Inside Abbeydale Brewery: A Conversation With Edd Entwistle
Published: 17-Nov-2025 (09:13); Viewed: 8; Difficulty: 1 out of 10Rating: N/A
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This conversation opens the doors of the brewery in a way that videos alone rarely do. In the interview attached to this post, Edd answers a long list of direct questions about brewing craft beer, adapting recipes over the years, handling the challenges of cask production, managing online orders, and keeping the brewery competitive in the UK market.
Whether you're a beer enthusiast, homebrewer, or simply curious about how things work in the craft beer world, this article brings together the full story in a structured, easy-to-read how-to style - with the full video right above it if you prefer to watch the entire conversation.
Abbeydale's Brewing Heritage and Returning Classic Beers
One of the first topics we discussed was the past. Abbeydale Brewery has been active for roughly thirty years, and some of their earliest beers have now become rare names from the past. When the brewery considered reviving some of those forgotten recipes, the first beer to return was Holy Water - a project that immediately drew interest both inside and outside the brewery.Rediscovering these older brews requires digging into archive notes, adjusting to modern ingredients, and respecting the character of the original beer. It also highlights something important: Abbeydale is aware of its history and isn't afraid to revisit it.
How Stable Are Beer Recipes Over Time?
Many craft beer drinkers wonder whether recipes stay identical from year to year. Edd's answer is clear: consistency is the goal, but the ingredients change.Hop crops vary annually in aroma, bitterness, and intensity. For a flagship beer like Moonshine, the brewery blends different hop varieties to achieve a stable flavour profile. It's a constant balancing act - adjusting the formula while ensuring the beer tastes exactly how customers expect.
Vegan-Friendly Brewing: What's Possible and What Isn't
The next question touched on vegan beer options. Some drinkers are surprised that many traditional cask ales aren't vegan. The reason is finings - substances used to clarify the beer.Abbeydale continues working on vegan-friendly alternatives, and many of their keg and canned beers are already suitable for vegan drinkers. However, certain cask styles require specific clarification methods, making complete vegan conversion challenging. The brewery is trying to expand its vegan selection wherever practical.
Why Wetherspoons Can Sell Beer So Cheap
Cask beer pricing often confuses customers, especially when large pub chains sell it for extremely low margins. Edd explains two key reasons.First, chains sometimes buy beer that is short-dated or produced in large volumes at discounted prices. Second, cask beer margins are generally low. Breweries commonly sell casks with margins as low as twelve percent, and even that can be difficult to maintain. The result is predictable: customers expect very low prices, and that shapes the entire market.
Why Cask Beer Must Be Sold Within Three Days
This rule is often repeated but rarely explained. After a cask is opened, oxygen enters and begins interacting with the beer. Oxidation occurs rapidly, causing flavour degradation and eventually forming acetic acid - the beginning of a vinegar-like taste.This is why pubs have to be disciplined: if a cask doesn't sell quickly, the quality drops. Abbeydale monitors how pubs handle their casks and aims to support those who maintain strong cellar practices.
How Gluten-Reduced Beer Is Made
Gluten-reduced or "gluten-friendly" beer is achieved through a specific enzyme added during production. This enzyme breaks gluten chains into smaller fragments, reducing the measurable gluten content without altering the beer's main characteristics.Every batch is laboratory-tested before release. Edd confirms that gluten reduction has become reliable, with most of the flavour unaffected and no major recipe changes needed.
Recipe Secrecy and the Question of Copying
Another practical question: can breweries protect their recipes? In short, no. Recipes cannot be copyrighted.Even if someone attempts to copy a beer, the result will differ. Each brewery has unique water chemistry, equipment, temperatures, timings, scaling limitations, and ingredient variations. What seems like a simple percentage breakdown on paper becomes a completely different beer in reality.
This is why Abbeydale doesn't fear being imitated - great beer is more than a list of ingredients.
Does Equipment Shape the Flavour?
When comparing beer to whisky production, people often ask whether equipment shape affects flavour. The answer is yes, but with nuance. Fermenter size changes pressure and temperature control, which influences yeast behaviour.Scaling from small homebrew batches to thousands of litres amplifies these effects. Even minor temperature differences create noticeable changes in taste, and maintaining stability at large volumes requires careful engineering.
How Abbeydale's Brewery Layout Developed
Abbeydale Brewery was not built with a final, fixed plan. It evolved over decades. New vessels were added as space and budgets allowed.The stainless steel manufacturer SSV played a major role in the current setup, designing and installing many of the modern tanks. The brewery's layout today is the result of continuous improvements, adjustments, and expansions as production scaled.
How Much Does Brewery Equipment Cost?
When discussing equipment, Edd estimated the cost of a new kettle at around £150,000.These investments are essential: they influence efficiency, energy use, consistency, and the ability to produce larger volumes. Breweries must plan these upgrades carefully, as each decision affects long-term operations.
Where Abbeydale Beer Is Distributed
Abbeydale's reach is wider than many expect. Their beer regularly travels from Newcastle down to Birmingham, with pallet deliveries into London. Exports go to Sweden and France, though Edd notes they are cautious about sending cask beer abroad due to its fragility.Despite growing distribution, Sheffield remains the heart of their customer base.
How New Beers Are Designed
Designing a new beer is not random. The team begins with basic requirements: alcohol level, bitterness range, and malt profile. After that, hops are selected based on availability and character.One interesting detail Edd shares is that their head brewer travels to the United States to choose hop batches directly at source. This level of selection ensures consistency and guarantees high-quality results.
Experimental and Unusual Beer Ideas
Brewers naturally like to experiment, and Abbeydale is no exception. They occasionally create unusual small-batch brews to test ideas, but the sales team must approve these experiments. Even great ideas need to make commercial sense - if nobody buys it, the beer doesn't come back.Conclusion
This conversation with Edd Entwistle shows how much depth lies behind every pint. Abbeydale Brewery combines long experience, evolving methods, and strong technical grounding to produce consistent, high-quality beer.The attached video expands on every topic in detail, and if you enjoy learning how breweries really operate, this interview is one of the clearest, most practical insights you'll find.
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