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.
When stocks are sold Beavertown will no longer feature on our site.
Of the scores of fantastic breweries in London they were in a very small minority of about three that were a pain to deal with. Actually, we didn’t deal with Beavertown per se. Since we started operating three years ago they have refused to add us to their direct distribution list as “demand was too high to take us on” while they concentrated on brokering deals with supermarkets. Helping the little guy eh? Of course they have no obligation to help anyone but we towed the line because they sell lots of beer and they were part of my own craft beer education, certainly in London at least. The writing was on the wall.
The crux of it is Beavertown have never been a brewery that have been part of the fabric of what we are building here yet heroes like Pressure Drop, Kew, Five Points, Weird Beard and countless others have (like an Oscar speech I’m afraid I don’t have time to mention you all but it’s a lot). While I asked awkward questions in the early days to these guys like “do you deliver?” and “can I order just four cases?” Beavertown asked us to go through expensive and crazy distribution routes instead – London beer from north to south via Manchester ? Yes, as insane as it was frustrating.
I’m sure to this day Beavertown don’t even know we exist but that’s not the point. This all sounds a little bitter but I’m simply adding context to a one-sided break up. The ramblings are that of a jilted lover moaning to their best friend – I’m sad and mad and shocked. I love Beavertown and always have. From the beer to the artwork and everything in between they are awesome at making beer. I can just about forgive them the rest but you can see that we probably saw this coming based on their track record.
The craft discussion is a long trodden and much argued point but from where we stand we believe that the essence of craft beer is it’s independent roots. Heineken don’t care about the trends, love, attention and craftsmanship that most London brewers do. They see a slice of the market. End of. Sure we all want to build successful businesses but we don’t believe in the ethics and direction of the Big Beer giants. That’s not why most brewers get into brewing great beer, at least I think not and sincerely hope not. I’ve met too many people in London affiliated with craft beer breweries to think otherwise. It’s about creating something unique, special and with soul not banging out units. All macro breweries want, in my humble opinion, is to take over something that is standing on their toes. It might be with a mouse-like pressure but stand on their toes they are are. We would rather concentrate our time, money, effort and focus on people who have their heart in craft beer. I’d say good luck to Beavertown but I wouldn’t mean it. Again I hope there not too much bitterness in that statement, it’s not intended, I just think they had an amazing opportunity to expand under their own steam and think this is bad news for great beer. They could have kept the core and the credibility of their business alive without this dirty Heineken cash but they they clearly think they need it. You can’t take over the world without shaking hands with the devil and their new fiery partner now has a vice-like grip.
So long and thanks for some groundbreaking beer
Beer of the month: The Experiment Requires That You Continue by Pressure Drop Brewing and Verdant
Great beer. Even better breweries. This is my favourite beer in the last month to land on the site not because of how drinkable it is or how fantastically packed with flavour it is but more about where it’s come from and the two breweries that combined to make it.
On the one hand we have Verdant. The Kernow outfit that have been making massive (Cornish surfer style) waves with their incredible hop soups and modern beer.
On the other we have Pressure Drop. An expanding north London set up who have come into their own in the last two year and are now firmly chasing down some of the best in the capital.
For my personal tastes these two releasing this beer and coming together is almost the perfect partnership – and that’s why it’s my beer of the month.
Falmouth is hardly the brewing capital of the UK, it’s hardly anything to think of it in terms of beer so when new brewery Verdant started to get rave reviews on social media outside of their home county the people of the UK pricked up their beery ears and started to seek out these new hop-forward beers. Hens teeth does not come close. Selling out in seconds and always in demand this brewery have dominated craft beer drinkers “must-try” up and down the UK and remains so years on. Their widespread appeal and demand is more quaint the more you look at their background. Falmouth is more maritime than monster IPAs but that’s exactly what Verdant started to do and have not deviated from since. From nowhere in 2014 to one of the most sought after beers in tap rooms and beer delivery boxes up and down the land the breweries main players Adam and James have created exactly what they set out to do. “we had decided that hoppy beers were what we wanted to be drinking. Think juicy, hoppy, unfiltered hazy beers and always vegan!”
Since then the beers have flowed thick and fast – sometimes way too fast for them to keep up with demand – but when you see Verdant on the label you always know you’re going to get high-hop, high flavour, high craftsmanship in that can or bottle of beer. So when the chance to take them onto the site came along I jumped at it when they announced their partnership with Pressure Drop.
Pressure Drop have not enjoyed quite the meteoric rise that the west country boys have managed but that’s not to say their output is any less impressive. Their beginnings are just as humble as the aforementioned Falmouth warehouse. 2013 saw a shed and a few friends give birth to an idea that is now very impressive Pressure Drop brewery. Armed with a very solid and very suppable core range (Pale Fire, Bosko and Street Porter etc) the unit are now one of the main players in north London after expanding into new premises in Tottenham.
Their beers, core and otherwise, are always very well rounded and smooth and have a somewhat playful edge to them. From the slightly 70s wallpaper style artwork to the zesty and punch tasting notes of Wallbanger Wit and Cast Iron Billy you know you’re onto a good thing with a Pressure Drop beer. What most excited me however about this beer collab was that Pressure Drop have recently been nailing the hop-forward beer like there’s no tomorrow. Stepping up a level from the go-to Bosko IPA is Domino Topple. You can go up a gear again to Alligator Tugboat and them mellow off again with the recent Parachute DDH. The main thing here is this brewery know exactly what to do with hops and when it comes to making a moody, cloudy hop-swamp of a beer then you’d be happy to let them take charge. Add into the mix the earlier protagonists and their affiliation with modern hop flavours and you have a marriage made in heaven. Two hop-forward, knowledgeable breweries coming together to brew something they both clearly have a passion for and are exemplary at doing. The result is a wonderful blend of two great minds and one great beer. A hazy New England style IPA – I think deserves to be dropped in every Craft Metropolis box this month.
Step 1
We trawl the globe tasting great beer
