Thornbridge Brewery and Garrett Oliver collaborate on a special release to support The Michael James Jackson Foundation
Thornbridge Brewery is proud to announce a special collaboration with Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery, to create a unique beer brewed on the world’s only operational Burton Union set. Proceeds from this limited-edition release will benefit The Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing and Distilling (MJF).
In 2024, Garrett Oliver played a pivotal role in assisting Thornbridge with the rescue and restoration of an historic Burton Union Set – a legendary system once central to British brewing. Now operational at Thornbridge’s brewery in Bakewell, it stands as the sole functioning example of its kind anywhere in the world.
Since its installation, Thornbridge has used the Union to explore heritage styles and innovative collaborations. This new release marks the first beer brewed on the system with Garrett Oliver himself: a Strong Dark Mild crafted with Maris Otter, premium Crystal and Chocolate malts, and West African Fonio, an ancient grain that contributes creaminess and subtle fruit character. Dark brewing sugars further enhance the beer with complex layers of caramel and richness.
In addition to its historical and technical significance, the collaboration supports a vital cause. Garrett Oliver founded The MJF, a non-profit organisation that funds technical education and career advancement for people of colour in the brewing and distilling industries. For every pint and can of this beer sold, 10 pence will be donated to the foundation.
“We were incredibly excited to brew with Garrett using the Union,” said Simon Webster, Co-Founder and CEO of Thornbridge Brewery. “To combine this brewing milestone with the opportunity to support such an important cause makes it all the more meaningful.”
Garrett Oliver continued …. “I’m 36 years into my brewing career, and yet this still counts as one of the most personally significant beers I’ve had the opportunity to brew. My journey into brewing started with British cask beers at the pub, and to brew on this singular and wondrous beast is a great privilege.”
This unique beer will be available in Thornbridge bars and Free Trade pubs around the UK.
Thornbridge Brewery’s tap room hosted a bit of a do on Saturday 7 June – the 20th birthday for Jaipur IPA! On 7 June 2005 in the former carpenters workshop in the grounds of Thornbridge Hall gathered Stefano Cossi, Martin Dickie and Roy Shorrock to brew a 5.9% ABV IPA that was to become Jaipur. 20 years later the brewery is now on an industrial estate in Bakewell but Jaipur is still being brewed – in much larger volumes!
Also celebrating a 20th anniversary this year is Bradfield Brewery. Their current seasonal beers are Farmers Cherry Beer and Farmers Nettle Nectar.
Peak Ales is 20 too, they marked the occasion on 14 June with an event at the brewery where 10 of their cask ales along with their newly launched Pilsner was available plus food, music and classic cars!
Beating the above in age is Acorn Brewery of Wombwell in Barnsley, they celebrate 22 years this year and a special beer “Two Little Ducks” has been brewed. It is a pale session ale at just 3.4% ABV.
Fuggle Bunny Brew House continue through the summer with their additional tap sessions on the last Saturday of the month. On 28 June they are open 3pm to 9pm and as well as the brewery bar they will have Nico’s pizzas trading there and live music at 5pm.
Also on 28 June is an open day at Eyam Brewery in Great Hucklow with a range of their beers available to drink on site and Sunshine Pizza Oven providing food. If the weather is good all that should also be accompanied by beautiful Peak District scenery too! You can get there easily by bus – Stagecoach route 65 (Sheffield to Buxton via Tideswell) and Andrews route 173 (Bakewell to Castleton) stop in the village near the brewery.
Chantry Brewery have released a new beer called “Bailey Bridge”. It has been brewed in honour of Sir Donald Coleman Bailey OBE, Rotherham’s own engineering mastermind who invented the Bailey Bridge, a modular marvel that helped change the course of World War II. The beer is an easy drinking pale ale and local MP John Healey visited the brewery in Parkgate to pull the first pint at their tap bar.
Drone Valley Brewery open their tap tent, staffed by volunteers, every weekend. Additionally they have announced some brewery tour event dates to book on Sundays 3 August and 2 November with a midday start. Tickets are £15 and include the tour & talk, samples and nibbles. They also have a number of live music events planned at the tap, including a mini music festival on 7 September, tickets for that are £10. The brewery is in Unstone on the main road between Dronfield and Chesterfield, buses 43 and 44 stop at the end of the drive.
Intrepid have brewed “Solskin”, a 4.9% ABV rustic white ale and available in cask, keg and bottle formats. It is described as having Belgian farmhouse vibes. It is brewed with torrified wheat, Cascade & Hallertau Blanc hops and a new yeast strain plus the addition of coriander seed and orange zest along with a foraged tea mix. This beer is brewed annually with first pours at Solskin Festival, a Pagan & Heathen celebration held in the Grindleford area over the last weekend in June.
Little Mesters Brewing first appeared in 2020 after taking on the brewing equipment and premises from Mitchells Hop House, based in Mitchells Wine Merchants at Meadowhead. In 2023 they opened the Little Mesters Tap in Woodseats, and the next phase of their development sees them expanding and relocating the brewery to larger premises in Attercliffe. We talked to co-owner Neil Adgie for an update.
Neil, tell us about the move.
OK, so we basically moved Little Mesters Brewers from Meadowhead to down here at Attercliffe in November 2024, but the building was a shell. And then over the last six months we’ve had everything inside the building replaced or renewed. We’ve got a mixture now of new kit and some second hand kit in here, including some of the kit from Lost Industry when they closed down giving us a capacity of about 5000 litres.
To give you a little bit of history of this site, there used to be a brewery here back in the 1800s called Royds Brewery, which later became Burton Weir Brewery, named after the little Weir next to us on the river Don.
I believe you’ve started brewing cask now.
Yes, we do real ale now, as well as keg and cans. Whenever we do a brew, we do about 80% evenly split between cask and keg and then the other 20% goes into cans.
Are you going to be selling cask at mesters tap?
Yes, we’ve had a handpull put into the tap room at Woodseats, mainly for our own beers but it may feature a guest beer from time to time.
Who are the team at the brewery?
We took on a very experienced new head Brewer, Sam Bennett, who use to run Grizzly Grains brewery until recently. He’s really good and is a big asset to the company. We have Tom Naylor who’s been with us now a couple of years. We call him the Apprentice, although that’s a bit unfair as he’s just passed his level 4 apprenticeship.
You had a recent run in with the Portman Group about the knives featured on the pump clip for the beer ‘Stan, brewed to celebrate Sheffield’s famous Little Mester, Stan Shaw. How have you responded to that?
Obviously we didn’t see anything wrong with the pump clip, as it just showed the types of knives that Stan was renowned for making. And the Portman Group are just an advisory group who don’t actually have any legal powers. However we thought they could make things difficult for us, and as we were considering a rebrand anyway it made sense to include the name change and redesigned clip as part of that.
What is your beer range now?
We’ll have a core of basically 5 beers.
The Last Mester, which used to be Stan, is a 4.6% pale ale, slightly stronger, more overly hopped, more leading itself to an IPA. We’ve also got a 4% hazy pale ale, called Mesters Mate.
We’ll have a bitter, about 3.8% or 3.9% which will be called Mesters Royds Bitter, being a bit of homage to the brewery that used to be here. Stout seems to be really popular again, so we’ve got a good recipe for a stout which would be around about 4%, unnamed, as yet.
We’re going to produce a lager as well, which we have done in the past, as we’ve got the facility to be able to do lagers.
What are your plans for the future?
The idea is to do some beers that aren’t necessarily experimental but to perhaps do things that haven’t been done for a while. So for instance, we’ve just run a red IPA and we’re in the process of doing all the dry hopping and things on it now. And that’ll be a quite a bit stronger between 5% and 5½%. I think we’re going to call that Mesters Rouge, named after a polishing paste called Jewellers Rouge which was used for buffing and shining up high quality knife blades.
And then it’s a case of, looking at a summer drink. We’d like to do a Koelsh, but that will be keg rather than cask, and we’ll probably do a Christmas beer.
We also want to do some fruit beers. We’ve actually got five really big cherry trees on site and we’ve got permission to harvest all of the cherries from those, so at some point it’s likely we’ll do a Cherry IPA.
One of the other things that we’re currently doing is a complete rebrand. We’ve got a Sheffield chap working on that, Nick Law, who your readers may know as the man behind the Emmanuales beers.
We’ve also engaged with Luke Horton, who’s a local artist to do work on a little mesters images. Things like this to give it a different sort of perspective. Not to lose the history but try and give it a bit of a fresher look.
Where are you selling your beers? Obviously, your own tap, but are there any other places that sell it?
We sell quite a few of our cans to smaller outlets, and we do the Chop Shop, down in Kelham Island. Believe it or not, one of our biggest customers is Sheffield Cathedral. We supply them with cans and kegs for all of the events they have in the cathedral, and they actually do quite a lot of events, so they sell quite a lot of beer in there.
We’ve got about another 5 or 6 outlets that we currently do some kegs and cans to, but we’re looking at really trying to expand the market. We’ve got some pubs that take our kegs, but I want to try and introduce them to the cask as well, pubs like the Shakespeare down at Kelham Island. So it’s about getting around people and getting them aware that we’re now producing cask as well as keg.
Well, good luck with everything Neil. We look forward to seeing your beer at a few more local outlets, and personally I’m interested in trying that Cherry IPA if it appears.
July already! And that means it’s time for the release of our annual charity beer, which this year is supporting the work of wonderful local cause Ben’s Centre. Ben’s Bazaar will be a classic, cask only, hop forward 4.1% pale ale. Please do visit our website to read more about this partnership, it’s such a unique and worthy charity and we’d love to raise as much awareness and funds as we can.
From our travel poster themed collaboration series, we’re looking forward to welcome our friends at Brampton Brewery to Abbeydale HQ to brew Inspired in Chesterfield (4.3%), with hints of pine and gentle pepper alongside punchy passionfruit citrussy notes from the combination of Columbus, Centennial and Vic Secret hops.
Dr Morton’s Demon Drink 4.2% is making a reappearance to our selection, a tasty and refreshing golden beer with aromas of berry fruits and citrus overlying a caramel and biscuit malt character. And new to the stained glass series will be Invocation (4.2%), melding Citra and Pacific Gem hops for a refreshing beer with notes of zesty citrus and blackberry, rounded off with a clean cutting bitterness in the finish.
From the Brewers Emporium, look out for the return of Dry-Hopped Deception, an amped up iteration of our familiar Nelson Sauvin hopped NZ pale which was incredibly popular last time we released it. And from the Salvation Series we have a smooth and inviting Oatmeal Stout (4.5%) on the way too.
When Thornbridge first commissioned the Burton Union set they’d saved after Carlsberg announced they were no longer using them at their Marstons brewery the first beer they put through was a special batch of Jaipur IPA, their flagship brand. Since then a series of special one off beers have been produced, providing an interesting demonstration on how this traditional production method can affect the taste and aroma of different styles of beer. The recent news is a second batch of Jaipur Union has now been brewed, so if you want to try tasting the difference, this is another opportunity!
Neepsend brewery, having just celebrated their 10th anniversary, have hit another milestone with their 1,100th beer brewed!
They are also celebrating a win in the Champion beer competition at Barrow Hill Rail Ale Festival.
Ashover brewery, of Clay Cross (Chesterfield), is under new ownership and back in business as Ashover Brew Co. They are running a crowdfunder to help invest in improvements such as a canning line. The range being brewed for the relaunch is Font (3.8% Chinook hopped session pale), Poets’ Tipple (4% best bitter), Littlemoor Citra (4.1% Citra hopped pale ale), Rainbows End (4.5% american hopped pale ale), Coffin Lane Stout (5%, brewed with chocolate malt), Zoo (5.5% Mosaic and Citra hopped pale ale) and Butts Pale Ale (american hopped, 5.5%). The official launch event is scheduled to take place at the Tupton Tap on 4 July with their full range of beers, outside bar, food truck and live music.
Ilkley Brewery has been bought out of administration and saved by Ilkley based businessman Graham Smith, who is also a director of Roosters brewery.
Intrepid Brewery in Brough, near Bradwell, hosted their first open day of the year on Saturday 24 May, which also coincided with the usual bank holiday beer festival at the Old Hall Hotel in Hope, which isn’t far away! The open days involve a bar open in the brewery, an outdoor drinking area and Sunshine Pizza trading outside. Buses 173 (Bakewell to Castleton) and some journeys on 272 (Sheffield to Castleton) pass the end of their drive.
Eyam Brewery in Great Hucklow are also hosting a number of open days this year after their successful introduction last year, the first is planned for Saturday 28 June and again will involve a pop up bar with a range of their beer in the brewery, seating inside and out and Sunshine Pizza trading outside. Bus 65 (Sheffield to Buxton via Tideswell) and 173 (Bakewell to Castleton) stops in the village a couple of minutes walk from the brewery.
Fuggle Bunny Brew House run a weekly “Fuggle Friday” tap session all year round, however as we approach summer they add a monthly Saturday tap event on the last Saturday of each month. The 31 May event has live music with James Scanlan at 5pm and Nico’s Pizza will be trading outside. The bar will be open 3pm to 9pm. The brewery is about 10 minutes walk from Halfway tram terminus (Blue route) or various local buses such as the 120k pass close by.
Fuggle Bunny have released a new beer too, which made an appearance at Barrow Hill Rail Ale Festival – a 6% ABV pineapple IPA.
Bradfield’s 20th anniversary beers now available include Farmers XX Best (a traditional best bitter, 4.6% ABV and amber, brewed with Maris Otter amber and chocolate malts) and Farmers Celebration Pale (a straw coloured oat pale ale brewed with new world hops, 4.2% ABV).
Little Mesters brewing have relocated from Meadowhead to Attercliffe, with the unit at Meadowhead next to Mitchells Wine Merchants to become a cigar shop and tasting room for Mitchells. We understand the brewing kit installed at Attercliffe was acquired from the closed Lost Industry brewery with the kit that was at Meadowhead no longer in use. The Little Mesters Tap bar remains in Woodseats.
Loxley Brewery beer to drink at home is now available from all their pubs with the Raven selling the bottles and No3 Sharrow offering take away containers for cask ale. They will also be hosting a merchandise stand during the beer festival at their Wisewood Inn 20 to 22 June.
First up this month we have Linden, a 4.1% pale ale single hopped with Most, our first time using this hop. Most are a new variety grown due to a collaboration between our hop suppliers Charles Faram here in the UK, and growers based in the Czech Republic – the word “most” is Czech for bridge, so the name represents this union. Expect an aromatic beer with notes of tropical and berry fruits, and a clean, sweet finish.
Next in our Mythical Creatures inspired series we have the mighty minotaur! Asterion (4.0%) is a fruit forward and floral pale ale with the delicious combination of Amarillo, Nelson Sauvin and Galaxy hops. And It’s all systems go with the Dr’s latest stellar sup! Dr Morton’s Rocket Surgery (4.1%) is crafted with UK grown Olicana and Bullion hops to straighten tail fins and reorient your nose cone, all without any disruption to your flight path or launch window.
From our collaboration range with artwork inspired by vintage travel posters, look out for Heading into Harrogate (4.6%). We’re honoured to be hosting fellow UK beer pioneers Roosters Brewery to create a West Coast style pale ale, piney and resinous with Centennial and Citra hops.
And from the Brewers Emporium we’re excited to be releasing our first ever Kölsch! Top fermented like an ale but cold fermented like a lager, this hybrid beer (4.8%) is clean and crisp with a light hop character and a soft crackerbread sweetness. Plus, it’s a welcome return for Tranquility, a 3.8% soft and pillowy New England style Session IPA, and finally a sweet treat in the form of a Coconut Macaroon Stout (5.4%), a new addition to our dessert inspired Indulgence series.
Kelham Pride took place for the first time last year and the event is back for 2025 on Saturday 21 June. This features a parade and an outdoor stage with live entertainment followed by festivities in various venues around the area. Local breweries Blue Bee, Little Critters and Toolmakers have teamed up for a collaboration to produce a special cask ale for Pride with social media followers invited to help choose a name for it, the name chosen being LGBTQIPA+.
I’ve tried mead on and off for many years – I recall my first time was while watching the extended Lord of the Rings trilogy in 2002, and mostly associating it with National Trust gift shops. Later, I discovered better meads – from the various honey types used by UK and German brewers, to those enhanced with fruit or spices.
When visiting the Crow Inn in February 2024, I spotted a small chalkboard advertising local mead. I gave it a try – it was called Salvation and billed as a traditional mead. It was light and fresh-tasting, and when I enquired about it, I was told the brewer had a taproom in the middle of its soft launch.
Tim Young was an English teacher overseas, teaching in Vietnam when the pandemic hit in 2020. While unable to teach, he began brewing mead. On his return, Tim – originally from Essex – chose Sheffield as his new home. Still home-brewing at the time, he decided in late 2023 to give full-time brewing a go.
Paradise Garage, his meadery, is named after a long-closed nightclub in New York – and each of the meads follows suit. Salvation is Tim’s first and only ‘classic’ mead, with the others becoming increasingly adventurous: Roxy, with blackcurrant and peppercorn; Funhouse, featuring chilli, apricot and hibiscus; and AM/PM, the latest addition, made with plum and Lapsang Souchong tea.
Paradise Garage mead can always be found at the taproom in Merchant’s Court (43 Mowbray St), open Fridays 6–10pm and Saturdays 2–7pm. In keeping with the musical theme, there’s even a record player on hand.
It’s also available by the glass at various Sheffield venues (most commonly the Old Shoe), and Paradise Garage had a stand at the recent Indie Beer Feast – so keep an eye on the website, paradisegaragebrewing.com.
First up this month we’ve got Nuggle (4.2%), a balanced and easy-drinking pale ale, featuring the UK grown hop combo of Nugget and Fuggle! UK hops have come a long way and we reckon they deserve a moment in the spotlight. This one’s from our Mythical Creatures series and is inspired by a magical miniature water horse from Shetland folklore.
And trust we’ll be releasing Dr Morton’s Fake News (4.1%) – a 100% reliable pale ale, featuring juicy Idaho 7 hops balanced by delicately resinous and earthy Savinjski Goldings. Plus we’ve got Through the Hopback – Chinook on the way (4.0%). A vibrant pale ale single hopped with bold and bright Chinook hops. Fruity, piney and spicy all in one, with a clean bitterness in the finish.
Lastly on the cask only side of things we’re really looking forward to hosting a collaboration with superstars Roosters Brewing Co. Heading into Harrogate will be a 4.6% West Coast style pale, with predominantly Centennial hops.
And from the Brewers Emporium we’ve got a couple of tasty treats too – New Zealand hopped pale ale Ōkārito (4.5%) makes a welcome return, and we’ve got a new addition to our Unbeliever series in the form of a 4.7% Mango Sour. A throwback to the first EVER sour we made here, it’s packed with succulent mango, backed up by bold and fruity Galaxy hops. Sweet, tart and tropical.
Sheffield based Abbeydale Brewery has been named the Employer of the Year by the Society of Independent Brewers & Associates (SIBA). This accolade celebrates the pioneering transition of the business 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 the team right at the very heart of the business.
The awards were hosted by Sunday Times Beer Columnist and acclaimed author and broadcaster Pete Brown, who said of the 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.”
The SIBA Business 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.
The award was collected on behalf of the brewery by Christie McIntosh and Finlay MacDonald, who sit on the new Board of Trustees as Employee Representatives, plus their colleagues and Co-Owners Laura Rangeley and Lily Pickles. Alongside the Employee Ownership Trust, the award recognised the company’s long-standing commitment to training, education and emphasis on listening to the employee voice, an ethos which the business has held throughout its existence and has resulted in a loyal and enthusiastic workforce.
McIntosh, who is also a brewer and the Quality Manager at Abbeydale Brewery, said of the EOT; “There are some major perks and holistic benefits which could come with our new status – but we all know we have to put the work in to get there, which is a great motivator. I feel like I can speak for everyone when I say it doesn’t automatically make us the best company in the industry to work for – to become that is now entirely down to us. Thank you to Pat and Sue for their leadership and their trust in our team – this award is for them.”
