Like most people I love a beer but what’s it actually like to make the stuff, and how hard is it, especially in the current climate? I sat down with relative newbies, Drop Project, to find out what modern challenges there are in making craft beer in 2024.
Why start a brewery in such a competitive and somewhat crowded market?
With a lot of heart and soul, but ultimately beer is about bringing people together and enjoying friendship in a social environment. Craft beer is about doing this in the best possible way and showcasing your skills and creativity in what was for years a boring one dimensional flavourless space. Primarily, having worked in the industry for years, the time had come to be our own bosses and do our own thing. It was also a chance to build a brand and product inspired by the things we love out side of work, in our case a love for the great outdoors and board sports. Finally, we were not afraid of a challenge in a crowded market space. We wanted to still stand out and showcase our skillsets, demonstrating how far we had come as professionals.
To make matters tricky for you there was a pandemic 6 months after you launched. Looking back has that changed and shaped what you are now or would you always have arrived here?
Absolutely 100%. Pandemic aside, we have had several other, and in some cases, far more difficult challenges. For example, Brexit and the collapse of our export market, soaring energy bills, soaring material bills, material shortages and a complete overhaul of the beer duty system. In some instances we have seen price increases of 400%. For a small business these challenges have been incredibly hard to navigate and push through. But we have learned allot from it and given the market conditions, we are very proud to be where we are today. I wouldn’t recommend the stress levels to anyone but in terms of a learning curve and professional development, this has pushed us to be more nimble, efficient and flexible as a business. I think we have developed an appreciation and greater sense of empathy for our business, each other and our industry too. This hasn’t been easy, it isn’t easy even in the best of times. You can do a lot right and it still might not go your way. Despite all this, we are still here and now we are out the other side it feels like a privilege to be serving the industry still. But to answer your question, I think we would have always arrived here, but I think we feel we arrived here a few years behind schedule given the last few years!
We hear a lot about how it’s a tricky world out there especially for breweries, let alone newish ones, is it really that hard?
I think its certainly not easy in the current market and it’s definitely not easy given the lack of support for the beer industry and hospitality as a whole. I read articles like these and the brewery owners are quite jaded and talking down the industry, yes it’s difficult, but it can still be rewarding and an incredibly vibrant space to operate in. If we all pack it in we’ve handed our industry back over to the big guys. They will continue to bully us out of the market space anyway they can, I say what would be the point of it all then. My hope for newish breweries is that the market forces innovation, efficiency and ultimately better and more robust businesses. But all that said, we can’t go it alone, it has become unnecessarily hard, we pay one of the highest beer duties in Europe. The entire sector could use a break and encouragement, hopefully our legislators are reading and taking note. The Small Brewers Duty Relief helped start an entirely new industry and craft beer revolution in this country, imagine what we could grow with similar incentives.
How different is craft brewing and craft beer in 2024, not just in terms of finances and running a brewery but brewing too?
Creatively, brewing in an incredibly good place, the economic doom and gloom aside we are boasting one the best standards for craft beer in the world with an incredible mix of innovation, exciting new styles and centuries of traditions. It’s been one of the things we have really excelled at on the world stage. Unlike some of the European breweries, we don’t allow tradition to stifle our creativity and in the same breath, cask sales of real ale for us have never been higher. I think its some thing the industry here owes itself a pat on the back for. The beautiful thing about beer is its always changing, be it seasonal changes to raw materials, hops, barley etc. But in terms of new ingredients, materials and engineering solutions hitting the industry, we have never had so much available to us to play with. It has been an art form for centuries and it is rapidly developing as a science, that in itself is a pleasure to watch and be part of. I feel we are in a lot of ways just scratching the surface of beer, we’ve come such a long way in single decade here alone.
Are the challenges of starting a brewery and maintaining one different to 10 years ago?
In short the basic fundamental challenges are the same, but it’s not enough to turn up and give it a go. You need to be the full package. You need an efficient business model, a great marketing team, a quality set up, a professional experienced staff, an incredible suite of products to back it all up and an innovative mindset. Ultimately, you still need a passion to do this type of business that bit has remained the same and that’s the part that makes the industry so special!
How has the brewing scene changed since the pandemic?
I think its definitely been through the mill recently but it has matured incredibly over the past decade, not just the past five years. All the challenges aside, we are seeing allot of grass routes development form breweries themselves. Craft beer festivals are no longer driven by large events companies the breweries are doing them for themselves and supporting each other. From a business perspective, the industry is a lot more grown-up and sure of itself, breweries are being viewed from a lens of a business owner vs a brewer. I think there are many great brewers who were terrible business folk but they are now recognising the importance of that side if things more and more. As for the behind the closed doors scene, the breweries are definitely less party hard and more professionally focused, I think its grown up across the board. That or we just all got old! Ultimately its a tougher more completive space where the average punter or even bar manager can’t distinguish your independent product form say a Heineken owned craft beer like Neck Oil. The only positive upside to this situation is craft beer is no longer for your stereotypical hipster craft beer caricature, lots of non craft beer drinkers are now drinking craft beer. The space has also become allot more inclusive with a huge uptake in female participation. There is also now some incredible beer projects focussed on more traditionally marginalised groups such as the LGBTQ community and even breweries that have strong charitable focus supporting people with physical and mental disabilities. Its not just a bunch of bloated old white men and hipsters debating niche beers. Its now everyone coming together in a more inclusive space with a common love for great beer! Ultimately that’s what’s its always been about for us.
You hear a lot about breweries closing, how do you even start to think about navigating that and what’s key to surviving in this post-pandemic brewing age?
The key to any business is being dynamic and having the relative nous to adapt and overcome the various obstacles that present themselves. With covid then unprecedented supply issues and inflationary pressures that followed, it’s not been easy. We have navigated through it and came out the overside with an established, growing business. We have pivoted from small pack, special beers to be drank at home in covid, to now established core lines focused on-trade business with sales strategy highly geared towards the pub trade – a far reach from 2020/2022. Our strength has always been our quality, we have never wavered from that key ethos and now our product shines as we can now compete on price as we have scaled. We have continually invested in our brand and team, building a business that has incredibly firm foundations.
What next for you guys, where do you want to be in 12 months and 5 years?
We want to be available on more taps around the country with a big focus on larger national accounts. Getting us into the hands of more punters and converting them to craft beer lifestyle. Right now we are going through an expansion to increase capacity, improve engineering and business efficiencies and we are implementing new technologies to off grid our selves and reduce our carbon footprint. I think ultimately we just want to be part of the industry, but stay in the game in a sustainable manner. I think that means not getting to big to quick, focusing on our core beliefs and ever continuing our development of new and exciting beers. Given the last 5 years though, who the hell knows where will be, once were still in the game doing what we love that’s all that matters.
Oli Meade owns and runs Craft Metropolis, a specialist online bottle shop and two taprooms in South London. You can support his business and Drop Project by ordering beer from craftmetropolis.co.uk.
Towards the end of 2021, in an effort to look a little bit more professional, we ran a quick survey asking people how we could improve.
So often, when you answer surveys, it seems like nothing gets done. So we wanted to write down – publicly – what we’re going to do in 2022 in response to your comments.
Here’s the gist…
The recent website updates were far from ideal.
We basically wanted to make the website a bit easier to use when we updated. And we kind of did. But also… not really.
So this year, as soon as we have enough cash to make it work, we’re going to:
The beers we sell aren’t cheap. There are four main reasons:
We’re not about to change any of the above, which means we can’t lower our prices – the maths just don’t work.
But what we can do is get you more for your money.
So in 2022, we’re going to introduce more bundle boxes into our mix, which me, Olly and Charles will curate every so often.
As we’re going to curate them, we’ll make sure they’re filled with top drawer stuff.
And as they’ll be bundles, we’ll be able to offer them at keener prices.
We love beer. You love beer. In 2022, we’re gonna make it more clear why we love the beers we love, so you know more about them and can snap up the beers you’re most interested in.
We try to do this with our newsletter already. But this year…
So yeah. That’s the plan for 2022. We hope you like it, and if you have any more suggestions, you can get me on oliver@craftmetropolis.co.uk.
Traditionally, the World Beer Awards are unlikely to make Rob Fink nervous.
As the founder of the internationally acclaimed Big Drop Brewing, he’s been interviewed across major US TV networks. He’s negotiated contracts with multinationals. And his brewery’s beers have picked up multiple World Beer Awards in the past.
This year’s event, however, is different.
Because this year, if Big Drop’s Galactic Milk Stout picks up another gong, it will become the most decorated beer in history. Ahead of all others. Unrivalled worldwide.
That’s not bad going for a beer that’s alcohol free.
Just seven years before the 2021 World Beer Awards, Rob Fink was a City lawyer in a bind.
He’d recently become a father. And in an effort to be a ‘21st century dad’, he’d decided to pause his drinking for six months. His problem, however, was his job: it entailed new business development over long, boozy lunches in London’s public houses.
Historically, Rob had always been a beer drinker. He’d loved beer in its ‘macro’ form and then, later, he’d loved craft beer (he’d eventually go on to declare Goose Island’s IPA one of his very favourites).
So when, following fatherhood, Rob returned to pubs with clients, he began asking bartenders for non-alcoholic beer. Or non-alcoholic lager, at least. It was always lager.
Rob drank one. Then another. He liaised with his contacts and, in the same way one might begin to think a little differently when drinking the hard stuff, Rob began to wonder…
Why was the only non-alcoholic beer ever on offer lager?
And why did non-alcoholic lager taste so… distinct?
Non-alcoholic beer’s history dates back to medieval times. ‘Small beer’, as it was then known, was usually made from the remnants of beer proper, and peasants would drink it as a healthy alternative to (often contaminated) water.
It wasn’t until much later, however, that non-alcoholic beer became commercialised. US Prohibition set the wheels turning. Unable to sell full strength beer (legally, at least), brewers began making and selling non-alcoholic beers.
This was as far back as 1920, using somewhat primitive techniques. And when Rob Fink began ordering his non-alcoholic pints in 2014, things hadn’t advanced all that much at all.
It wasn’t long after Rob’s early daliences with non-alcoholic lagers that his emails began. In rare moments outside of work and parenting, Rob started to email brewing consultants.
Rob had questions.
Why, for example, hadn’t anyone brewed a non-alcoholic stout in the past? Or, for that matter, a non-alcoholic lager with more flavour?
Rob knew almost nothing about brewing. But he couldn’t resist tugging the unwinding thread.
He received replies – some pleasant, some not. Before long, he understood the crux of the issue.
When prohibition-era brewers first began brewing non-alcoholic beers, they had no interest in reinventing the wheel. As far as they saw it, they brewed good beer. So their task was to remove the alcohol from the good beer they had. That left them with two options.
The first was boiling. As ethanol boils at a lower temperature than water, to remove alcohol from beer, brewers can – and do – boil good beer. The trouble is, when you boil the alcohol from beer, much of the beer’s flavours evaporate too.
As an alternative to boiling, some brewers used reverse osmosis. This was perhaps a minor improvement. But it turns out when you force a beer’s alcohol and water through a semipermeable membrane then dilute the leftovers, the non-alcoholic ‘beer’ you end up with isn’t particularly pleasant.
And yet this was what Rob was drinking, and what many brewers continue to offer today. Beer that’s been denatured. Defaced. Once-good beer that’s been stripped of its alcohol and, in the process, much of its flavour.
It was little wonder few had attempted to market a non-alcoholic stout.
When Rob Fink set up Big Drop Brewing in 2016, the beer world was awash with innovation. The ‘craft revolution’ was underway, and Rob wanted to join it.
Rob wanted to make great beers. Great beers that just, as Rob puts it, ‘happen to be alcohol free’. Today Rob’s vision is reflected through Big Drop’s brewing process.
Unlike many who brew non-alcoholic beers, Big Drop never brew a beer then remove its alcohol. Instead, they simply brew 0.5% ABV beers (meeting the UK’s definition of alcohol free).
Big Drop aren’t in a hurry to reveal exactly how they achieve this, but Rob is willing to disclose it involves a ‘lazy’ yeast that, to the delight of Idlers everywhere, can’t really be bothered to convert sugar to alcohol. It’s this yeast – along with other wizardry – that permits Big Drop to brew fully fermented beers that just so happen to be alcohol free.
This January, much of the country will be cutting back on booze as part of Dry January. Others will have already gone Sober for October. Such campaigns, along with trends towards healthier lifestyles, go some way to explaining rapidly increasing sales of boozeless bevs.
But according to the analyst IWSR, the current non-alcoholic drinks surge is almost entirely explained by non-alcoholic beer sales alone, thanks to brewers ‘investing in new brewing techniques and product innovation’.
Since 2016, Big Drop’s unassuming, bespectacled and eminently likeable Rob Fink has handed beer fans further choice.
Big Drop’s innovative brewing techniques have given us alcohol-free pales, IPAs, stouts and porters. Big Drop have even released alcohol-free sours.
Above all though, innovative brewing has given Rob – who has long since left his previous life behind – what he wanted to begin with: great tasting beer… that just so happens to be alcohol free.
By the time 2021’s World Beer Awards rolled around, Big Drop’s Galactic Milk Stout was 5 years old. It had been perfected. And it was just one award away from becoming the most decorated beer in history.
There was trepidation and there was apprehension. But eventually, when the judges named Galactic Milk Stout the World’s Best Low Alcohol Beer, it was almost routine. This, after all, is a beer that’s won awards when competing outside of its low alcohol ‘category’ in the past.
‘We recently won Best Beer in Show at the Stockholm Beer & Whisky Show’, Rob points out. ‘Quite simply, these beers can be as good as full-strength beers.’ He’s right. Make no mistake, should any idle beer lover wish to cut back on booze at any point, it’s now possible to do so – without resorting to substandard swill.
1. Big Drop Brewing Co. – Galactic Milk Stout
The beer that revitalised AF beers. Think indulgent honeycomb dipped in chocolate. The current World’s Best Low Alcohol beer.
2. Big Drop – Pine Trail Pale
Big floral aromas and notes of bright citrus on the palate, which fade into a reassuringly familiar bitter finish.
3. Hammerton – Crunch Alcohol Free Peanut Butter Milk Stout
It took Hammerton no fewer than 37 experiments to perfect Crunch, and even further tinkering to squeeze the perfect ratio of Peanut Butter, Lactose, and Biscuit into AF form. Silky-smooth and sweet. A Snickers in a can.
4. Lowtide Brewing Co. – Brune-DMC
Lowtide’s take on a traditional Belgian abbey beer is dark, sweet and fruity. A must for those into European ales.
5. Good Karma – Happy Pils
A classic alcohol-free pilsner with light malts and bitter hops balancing perfectly for maximum refreshment. No flavour compromise.
Oli Meade owns and runs Craft Metropolis, an online beer shop and taproom that stocks low- and no-alcohol beers, as well as their full strength counterparts. craftmetropolis.co.uk.
As cultural analysts delight in telling us, coronavirus has changed our lives in unexpected ways. Few echelons of society remain untouched. So preposterous as it seems, it’s perhaps worth asking: Has the pandemic changed our taste in beer?
Empirically, the question is almost impossible to answer. Anecdotally though, from where I’m sitting in my little beer shop, nationwide lockdowns have coincided with a rise in formerly out-of-favour beer styles.
Pre-pandemic, there were more than a few up in arms about the decline of mild. After visiting the two historic breweries of Bathams and Holdens, the beer writer Roger Protz published a piece warning mild ales needed urgent support. At around the same time, Timothy Taylor’s renamed its Ram Tam mild Landlord Dark, in an effort to boost its meagre sales. So concerned had CAMRA become that the organisation launched it’s ‘Mild May’ initiative; an initiative designed to rejuvenate the mid-hopped, mid-strength, once-loved stalwart.
The similarly endangered styles of bitter and barley wine, meanwhile, cultivated much less attention. And that, of course, was the problem in action.
Beer tastes had changed, commentators declared. And there was no shortage of ‘craft’ breweries willing to satisfy a booming demand for high-strength, hop-heavy pints of novel nectar. The pale rose first. Then it was the IPA. Shortly after, the Double IPA shot to stardom. Our demand for innovation was, it seemed, relentless.
In fact, as far back as 2015, the Guardian’s Tony Naylor suggested craft beer had “called last orders” on mild. Over in the Telegraph, Chris Moss raised similar concerns.
Traditional beer styles were out. They were not coming back.
Five years on, coronavirus.
As far as I can tell, stuck inside, we longed for open pubs. We craved the safe cocoon of the familiar. We wanted comfort. We wanted nostalgia. Who could possibly give it to us?
Today, it seems the very same people behind the ‘death’ of traditional beer styles are now on hand to satisfy our deep urge for comforting nostalgia.
Who knows what the situation will be by the time you read this?
Either way, if it so happens that you, too, are looking for the reassurance of the time-honoured, you can bet there’s a mild, a mead, a bitter or a barley wine awaiting.
Craft beer has not called last orders on mild – or anything of the sort.
Modern takes on traditional classics
1. Boxcar – Dark Mild
Probably the most popular mild we stock, Boxcar’s Dark Mild is in huge demand amongst those who’ve supposedly given up the style. It’s rich, it’s dark, it’s very much full-bodied. Chocolate, coffee and caramel from the malts give it a nice complexity – without overloading the senses. And at 3.6%, it really is a mild.
2. Left Handed Giant – Dark Mild
Left Handed Giant’s new Dark Mild pays homage to its historic brewpub site. With notes of English hedgerow berries, smooth caramel and lightly roasted malt, it’s perfect once the sun’s gone down after a late summer’s eve. The 4% ABV just about sees it sneak in as a mild.
3. Wylam – Best English Best Bitter
Wylam’s Best Bitter is traditionally brewed with malted barley and whole cone English hops. Pale copper in colour, its toasty malt complexity is balanced with notes of ripe berry fruit and bitter orange peel. 4.5%.
4. North Brew Co. – Seasons Reverse Best Bitter
Leeds-based brewers North know what’s what. Into Seasons Reverse Best Bitter they’ve thrown chevallier, crystal, munich, amber malt and torrefied wheat for a fine, crunchy biscuit base topped with a layer of deliciously sweet marmalade. An all-English hop blend contributes earthy blackberry, sweet honey and a gentle floral pine aroma. 4.3%.
5. St. Mars of the Desert – Our Finest Regards Barley Wine
St. Mars of the Desert admit they’re neither cool, nor young, nor good looking. That, they say, gives them license to brew ‘this old school, out of season, malty and rich barley wine’. Expect juicy sultanas, maltesers and even a hint of marzipan. Crammed to the rafters with barley, as you might expect. 9%.
6. North Brew Co. / Good Things Barley Wine
North’s first barley wine, brewed in collaboration with fully sustainable brewery Good Things Brewing, is smooth and woody. Deep vanilla, bruised apple, warming spices and maple syrup run throughout thanks to the malt base, while whole leaf Bullion hops contribute a juicy blackcurrant-tinged bitterness. It’s easy to drink – far more so than it’s 10% ABV would suggest.
Kveik, Mild, Helles and Brut. At first glance you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled into the travel section of the Idler and were exploring potential retreats to a Scandinavian island. Thankfully not. Kievek, Mild, Helles and Brut are all in fact beer styles, and with brewers gearing up to showcase their takes on rather more challenging and on-trend styles during this year’s festival season, now is a great time to explore each. Pale ales and stouts are two a penny – the beers below are beers not to be missed.
Northern Helles by Donzonko Brewing
With every year in craft beer labeled as ‘the year of lager’, it’s important to never dismiss the classic and understated style of beer. Helles beers tend to have a sweeter and lighter edge – hell meaning ‘light’ or ‘bright’ in German. Unfortunately, it’s rare that anything actually lives up to the billing. Donzoko’s Northern Helles, however, does. Quite simply, if you don’t like this, you won’t like modern craft lagers. That’s a bold statement, I know. But Northern Helles is just about as good as it gets for a UK-based brew. Slightly malty and dark with a sweet edge, it’s a beer that flows down and one you can turn to time and time again. It’s so well executed you’d expect it to come out of Germany rather than Donzoko’s base in Hartlepool. It’s no surprise that Donzoko harbours a fixation with German brewing. The brewers label this “our version of a Bavarian Style unfiltered lager. Sweet malt, subtle floral hops and a crisp refreshing finish. Inspired by lazy days by the river Eisbach, this is our flagship beer that will change what you think about lager.” We can’t argue with any of that and, if Northern Helles is anything to go by, this really IS the year of the lager. Until next year, of course.
Haakon by Drop Project
Kviek is certainly riding a wave in the brewing world at the moment. It’s a type of Norwegian Farmhouse Ale yeast and, when used to ferment at certain temperatures, it “provides plenty of fruity esters and tropical top notes.” That’s basically a pale ale with a bit of funk, and it’s showcased wonderfully in Haakon, a full-flavoured pale ale by the new startup brewery Drop Project. The yeast is a little more sour, more acidic and more raspy (all in a good way, you understand), which leads to a more powerful beer. You still get all the classic pale ale notes but what you tend to get at the end of the sip is an interesting bite. Normally breweries would use bittering hops to give their brews a lingering flavour, but here Kviek takes over, making for something slightly different to your average brew. One to try from a brewery worth watching as they grow.
Zero Gravity by Lost+Found
Onto Brut. This little known beer style is exactly what you think it’s going to be… although if you’re thinking of an 80’s talcum powder you’ll be disappointed. Brut beers have risen in popularity over the last year as breweries seek out a sweet spot somewhere between a lager and a pale ale. This style bridges the two well and at the same time brings an air of sophistication to both. The name comes from brewers using champagne yeast or similar to drive the dryness of a beer down to near desert levels.
In the case of brut IPAs, all the wort’s sugar is converted into alcohol during fermentation thanks to a special enzyme called amyloglucosidase. With no sugar left to caress the palate, the resulting beer is totally dry. This all sounds rather specialist but in Zero Gravity Lost+Found have created a brut beer that’s as drinkable as the day is long. Too dry to be a beer but not winey enough to be wine, brut styles have historically been something of a flash in the pan. New styles keep popping up though, and with summer just around the corner you’ll be sure to find some somewhere near you.
Dark Mild by BOXCAR
When you think of a pint of mild, most minds conjure up an old midlands boozer with uninspiring cheap beer piled on every table as smoke lingers in the air mid-afternoon. “What’s wrong with that?!” I hear you cry. Admittedly not much… but the point remains that mild has long been in need of a resurgence, and it’s happening! BOXCAR are one of the most up-and-coming breweries in London (which itself houses a great many up-and-coming breweries), and they’ve taken on the challenge of making an exciting mild. The result is mild, yes. But not as you know it. Dark Mild has all the classic mild flavours but dialled up a level or two. It’s slightly sweet, brown and delicious. It’s about as far from a working men’s club as you could get – but, thankfully, still not a million miles from mild’s true roots. Look out for this – and a whole raft of other experimental beers – in good beer shops near you.
Welcome to winter! Chilly nights and falling leaves… I kind of like it. The headline news is we are 4-6 weeks away from the first Craft Metropolis bar in SE20 London! More info to follow on the newsletter but first a quick bit of news about what’s new this month:
Our top news for beers this month is the Introduction of mega-brewery Cloudwater to our shelves. With the forthcoming bar and shop the time to update the site and the type of beers is upon us starting with one of the best! We covered most corners from a Small Pale (which just shows what a sub-3% beer can taste like without the big booze) though to a Belgian Bitter. We also made sure Lager fans had their hit as well a a brilliant DDH Pale and a classic juicy IPA. Limited as hens teeth on dodo, grab ’em quick!
Second up we grabbed a whole load more Redchurch brews. Lots more experimentation coming out of the brewery thins month including an Apricot Pale (with Vibrant Forest no less) and an Experimental IPA. Both excellent. There’s a movement and trend towards brewing German marzen beers and we’ve added this to the roster too.
Next up one of London’s finest and who says summer is over (other than me at the start of this newsletter)?! Pina Colada from BBNo brings back a glimmer of that summer sun in the gloom of the darkening evenings. It’s full of pineapple and coconut and is a cracking brew. Another nod to summer is also introduced in the form of a limey Mexican lager and a cracking three hop DDH Table beer. Our pick has to be the Pina but a close second is the Sour IPA. Loads of hops but still lots of pucker from the sourness. Great beer as always from BBNo.
We have two new breweries up next (for CM) in the shape of Forest Road and Rock Leopard.
While Forest Road are bring a top lager in Posh and a classic pale in Work Rock Leopard bring big soupy hoppy brews. The imaginatively titled Distant Cousin of a Mu Mu Cat IPA is our pick!
Last but not least we some partizan (can you tell we love them yet?) and new cans beers from One Mile End. The 4am Juicy sold out in record time last time and is our pick from them but there’s a ton to go at from Partizan too.
Old favourites like Raspberry and Lemon Saison return and the mega 8% Stout too. But there’s new and intriguing brews like L’Intensa and Beer? If you’re looking for flavours you’ve not had before grab a Partizan or two!
I hope you enjoy picking and trying these brand new craft beers as much as I enjoyed hunting them out for you/me!
Cheers in beers!
Oli
Wow August was hot! I hope you enjoyed the summer sun and are ready for a slightly more chilled September? Here’s a quick bit of news about what’s new this month in the world of craft beer online:
Our headline for this month is the return of Siren brewery with a load of their beer including staple core and specials. Ten Dollar Shake is an old favourite and its’ so good to see it in a 330ml can for more people to grab hold of. As good as that is (and it really is very very good) it’s somehow pipped by Oats on Oats which has all the oaty creaminess and all the hops too! Try both maybe? Of the core range you know what you are getting; easy drinking hoppy and fresh delicious beer. Our pick of them has to be the dry-hopped lager Santo. If you think lager is boring think again this is brilliant and choc-full of flavour.
Second up the kings are back. We’ve not had many pales from Kernel recently so a little treat for you right from the beautiful basics up. We start with Table (always brilliant, this time with El Dorado hops) through very different pales to two IPAs and a much sought after Beiré de Saison! Our pick would be the Amarillo/ Cascade/Vic Sectret pale and the Saison but they are all worthy of anyones attention.
Next up….we’ve been chatting to Affinity Brew for 3 years so we guessed them releasing 4 big cans for of delicious beer was as good an excuse as any to grab them and ping them on the site for you to get your chops around. A really small set-up and well worth supporting we bring you a session IPA, a sour and a saison. Our pick of the bung has to be the single hop Glass of Drink centennial IPA. Very floral and full of punch.
OK, not a month goes by without some new Brick beer right? Yeah, sorry about that! I blame them for making amazing beers and I’ve told them as much. “You stop making great beer, I’ll stop buying it!” haha.
From the light end of zippy to the big end of dark and moody we have two sours and their easy-drinking Pils to the mega-dog that is Scroggin’. Needless to say if the suns out the grisette is our pick but as the leaves turn yellow we are reaching for the nutty dark 10% impy. Enjoy!
Last but not least we have our first cans from Mondo. Mondo have always been well represented on these virtual shelves because of their drinkabilty and fun approach to brewing. This has continued through their new series and it looks like there will be no stopping them now. Lots of styles, plenty of experimentation and bags of flavour. The Mango Pale is probably the pick of these but they are all well rounded and well executed brews.
I hope you enjoy picking these beers as much as I enjoyed hunting them out and trying them for you/me!
Cheers and keep smiling
Oli
Our headline for this month is the return of Anspach and Hobday. A Bermondsey beer mile mainstay and a brewery that are really hitting the right notes with their core range as well as specials.
We took the whole range on so you can try as many as possible. The Porter is their flagship and first beer and extremely well executed. For more summer drinking the Citrus Sour and the Noble Saison are real thirst quenchers….along with a Session Porter which goes down a treat well chilled.
Second up we have some of the best beers in London this year. BBNo – as you probably already know – are a firm fav of ours but these beers blew us away. Of the three I was expecting to love the Session IPA and like the others but the Blueberry and Lime Berliner Weiss and even more so the Triple Fruited Gose were out of this world. Highly highly recommending both of these or I will drink them all quite happily!
Next up are a few old favourites. We have restocked on some classic core from Weird Beard. The hoppy trio of Trench, Little Things and Shadow are some of the beers that started the craft beer adventure for me. All well worth a stock up or revisit if it’s been a while. We’ve also added their new hopped pale ale Gravelands too.
OK, an absolute treat for you next. Not only have we stocked up on one of our favourite beers from Hammerton (Crunch Peanut Butter Milk Stout) we’ve grabbed some Fudge Cake too! Wow, talk about indulgence in a glass! Fancy something lighter? We have their 440ml cans of their NEPA and Concrete Jungle. The latter is our pick of the brews – it’s criminally easy to drink.
Last but not least we have added another brewery that’s been away from our shelves since last year in the shape of Bianca Road. They have so many summery beers brewed at the moment it was hard not to. The stand out brews for me are the LA Bloods orange zest and the new table beer Costa Mesa.
If you are on a 2 or 3 month deal don’t miss our new Outsider brewery Wild Beer and their eclectic range. A long-time favourite of mine it’s a pleasure to welcome them to the site with their brilliant mix of experimental ingredients and well rounded core beers.
We also had loads of new stuff from Weird Beard, Redemption and Seven Sisters to name a few.
I hope you enjoy picking these beers as much as I enjoyed hunting them out and trying them for you/me!
Cheers and keep smiling in the sun!
Oli
Brick Brewery, the craft brewer from South East London, is taking a unique approach to the Three Peaks Challenge by launching a limited-edition charity series of beers in collaboration with brewers local to the three highest mountains in the United Kingdom.
While most event attendees make do with a map and a generous bar of Kendal Mint Cake in their rucksacks, the crafty team at Brick have taken the challenge to another level by creating the Three Peaks Beer Series in collaboration with Fallen Brewing Co. (Ben Nevis, Scotland), Hawkshead Brewery (Scafell Pike, England) and Wild Horse Brewing Co.(Snowdon, Wales).
Ian Stewart, Brick Brewery Founder, said: “We love the areas in which the challenge takes place and have long admired the work of some of the local breweries there. It was a no-brainer to team up with like-minded beer folk and concoct this series inspired by the three peaks.”
Each of the breweries has a similar ethos and shares a number of common values to Brick Brewery. They each combined their skills to create a series that reflected the cultural surroundings of the local breweries while maintaining an element of Brick’s signature South East London style. They also selected local charities to benefit from the collaboration.
Ian Stewart added: “The process has been really memorable; friendships have been made and show-stopping beers produced that both locals and fellow climbers can enjoy. Now we just have to complete the challenge itself!”
Created with curious beer fans in mind, “Starting on Heaven” Session Helles, “Scroggin’” Imperial Stout and “Summit Fever” East Coast IPA will be available to purchase in 440ml cans and on tap at each brewery from 13th July onwards. A percentage of each sale will be donated to breweries’ chosen charities, giving back to local communities.
People taking part in the Three Peak Challenge will also be encouraged to try all three beers via a social media competition which will run in July.
In keeping to its normal style, Brick has worked with artists local to each brewery to design the can labels to further strengthen the community connections.
The breweries’ teams will all take part in the challenge starting on 12th July 2019 and the beers will be available from 13th July on Brick’s website, The Tap Room in Peckham and at each of the participating breweries – Starting from £4.00
Starting on Heaven, Session Helles – Fallen Brewing Co. x Brick Brewery – ABV 3.8%
This delicate beer is a crisp, clean and refreshing German-style Helles lager using Weyermann malt, Mandarina Bavaria and Idaho 7 hops. Mandarina Bavaria brings tangerine and citrus notes while Idaho 7 hops adds subtle tropical aromas with a sticky forest pine and earthy black tea character.
Scroggin’, Imperial Stout – Hawkshead Brewery x Brick Brewery – ABV 9.0%
Inspired by ‘scroggin’, a mixture of dried fruit, nuts and other food eaten as a snack by hikers, this beer has rich ingredients and flavours. Aromas of chocolate, nuts, raisin, pecans and peanuts can be tasted with the addition of lactose for a decadent and creamy mouthfeel that complements its high ABV.
Summit Fever, East Coast IPA – Wild Horse Brewing Co. x Brick Brewery – ABV 6.6%
A bold, hop-forward East Coast IPA using Azacca and Nelson Sauvin hops. Staying true to the typical yeast profiles of the New England style, Summit Fever combines North and South hemisphere hops giving it heavy stone fruit, melon and white grape aromas and has a soft and fluffy mouthfeel coming from additional oats.
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
