!

Tank

We are happy to confirm that we will be serving the following beers straight from the tank!

Moonshine – Pale Ale – 4.3%

Deception – NZ Pale Ale – 4.1%

Heathen – American Pale Ale – 4.1%

Revelation – Pale Ale – 4.1%

All cask and keg beers will be available in third of a pint, half pint and pint measures. Tank beer can be served by the pint only.

The evening session is now verrrrry close to being sold out, but you can still get one of the last few tickets, or one for our afternoon session, at crowdfunder.co.uk/abbeydalebrewery.

Cheers!

We promised special beers and here they are! These are all exclusive to our brewery event on Saturday May 6th and so will not be going on general release. Some are small batch brews conjured up by our wonderful brewers, with others being unique twists on some of our most well loved beers and styles. Assuming all goes to plan, here’s our super special Abbeydale line up…

Deception… ON KEG! For the first time ever we’re fizzing up our beloved Deception, and enhancing the flavours with the addition of fresh grapefruits. Finally, it’s going to be dry hopped with more Nelson Sauvin along with Galaxy and Mosaic.

Heathen…. ON CASK! With added mangoes for an extra burst of fruity flavour intended to boost the wonderful Mosaic hop.

Salvation 2: Wi’ Jam In – Rice Pudding Stout, with a dollop of strawberry jam straight into cask for an even more authentic school dinner experience!

Peaflower Gose – a beer like you’ve never seen before, quite literally. Decided against calling it German Blue…

Tangerine Pale – primary fermented with a rarely used strain of Brettanomyces, that results in a wild beer but without the barnyard funk that’s so often associated with Brett. Dry hopped with Galaxy and Vic Secret.

Burnt Ends – a smoky and sumptuous Rauchwine.

L3mon Cub3d – a lemon, lemongrass and lemon thyme pale.

Boston Booze Party – an Imperial East Coast IPA with (direct quote) “loads of hops”.

Burnt Toast – a rich and luscious toasted oatmeal stout.

Obviously we’ll have plenty of our usual suspects available too, including (we hope, subject to yeast behaving) beer served direct from the tank!

Full beer list including guest beers to be confirmed next week!

Tickets available now at crowdfunder.co.uk/abbeydalebrewery

Collaboration time again here at Abbeydale – and this time it was a particularly special one for us as it meant a reunion day in the brewhouse too!

In our first EVER four-way collab, three guys who spent time at Abbeydale earlier in their careers returned for one day only… Dave Kerr from Northern Monk, Richard Morley from Magic Rock, and Sam Lee from Siren all back in town, teaming up with our very own Jamie Memmott to create a hop forward, super juicy IPA that’s bound to knock your socks off.

We’ve got a pretty damn extensive hop store here, and the guys had free reign over the shelves. They’ve gone for four absolute powerhouses of the humulus lupulus world – Nelson Sauvin taking centre stage, backed up by Amarillo, Cascade and Galaxy, to provide a massive hit of gooseberry and grapefruit flavours with floral notes, passion fruit and orange lingering on the palate.

It was a great day having the old gang back together, and definitely an eventful brewday (particularly as Sam brought us all some of Siren’s new release Bourbon Milkshake, an 11% milk stout, to try, there’s probably a good reason why this isn’t described as a breakfast beverage) with everyone pitching in and Morley up to his usual tricks of trying to fix everything (even when it wasn’t necessarily broken…) Speaking of pitching, our house yeast has been replaced in this brew by US-05, which accidentally ended up on a van having a little tour around Sheffield shortly before it was needed in the beer! Thankfully our driver brought it back just in the nick of time and it’s now happily fermenting away.

We are mega excited to find out how this beer, named "4 Degrees of Separation", turns out! Keep your eyes peeled for details of where this will available soon… we have a feeling it won’t be around for long!

Please join us at the Devonshire Cat next Thursday 16^th March any time from 5pm to celebrate the launch of our fantastic new range as part of Sheffield Beer Week! The full range will be available across cask and keg. Open until 2am!

The Brewers Emporium range is a constantly rotating and evolving series of beers, where our brilliant brewers have been given free reign to select unusual and interesting ingredients to create exciting recipes for your drinking delights. The new beers will sit alongside existing core keg beer Heathen, an American style pale ale which is likely to be a familiar sight to many of you! Look out for Voyager IPA, Salvation stout, Reaper cereal (killer) beer and more!

Also being released under the Brewers Emporium banner is something we are all VERY excited about… our Funk Dungeon project, where we intend to explore barrel ageing, souring, and mixed fermentation beers. You can now follow the Funk Dungeon on Twitter @AbbeydaleFunk – look us up!

The artwork for the Brewers Emporium range has been created by artist James Murphy, who started working with us in 2016, beginning with the distinctive Heathen branding that has successfully launched our new and exciting craft beer range. James’ original and detailed work for the ever-expanding new range will allow each beer to stand out on bars and beer shelves across the country, with each beer represented in James’ characteristic, hand-drawn style.  An exhibition of James’ artwork will accompany the beer at our launch event next week, so come on down for what promises to be a brilliant evening!

It’s an exciting week at Abbeydale Brewery as we are hosting our friends Daniel Fermun and Iñigo Echeverria from Instituto de la Cerveza Artesana (I. C. A) and renowned craft beer bar Abirradero in Barcelona for a very special collaboration brew.

Today we are brewing something a little bit different to our usual beers… An unhopped fruited gruit that will be packaged with B’ Lambicus for an ever-developing flavour.

“Gruit”, or “Grut”, means herb – a popular addition to beers many moons ago. A brewers’ blend of herbs and spices often remained a very closely guarded secret, much like some breweries treat their hop additions today! After the passage of the Reinheitsgebot in 1516, the gruit ale gradually faded away into obscurity.

Our recipe is loosely based around I.C.A.’s incredible Neolithic style fruited gruit, Encantada. It is based on a recipe akin to one found in caves with remnants of early settlements not far from the Catalonian capital. Archaeologists found residual evidence of the oldest remains of brewing beer in Europe, a wheat and honey beer that was flavoured with thyme.

For today’s collaboration, we have decided to produce a beer a little more in tune with British tastes, based on a traditional ale, with mugwort, yarrow, juniper berries and heather flowers.  We are also using a small portion of lightly smoked malt to emulate the flavours of more ancient malt drying techniques.

The beer, coming in at a target 7.4% ABV, will be fermented with a mix of our own house yeast and a Belgian strain of Abbaye yeast for its ability to ferment higher gravity worts and alcohol. Towards the end of fermentation we will be splitting part of the wort off into wooden barrels with our house mélange of wild yeasts and bacteria and leaving it to age for a year or so – we aim to release it for International Gruit Day (yes, that is a real thing!) on February 1^st next year. In the meantime, the remainder of the wort will be fruited liberally with raspberries before being transferred with locally sourced honey and a secondary pitching of Brett Lambicus before being allowed to secondary condition in kegs, both for the purposes of ageing for the Brett character to shine or to be drunk fresh for a fruit forward beer.

Salut!