Category: Breweries

So the big news here at Abbeydale HQ as we start to look autumn-wards with our beer releases is that Pilgrim is back! Our 5.0% Pumpkin Spiced Ale has become somewhat of a cult classic for us and we know there’s lots of people who look forward to it along with us. After the success of the Pumpkin Spice Latte inspired Twilight Pilgrim stout version (also 5.0%) last year, that’s making a very welcome return too, and we’re completing the trilogy with a special release of Imperial Pilgrim, weighing in at 8.0% but with the same delicious blend of cosy spices as the OG. All will be available in cask, keg and can too, and we’re all pretty excited here to unleash this trio on bars across the city and beyond!

Also getting ready for Autumn we have Harvested, a 4.1% pale ale brewed with Galaxy hops. Expect a fruity beer with refreshing tropical character alongside a clean, grapefruit bitterness and a subtle spiciness in the finish.

We’re incredibly excited to launch the “home” leg of our collaboration with Devon’s outstanding Utopian Brewing, who hosted us to create a Nelson Sauvin hopped lager last year. In keeping with this theme, we’ve created Nelson Pale (5.2%), which uses Nelson Sauvin in whole cone, T90 pellet and Cryo form for a bold and hop forward pale ale. Tropical fruit, citrus and hints of elderflower on the nose, followed by a smooth body and a crisp, clean bitter finish.

And next from our Mythical Creatures series is Failinis, a 4.2% Citra, Columbus and Cascade hopped pale ale which promises a predominantly citrus character with subtle black pepper notes in the background, followed up by a pleasingly robust bitterness. 

Cheers!

Steel City’s latest brew is a collab (pick yourselves up off the floor…) with Ten Men Brewery from Ukraine. Ten Men’s original brewery was within a few miles of the Russian border and as such was lost very early in the invasion. They have been cuckoo/contract brewing in Lviv but are keen to build a new brewery of their own (and a ‘brew hub’ to allow others to brew, test and experiment) and to fund it have launched their ‘100 Collabs’ project, the first two brews being with Memento (Canada) and Modus (Australia). Dave and former Steel City business partner Gazza had both enjoyed Ten Men’s beers on visits to Ukraine before the invasion, especially their heavily fruited sours in the Not For Breakfast series, and so were keen both to help and to work with the brewery (they also plan to go to Ukraine for a return collab at some point!).

The beer is ‘Men of Steel’, a sour based on the traditional Ukrainian drink Uzvar (aka Kompot), a refreshing concoction made from apples, pears, cherries, plums, berries and apricots. Hopefully there will be two versions, a ‘straight’ fruited sour, and a dessert sour version with lactose and vanilla for a thicker (or thiccer if you’re a hipster) feel and a sweet & sour taste.

All profits from the brew will be go to Ten Men’s fundraiser, the cans will also have a link for further donations to this and to the more general Disasters Emergencies Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

Looking further ahead, September marks the 15th anniversary of Steel City (the 10th anniversary celebration feels like five minutes ago not five years!), so will be marked with a small celebration at the pub where it all began, the Harlequin. The original beer Hop Manifesto will be rebrewed but for a 2024 audience, which basically means 15 grams per litre of dry hop in the tank. There will also hopefully be a 15% version as a one-off for the event. 

The Little Critters single batch cask special in July was a mango sorbet session pale. It is designed to be a refreshing summer beer at 4.4% ABV with sweet mango, creamy lactose, citrusy hops and a solid malt backbone.

The monthly cask special from Thornbridge in July (apart from the Union beers!) released under the year on beer scheme was called “Red Rye at Night”, a red rye IPA with 5.4% ABV. This has been followed by the comeback of a beer that some may consider a favourite from the past – “Melba”, a peach flavoured IPA.

Emmanuales, who brew in very small batches and generally only package in cans or bottles, recently released a couple of cask beers available at only two outlets – Swinton beer festival and Walkley festival. The beers were both pale ales called “Cask and it will be given” but with different hops and ABVs – one used British hop varieties and was a sessionable 4.3% whilst the other used Calypso hops and was a stronger 5.6% ABV.

Eyam brewery are hosting another open day on 27 July, from 1pm to 7pm. As well as a range of their beers there will also be pizza and coffee. They are located in Great Hucklow and bus 65 will get you there from Sheffield. In other news they have started putting beer into minikegs again with the first release in this format being Antidote Pilsner.

Drone Valley Brewery this year celebrate an anniversary, being 9 years since they were registered with the FCA to become a community interest company. They are hosting a music festival at the brewery on 1 September. Tickets are available to buy online or from the bar at their weekend tap sessions.

Last month we mentioned Collyfobble brewery’s summer special, it is now available and is called “t’inna code owt” (roughly translates as “it isn’t cold out, you won’t need your big coat”). The beer is an nice, refreshing 3.6% ABV blonde ale packed full of Amarillo hops. We’re told it is perfect with a BBQ, after a day on the beach or after a long walk in the woods!

A couple of new beers already out from Chantry Brewery, King of Hops in cask (a light refreshing pale beer at 4% ABV brewed with Chinook, Mosaic and Harlequin hops) and The Beer Inspector in keg, a 4% ABV hazy pale ale brewed with Citra, Mosaic and Amarillo hops.

In a recent issue of Beer Matters, we reported that Thornbridge brewery had taken delivery of one set of the Burton Union brewing system. This system had operated in the Marstons brewery for over 100 years, and it was a great relief to know that at least part of it would continue being used. We visited the brewery to see it in action, and to have a chat with joint owner Simon Webster, and head brewer Rob Lovatt.

We should start by explaining what the Union system actually is. The process begins as usual in the brew house. After mashing, boiling and cooling the yeast is pitched. Twenty four hours later the wort is transferred to the unions where the magic happens. The six 750 litre wooden barrels are filled to the brim and each is fitted with an outlet tube at the very top leading to a large stainless steel trough. As the fermentation gets going the yeast head is expelled into this trough, the liquid component settles and is returned, by gravity, to the barrels. The temperature is monitored at the end of the swan necks filling the trough and adjusted as necessary. The speed at which the trough is filled rises and falls as the fermentation progresses and is usually complete in 5 to 6 days. From there the beer is transferred for conditioning and racked into barrels as usual.

Some minor tweaks have had to be made to reflect the different factory conditions. At Marstons the Unions were in a large enclosed warehouse avoiding contamination with the open trough. Due to the position of the set in Thornbridge’s premises, clear plastic covers have been installed over the trough for this purpose. They have also installed thermometers in the pipes to ensure a constant fermentation temperature of 22 degrees. 

One of the original cellarmen from Marstons was invited to Thornbridge to see the Union in place, and was happy to impart some of his experience in looking after the sets. He had first hand knowledge of all the barrels that were in Burton and as they were all numbered he was able to pass on useful tips for maintaining the specific barrels now residing in Bakewell.

The system was originally devised to “clean” the beer, and the first test run on the Thornbridge sets were of their flagship beer, Jaipur. Head brewer Rob Lovatt produced 90 casks of the union version and described it as being more rounded and with more esters than the original.

Simon explained that although they have been pleased with the success of the ‘unionised’ Jaipur, they really want to use the system to produce new beers, with recipes designed to make the best use of its unique brewing method.

First up will be a 6% English IPA, called Union, which was happily fermenting away during our visit, followed by an English pale ale at 7%. Both will feature English hops such as Northdown and Goldings and will be worth looking out for. After that there are some collaborations planned and a version of 90 Shilling Ale from Colorado-based Odell Brewing Company was mentioned.

Credit is due to Thornbridge for taking the time and effort to rescue this important bit of British brewing heritage and we’re sure it will be producing interesting beers for us all to try for some time to come.

Paul Crofts & Tim Stillman

First up, a new addition to our series of pale cask only specials – Through the Hopback – Lemondrop (4.0%). The clue’s in the name with this one, expect lovely, light, lemony lusciousness from this single hopped pale ale.

We’re bringing back a classic in the form of Oatmeal Stout from our Salvation series, a 4.5% creamy and unctuous dark beer brewed with a whopping nine different grains. Pleasingly robust with oaty notes coupled with flavours of roasted coffee and dark chocolate, rounded out by a balanced dried fruit sweetness.

New from the eccentric imaginarium of Dr Morton comes Sword Swallowing Salve, a 4.1% pale ale with Vic Secret and CF162 hops. Avoid getting your tonsils in a tangle with this perfectly particularised patent pre-pending pale ale. Contrived to avoid unnecessary tonsillar torsion, suffuses the oesophagus with a soothingly salubrious sensation. Super!

And from our popular collaboration series inspired by railway travel posters of yore, we’re incredibly excited to be teaming up with cask beer legends Saltaire Brewery. The details are still under wraps for this one but we’re really looking forward to seeing it on bars soon.

Finally, from the Brewers Emporium and due to be released in cask, keg and can we’re excited to have an all new release in the shape of Astronaut, a 5.2% experimental pale ale brewed in collaboration with Yakima Chief Hops. We’re aiming for the stratosphere with aromatic Dynaboost Simcoe, alongside an abundance of zesty flavours plus punchy pine and papaya from YCH701 Citra and Centennial Cryo hops.

Fuggle Bunny Brew House in Halfway (a short walk from the tram terminus or bus 120k) holds a tap session every Friday when they open the bar in the brewery with a range of their beers to sit down and enjoy at source.

From July the “Fuggle Friday” events will also have a food trader on site serving from 4pm to 8pm (the bar continues to be open until 11pm).

The food changes each week with a number of traders on rotation. On the roster from July to September are The Tacho Trailer, Lush N Loaded, Spud Buddies (Greek), Poblano (Mexican) and Bear Grills (gourmet burgers).

Chantry Brewery launched a couple of new beers for June at their brewery tap bar – Wizard’s Spell and The Beer Inspector. Both are 4% pale ales.

June saw Little Critters release a new beer in their pets range with Luna’s Peach Pale Ale, a refreshing 4.4% ABV beer with fruit juice combining with US hops.

The special limited edition bottled beer released by Bradfield Brewery we previously mentioned was Highland Pale Ale, an 8.1% ABV beer that was aged for 3 months in Scottish oak whisky barrels.

Thornbridge have released the first beer brewed using their newly acquired Union fermenting system (the old historical Burton Unions decommissioned by Marstons brewery in Burton on Trent). Look out for Thornbridge Union Jaipur on a bar near you!

Eyam brewery released a special in time for the Euros – Surely it’s coming home this time (pale ale, 4.2% ABV)!

Collyfobble brewery have embarked on a series of quarterly seasonal specials. The summer special is a pale ale brewed with Amarillo hops to a sessionable strength of 3.6% ABV.

First up for July we have Through the Hopback – Willamette (4.2%) – a single hopped pale ale featuring the superstar hop of our beloved Moonshine, here given space in the spotlight on its very own! Renowned for vibrant citrussy notes, hints of spice and a floral finish.

This month sees the return of Doctor Morton’s Safety Beer (4.1%) featuring the Australian duo of Galaxy and Vic Secret hops. And in response to high demand for dark beers we have a cask only release of Steadfast Stout from our Salvation series, a classic 4.8% no messing about kinda stout.

Tis the season for the ever-popular Belfry to make a comeback too, a 4.5% pale golden ale single hopped with American grown Cascade. Smooth and biscuity with a characteristic fruity, floral aroma and a crisp, refreshing finish. 

So far featuring a mystery hop (we haven’t quite finalised the recipe yet!) we have Erlking on the way from our new series inspired by mythical creatures from around the globe. This one will be 3.9% and pale.

And towards the end of the month we hope to release our annual charity beer! We’ve decided to continue our relationship with Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust throughout 2024, which means Swifty is coming back for another year, just like the birds that inspired it! A 4.2% quaffable pale ale featuring UK grown hops alongside African grains of paradise to represent the migratory journey of the swift. 10p from each pint sold will be donated to Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust so please do look out for this one on the bar!  

The May Day bank holiday weekend not only saw extended hours and live music at the Drone Valley Brewery tap but a new beer release – Vienna Dark Mild.

Eyam Brewery are now supplying pubs and bottle shops further afield via Sellar. Meanwhile back at the brewery they have an open day coming up on 15 June featuring beer, pizza and music. Visitors are encouraged to buy tickets in advance (just £2.50 including first pint!), however you can just turn up on the day subject to capacity. The event runs from midday until 6pm.

Bradfield Brewery continue with their usual calendar of season ales, the cherry beer went down well in May and it is time to move on in June to Farmers Wim-Bull-Don (yes, tennis themed!) which is a pale coloured fruity ale with a burst of summer fruit flavours. July will see their Elderflower Ale make a comeback, brewed with blooms freshly picked from the farmers fields! Additionally the brewery have been putting teasers out on social media about a new limited edition special bottled beer to be launched in their brewery shop on 24 May.

Intrepid Brewery at Brough (between Bamford/Hope and Bradwell) have open day events planned for 10 August and 5 October. On these days they open a pop up bar in the brewery and have seating outside with Sunshine Pizza Oven trading outside and a neighbouring business providing the tunes! There is a bus stop at the end of the drive – buses on route 272 (Sheffield-Castleton) that serve Bradwell go there along with buses on route 173 (Castleton-Bakewell).

Stancill Brewery had two suitable beers out for the Mild in May campaign with “India” (a 4% ABV ruby coloured mild) and “Tom’s Mild” (a 3.4% dark mild which was their second ever brew after Barnsley Bitter) both making a comeback!