Capital Brews

As a city London was internationally famed for brewing but over the 25 years or so that I’ve been living down here, the great brewers have slowly disappeared, leaving just Fullers out of a long line of famous names still commercially brewing in the capital.

There then was was a period when brewpubs became the in-thing – the Firkin chain were the most successful for a while before owner David Bruce sold them and they were rebadged and gradually faded away.

There was even a French brewpub called Brasserie Les Sans Culottes in Covent Garden - with some continental-style beers and sparkling Normandy ciders - but as with many other such outlets it didn't stand the test of time.

In recent years however there has been a resurgence in the opening of new breweries and what has been heartening is that in the cut-throat industry they’re joining, they’ve come together in a spirit of enterprise and formed the London Brewers Alliance with the intention of self-help and putting London back on the brewing map.

As a keen drinker I’ve kept a close eye on these developments and so was happy to attend their first event – the London Brewers Alliance Showcase – which took place last week at Brew Wharf in London Bridge.

(left) Lizzie Brodie pours me a half of their porter

This event would essentially be a small festival where we could taste the wares and meet the brewers. The cost was £15 but for that you got seven halves of beer and one half of their collaboratively brewed London Porter. Not bad at London prices.

I was attending with London Miller Chris and his colleague/fellow drinker Roger – having first popped into the nearby Wheatsheaf for a couple of openers first – and the place was quite busy with a number of familiar faces from the London CAMRA scene.

In all there were almost a dozen breweries assembled – Camden Town, Brew Wharf, Kernel, Brodies, Zero Degrees, Fullers, Redemption, Meantime, Ha’Penny, Sambrooks and Windsor & Eton (the latter stretching the definition of London somewhat).

I managed to get round about half of the brewery stalls with Brodies and Kernel proving to have most of the better beers that I’d tried.

Brodies brew not far from Leyton Orient having taken over the old Sweet William brewery and pub and consist of a brother and sister team, James and Lizzie Brodie.

They had a marvellous 7% London porter on draught – which surpassed the collaborative porter that Chris kindly gave me a sip of – as well as a number of their bottled products, one of which was a very enjoyable dunkel. Given the number of beers they've produced, I don’t know where they find the time to brew such a diverse range.

Kernel Brewery is run by a fellow hairy chap called Evin who I’ve met a few times on my visits to the brewery and he produces a variety of wonderful beers, both dark and light. Recent highlights for me have been the Baltic Porter and the White Ale.

I recently suggested that he should call his new son Simcoe in reference to the hops he uses a lot but he and his partner have played safe and called the little chap Kai.

The draught IPA was on top form – very hoppy but not aggressively so - just a shame we don’t see it on cask more often.

Some Brew Wharf beers were also available and I was pleased to finally try their 6.8% black IPA, Military Intelligence.

This has received lots of praise amongst the beer cognoscenti in recent weeks and much deserved too – being dark, hoppy and drinkable is something that is difficult to pull off but this was excellent.

(right) My ticket to drink

With a early-ish trip to our game at Bath the next day I finally managed to drag myself away from the beer – I still had plenty of vouchers left as some of the brewers didn’t tick them off – but for once discretion was the better part of valour.

But it’s clear to see that London is entering a new bright age of brewing and catching up with other areas of the country - long may it continue.

The Last Crawl Of Summer

It was slightly odd to have Liz leave the house before me for her opening game of the season but having an extra weekend before the Conference kicked off meant I had time for a final close season Saturday crawl.

As ever, London Miller Chris was keen to come along me (though he should really have joined Liz and co. cheering on the Millers) and we met at the Kernel Brewery in Bermondsey. This was his first visit and he was tasting some of their beers when I arrived, including their latest brew, Amarillo Pale Ale.

We then split a bottle of their White beer which is my favourite of theirs at the moment - an extremely drinkable and more-ish brew.

Brewer Evin told us that his wife had given birth to a baby boy but they'd not yet got a name. I suggested that simcoe (a hop he uses in his ales) would be a good moniker. We'll see whether his other half agrees...

After Chris had bought a few bottles, we wandered off to Lou Farrow's, the local pie and mash shop.

I opted for double pie, double mash which was in hindsight a tad optimistic as their pies are quite filling and I ended up not finishing my mash. Bad form, don't you know...

(left) The Oakdale Arms - doomed?

The first pub of the day was to be the Oakdale Arms in Harringay, north London, which meant a three-tube journey.

This pub is part of the Individual Pubs chain and is sister pub to the Pembury Tavern. It has been under threat for the past few years and is now supposed to be closing for good.

As such the place is looking a bit run down and there are only two beers on - Spartacus and Tiki from Milton - apparently most of the handpumps have gone to the Pembury in Hackney. We opt for the Spartacus - it's not in brilliant condition.

Manager Rob sees Chris looking into one of the glass cases holding a variety of reptiles and takes out one of his Bearded Dragons. They look fearsome little beasts but don't apear to mind being handled so I pick one up and am surprised by how soft they are. Apparently all they need is one good meaty feed per week and then they're happy on salad. Not my sort of diet.

Rob said he is taking each day as it comes and there is hope that the current planning permission will expire before any work is done to convert the pub into housing. Fingers crossed it does survive.

From here we travelled across north London to Gospel Oak where the heavens opened as we got off the train. Once we'd taken the correct route (after I headed off in the wrong direction), it was just a short walk to the Southampton Arms and so we didn't get too wet.

This pub sits on Highgate Road and as we approached it was clear the road had been cordoned off by police cars. What was occurring?

It turned out that a car had somehow turned over on top of a zebra crossing just a hundred yards down from the pub.

Fortunately the driver was not badly hurt so we didn't feel too bad rubber-necking.

(right) Hmmm, bet you couldn't execute that manoeuvre again, squire...

The Southampton Arms has a great range of beers and ciders and thankfully is not too busy.

As ever I have to remember to ask for a straight glass in here otherwise you're given a jam jar.

After a few pints, it's time to get the football results - there is only one that really matters today and Chris is pleased to hear Rotherham have started the season with a victory against Lincoln (who had simian-featured Clarke Keltie in their ranks).

We move onto the nearby Dartmouth Arms where the Leeds -v- Derby game is in full swing on the TV with only a dozen or so interested punters watching it.

I'm quite surprised to see the pub has three Westerham beers on the pumps : British Bulldog, Grass Hopper and Finchcocks Original.

Both of us opt for the Grass Hopper - Chris quite likes it but I'm not keen as the condition is a bit poor.

(left) The Southampton Arms

Once the game is over, we move on down to Kentish Town and a nice back street boozer called the Pineapple which is the local CAMRA current pub of the year.

The place was very busy as we arrived but we managed to grab a couple of seats at the bar. Also in residence was Jeremy Paxman's understudy, Gavin Esler.

There were five beers on including the likes of Bass, Redemption Urban Dusk and Sambrook's Wandle Ale. We both had the Redemption which was OK but not outstanding - not a surprise as it then ran out.

We arranged to make a final pit stop at the Betjeman Arms at St Pancras where we'd meet Liz after she got back into town. As I got there I couldn't find my phone and then Liz turned up to tell me that the Pineapple had rung her (last number redial) to say I'd left it on the bar. Doh!

The beauty of having a crappy five-year old Nokia is that the smart young things of north London wouldn't think twice about pocketing such a primitive device.

Hopefully I'll not be quite so forgetful over the coming weeks and months of the season. Bring it on!

Underneath the Arches

The beauty of the close season is being able to do all all those little things that you can't normally do on a Saturday when travelling to the football - wander round the shops at leisure, do a few household chores, visit some pubs and generally chill out.

And since there was no engineering on the Jubilee line for the first time in ages, Liz and I took the opportunity to wander down to Borough Market, close to London Bridge.

Before doing so though we took a wee deviation - exiting the tube at Bermondsey we wandered along to some railway arches close to Druid Road. One of these arches now being home to one of the newest breweries in London, the Kernel Brewery.

(left) Evin and bottles of his various brews

I first heard about this new brewery when I saw some of their bottles at the Sourced Market at St Pancras station - which has a surprisingly decent range of bottled beers - and some subsequent googling provided a bit more information than their minimalist labels had.

The brewery was more or less set-up at the start of this year and most of their produce is bottled though some has been casked and may be appear at the Brew Wharf.

The brewer, Evin O'Riordan, and his partner were happy to offer tastings of their porter and extra stout - the latter a little young according to Evin but both were very tasty - they also do a pale ale and an IPA which I will be trying soon.

Sharing the arch with the Kernel Brewery is the Ham and Cheese Company who find the conditions there perfect for storing cheese.

There was also a cheese maker, William (Bill) Oglethorpe, handing out some samples of some lightly fried cheese - I've never been much of a cheese fan (I prefer it cooked rather than raw) but this was beautiful and certainly complemented the beer.

Bill also has a stall at Borough Market - Kappacasein - where he sells toasted cheese goodies. You can see how he makes the cheese in the arches here.

After buying a few bottles of Kernel beer, Liz and I walked to nearby Bermondsey Street where we had breakfast at the Bermondsey Kitchen.

Liz had eggs Benedict whilst I had their set breakfast - Gloucester Old Spot bacon and sausages, black pudding, poached egg, fried new potatoes, roast tomatoes, wilted spinach and roast field mushrooms.

Of course this is all a bit more up-market than I'm used to - wilted spinach in a fry-up for goodness sake - and at just under a tenner much more than I'm used to paying at the greasy spoons around Kings Cross and Euston. But it was good.

We wandered past London Bridge where the tallest building in the UK - the Shard - is currently being built. Once complete in 2012, it will dominate the London skyline. It's pretty huge as it is.

(right) The core of the Shard being constructed

We arrive at Borough Market and pop into Brew Wharf for a couple of beers but they were only just getting their tills sorted as it was only just noon.

I'm not been here for a few years as the place is rather soulless and the beer was utterly mediocre but recent reports suggested it has much improved so time to give it another try.

In ticker mode, I have a half of each of the two beers on offer - a 4.4% Hopster and a 3.5% Caulfield Rye of which the latter was the pick of the bunch despite being the weaker of the two. At £3.90 a pint though it is not a place to have too many beers.

From here it was a short walk to the Rake where I tried a half each of the Otley O-Mai and Burton Bridge Walker's Way - the latter commemorating the New York mayor who organised a beer parade in 1932 which helped to bring an end to prohibition. Well done that man!

The final port of call for the day was our old favourite, the New Forest Cider stall, which is a great place to stop and drink cider whilst watching the hordes of tourists and shoppers wander round the market.

Today owner Barry has put on a few perries on in addition to his own wares - a bit of a mini-festival in fact - so I start on a couple of those whilst Liz has the champagne-style cider.

You tend to see a few regulars here, mainly locals, including the old guy who despite coming from Deptford has a Geordie accent from when he was evacuated to Hebburn in the war. Most peculiar!

(left) Into the cellar with you my lovelies...

The general view amongst the cider-drinking cognescenti present today, including barman Paul who is never shy of expressing an opinion or two, is that the Kingston Black is not up to it's usual standard so I move on to the dry cider. Good value at £2.50 a pint.

Barry takes a few minutes out to have a sit and a chat, telling us of how he came to be in the cider game.

You can tell he is a man who enjoys his work - pressing cider as well as sourcing other cider and perry from around the south-west. And now he's got a bittern just round the back of his orchards - a lucky chap indeed.