Promoting an international beer culture that recognises and celebrates beers of quality, distinctiveness and local character, brewed with care and passion.
Best beer and travel writing award 2015, 2011 -- British Guild of Beer Writers Awards
Accredited Beer Sommelier
Writer of "Probably the best book about beer in London" - Londonist
"A necessity if you're a beer geek travelling to London town" - Beer Advocate
"A joy to read" - Roger Protz
"Very authoritative" - Tim Webb.
"One of the top beer writers in the UK" - Mark Dredge.
"A beer guru" - Popbitch.
I’m a beer writer, tour guide, walk leader, tutored tasting host and Accredited Beer Sommelier based in London.
My latest book is Cask: The real story of Britain’s unique beer culture, published in August 2023. Cask beer is a unique format of fresh, live draught beer that, at its best, delivers a taste experience unmatchable in any other way. My pioneering book, aimed at the discriminating drinker, explains what makes it special, and explores its past, present and future.
I’ve published three editions of London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars, the award-winning definitive guide to drinking beer in London. “Probably the best book about beer in London” — Londonist. For more see the London page.
Why not join me on one of my regular brewery heritage walks or tutored tastings. Or I can provide an informal private London heitage pub walk and tasting for your group, or a tasting for your event, alongside various other beer-related services. For more see the Beer Tours page.
I’m a contributor to numerous other books, magazines and websites, including providing the UK listings for The Pocket Beer Book and editing the 2020 edition of Beer in the Netherlands.
Elsewhere on the site are numerous blog posts and beer reviews, many of them archiving material that’s already appeared elsewhere but with some exclusive pieces. Scroll down to see the latest posts, or try these:
Brewery, no visitors please Sidcup DA15 (Bexley) tankleysbrewery.com Active since: November 2015 First sold beer: Due by May 2024
Australian-born homebrewer Glenn Heinzel first brewed commercially under the name Tankleys (an obscure family pun) at UBREW late in 2015. A year later, fellow UBREW users Beerblefish began brewing in their own right on a larger scale at a site in Enfield, and Glenn was brought in full time to run the operations.
Since then Glenn has continued Tankleys as a side project, developing recipes on a Grainfather homebrew kit at his Sidcup home and cuckoo brewing at Beerblefish and elsewhere. In 2023 he revived his brewing license and began brewing commercially at home in spring 2024. This activity is set to increase once a larger 1.6 hl kit is commissioned later in 2024.
Beers are mainly in cask, with some small scale bottling, sold locally and at festivals.
Brewpub Hopewell Square, London E14 0SY (Tower Hamlets) thelockdownroom.com First sold beer: March 2024
As the name Lockdown Room suggests, this popular bar-restaurant and event venue on London City Island, a recent development in a horseshoe meander of the river Lea near Canning Town, evolved from an initiative to supply the community during the lockdowns. Local resident and beer expert Allan was asked to advise on the craft beer side and subsequently helped build it into a noted beer venue supporting numerous independent London breweries.
Allan has since added a 1.5 hl nanobrewery on the mezzanine and is now producing keg beer on a small scale for in-house sales under the Hopewell Brewery name.
SALT London (Ossett, formerly Hop Stuff) SE28, Greenwich, closed May 2023, brewing continues outside London and may revive on a brewpub scale at one of the SALT bars in London.
Former lawyer Rob Fink and designer James Kindred launched Big Drop as a specialist brewer of beers of 0.5% ABV and less after Rob noticed a gap in the market when he gave up drinking for an extended period. They began by cuckoo brewing at now-closed Bermondsey shared brewery UBREW in 2016 but by 2017 had expanded to partnerships with larger producers, appointing former Wild Beer brewer Johnny Clayton as head of production.
As of 2023, the business is based in Ipswich, Suffolk, though the beer is brewed in London at Fourpure, and the relationship was strengthened in May 2023 through a licensing deal.
Beers are in can and keg, in a variety of styles from lagers to brown ales and stouts, including changing specials. They are exported internationally and also brewed in Australia and the USA for local markets.
Christos Daskalopoulos and Matt Dean met when they were both working at an Athens brewpub. Matt later went to Meantime but ended up working alongside Christos again when Greek brewery 56 Isles set up 3 Locks as a London offshoot.
In 2023 the pair got the chance to create their own venture, taking on the former Gravity Well arch under the Overground at Leyton Midland Road. This initially reopened in August as a bar but began producing beer again in November on a venerable 8 hl kit that Matt believes was originally made for a first-generation 1970s microbrewery.
The name is borrowed from a legendary 17th century utopian colony founded by pirates, which practised equality for all irrespective of colour and creed.
Beers are in keg, bottle and can, with cask due to be added early in 2024.
Beer firm, planned brewpub Patchworks, 258 Church Road, London E10 7JQ (Waltham Forest) blondiesbar.co.uk Planned for: Feburary 2024
Blondies is a popular Clapton bar and music venue opened by sisters Sharmaine and Verity Cox in 2016. The sisters always planned to add their own brewery but struggled to find a site: plans for a railway arch in Hackney fell through in 2019 and the lockdowns frustrated further progress.
In summer 2023, the bar began stocking a house lager and session IPA cuckoo brewed at Mammoth, and on 18 August 2023 the bar at a new brewery and taproom site finally opened in a former furniture factory space a short distance from the river Lea at Leyton.
A 10 hl brewhouse sourced from BritHop was installed with the assistance of Mammoth, but a combination of paperwork and practical issues delayed commissioning. Test brews were successfully completed in December 2023 and commercial brewing is expected early in 2024.
Beers will initially be in keg only, sold onsite and at the Blondies bar, though there are plans to expand production to distribute the beers more widely and possibly add a canning facility.
Beer firm Also known as Not Another Beer Co. 58 Devonshire Street, London W1W 5EA luckysaint.co Active since: October 2018
Founded by Luke Boase, London-based Lucky Saint commissions a much-admired and widely available unfiltered alcohol-free pale lager to its own recipe. The beer is made at a historic Bavarian brewery in accordance with the traditional purity law but the company is coy on the details.
For several years the company was managed from co-working spaces but in March 2023 reopened the Masons Arms pub in Fitzrovia, London W1, renaming it the Lucky Saint, as both a bar, which also stocks alcoholic drinks, and permanent offices.
The beer was originally available only in bottles but is now also canned, and a keg version has been available since 2020.
Brewpub Brewery: 15 Whitburn Road SE13 7UQ (Lewisham) Pub: 316 Lewisham High Street SE13 6JZ foxfirkin.com First sold beer: October 2023
This busy music pub became a brewpub towards the end of 2023, with a facility known as the Firkin brewery added in a former Sainsbury’s depot at the back. The project was the brainchild of Didier Autard, who has owned the pub for over a decade, and brewing consultant Hugo Anderson, a longstanding brewer with AB InBev.
The brewery was first proposed before the 2019 Covid lockdowns, but was subject to numerous delays due to bureaucracy, installation and staffing issues. The original head brewer had to leave for health reasons, but a replacement formerly at BBNo has since been recruited. The first beers eventually went on sale towards the end of October 2023.
This is the second time the pub, formerly the Black Bull, has operated as a brewpub. In 1980 it became the second in David Bruce’s chain of Firkin brewpubs following the Goose and Firkin and continued to serve its own beer until new owners Punch discontinued brewing across the chain in 1999. It’s one of the few to retain its Firkin-era name.
Beers are in keg though following a planned refurbishment in 2024 the core brands will be dispensed from 1,000 l tanks behind the bar.
Brewery Arch N4 Dockray Place NW1 8QD (Camden) 3locksbeer.com First sold beer: November 2022
Founded by Marinos Alexandrou of the 56 Isle brewery in Paros, Greece, this enterprise occupies several arches under two branches of the Overground, with a taproom and shop located in arch S14. The three locks of the name are on the nearby Regents Canal.
Matt Dean and Christos Daskalopoulos, who worked with Marinos to set things up initially, have since moved on to their own brewery, Libertalia.
This pioneering new book explains what makes cask beer so special, and explores its past, present and future. Order now from CAMRA Books. Read more here.
London’s Best Beer
The fully updated 3rd edition of my essential award-winning guide to London’s vibrant beer scene is available now from CAMRA Books. Read more here.