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We are absolutely delighted, humbled and proud to share the fantastic news that we have been named the Employer of the Year! This accolade celebrates our pioneering transition to becoming 100% employee owned in 2024, recognising the commitment made by founders and selling owners Pat and Sue Morton to ensure a true legacy of independence and cement our people right at the very heart of the business.  

Earlier this week some of the team, including our Employee Reps Christie and Fin, headed over to Liverpool for Beer X, the UK’s largest beer and brewing trade event, where the SIBA Business Awards were held. These Awards aim to highlight the UK’s very best brewing businesses, pubs and retailers of independent beer, in an annual celebration known as the “Oscars of the beer industry” and judged by a panel of industry experts. We were thrilled to have made the shortlist and National Finals amongst some incredible company (more on that here), and to come home with a win was really the cherry on top.

The awards were hosted by Sunday Times Beer Columnist and acclaimed author and broadcaster Pete Brown, who said of our award “the judging panel were unanimous in their praise for Abbeydale who this year were trailblazers in the UK as the first employee-owned brewery, building a future for this much-loved brewery whilst giving back to the team who built it.”

Brewery Rep Christie took the opportunity whilst collecting our beautiful shiny new trophy to say thank you to Pat and Sue for their leadership and their trust in the team which has got us to where we are today – he speaks for us all in saying this award is for them.

Cheers!

Team Abbeydale

We’re thrilled to share the news that we have been shortlisted as finalists for three awards across two nationwide competitions, with the results due to be announced next week.

Firstly, we’re incredibly proud to announce that in our first year of being 100% employee owned, we’ve been named as finalists in the Employer of the Year category in the SIBA Business Awards. As the first brewery in the UK to move to becoming an Employee Ownership Trust, this demonstrates a genuine commitment towards ensuring a true legacy of independence and puts our wonderful team right at the very heart of the business.  

Also in the Business Awards, our beautiful Travel Poster series is up for Best Concept Design. Congratulations to our designer James for creating such a stand-out series – there’s so much hard work and research that goes into each and every design, and it’s great to see that recognised. You can read more about this range here.

The SIBA Business Awards will be held next Wednesday at Beer X, the UK’s largest beer and brewing trade event. Referred to as “the Oscars of the beer industry”, Neil Walker, SIBA Head of Comms & Marketing, said of the awards; “I can speak on behalf of the entire judging panel to honestly say this was the hardest judging year yet, with a really incredibly high level of entries across the board.” So it is a huge honour to have made the shortlist in two very strong categories – we’re up against some absolutely fantastic fellow breweries and are looking forward to celebrating with them, whatever the outcome. The awards will be hosted by Sunday Times Beer Columnist and acclaimed author and broadcaster, Pete Brown.

And in the Independent Beer Awards, taking place next Thursday, our Black IPA Black Mass has made the national finals, having come out on top in the Speciality IPA round of the North East regional bottle & can awards for the third year in a row!  These awards see beers marked against internationally recognised style guides, looking at appearance, aroma, flavour, aftertaste and saleability. The judging panel is made up of fellow brewers and some of the country’s best beer experts, who blind taste every entry. Black Mass is a beer which has been with us for our entire history as a brewery, so it’s one that’s pretty special to us. We can’t wait to find out how it gets on next week.

Wish us luck!

Cheers,

Team Abbeydale

Our much acclaimed Dark Mild is back… and it only took us 11 months this time, rather than the DECADE we waited previously! So we thought it was worth sharing the history of this deliciously humble beer again. From the archives, here’s the story of this particular Restoration. Alternative titles suggested by the team for bringing it back for a sequel included “Mamma Mild, Here We Go Again”, “2 Mild 2 Furious”, “The Mild Strikes Back”, “Mild Reloaded” and “Breath of the Mild: Beers of the Kingdom”.

This post was originally published on 1st April 2024.

We’ve been having a mild disagreement. You’ll have to excuse the puns – we’ve been working on them for some time.

We last had a mild available in early summer 2014. Dr Morton’s The Wrong Stuff, as it was cruelly named, was a bit of an experiment for us at the time – a somewhat controversial style with a fusty reputation, and a hard sell. But the times they are a’changing after all, and mild is finally having its day – a revival, a resurgence, a renaissance. We’ve formed two distinct “camps” amongst Team Abbeydale, one side hankering after that smooth, sweet nectar served in a dimpled glass, donning our flat caps and kicking up a grass roots movement for mild, evoking charming pubs of yore with a roaring fire and horse brass galore… and on the other side, the sales team, still traumatised by their past memories of a beer that outstayed its welcome.

The pro-mild side of the fence has finally got their way. And almost a full decade later, or 3,577 days to be precise, a Mild is back on our availability list.

Introducing Dark Mild, from our Restoration series, brewed using entirely UK grown ingredients. Characterised by a smooth, malt-driven sweetness, balanced by a touch of roast character and hints of coffee. The ultimate British hop, the unsung hero that is Fuggles, were added to our beloved hopback. These delicate hops provide a grassy character and a gentle bitterness in keeping with the traditions of this historic style, with a finish that invites you straight back for more. It’s classic, comforting, rounded and mellow. 4.0% ABV, vegan and gluten free. Anyone else thirsty?!

Mild at heart or mildly perturbed – which side are you on?! We’d love you to let us know. Dark Mild launches TODAY, April 1^st (and no, it isn’t an April Fools), – cans are available from independent retailers, including from our online shop, or give us a call on 0114 2812712 if you’d like a cask for your venue. Our sales team are still mildly unconvinced (I’m nearly done, I promise), and I’d love you to help me prove them wrong! [*Edited to add on 01/04/24 at 12.37 – cask all gone, thank you Mild Things!]

Cheers!

Laura – A Mildly Delighted Marketing Manager

PS – Such has been my yearning for a mild that I first started writing notes for this blog post in February 2021. Once it was (a little reluctantly) agreed that this beer could be added to the plan, we came to officially give it a place it on our recipe database. A list of beer styles is pre-populated for us to choose from… and out of 43 in total ranging from imperial stout to gruit, there was no option for mild! Consider this heinous oversight officially rectified. The mild comeback is well and truly on.

We’re very excited to announce that for the first time, we will have our very own brewery bar at the Great British Beer Festival – Winter edition, taking place at Magna in Rotherham from Wednesday 12^th – Saturday 15^th February! We’ll have a great selection of beers across both cask and keg on the bar, including Deliverance IPA (one of our highest rated beers of all time!), Last Rites Barley Wine, and of course, plenty of Moonshine!

It’s the debut for our shiny new events bar, which we’ve had specially commissioned to ensure we can look our best when pouring at events such as this. It’s super snazzy and we can’t wait to pull some pints from it!

In addition, we’re taking over the CAMRA Discovery Bar on Saturday 15^th. Come along to hear from Team Abbeydale about our long-standing love of hops, and how we have been at the forefront of hop usage and development for the last three decades. We’re incredibly proud of the diverse range we’re bringing along for this bar, all of which say something different about our brewery and the hops we use. From Black Mass, a beer we believe to be one of the world’s first and longest standing Black IPAs, to a 3.9% pale ale from our Through the Hopback series featuring UK grown Ernest hops, and samples of our alcohol free Nelson Sauvin Sparkling Hop Water too! Plus, we’ll have a selection of hops for you to be able to experience our ingredients in their purest form.

The team from the brewery and our pub, The Rising Sun, will be around on our bars all week to chat about our beers and our new status as Co-Owners of the business.

Of course, there’s beer from a huge range of breweries from all around the UK too (you can find the full beer list here), as well as an international bar and a dedicated Champion Winter Beer of Britain bar too where you can head to sample all the nominees and winners!

Tickets are available here, buying in advance gets you a little discount and the ability to beat the queues, or you can pay on the door too. The ticket price includes your souvenir festival glass, and all the entertainment of the event too – there’s some fantastic live music lined up! We really hope to see you there!

We’re excited to announce that our on site shop wasn’t just for Christmas! After many years of our offering being online only, you can now pop down to see us and buy your beer in person.

From January 2025 onwards, our opening hours are browsing are 1pm-5pm Thursday & Friday. As well as two massive fridges full of deliciously chilled beers and our lovely alcohol free option, Sparkling Hop Water, you can also pick up full cases of cans which we’ll bring to you straight from our cold store. Party coming up? We can sort you a full 72-pint cask along with everything you need to serve it. And in addition we’ve got plenty of merchandise, glassware and other goodies for your home bar along with a myriad of gift ideas!

Outside of the above hours, you’re still very welcome to pop by any other weekday afternoon – simply ring the bell on the door and someone from the office will be happy to help.

For those of you that prefer to order online, our click and collect service remains unaffected, and please note the offering in store will be the same as online, although we do have some in store exclusives to come! All beer is served on a strictly takeaway basis only – unfortunately we don’t have a taproom.

Please do come down for a browse and a chat – we’d love to talk you through our brews!

You can find us on Aizlewood Road – S8 0YX. We hope to see you soon!

Wow – what a year! I think it’s fair to say that 2024 has been one of the most important yet for us here at Abbeydale Brewery, and it’ll go down in the history books as the year that we – along with our wonderful pub, The Rising Sun – became employee owned! We hope and truly believe as a team that this move secures the legacy of the wonderful independent business Pat and Sue Morton have worked so hard to build over the past three decades, ensuring success for many, many more years to come.  You can read more on this, and the establishment of Sheffield Beerworks EOT Ltd, here.

Talking of success, we’ve won some fantastic awards this year which definitely deserve another shout out! Our Funk Dungeon Lead Brewer, Jim Rangeley, won the auspicious title of the Brewer of the Year at the 2024 Brewers Choice Awards, where we were also shortlisted for the Branding of the Year for our beautiful travel poster inspired series. And Black Mass retained its Champion Speciality IPA title (for the third year in a row!) at the SIBA North East Bottle & Can Awards. We’re looking forward to the national finals in March!

In terms of the numbers, here’s a little look at our year in beer. We’ve brewed a total of 389 times, creating 92 individual beers, adding up to over 3 MILLION pints! Our first brew of the year was Moonshine, and the last beer of the year? You guessed it, Moonshine again! It’s not all about our flagship though, as we’ve continued to cover a huge range of styles, from the zesty, zingy Passionfruit & Lime Sour from our Unbeliever series, to our much revered (and really quite boozy) Last Rites Barley Wine. It was also the year we finally made a mild!

Cask beer still reigns supreme here, amounting to over 75% of our total output – although it’s worth pointing out that we also sold over a quarter of a million cans too, including lots and lots in our newly opened on site shop! Although cans are a slightly lower proportion of our sales this year, this means more of our beer is being enjoyed in one of the hundreds of wonderful pubs we supply, which is great to see. Support your local!

Moonshine is still our biggest seller, but it has dropped slightly as a proportion of our total in recent years, now sitting at just under 40%. And our alcohol free Sparkling Hop Water has become a firm fixture of our range, going from strength to strength since its introduction last year with sales doubling in 2024. Overall, it’s been our best year since the pandemic, which we hope demonstrates faith in our beers in what is still an incredibly challenging landscape to navigate for us all, including across our industry.

Our community continues to be absolutely integral to all that we do here. As part of this we were delighted to continue our charity partnership with Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust, rebrewing our very popular Swifty pale ale  – this year with a sustainable twist, as we were amongst the first in the UK to use ancient grain Fonio, raising over £800 in the process. More on that here.

Looking ahead to 2025, we have two shiny new tanks on the way as I type, which will increase our production and packaging capacity. We’ve already got some absolute TREATS in the pipeline, but there’s still space for more and we do take requests where we can… so do let us know if there’s a beer you’d love to see from us – whether it be a returning favourite or a brand new style for us, we’d love to hear from you! We’re even starting to make plans for some of the special beers we’ll be releasing to commemorate our 30^th anniversary in 2026 too, with some deluxe new additions to our barrel store in mind…

We’ve also already got some fantastic events booked in, including being at the prestigious Winter GBBF from 12-15 February, and we’re excited to be returning to Indie Beer Feast right here in Sheffield in March too. We hope to see you for a beer very soon!

From all of Team Abbeydale – the new co-owners of the business – a huge thank you to everyone who’s supported us this year. It really does mean so much to us, and we can’t wait to find out what the year ahead has in store.

Cheers!

We are THRILLED to announce that for the third year in a row, our Black Mass is a champion, again winning a top class Gold award in the Speciality IPA category at the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Regional Bottle & Can Awards!

A Gold award means that Black Mass scored over 90/100 and will go forward to the National Finals, due to be held in March next year.

Brewer Jim Rangeley (himself winner of Brewer of the Year!) says, “Black Mass has always been one of my favourite beers both to make and to drink, and it’s great to see that the judges agree! I’m looking forward to celebrating with a can of it.”

Part of our range for our entire 28 year history, Black Mass is one of the world’s first Black IPAs. A hop forward character coupled with delectable flavours reminiscent of bitter chocolate, fruitcake and raisins, meets aromas of fresh pine alongside coffee and just a hint of burnt toast – it’s classic and familiar yet simultaneously unique and boundary defying.

The SIBA Independent Beer Awards is the UK’s leading beer competition, which sees beers marked against internationally recognised style guides for the different beer award categories – looking at appearance, aroma, flavour, aftertaste and saleability. The awards are judged by beer sommeliers, experienced beer judges and fellow brewers too. The full list of winners from the North East region can be viewed here.

Cans of Black Mass are available now, direct from ourselves either online or in person, as well as from independent retailers nationwide.

Now that’s a Christmas present!

Cheers!

Team Abbeydale

Our deliciously thirst-quenching Sparkling Hop Water is a fantastic non-alcoholic option in it’s own right – spritzy, zesty, relaxing and refreshing. Infused with Nelson Sauvin hops, it’s clean and crisp with a delicious grape-esque character. However…

It also works brilliantly as a mixer! We’ve tried switching it instead of our usual tonic water in a classic G&T, which was delicious (we particularly recommend it with a garnish of lime), but we reckoned we could get even more creative and come up with something special – especially with the festive season well and truly in full swing!

So, we’ve handed over to the experts here and asked for a cocktail recommendation from the marvellous Cynthia at Locksley Distilling. Cynthia and the team REALLY know their stuff when it comes to flavour (we hugely recommend the monthly cocktail nights held at the distillery just down the road from us in Portland Works, Sheffield), so we were excited to get their thoughts on our Sparkling Hop Water. Here’s what Cynthia had to say…

“When we first tasted Abbeydale Brewery’s Sparkling Hop Water, our thoughts immediately turned to cocktails. The flavour is refreshing on its own, so we thought it would be the perfect mixer for one of our cocktails. The lovely herbal notes work incredibly well with our Raspberry and Cardamom gin. We tasked Elliott (gin school host and brand ambassador) with coming up with a cocktail and we think he nailed it!”

Abbeydale Raspberry Spritz

Ingredients (makes 1 cocktail):

• 40ml Locksley Distilling Real Raspberry and Cardamom Gin (available from their website here)
• 25-30ml simple syrup
• 20ml lime juice
• Sparkling Hop Water (Nelson Sauvin)
• Cucumber
• Mint

Method:

Muddle the mint and the cucumber along with the syrup and lime juice and add to a crystal rocks glass. Add a handful of ice cubes. Pour in your gin and give it a good stir, then top up with Sparkling Hop Water to taste. Enjoy!

—

Have you tried our Sparkling Hop Water as a mixer to your favourite tipple? We’d love to hear of your experiments! We’re off to try a whisky highball next…

Cheers!

Team Abbeydale

Next up in our series where you get to know Team Abbeydale (our co-owners!) a little better, we’re having a chat with our amazing Ethna! Ethna’s a long standing member of our sales team, our biggest proponent of stouts and porters, and the member of the team who makes the dreamiest cheesecakes. Over to Ethna!

What’s your name and where do you come from?

My name is Mrs Ethna Wild (cos I love being Mrs Wild!), originally from Sligo, Ireland, I lived in London for some years but now I’ve made Sheffield my forever home.

What is your role at Abbeydale Brewery?

I’ve been very fortunate to be part of the sales team for over 12 years – they don’t seem to have found me out yet! So most of my time is spent chatting to our wonderful customers.  My role also involves a little office management, cracking the whip, ensuring shared tasks get completed and we know who’s out and who’s in, that sort of thing!

What’s your favourite beer style and why?

Absolutely, completely, every time partial to a stout – the roastier and toastier the better!  One of my favourite Abbeydale beers will always be our Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Stout.  Created originally within the Signature Beers Series as “Born to be Wild” (yes mine), it really did just so impress me the way the brewers could take ingredients that I’d been playing with in my kitchen at home and create this absolutely cracking stout.  There’s a myriad of amazing stouts out there but this one will always be close to my heart.

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

When I decided I wanted a change from working as a QS in the construction industry, I couldn’t believe I’d actually landed a job at a brewery, a local independent brewery and in sales!  This should be a blast sort of thing! What completely blew me away and something that I very much consider to be a vital part of Abbeydale today is the complete and absolute dedication to Quality and Customer Service that is ingrained within this company. That’s what I love about working here.

Best place to enjoy a pint?

This is a hard one – but I’m going to say With Friends – if that’s not too gushy?? Couldn’t possibly narrow the choice down to one single pub, so I’m going to go with a fabulous memory, or a favourite memory of being in a pub!  And that was in the Hard Rock Café in Budapest. I was there for a long weekend with hubby, we just had the best weekend – fab apartment, fab weather, fab city and just the best time seeking out the Ruin bars. And that night in the Hard Rock was just the icing on the cake, the cocktails, the company, the music, the ambience, thinking about it now just makes me want to go back there!

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

Hmm, don’t really know this one… I wasn’t really bothered about drinking (once upon a time!!) so I came late to the party I think.  I’m going to blame the Drama Society at Galway ITC, so my first pint was probably in some random pub in the gorgeous city of Galway, most likely the Hole in the Wall.

Favourite snack to enjoy alongside a beer?

Without doubt has to be big fat chunky chips, with a good shake of big coarse ground salt. When you’re out hiking with hubby and pooch and you happen on a pub that does proper chips it’s just the best thing. 

Bacon and Scampi Fries are vile devils food – even pooch won’t eat them!

When you’re not selling beer, what do you like to get up to?

Thankfully, Lizzy, our 15 year old pooch has taken to her pram, so we’re still able to get off exploring when we go away – near enough monthly, in our touring caravan.

I also like to grow things, which I consider different to gardening! Germination, propagation, resurrecting a plant from death row – love all that, once it’s up and growing then someone else can take over!

Also recently took the plunge and started doing some wild swimming, just love the feeling of freedom that comes with it and mastering your fears/apprehension of the cold!!

Along with a weekly class, I endeavour to practice yoga daily, little 20/30mins sessions, I think it’s just so good for you, mentally and physically, and sincerely believe it would benefit so many people if they would just give it a go.

And my other favourite thing is being a member of Shine Choir. Just the best bunch of lassies and amongst all the chatter and laugher we do manage to get some practice/rehearsals in and then get to do fabulous shows all through the year including Tramlines Fringe Festival and just recently supporting Marie Curie at their charity collection in Sheffield Station, the feeling of empowerment doing that surprised us all.

Who’s your hero (beery or otherwise!)?

Another difficult one, but if hero is one who you’d like to emulate, who’s qualities you admire, then I’m going to go with my oh so inspiring niece. When life threw a curve ball in her chosen career, she just played with it, set a new course and earlier this year was awarded Young Entrepreneur of the Year.  Strong and independent, super intelligent, loving, caring and funny. And a rugby fan of course! Though so very very proud to be her Auntie, I do also like to think of us as being bessie friends.  She’s just cool, calm and collected our Rach!

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

Red from Fraggle Rock, hands down. Just loved her never ending enthusiasm, energy, empathy and positivity.  Red’s great – don’t think I’m quite as competitive as her though, but husband might disagree with that!

CHRISTMAS IS COMING! We’ve got a huge range of cans to choose from to fill your fridge ready for the festive season, as well as some ace gift ideas for that special someone.

First up, the clue is in the name with our beautiful gift boxes! We have a choice of these featuring 3 delicious beers and a glass, perfect for a Secret Santa present. Plus some deluxe options featuring our super limited edition 750ml bottles too which are ideal ways to celebrate – choose from deliciously robust Barley Wine Last Rites, our 2024 vintage Old Ale, and a selection of mixed fermentation Funk Dungeon beers created by Brewer of the Year Jim Rangeley.

In other gifting news, we’ve got plenty of lovely merchandise available. Take your pick from glassware and other goodies to make your home bar feel more like the real deal, to t-shirts, snuggly hoodies, and cosy hats. We’ve also just released tickets to brewery tours, taking place over 2 weekends in January, for those looking for a unique experience to give as a gift. And if you’re not sure what your recipient’s usual tipple is, there’s always the option of a voucher to allow them to choose for themselves.

Having a Christmas shindig? 9-pint minikegs of our beloved flagship pale ale Moonshine are now available to pre-order, and we also offer 72-pint casks of our core beers that come complete with everything you need for beer festival style service, simply perfect for parties and a real showpiece!

We can deliver to your door nationwide (full casks excluded, sorry!) or, for those local to us in Sheffield, you can also choose to pop in to the brewery to collect your beery treats or have a browse of our wares in person! Our onsite shop is open 12-5 weekdays for the rest of November. In the run up to Christmas, we’ll be open until 6pm on Thursdays and Fridays, PLUS 12-4 on Saturday 7^th, 14^th and 21^st December and on Sunday 8^th December, to coincide with the Independent Abbeydale Winter Festival.

Finally, for a little balance (or to ease those post-party sore heads!), we’ve got our refreshing, hydrating and delicious Sparkling Hop Water to add a sprinkle of alcohol free sparkle to the season.

Christmas is the season of giving, so we’d also like to give a shout out to our Charity of the Year, Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust. They have some great gift ideas and their 2025 calendar would make a wonderful present for any nature fan!

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 join them for a delicious meal and a few beers (other drinks are also available)! Get in touch with The Rising Sun for further information and to book.

Support local, support independent, enjoy the pub and have a very merry Christmas time!

Cheers,

Team Abbeydale x