The preview night is an insanely great way to drink a bunch of great beer and not break the bank!
London Brewers Alliance 2010 - thie video goes with the last post.
It’s Official – London Has a Thriving 21st Century Beer Scene!
[Note: originally posted 19 Sept 2010; reposted here for archive purposes - yes, it needs a rewrite…]
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?!
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
- 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
- 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
- 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/
- 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/
- 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 Epic Pale Ale v. Thornbridge Kipling South Pacific Pale Ale - beer fight on the beach, with a Beastie Boys backing track. Time to revisit this classic. And to think this was shot in the Summer 2009.
