The Unexpected Side of London Craft Beer
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So often we hear how English, German, Belgian and Czech brewing has influenced American Craft Beer. I recently made the trip to London fully expecting to immerse myself in pint after pint of session ale. Before I made the trip I asked all of you where I should go, and person after person told me I had to go to Craft Beer Co., a beer bar specializing in craft beer. It was here that my journey through London began and I discovered a burgeoning community of craft brewers and craft beer enthusiasts, many inspired by American Craft Beer. I expected to come back and write all about session ale, but what I discovered was so much more. What follows is by no means a definitive guide to London, but what I consider three must visit spots for any beer enthusiast visiting London.
Craft Beer Company
As previously mentioned this spot was recommended again and again by many of you on Twitter. As I walked in the door I knew I had found something special. The night before I had immersed myself in local pubs, had a few pints of bitter and a ploughman’s lunch...this place was nothing like any of those pubs. The giant line of casks had easily four times more beers available than any bar I’d been to. The expansive line called out to me like a challenge, though thankfully part of me knew better than to try them all. As I approached the bar something caught my eye in the coolers behind the casks. Lined up neatly I saw a familiar sight, bottles of Pretty Things St. Botolph's Town. What?! I couldn’t believe I was seeing beer from such a small Massachusetts brewery in London. Don’t worry, though, I didn’t order that, but it was impressive to see.
What I did get a nice pint of Dark Star Hophead, half a pork pie, and a scotch egg. Pork pies and scotch eggs are the only food served here and it’s the only food they need to serve, they’re that damn good. What struck me as I had a few pints was the ABV I was seeing. When Jeff visited London a few months ago he commented on how man cannot live on session beer alone. What I was finding is that craft brewers in the UK are starting to break with tradition and many of the beers here ranged from 5-7% ABV, much higher than the 4% or lower you find in traditional British beer.
As I was enjoying some fine ale and food I struck up a conversation with a couple guys sitting near me. We started chatting about craft beer and I asked if places like this were typical. I got an instant “No,” it was clear that this bar is on the forefront of a new movement in the UK. From what I can tell there’s pretty much nothing that competes with this place on variety of beers. We chatted, they gave me some tips on where to go next and in thanks I bought them a bottle of Pretty Things (which cost me a whopping £20, I’ll let you do the exchange rate math on that one but lets just say it’s not good). Based on their tip I was off the Cask Pub & Kitchen.
Cask Pub & Kitchen
Cask Pub is the sister pub of Craft Beer Co. The link is clear when you see the logo alone but the beer on tap is different and Cask has a full kitchen.  If you make it over to Cask be sure to get the fish and chips. I know it sounds cliché but it's seriously good. The breading is light and crisp and the fish just melts in your mouth; pair that with a nice pint and you’re golden. Once again I was blown away by the selection, there was tons of local craft beer as well as coolers full of craft beer from the states, there were even some beers that I can’t get in Boston, like Duck Rabbit.
As I sat down eating my fish and chips, I started chatting with a couple guys near me. (Sensing a theme here? What can I say, give me a couple pints and I’ll talk to anyone.) Well this time it wasn’t just a couple random guys, one of them happened to be Paul Herbert, brewer for Kent Brewing Co. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that I met a craft brewer in a craft beer bar but he gave me some amazing insight into the London craft beer scene. (More from that conversation in a future article.) I did ask him the most important question of all, though. "If I had to go to one bar in London before I left, where did I need to go?" That question led me to the last, and I would say most important, bar I went to.
Southampton Arms
There were points along my journey to this bar where I wasn’t sure I’d make it. I had to change lines of the Tube a couple times due to construction and make my way through random alleys of North London. Anyone who knows me knows I have the worst sense of direction known to man so getting lost is kind of my M.O. When I got off the train I started following the directions I had written down on my phone. I entered an odd area that was, as near as I could tell, an old folks community and made my way down a narrow, dimly lit alley.
At this point I was sure I had gotten lost but then, just as I was about to give up hope, I turned the corner to see one of the greatest signs I’d ever seen: "Ale, Cider, Meat." Those three words told me I was in the right place.
When I walked in the door the bar was packed and it was only 6pm. A sign above the bar read “We are the only dedicated ale + cider house in London to sell only beers + ciders from small independent UK breweries." Bad ass. While the selection at both Craft Brewing Co. and Cask Pub & Kitchen were amazing, neither were really the night out in London that I was looking for. In stark contrast stands Southampton Arms. A blend of indie rock and classic vinyl plays constantly over the stereo. Small worn wood tables cover most of the bar area. What struck me most was the variety of people here. The range in ages was amazing, everyone from college kids and 20-somethings to people in their 50’s and 60’s were hanging out with friends enjoying a good pint. I had an amazing session ale simply called “3.9.” As you might expect it was 3.9% but it was loaded with hops, of all the beers I had on the trip I miss this the most.
What amazed me about all the places I visited is that they were all relatively new, most of them have only been in business a couple years, signs of a craft beer movement emerging in the UK. I can’t wait to go back in a year or two and see how much more the scene has grown. But for now I’ll just have to look back on my fond memories of London and the amazing beer scene that caught me totally by surprise.
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Add a commentFounders Breakfast Stout [Beer Review]
[Editors' Note: We're happy to welcome our newest, and first, regional correspondent, Johanna. Johanna is a native of Michigan, one of our favorite states for craft beer, and will be writing about beer made in and distributed to the Great Lakes region. She discovered craft beer at the Keweenaw Brewing Company brewpub in Houghton, MI...but we'll let her tell you the story of how she got into craft beer in a future article. We met Johanna over Twitter (her handle is @Hufr0, say hello). She asked us about the "Drink Craft Beer Meeting" we had one night and how one gets into the club. After several emails back and forth, here we are! So, Johanna, welcome to the club! We're incredibly glad to have you as a member of the Drink Craft Beer team!
Are you a good writer? Do you like interacting with people? Do you love craft beer? Do you think you fit in with the mission of Drink Craft Beer? Do you want to be our next regional Drink Craft Beer correspondent? Get in touch with us and let's talk.]
Founders Breakfast Stout is an oatmeal coffee stout with both Sumatra and Kona beans. Much like coffee the stout smells sweeter than it tastes. It's 8.3% ABV and surely is a bit of a jolt like a morning coffee can be. Maybe that’s how it got its name. But I think they named it Breakfast Stout because sometimes you wake up thinking about it. You drift back to the last time you had some. The dark molasses beer stirring in your glass a bit, the deep burnt caramel head dancing at the top leaving a rusty film on the glass as you drain it. It doesn’t remind you of any other stout you’ve had. It’s too rich and powerful to be a memory of an oatmeal stout. It’s hoppier than you expected it to be, biting back at you. The chocolate doesn’t hit you at first, masked by all that coffee. The more you drink the sweeter it tastes and you begin to sense the chocolate. It leaves a remarkably smooth, deep, dark and rich flavor on your lips.
Sometimes you gulp it like a rushed morning coffee. Normally you wouldn’t do such a thing with a craft beer but with Breakfast Stout you can’t always help it. You can taste the higher alcohol content when you do, almost like a coffee wine. Somehow it doesn’t ruin the experience. There is almost wildness to the sweet. It reminds you of a molasses; almost a gamey sugar. You can taste it as you lay there in bed. And while you fight the fact you have to go to the bathroom you look at the alarm clock and wonder,
"How early can I have some Breakfast Stout without being a social pariah?"
If it were a holiday it might be acceptable, even now, to have some. Still refusing to kick off the covers (it's cold out there) you pick your brain for a holiday from any religion or country that could possibly be this day. You got nothin’. You twist in the sheets battling facts and social norms,
"Fine. I’ll just make up a holiday. Support Michigan Made Products Day. Yeah that’s it. How can you appreciate it if you have to wait until afternoon to have some?"
You smile. Now you can get out of bed and start your day, knowing you’ve won.
But you never do drink that morning stout. I’ve been saying for some time that one day I will get up and have Breakfast Stout for breakfast. A double chocolate, coffee and oatmeal breakfast sounds good to me and that’s just the beer. I’ll pair it with some good food and it will be fantastic. With 60 IBU’s (International Bittering Units) I’m thinking either something sweet or something greasy like steak and eggs. I have yet to do so, (when I finally do this I will tell you every last drop of detail) but every now and then I find myself wakeful with the thought of my last Breakfast Stout experience dancing in my head. I haven’t found another stout that has been nearly as memorable. Most times I find myself thinking about it when trying other stouts. So far it is my favorite. The only criticism I have is that the Breakfast Stout is available September – January only and not all year round. So go find some while you can and prepare for a summer of dreaming about it.
Add a commentWin Two Tickets to Extreme Beer Fest 2012 [Giveaway]
Let us guess...you didn't buy tickets to Beer Advocate's Extreme Beer Fest in the first hour that they went on sale and now you don't have tickets? Who knew they were going to sell out so fast?!
This is an awesome fest that you're not going to want to miss and, luckily, we bought two extra tickets that we're going to give away to one lucky reader!
But, to take a phrase from the television infomercial guys, that's not all! We've also teamed up with one of our favorite sources of quick food in Boston, the official Pre-Beer Fest Lunch of Drink Craft Beer, B. Good. In addition to two tickets to Extreme Beer Fest, we'll treat our winner (and whoever is using his or her second ticket) to a pre-fest lunch at B. Good's Darthmouth Street location with Devon and Jeff from Drink Craft Beer.
How To Enter
Entering is simple, it's only two steps:
- Subscribe to our email list using the form below.
- Like Drink Craft Beer on Facebook
If you're currently a member of the Drink Craft Beer email list, just respond to the email we're sending out shortly and make sure you like us on Facebook!
Already have tickets to Extreme Beer Fest 2012? We've got another giveaway coming up specifically for people like you, so stay tuned!
Rules
Tickets are to the Saturday afternoon session (Saturday, February 4th 2012 from 1-4:30pm).
We'll alert the winner via email, so make sure your email address is correct.
We're going to give the tickets to the winner as we go into the fest; these tickets are non-transferable. You cannot sell them.
You MUST be 21 to enter or win. You only win tickets. Transportation, any lodging you need, or anything else is not included.
Subscribe to our mailing list to win two tickets:
Thanks to everyone who entered, this contest is now closed. We'll be announcing a winner at early-midday on Wednesday, February 1st 2012.
Add a commentWhat's your favorite food to pair with beer? [Poll]
We love pairing beer and well...anything. We recently finished putting together some kick ass beer and chocolate pairings for our event at the Taza Chocolate factory and it got us thinking about some of our favorite pairings. We've done numerous pairings in the past ranging from cheese to burgers to chocolate or Christmas cookies. We're always looking for the magical combination where the beer plus food creates flavors that don't exist without the pairing; the classic 1+1=3 scenario if you will. Now we want to know what some of your favorite pairings are.
As usual, vote below then let us know your favorites on Twitter, on Facebook or in the comments below the poll. If you have a specific pairing you think we need to try let us know!
Cheers!
Add a commentCan't Keep 'Em Apart - A Beer & Chocolate Love Story
Valentine's Day is coming up and, 
to us, what could be better than celebrating with some craft beer and chocolate? How about raising money for The Greater Boston Food Bank? What if we told you you could do all those things at the same time?!
Well on Saturday, February 11th, 2012 from 2-6pm you can! Drink Craft Beer is taking over the Taza Chocolate Factory Store and we're doing some pretty cool stuff.
Taza Chocolate is a bean-to-bar, organic, direct trade chocolate company that has been growing like crazy over the past years. We met them when it was just a couple guys in a factory in Somerville and we’ve watched them grow to national distribution. To us, it’s incredible what Taza Chocolate is able to do with just a few select, high quality ingredients. It actually mirrors our love of craft beer, as brewers do the same with a few simple ingredients. That’s why we think that these two are such a perfect complement to each other.
It’s no secret, Taza Chocolate and Drink Craft Beer have long been friends. We’ve done not just one, but two events together in the past where we’ve paired some of the best craft beer on the market with our favorite bean-to-bar, organic chocolates. But we’ve never brought you all to the factory before!
Given the reaction to past events, we knew we had to do another and what better time than right before Valentine’s Day? So, with that in mind, we’re taking over the Taza Chocolate Factory Store on Saturday, February 11th from 2-6pm and offering you a chance to try four delicious chocolate and craft beer pairings! All we ask in return is a $3 donation at the door, 100% of which will go to The Greater Boston Food Bank. Come join us at:
Taza Chocolate Factory Store
561 Windsor Street
Somerville, MA 02143
Every dollar that gets donated allows them to provide 2.5 meals to those in need, so your $3 donation will provide 7.5 meals! If you bring just one friend, that’s 15 meals for people who are going hungry!
For just $3, you'll get:
- Four samples of craft beer paired with four Taza Mexicano Chocolates
- Meet Rob Lucente, Co-Founder of Peak Organic Brewing Company
- Meet Caitlin Jewell & Jeff Leiter, Co-Founders of Somerville Brewing Company (aka Slumbrew)
- Hang out with Devon and Jeff from Drink Craft Beer
- A chance to provide 7.5 meals to those who are in need
The pairings you'll get to try are:
Peak Organic Oak Aged Mocha Stout with Taza Mexicano Salted Almond Chocolate
Honestly, we originally thought that Taza’s Mexicano Coffee Chocolate would pair with this beer. But the coffee and chocolate (the chocolate is actually nibs from the Taza factory...it all comes full circle!) in Peak Organic’s Oak Aged Mocha Stout just mirrored the flavors in the chocolate way too much...it tasted good together but it didn’t enhance anything, which is the goal when you’re pairing food and beer. The salted almond chocolate, however, was a great surprise choice! By itself, this is possibly our favorite of Taza’s offerings, it tastes almost like a high-end peanut butter cup. But the beer takes it to a whole other level. The oak introduces a bit of a vanilla taste to the beer, which draws out the richness of the chocolate. While this is going on, the sweetness of the chocolate (in our mind, the sweetest tasting of the Taza Chocolates) adds a little bit of body to the Peak Organic Stout that the high alcohol diminishes. Wrap this sweetness up with the flavor-enhancing salt and the nutty almonds and you’ve got yourself a pairing made in heaven. As you walk away, you’ll note an alcoholy vanilla note. Yeah...it’s nice.
Slumbrew Happy Sol with Taza Mexicano Ginger Chocolate
The Taza Mexicano Ginger Chocolate can vary from having a light ginger taste all the way to an intense ginger taste. The great part about pairing it with Slumbrew’s Happy Sol Blood Orange Hefeweizen is that the combination works at all ends of the spectrum. The Hefeweizen really brings out the ginger in the chocolate. Then, once that’s out there, the flavor goes perfectly with the clovey spice and orange of the beer. You end up finishing on a juicy, gingery thought and almost forget you’re eating chocolate. It’s a really neat effect!
Sixpoint The Crisp with Taza Mexicano Orange Chocolate
OK, we know what you’re thinking: “Chocolate with a pilsner?! But that’s such a light beer!” And yeah, we know it’s light. But you don’t need dark beer for dark chocolate. In this case, the pairing works because the orange is a bit subdued and almost hidden when you’re just eating the chocolate. Sixpoint’s The Crisp, though, is a crisp but full pilsner with some fruity notes at the end of the taste. These serve to bring out the orange in the chocolate and really brighten it up, so you’re left feeling as if you’ve just bitten into a big, juicy, chocolate orange. It’s delicious! These are some of our favorite types of pairings to do because, while we love a dark beer with chocolate, this is what really tends to throw people for a loop and push the bounds of what they think for food pairing.
Narragansett Porter with Taza Mexicano Coffee Chocolate
Now that we’ve done some nontraditional pairings, let’s get back to one that people will expect a little more. Taza’s Mexicano Coffee Chocolate has some pretty serious coffee to it and, while it’s on the sweeter end of their offerings by sugar content, the coffee lowers this apparent sweetness. Narragansett’s Porter, a robust, roasty and malty porter really serves to bring some sweetness to the pairing and rounds the whole thing out. Putting them together really makes the taste of both a lot more full, which is what we always look for in a pairing; 1+1=3.
This is an awesome chance to come and try some great chocolate, drink some amazing beer and meet some of the coolest brewery owners in New England! Not to mention, you'll be raising money for a great cause. Come on out and see us on Saturday, February 11th! Again, it's 2-6pm and the location is:
Taza Chocolate Factory Store
561 Windsor Street
Somerville, MA 02143
