Lots to get through, so little column space! Be sure to look out for some VERY special beers this month, we are really spoiling you! Let’s start slowly and build up to the big ones! The latest in our Doctor Morton’s range is Funny Luck and it’s a classic Abbeydale style pale at 4.1%. A couple of pints of this is sure to bring about a change in fortune. There’s nothing like a bit of Temptation to liven up any evening. This 4.5% deep golden beer, has sultry dark fruit flavours, in particular sultanas, leading to a long bitter finish. It’s a beautifully balanced premium bitter if we can say so ourselves! Everyone loves Black Mass, but we are going to push the boat out even further this month and brew a Russian Imperial Stout. Weighing in at a monstrous 7.1%, this behemoth of a stout will anything but subtle! Expect big in your face flavours and we will be dry hopping it for good measure. Making it’s triumphant return, just in time for the Steel City Beer Festival (hopefully!) is Galaxy 55! This caused quite an impact a few of years ago when first brewed and rightly so! A strong golden IPA jam packed with the Australian Galaxy hop. Aromas of tropical fruit with mango and passion fruit dominating the palate before a crisp bitter finish. I’m getting thirsty just writing this! We had a good response to our blog on using wooden casks, if you missed it you can find it on our website. Expect more blogs in the near future plus a couple of firkins of Old Ale may well have sneaked out of the brewery by the time you are reading this. The observant amongst the readers may well have noticed that both of our pubs, The Rising Sun, Nether Green and The Devonshire Cat have had a spruce up last month, and plans are in the pipeline for the expansion work at The Rising Sun, watch this (extra) space for more details in the following months! Until next month, mine’s a pint!

After showcasing the New Zealand Sticklebract hop in July’s single hopped IPA its Australia’s turn for August, we have used the Helga hop which is developed from the German Hallertau Mittlefruh hop.  A versatile hop bursting with floral aromas. Looking forward to this one. The team down in Barnsley are also busy brewing the regular seasonal and always popular in late summer Forester, a 4.5% Amber ale brewed with Challenger and Mount Hood hops. In other news, we’ve recently had a Taiwanese student working with us on a placement from his brewing course at Sheffield University. HanNing has been with us throughout July learning about the brewing process and the day to day operation of the brewery and he’s been a great help. He decided to give teaching a break in Taiwan and come to the UK and learn how to make great beer – we’d like to think that’s the reason he chose to spend time with Acorn!!  

Firstly, a HUGE thank you to everyone who came down to SunFest, it was a roaring success as always! It’s almost time to start planning next year’s festival! By the time you are reading this, Tramlines should have been and gone. In the last issue we stated that we were making Tramlines 2 again from the previous year. The week following the submission deadline, we made a decision to alter the recipe slightly to create a new beer called Tramlines. Apologies for the confusion! Onto this months beers, Dr. Morton’s Survival Kit and Dr. Morton’s Eternal Combustion Engine should be on the bars of local pubs as we speak and keep your eyes open for Dr. Morton’s Moon Block, a golden 4.1% NZ ESB (New Zealand Extra Special Bitter) packed full of Pacific Jade and Southern Cross hops that give a bold herbal aroma with a spicy citrus flavour and a soft bitter finish. August also sees the return of Alchemy, a 4.2% pale, ideally suited to a warm summer’s day. Fruity with citrus spice from the Amarillo hops leading to a refreshing bitter finish. Another returning favourite is Abbey Ale, coming in at 5.5% this strong IPA packs a punch! In the American style, crisp and clean hop content with hints of lemon. Dry hopped for even more flavour! Also keep an eye out for Doctor Morton’s Proper Gander (4.1%, pale) and Doctor Morton’s Ignortion (4.3% golden) towards the end of the month. Last, but not least, we recently purchased some old whisky firkins and some larger White Burgundy oak casks, and you can read all about what we have been doing with them in our blog, go to www.abbeydalebrewery.co.uk or check out our Facebook or Twitter (@AbbeydaleBeers) for more information! Cheers and beers!

Word from The Hive…

First of all, a small apology. To the 2.5million people who turned out to watch the Tour de France as it passed through Yorkshire, finishing Stage 2 in Sheffield. Blue Bee is sorry that not everyone got to sample their special Hops on t’Bike. Those lucky enough to try it lapped it up. It would have taken nearly 900 entire brews to provide every spectator with a pint!

Recently Blue Bee invited the lovely people at Technophobia to help brew a special beer with them called Geek. A single-varietal IPA at 5.0% ABV show-casing the excellent Mosaic hop. It is a daughter of Simcoe, with a full-on flavour intensity; look for no-nonsense tropical fruit, blueberry or citrus flavours. Now Technophobia people love a decent pub in which to drink their beer. Between them they are regulars at three of Sheffield’s very best: the Rutland Arms on Brown Street; the Closed Shop on Commonside; and the Three Tuns on Silver Street Head. No surprise that most of the special will go to these 3, with the remainder to a select group of free-houses across the city.

pUnK-tuation time

Since the last OED was published, the language has lost 16,000 hyphens. One punk band that did its bit to keep them was X-Ray Spex, whose line-up included the anti-fashion front-woman Poly Styrene. Their LP ‘Germ-Free Adolescents’ was chock-full of high-energy punk anthems, from the opening “Art-I-Ficial” to the last track, “The Day The World Turned Day-Glo”. Blue Bee Hyphen is a 4.7% ABV pale ale brewed with a hefty charge of hops – Admiral, Simcoe and Nelson Sauvin – all vying for attention.

A great new Coffee Porter and our fastest ever selling seasonal will be on offer to Kelham fans this month. Cabby Chino 4%is lavish porter brewed with black, crystal and chocolate malts pepped up with a shot of coffee added during the conditioning process. Full bodied and rich with roasted notes and malty, caramel sweetness supporting the aromatic coffee and dark cocoa flavour.

King of the Rocket Men 4.5% is back, but probably not for long as demand for this special space beer always outstrips supply. A great Pale Golden Ale with an interesting blend of internationally sourced hops to give a refreshing crisp light flavour. This blazing adventure in a glass will take you to infinity and beyond.

Beer for the barbecue, wedding or other special occasion?

Don’t forget the Kelham Brewery Shop, open in the week until 4pm & until 5pm on Saturdays. We try to keep in stock 5 Litre (8.8 pint)cans of Pale Rider 5.2%, Easy Rider 4.3% and Kelham Best 3.8%. Our 18 & 36 pint beer boxes need to be ordered and can be collected the following day. Start planning you next ‘Garden’ event now!

The next beer in the Punktuation series is Hyphen – we’ve just received a preview of the pump clip! It seems it is a 4.7% beer brewed with British hops.

Word from The Hive… What is known as Light Blue Season is well and truly under way. That is, the time of year when the blue of the sky is complemented with the quenching character of a pale 3.6% ABV summer quaffer full of super Summit hops. The biggest sporting event of the year is celebrated with a one-off special brew called Hops on t’Bike, well balanced at a non-wobble inducing 4.0% ABV. The 9th instalment of the pUnK-tuation series has been brewed: look out for Obelus, more commonly known as ‘the division sign’. Ah, the joy of division… The beer is 4.5% ABV, pale in colour and extremely hoppy in the Blue Bee style. Bittering is courtesy of British Admiral hops, with aroma from the powerful US Citra variety. Recommended listening comes ‘Curtissy’ of Joy Division and their post-punk debut ‘Unknown Pleasures’. Intense.