London beer tastings 2011
For more background on the brewery see Camden Town Hells Lager
ABV: 4.5% and 5%
Origin: Kentish Town, London NW5, England
Website: www.camdentownbrewery.com
Tap handles line up at Camden Town Brewery. Pic: Mark Dredge.
Although the marvellously juicy and refreshing Hells Lager is to me Camden Town’s greatest achievement so far, their other regular beers, though straightforward, are worthy of mention for their consistency and quality.
Pale Ale, which veers towards the US interpretation of the style, is I believe the best seller. These days it’s mainly available as a keg beer, but cask versions do pop up, and I tried one earlier in 2011 at the very inviting Pineapple pub in Kentish Town not far from the brewery.
This was a slightly hazy warm blond beer with a fine white head and a light but creamy, spicily hoppy pineapple and grapefruit aroma. Thistly but not too bitter US hops were evident on a fresh, fruity palate with notes of pineapple, coconut and lime over syrupy, slightly biscuity malt. The beer rapidly settled into a smooth, tasty, lightly bitter finish with some creamy malt.
The keg version is normally filtered (though unpasteurised) but among the brewery’s offerings at the London Brewers’ Showcase in October 2011 was an intriguing unfiltered keg edition. Hazy and gold with the additional carbonation to sustain a thick white head, this had notes of sulphur in an attractive aroma with subdued hop notes.
Exotic and spicy fruity hop flavours gave an impression of Turkish delight on the palate and there was a slightly protein-tinged egg yolk hint. A nice bittering finish with grapefruit and cracked pepper hop flavours and slightly floury malt left a pleasant impression. The cooler serving temperature of this pressurised beer was also welcome after sampling from several casks on stillage.
Asked to choose only bottle conditioned beers for my tutored tasting of London beers at the Great British Beer Festival, I opted for Camden Town’s Wheat Beer as the ambassador for NW5. This is a proper unfiltered cloudy wheat beer, a heartfelt homage to the Bavarian Weissbier style with malted wheat, malted barley, noble hops and an authentic yeast. It’s on the darker side of the style with a fine off-white head, and a creamy, lightly phenolic aroma with emulsion paint notes.
The palate is very spicy and quite complex with a classic tangibly citric and slightly sweaty wheat beer palate, hints of custard cream biscuit and orange and touch of clove. That clove becomes more evident in a big spicy finish with marmalade notes underpinned by a bready cereal slick. The quality and authenticity of the beer was very much appreciated by the audience at Earls Court.
Read more about these beers at ratebeer.com:
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/camden-town-camden-pale-ale-keg/135338/
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/camden-town-camden-wheat-beer/133547/
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