The Craft Beer Co, Clerkenwell

With 37 draught beers and over 150 bottles, The Craft Beer Co definitely starts off in the right direction.

Not far from Farringdon tube station, the brother of Cask Pub and Kitchen opened this week proudly fronting London's largest beer selection. And what a selection it is: house beers from Mikkeller and Kent Brewery; permanent keg fonts (with each font having three taps each) for Mikkeller, sour beer, lager and imports (with more fonts to spare for IPAs or saisons or stouts or whatever); a long line of casks from some of the UK's best breweries; and a bottle list which reads like beer porn.

Downstairs is wide and thin with a long bar, the whole place made to feel bigger by the mirrored ceiling. There's lots of standing room (to perve over the pump clips and fridge contents) plus stools and tables, music plays at just the right volume to blend with the background, the bare decoration of stripped wood and dark furniture works well against the white walls and flashes of the striking red logo. Upstairs is quiet and lined with tables for those who want to get comfortable and spend the evening working through the line-up of beers – a fire place in the middle and windows all around make it homely and airy. It's not cheap, pushing £3.50 a pint of cask and keg starting just under £4 a pint, but those prices are almost expected in London. Importantly, it's got a great atmosphere already with staff who know what they are doing and are passionate about it.

Being bold, I think Craft will almost immediately become the number one beer destination in London, and that's with a lot of strong competition (Southampton Arms, Cask, The Rake, White Horse, Euston Tap). It's got the biggest beer selection (with something to suit any taste), it's got unique beers, it's in a good location, there's a great atmosphere to the place and it feels like a pub to sit down and drink in. 

The Craft Beer Co is now open. You should check it out.

Southampton Arms, Kentish Town

“Ale Cider Meat” and “Ale & Cider House” are the two signs which catch the attention from afar and tell you that you are close to the Southampton Arms (I always think it’s closer than it is when I walk to it from Kentish Town tube station, and seeing that sign puts the finishing line in sight). Outside it’s a simple two-door boozer, one of which isn’t used, with a huge waist-to-ceiling window in between, letting light through to the otherwise delightfully dark bar (pubs like this should be dark).

Inside it’s narrow and long with the sort of bare wooden floors that have been blackened and worn with time and the passing shuffles of thirsty patrons. The bar curves like a backward “J” and it’s ruggedly handsome bare wood exterior flows throughout. It’s the sort of pub where you can amuse yourself through a pint just by looking around and taking it all in: the mis-matched bar stools, the close-together tables and chairs which often need people to move to allow others to pass, the small tiled fireplace, the room leading off from behind the bar (what’s in there?!), the piano which gets played a few times a week, adding a wonderful old-time feel, the low-hanging lights, the gold-rimmed clock, the chalk board sign which tells you it’s cash only, or just fawning over the beer choice and the colourful pump clips.

Starting at the curve of the bar a small hot plate keeps the roast pork warm for the rolls they serve, then it’s two Camden Town Brewery taps (the brewery is a 15-minute walk away), then 12 handpulls. Behind the bar are up to eight ciders on gravity plus spirits. The Southampton Arms prides itself on only serving beers and ciders from independent producers and the beer line-up is always thirsty reading as they serve from the top breweries in the UK. The beers are also charged at reasonable prices, with pints under £3.

The food selection is great too, with a choice of simple porcine snacks with your pint: pork pies, pork rolls, sausage rolls, scotch eggs.

The beer is well-kept and the choice is always excellent, ranging from pale and hoppy, to best bitters, to big stouts, to brewery rarities. It’s also a great place to drink with a buzzing, lively atmosphere made up of a mix of young and not-so-young, all gulping the great beer and cider, often sharing tables and stories and suggestions for what to order next.

I’m fairly fickle when it comes to my favourite pubs but the Southampton Arms is currently my top drinking spot in London.

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These photos are not mine. You can tell that because they are in focus and well composed. I got them from Travels with Beer, one of my favourite beer websites. You should check it out.

Also, if you were the guy on Friday night in the Southampton Arms who told me you like the blog then thank you, you made my week.  

Camden Town Brewery

Drizzle hangs in the cold air as we pass Kentish Town West station and miss the dark gates which lead up a private cobbled road to Camden Town Brewery. “We’re going to put a sign up on the railway arch,” says Jasper Cuppaidge, the owner, as he greets us and leads us to the vast glass-fronted building – a modern space for a modern brewhouse in North London.

Jasper introduces us to the brewing team of Troels and James and then the three lead us around the stainless steel spaceship of a brewery. Designed by BrauKon, it’s a 20hl (15bbl) system, controlled by a flash front panel, but it’s far from a push-button brewery, retaining that key element of human touch and control at each stage. What this impressive kit means is that, even though a lot of money has clearly been spent, it’s an efficient and environmentally-friendly brewery (they use 6-7 pints of water to make each pint of beer; they lose no steam in the brewing process, collecting it back as water and heat for the brewery) which can be run by just two brewers – it seems to me a sensible, long-term investment.

This close control is very important through their set-up and they’ve spent the last year perfecting their beers; they are clearly the brewery’s harshest critics but also the greatest lovers. “There’s nothing better than drinking your own product and thinking that this is great!” says Jasper, and Troels enthusiastically agrees. James was hungover from the night before because he’d gone out and had a pint of Camden Town beer and it was so good he had to have another and another – “it was just too good!” There is a lot of pride in their eyes and that’s really exciting to see – these guys love the beers they are making and have complete faith in them.

Leading from the brew kit to the imposing 60hl silver torpedo fermenting vessels and then to the bottling line (stealing a bottle of pilsner on the way), we’re back in the bar, an open, undecorated space with beer taps on the wall, boxes of beers on the floor, bottles from around the world on the bar, a line-up of glasses ready to be filled and a bench in the middle with newspapers and beer magazines splayed open, half-read. This will soon be open to the public on Saturdays who can come in and drink the beers a few meters from where they were made.

Their three core beers are a lager, a pale ale and a wheat beer. All poured from American-style tap handles, the first beer fills chunky half pint glasses with the logo bold in the middle. As it lands on the bar the grey clouds part and a beam of sun floods through the glass front and illuminates the beer. This is the pilsner, which is currently a trial beer – they are testing this out against the helles which is currently available. It’s five weeks from brewday until it’s ready to be drunk, the majority of that time spent lagering in the tanks which dominate the middle of the brewhouse. The beer is crowned with a full white foam, it’s light and gluggable but with a snap of hops at the end making it so, so drinkable. The sun burst outside makes me dream of summer and a pint of this.

The pale ale comes next which has recently benefitted from the addition of some maris otter malt to the mash for extra body. This is the beer I know best, unable to avoid it when I visit the Euston Tap, and it’s fast becoming a favourite: fruity and inviting thanks to Centennials and Cascades, the sort of body which can carry hops with ease, a background sweetness with the foreground hop bitterness and aroma. It’s accessible, balanced and easy drinking.

Wheat beer in the back, pale ale at the front

A hazy unfiltered lager arrives straight from the tank – when they open they will also sell the unfiltered version – rounded and smooth, a little sweetly sulphurous which I love, very refreshing and easy drinking. One sniff and sip and I’m suddenly in Pilsen, remembering beers past.

Finally is the wheat beer, a German-style weiss, darker than you’d normally see. “I think it’s the best wheat beer in the UK,” Jasper says without arrogance, instead it’s with pride and rightly so – it’s stunning. A hazy amber body, a banana and toffee aroma, a full and smooth body which has subtle toffee sweetness and a dry finish without much spiky clove spice. I don’t often enjoy this style of beer but it had me completely transfixed.

The brewery, which hasn’t officially launched yet, is already selling beers to around 40 pubs in London and none of them are selling less than five kegs each a week. They haven’t rushed things, instead taking a slow and sensible approach towards perfecting their beers – I’ve had their beers over the last six months and every time I try them they are better and better. They cask, keg and bottle their beers so there's something for everyone and with the space, kit and capacity they have there is also a lot of room for growth over the next few years.

They will soon be launching, opening their brewery doors to a tasting room which folds out onto the cobbled street and will make a great summer drinking spot as the sun slips down over the city. With a pint-glugging pils, a perfect pale ale and a wowing wheat beer, plus plans for occasional specials, Camden Town is here and I can't wait to drink more of their beer. 

King William IV: The home of Brodie's Brewery

Go as far east at the Victoria line will take you, plus a 15 minute walk past half the kebab shops in London, and you’ll find the King William IV pub. This is the home of Brodie's Brewery and their brewery tap.

It’s a large corner boozer with a huge snaking bar lined with handpulls serving Brodie's beer, one guest pump and some shiny kegs of the usual. Fires smoke in distant corners, tables are lined for diners who won’t come this evening, the big screen rolls down and Coronation Street comes on distracting eyes from looking at the floor or the beer mats or the bottom of a glass. It feels like a place for locals but it gets the inevitable beer tourists too and there’s the impression, at least on this sleepy Wednesday, that the locals don’t bother the tourists and tickers all that much, spying them with curiosity rather than parochial territorialism.

James and Lizzie are on the second shift of a double brewday when we arrive and get an unexpected brewery tour. The brewery feels like a nutty professor’s laboratory but I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the sacks of hops left open, the piled-high barrels or the stairs in the middle leading upstairs where the dog is asleep. There’s also a sense of fun and experimentation here as if trying out a new beer for the hell of it is just part of the game. Filled with the warmth of the mash tun, James stands on top of a ladder and tells us about the brewery and his beers and it’s impossible not to fall into the ‘fuck it’ spirit he seems to exude as if saying ‘ah, fuck it, let’s try this out’. And that’s something which reflects in the beers, a cornucopia born of the combination of experimentation, knowledge and enjoyment where hops are used freely (Brodie's have got a beer festival coming up on the 29th April until 2nd May. Look at the beer list to get a feel for the sort of fun they have). And the beers are good, well made, interesting and a little bit different, ranging from low-ABV pale and hoppies up to monstrous 22% Elizabethan which is the beer equivalent of a black hole. There may be the spirit of experimentation but it's all backed up by good brewing.

Kiwi is dry and fruity with that tannic Nelson Sauvin flavour that tastes like all the grape skins in the world have been reduced to a drop of lethal rasping bitterness. Citra is light and wonderfully fruity and at 3.1% you could drink it by the gallon. California sings of sunshine and hops and tastes like pineapple and peaches. Amarilla and East London Gold are both easy drinking and highly hopped. The Superior London Porter is dark and sticky and full of roast flavours.

London isn’t a cheap place to drink and pints can push at the £4 mark, but in the King William IV every pint of Brodie's is £1.99. Whether the 3.1% pale ale or the 7.2% porter, all £1.99. It’s one of those London pubs which is a little out of the way but definitely worth visiting. It’s large, filled with more beer than you could try in a session and there’s always something interesting and different on the bar. I got a good feeling from Brodies, something I can’t put my finger on, something fun and interesting. The pub is a little dated but it’s lit up by the beers on the bar and the enthusiasm coming from the brewery out the back. I’m sure I’ll be back soon.

European Beer Bloggers Conference 2011

On Sunday, at the inaugural Beer Bloggers Conference in Boulder, Colorado, I stood up in front of the room and announced that there would be a European Beer Bloggers Conference in London in 2011.

I’m working with Zephyr Adventures, the organisers who also arrange successful wine and food conferences, on the European one. My role is to help sort out a venue, hotels and sponsors, plus have an input in the agenda and generally tweet and blog the hell out of it – my ‘payment’ was being taken to the US conference to see how they did things over there.

I get to have a good say into what I think will work in Europe. This means that I will be trying to arrange the weekend that I really want to go to. I saw the sessions which worked and the ones which didn’t work so well in Boulder, or at least sessions which wouldn’t work so well in front of a British and European audience. The difference is simple: the European beer blogging community is smaller and people already know one another quite well, therefore the event needs to be more social than academic. Plus, I don’t think there will be many European bloggers who want a two-hour session on maximising SEO, studying analytics or the benefits (or not) to adding adverts to your site (correct me if I’m wrong and we can arrange it!).

I’ve got lots of cool ideas for the conference, there are some great sponsors already and a great location and I’m personally very excited and I think all the other beer bloggers should be too (and I’m not just saying that!). A live beer blogging (kind of like speed dating with breweries) will almost definitely happen, a Bring Your Own Bottle night will be an in-person help-yourself beer swap, there’ll be two beer dinners, I’m hoping for a brewery visit or two, a twitter blind tasting, some food and beer pairing... Not your usual ‘conference’ activity, so I suggest you shed the notion of a boring lecture-style conference; this is an online conference and therefore it’s about all the voices in the room.

I’m sure some people will wonder what the point is but for me it’s about galvanising the beer bloggers and improving the overall quality by looking at issues that surround what we do (such as twitter beer reviews/tasting notes and if they work; the effectiveness of blogging; the industry involvement; the future of beer writing; an open debate about do’s and dont’s of blogging), discussing them in a practical and involving way. It’s also about having a great weekend drinking great beers! It won’t be academic, it’ll be practical and interesting and based around beer and the internet and the best ways of communicating – even if you have no interest in a ‘conference’ it’ll still be a fascinating weekend of events which you won’t be able to enjoy anywhere else, that’s for sure.

It’ll be in May or early June and will last two to three days (Friday and Saturday will be the core, with beer dinners each evening, and then a Sunday plan will be there for those who want to stay on longer - Sunday will hopefully involve a brewery and a London pub crawl, so nothing too demanding!). It’ll be very affordable (it’s currently going to be £65 to attend, but this might change, and that cost will include the evening meals and all the beer you can drink) and we’re also working with hotels to find a good rate for attendees. And it won’t just be UK beer bloggers – I hope there will be European bloggers, US bloggers, industry people, breweries, brewers (pouring their beer), beer writers, food and wine bloggers/writers and more, so quite a mix. It’s also the perfect opportunity for a brewery to talk to the key online writers and present their beers to them.

What do you think? Are you interested in this? What would you like to see at the conference? (This is the US agenda) If anyone has any ideas for sessions then let me know and I'll add them to the list - this is about what we all would like to see there! I’ll be writing about the US conference more and you’ll hopefully get a good feeling about what it was like (and it was excellent!). We’ll be announcing all the important details (dates, venue, hotel, sponsors) in the next few weeks and then in the next few months we’ll announce the definitive agenda as it gets decided.

Meantime Kellerbier

It’s unfiltered and unpasteurised, brewed and sold on site and made with local ingredients. That’s a pretty good start. With an aroma like sweet dough, strawberries and vanilla, there’s also a little butter in the best of ways, like a delicate version of butterscotch. The body is silky, glide-over-your-tongue rather than jump-up-and-down on it, before a dry, peppery finish with that ever-so-important hop quench that makes you go back for more. It’s very good. It’s just the sort of beer I’ve been craving since drinking in the Czech Republic. But it’s not a Czech or German recreation using Moravian malt and Saaz hops, this is London Lager, a new appellation Alastair Hook is chasing (the kellerbier is the unfiltered and unpasteurised version of London Lager – a new brew Meantime are producing – and it has the brewing yeast left in which is classic for the style – the ultimate kellerbier, or cellar beer, I’ve had is Pilsner Urquell). London Lager is made from East Anglian malt and Kentish hops and it’s brewed beside the Thames. The kellerbier version is only available in the handsome, copper centre of the Old Brewery, right beside the vessels it’s made in (why would you want to drink it anywhere else?). This is how beer tastes at its natural best; unfiltered, unpasteurised, unbelievably good.

Strangely, though, and in the interest of fairness, one tap serving the beer was excellent but the other was lacking a bit of life and lay flat in the glass (it barely came with a head on it when poured, which was a shame – this sort of beer needs a massively oversized glass and a four-finger head). If it doesn't have a thick, frothing head then watch out!

The image was from Travels with Beer. If you like beer and photos then that’s the place for you.

FABPOW! Kernel Export Stout and a Hummingbird Cupcake

Earlier in the day Lauren sent me a picture of herself eating just about the biggest piece of cake I’d ever seen, along with an excited message saying that she’d found the Hummingbird bakery. Of course, I quickly tapped my reply and told her to buy me something. When she got home, just as I was about to open a bottle of Kernel Export Stout, she pulled a cupcake from her bag and set it down excitedly on the table. “Oh-my-god-Mark-the-cakes-were-amaaaaaaazing!!!”

I opened the beer first. Based on a recipe from 1890, it’s 7.8%, dark and topped with the sort of foam you need a spoon to enjoy; it’s dark chocolate, coffee and cocoa with a little wisp of smoke; a full body, more dark chocolate, some distant fruity berries and dried fruit, an earthy-leathery depth and just a hint of smoke and salt. Delicious, interesting and different with each sip, it’s another great beer from Kernel (there's currently some available from Beermerchants who also have a jaw-dropping number of Mikkeller bottles).

The cake was top heavy with the kind of vanilla butter icing to make your knees go weak while the sponge was impossibly light and airy. Together the intense, dark flavours in the beer matched the icing with neither overpowering the other, while the fullness of the body made it work, lifting the sweet sponge and icing and giving it a chocolatey kick on the way down.

An impromptu FABPOW and this one taking two London craft products sold at the opposite edges of the city and putting them together in harmony. And it gives me an idea... what about a London Market Brewery which takes inspirations from what’s on the stalls, independent shops or uses leftover market ingredients. Maybe a collaboration with different stalls: so a cupcake beer or beer cupcakes with Hummingbird; a chocolate beer with a chocolate stall; fruit and veg beers; a beer to go with particular foods and jointly branded...

Beer and cake can be hard to get right but when you nail it it's brilliant. Carrot cake and US IPA is a winner, so is kriek and a gooey brownie and then a cupcake and a rich, deeply delicious stout. Any other beer and cake recommendations?

Long Live London Beer!

The London Brewers Alliance showcase was a brilliant success. The venue was a bright, square hall with all the brewers set up around the outside which made the ideal environment to explore London beer (and reminded me of the San Francisco equivalent). What made the event such a success was having all the brewers there, giving drinkers a chance to talk to the beer makers and giving the brewers a chance to talk to their customers, building a very important, personal bond. The sense of sharing was strong and community was clear to see and having Fuller’s next to the London Amateur Brewers showed the diversity of London beer and making it all-inclusive and adding an extra, important depth to the group.

Stand-out beers for the night were the kegged Kernel Brewery Citra, a West Coast-style IPA with a smooth body and a punch of the distinctive in-thing hop; the unblended Fuller’s Brewers Reserve was wonderful and rich, boozy and complex, slightly wild at the edges and dangerously gluggable; Redemption’s Pale Ale was great, fruity and floral with a quenching bitterness; Brodies Citra was 3.1% and absolutely rocked with so much flavour, it’s the sort of beer you could drink all day in a hot summer beer garden, while their Romanov Empress Imperial Stout kicked some serious arse; Saints & Sinners Citra’d Reaktion was excellent, another smack around the face with citrus but a great balancing sweetness; it's good to see Camden Town Brewery getting their beers out and I can't wait to try more - the helles made for a nice, cold half pint following all that Citra; the Windsor & Eton guys are making some decent beers too, their Guardsman was a quality best bitter; and then there’s the collaboration special, the London Porter, a butch, roasty beer with winter berries at the edges and a lasting, delicious bitterness – it’s a great beer and you might be able to find it around and about London if you are lucky. (I didn't manage have a beer from every brewery there so I'll need there to be another event next year in which I can do that!)

The joy for me was seeing the variety of beers available and tasting the quality of them. The beer scene in London is vibrant and exciting and it keeps on getting better with more good pubs opening where great and interesting beer is a priority. London is firmly on the beer map and long may it stay there.

London Brewers and a Fyne Showcase

Two big events this weekend. The first on Friday night (17th) with the London Brewers Alliance bash at Brew Wharf. All the London breweries will be there showcasing their beers plus there will be a few extra-special ones: there’s the London collaborative brew, for starts, a porter put together by the London brewers (see Steve at Beer Justice for the photos of the day), then there’s a few from Saints and Sinners including a Citra’d Reaktion, which I’m dribbling at the prospect of, and John Keeling has promised a cask of Brewers Reserve No.1, unblended and at cask strength – a very rare treat! It kicks off proper from 6.30pm but there’s a trade session from 4.30pm (tickets available on the LBA website - £15 and that gets you plenty of beer).

And while we’re on the topic of beer and London, Steve has announced that a Euston Tap is forthcoming... if it’s anything like the Sheffield Tap then I can’t wait!

The other event is a brewery showcase at The Bull, Horton Kirby (my favourite pub!), from 17-19 September (I’m going on the Saturday). It’s the first showcase in ages and Garrett is getting Fyne Ales in, a great brewery from Scotland. The list includes Piper's Gold (3.8%), Maverick (4.2%), Vital Spark (4.4%), Hurricane Jack (4.4%), Avalanche (4.5%), Highlander (4.8%) and Deadlock (4.8%). He has also tweeted that there will be some Thornbridge beers on – Wild Swan (3.5%), Larkspur (5.2%) and Halcyon (7.7%) – and some BrewDogs, if you need any other reason to tempt you along – The Edge (3.4%), 5am Saint (5%), Punk IPA (6%) and Paradox Arran (10%). Not a bad line-up!

Fyne Ales’ Jarl was the best British beer I had at GBBF this year, and every bottled Avalanche I’ve had has been very good, so I’m eager to try more of their beers. And I can’t wait to try the Larkspur as there have been a few blogger beergasms over it recently, plus I haven’t seen Halcyon on cask this year and that’s always one to look for.

Who’s heading along to either of these this weekend?

Brew Wharf, Borough Market

Brew Wharf in London’s Borough Market is now a must-visit location on the London beer map. The recent brewery changes have seen it develop into a quality brewpub, selling excellent beer and food, while the beer brewed on site is rapidly becoming some of the best-tasting and forward-thinking cask beer you can find in the UK.

There’s a good feel to the place, as if the brewing of good beer and cooking of good food have elevated it: smart tables and chairs, bare brick walls, glass looking out and in, an open kitchen wafting its aromas all around, a large, high-ceilinged dining space opposite the ‘goldfish bowl’ of a brewery, great beer and food menus, it’s a smart little set-up (and, of course, anywhere that serves big US IPAs and has good burgers is somewhere I want to hang out).

Inside the fridges there’s wine, but there’s more beer. The beer menu gives good descriptions and tasting notes for the unfamiliar while a chalk board announces the latest additions to the fridge. The beer selection is vast and varied from lagers to imperial stouts, via the world of beer, featuring some rare British and American bottles. Then there’s the beers brewed onsite which Saints and Sinners are responsible for. With names like Hopster, Hoptimum and Hopfather, you kind of get an idea of what they’re playing around with. I’ve had a handful of the brews and enjoyed them all – Hoptimum started it all and showed their intent with a great hoppy pale ale; 3 lions was a cheeky, fruity pale ale; Punjabi was a big-hitting citrus-bomb on an India wheat ale; Tasty was a perfectly done balancing act of a brown ale with American hops; and Hopfather is one of the best cask pints I’ve had this year, one sniff and it fires you on a hop rocket straight over to West Coast USA (but then it’s based on Blind Pig, so it should), loaded with big hops, dangerously downable at 6.1%. I also tried some ABC straight from the tank and for its modest 3% ABV it’s excellent (but then it needs to be good as it’s for the British Guild of Beer Writers).

Also – and this is significant – it’s the sort of place which can entice people into trying new or different beers while having them along with food. Its location is in the middle of Foodie HQ and right on the edge of the financial area of the capital meaning that it attracts a diverse crowd - on a Friday night the beer geeks stand next to the suits who both stare at the party girls. The cask selection is constantly changing with new Brew Wharf beers regularly popping up (plus last weekend they had some Moor beer) giving people the chance to try new things (and these beers are all a bit different to the usual ubiquitous selection of me-too cask beers). It’s unique in that it has a strong base of customers and its serving more and more good beer, so here’s hoping that it can be a pivotal London location for great beers and food.

Along with the Old Brewery in Greenwich and The Florence in Herne Hill, it’s possible to get beer brewed on site (or very nearby) with a good food menu in a smart location in London. Add to this the Mandarin Oriental Hotel at Hyde Park, which has nine kegs of craft beer (did you know that?), the White Horse, the Draft House pubs and all those many other pubs serving great food, including the Michelin-starred Harwood Arms, and London is looking pretty good on the food and beer front.

Hardknott Night at The Rake

I really liked the Hardknott Aether Blaec but that could’ve easily been a fluke. I know Dave but I didn’t know whether he could really brew or if he just talked (loudly and in depth) a good game. I had to find out for myself…

Thankfully The Rake did the leg work for me (saving a long round-trip to Cumbria for a pint) and arranged Hardknott Night. I arrived to see three beers on the bar, one in the cellar and two in the fridge. I start with Continuum, a 4% pale and hoppy made with Cascades, Centennials and Willamette. Dave wasn’t happy because it didn’t drop and had a slight haze. Haze doesn’t worry me, taste does. It’s good. Really good. A bitterness that won’t scare normal people but will still please the lupulin freaks, a solid body of caramel, a great aroma too. I drank more of this than I can remember...

Next was Cool Fusion. A 4.4% pale ale with fresh ginger and chilli. This was the first beer to run out on the night and it went by 9pm. On a cold day I’d say it needs more ginger and a peppery kick, but in the heat of the sticky London summer the gentle prickle and zing of ginger was incredibly refreshing.

Dark Energy is the Hardknott stout. At 4.9% it’s got a lot going on inside with earthiness, a little smoke, berries and hop fruitiness, chocolate and roast bitterness. As cask stouts go (and many don’t go far, if you ask me) this one was excellent. For me I’d want a little more body but then I like a lot of body in my stouts. As Sid Boggle has pointed out, the Dark Energy is ‘the obvious cousin’ of Aether Blaec and it’s hard to disagree.

Down in the cellar, hidden away, was Infra Red, a 6.2% IPA (I’d say it was an imperial red, not an IPA, but who knows what an IPA is anymore). It certainly was red and it certainly was hoppy, bursting with vibrant and bold C-hops bringing bright bitterness (lingering, not nose-clearing) and a body to carry it throughout. Dave was most pleased with this beer and I can see why. My only comment was that it needed more Amarillos. Dave replied: “It hasn’t got any in it.” “Exactly.” I said.

I didn’t get any Aether Blaec but I had a nip of Granite, the big barley wine. It’s big and has an underlying smokiness, a burnt edge, an earthiness, but no throat-searing booze – it’s something that you could get completely lost in and enjoy every sip. I’ve got a bottle at home which might get another few months before I open it.

So I finally got to try Dave’s beers and I’m glad I did because they were all excellent. I’m pleased for Dave because he’s a great guy and I hope for him and Ann that Hardknott succeed – they certainly deserve to.

It seems I wasn’t the only one who wanted to know how Dave’s beers tasted. Halfway through the night I realise I was surrounded by brewers: there’s Dave, John Keeling, Pete Brissenden (formerly of Hopdaemon, now of Hogs Back), Evin O’Riordain and Phil Lowry. When they talk about brewing in technical terms I nod along as if I understand and then ask what hops are in it.

The Kernel Brewery, Tower Bridge

I first heard about The Kernel Brewery through Chunk who has since posted about it here. Then, when I went up to drink jugs of Saints and Sinners’ Hoptimum at Brew Wharf, Evin O’Riordain, the guy who runs the Kernel, was there. “I need to try some of your beers.” I told him. He then reached under the table, presumably into a magic sack, and pulled out a couple of smart looking bottles and slid them across the table to me.

I opened the Centennial Pale Ale first. It’s no secret that I’d put Centennials into every single beer in the world if I could, so I always like to see it in a single-hop brew. This is 5.7% and pours an awesome flame gold colour with a bold white head – it inspired me to write the word ‘sexy’ in my notes. The aroma is bread and marmalade followed by the distinctively floral and orangey Centennial. The mouthfeel is the winner here and it’s full-bodied, smooth and clean without being loaded with sickly sweetness. It’s toasty and bready with just a hint of sweetness before the hops come through, intensely floral and deliciously bitter with a great orange pith finish. I finished it within minutes and loved every mouthful. It’s lacking sweetness, not in a bad way, and could handle a few more hops for the insatiable lupulin lover like me, but these are quibbles (and incidentally the same notes as Chunk made) – the beer is absolutely spot on.

The Porter is 5.9% and pours a dark brown with a good looking tan head. There’s chocolate, a waft of smoke, some phenols and lots of roasty malt – a classic nose. It’s another wonderfully smooth mouthful, roasty, dry, chocolatey and just a hint of roasted fruit sharpness which adds a great balance to a porter. There’s a long-lasting roast finish, it’s smooth, very drinkable and has a perfect balance of flavour. Fantastic – both beers seriously impressed me.

Inspired by the US craft scene, Evin is brewing once a week beneath the train arches of Tower Bridge, not far from London’s Borough Market. He’s on a small batch plant and bottling and then labeling everything by hand, with love. If you want to try his beers then go along and find him on Saturday’s from 9-4 and he’ll happily sell you a few of his bottles. A few more brews will be available soon and hopefully there will be some casks in the future. If you are in the market, jumping between Utobeer, the Market Porter, The Rake and Brew Wharf then take a bag and make an extra stop to see Evin – the Kernel Brewery is another exciting addition to the ever-growing London beer scene.

My Beery Weekend

I’ve had a long weekend of excess, spread across the south-east of England in London, Brighton and Whitstable. Lauren (my girlfriend and chauffeur) and I had some ‘us’ time, which generally means I walk around the shops with her and then she sits opposite me in the pub and pretends to be interested while I talk about beer.

The first London stop, post-tourist fun, was the Fox and Anchor in Clerkenwell. This is one of the best pubs I’ve been to in recent memory: large choice of perfectly kept beer served in shiny silver tankards (although these did affect the aroma of the brew and made it tinny); a quirky snaking shape which leads back into small booths; and a food menu which features pies and scotch eggs as bar snacks (I love bar snacks – they are, for me, one of the gauges of a good pub). I had a pint of Adnam’s Old Ale which really was a thing of beauty.

Next we visited the Gunmakers, the pub run by this blogger and a fellow member of the British Guild of Beer Writers. Customers were spilling out onto the street and inside was buzzing. My pint of Timmy Taylor’s Landlord was super. The food menu was stomach-rumble-inducing, but we had a dinner reservation to meet.

Dinner was at Comptoir Gascon, which is pretty much right slap-between the Fox and Anchor and the Gunmakers. It’s a French deli-come-bistro which was serving one of my utter favourite dishes sur le monde: cassoulet; thick and sticky with duck fat, creamy with the beans and full of juicy meat. Food to die for, literally.

London done, we moved on to Brighton and the pub of note was the Basketmakers Arms, a Fuller’s-tied house just off the hippie-chic-smoothie-lined streets. The beer couldn’t be better kept and their range featured almost all of the Fuller’s brews, plus two Gale’s beers (including HSB, which harks back fond memories of the pub quizzes at the Beehive Royal Holloway University) and an autumn seasonal called Red Fox (which was stunning and both red and foxy).

The sunny Sunday was spent by the sea in Whitstable. The main purpose was to walk off the excesses of Friday and Saturday, but I had ulterior motives as it is also home to one of my favourite pubs: the Whitstable Brewery Bar, which juts out onto the pebbled beach and serves the beer spanking fresh from the brewery (the oyster stout is magical).

The only downside to the weekend was missing X Factor (read: Cheryl Cole on X Factor).