It’s Official – London Has a Thriving 21st Century Beer Scene!

Doc D — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 08:38:41 +0000

Yes, in case you’ve been living under a rock London has a dynamic, innovative and world class modern beer scene. The emergence of the London Brewers Alliance and their inaugural showcase event held last Friday night is more proof that London should be on every beer enthusiasts schedule. During the Friday festivities we tasted the following brews:

Ha’penny Brewing Co., Ruby Red, silky mild with hints of cinnamon. Brewrank:15/20
London Brewers Alliance Porter ~ 5% special one off brewed as a collaboration by all the brewers. Nice, hoppy. Brewrank: 17/20
Kernal IPA, Citra hops. Another great one from our favorite nano brewery. Brewrank: 16/20
Redemption Pale Ale, solid. Brewrank: 14/20
Windsor & Eton Brewery Best Bitter, smooth malty. Brewrank: 14/20
Brew Wharf Fire from the top of a monkey’s head, hoppy madness. Brewrank: 14/20
Camden Town Brewery Pale Ale. Brewrank:14/20

It is good to see both Fuller’s (the grand daddy of London brewing) and Meantime (the big innovator) supporting the LDN Brewers Alliance. The only reason we didn’t drink any of their brews on Friday is we have a cellar full of the stuff… Overall the Showcase event was a solid 7 out 10. Next time we hope to see an event guide of some sort and a food selection. Maybe even an entire week of events – are we going to see a London Beer Week in 2011?!

Here’s a good video by the London Brewers:

And here is the current list of all 13 London brewers that are either brewpubs, micros and local/family/regional brewers (sorry no bud or mass produce crud!):

Brew Wharf – brewpub
Brodie’s Beers – micro & brewpub
Camden Town Brewery – micro
The Florence – brewpub in Herne Hill
Fuller’s – regional, family run
Ha’penny Brewing Co. – micro
The Kernel Brewery – nano, look for the bottles at places like the Rake
Meantime Brewing Co. – regional, the innovator
Redemption Brewery – micro
Sambrooks Brewery – micro
Twickenham Fine Ales – micro/medium
Windsor & Eton Brewery – micro
ZeroDegrees (Blackheath) – brewpub

Who will be number 14?

In the meantime here is our first mini guide to other places to experience London’s Great Beer Scene… Including festivals, beer bars, food& beer events etc.

CAMRA Festivals:

GBBF (the mac daddy every August) – http://gbbf.camra.org.uk/home
Other CAMRA events (something every month) – http://www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=festivalseventsawards

Local & Independant Festivals (check Twitter, Ratebeer and other social outlets as well):

Wandsworth Common Beer Festivals (March & October) – http://wandsworthbeerfestival.eventbrite.com/
White Horse, in May look for 40/40 and July the American Beer Fest – http://www.whitehorsesw6.com/news-events.php

Great Beer Pubs/Bars that also do meet the brewer and other events:

Cask Pub & Kitchen, Victoria/Pimlico – http://www.caskpubandkitchen.com/
The Rake, Borough Market – can’t find the webiste?
Draft House/Westbridge – http://www.drafthouse.co.uk/
Lowlander, Covent Garden – http://www.lowlander.com/
Greenwich Union (Meantime’s flagship pub!) – http://www.greenwichunion.com/

Top Beer Stores:

Real Ale in Twickenham/Richmond – http://www.realale.com/
Utobeer at Borough Market only Thu/Fri/Sat (they need to update the website and join the 2st century) – http://www.utobeer.co.uk/

Brewery Tours

Fuller’s – not to be missed – http://www.fullers.co.uk/rte.asp?id=9
Sambrooks - http://www.sambrooksbrewery.co.uk/brewery.html
Plus I am sure Meantime an others all do tours if you ask…

London is also a great town for pub crawls – one of these days we will publish some suggestions but check any good beer guide. Happy drinking…

Update: below is a low quality (yes, its from a mobile phone) photo stream from the event.





www.flickr.com








mediaviking's London Brewers Showcase photoset

The Beer Academy: Tasting Session Beers over Britain – a very short summary

Doc D — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:51:41 +0000

Back in May I had the pleasure of attending the Beer Academy’s 90 minutes tasting session “Beers over Britain Matched with Food” with a few mates. If you don’t already know about the Beer Academy then be sure to check out their course catalog. The Academy is part of the Institute of Brewing & Distilling. They run a series of courses around the UK for both professionals in the beer trade and beer enthusiasts.

The session we attended included matching some tasty British beers with food. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the food matching part. Time to start a campaign, with all my wine and foodie friends to branch out and to pair more beer with food.

Somehow my tasting notes from the evening got lost along the way home… But I know we started with an Italian Peroni Nastro Azzuro to clear the palette (good choice). Beer No 1 was St Peter’s Organic Ale, always good. Number 2 was Inns & Gunn a first for me, No 3 was White Shield IPA the classic IPA and we finished with Meantime London Porter perfect for the closing out this evening session in central London.

Beer Viking » Beer Enthusiasts

It’s Official – London Has a Thriving 21st Century Beer Scene!

The Beer Academy: Tasting Session Beers over Britain – a very short summary