The Craft Beer Co, London SW9.
London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
Southwest London: Brixton
Bar, specialist (Craft)
11 Brixton Station Road SW9 8PD
T 020 7274 8383 w thecraftbeerco.com/location/brixton-london f craftbeercosw9 tw thecraftbeerco
Open 1600 (1200 Fri-Sun)-2300 (2400 Thu, 0200 Fri-Sat, 2230 Sun, 1 hour later for Mon-Thu Brixton Academy shows). Children welcome at lunchtimes.
Cask beer 10 (Kent, 9 unusual guests), Other beer 20 keg (10 UK, 10 international), 120 bottles (mainly Belgian & US), Also 12 rums, 20+ bourbons and malts, other specialist spirits.
Food Pork pies and Scotch eggs only, Outdoor Front terrace, Wifi. No disabled toilet but flat access.
Beer tastings.
Until recently Brixton was an area of London surprisingly poor in fine beer, but with first the Crown and Anchor reopening in Brixton Road and now with the arrival of London’s second Craft Beer Co branch, the choice for local beer fans has rapidly improved.
Craft, opened in October 2012 in what was once the Hive Bar, doesn’t have the advantage of the Crown’s spacious old fashioned pub building, but it does boast a central site, just round the corner from the Tube, handy for the Academy music venue and markets and a few doors down from Brixton Recreation Centre. This last near neighbour accounts for the succession of track suited and beshorted types passing the big picture windows. A few of them even call in: members of Brixton’s successful Angels Ultimate Frisbee team have made the place a post-practice haunt.
Although the place is small, with a single downstairs bar mainly given to vertical drinking and an additional space with tables up some rickety stairs, it’s nicely and neatly designed, with a preponderance of copper that nods to brewing kit. A copper tube arching over the bar carries the keg clips, while fridges beneath the bar surface display their wares to customers.
As you’d expect from a Craft, the beer choice is exemplary. 10 handpumps dispense the house pale from Kent brewery, rotating options from Dark Star and Thornbridge and guests from the likes of Fyne, Ilkley, Northern, Leeds, Revolutions or Tiny Rebel. 18 keg lines are split between British craft kegs, quality traditional imports like Boon Kriek or Rothaus Weissbier, and beers from international extremists like De Molen and Mikkeller, this last supplying the house lager.
Mikkeller also contributes over 30 entries in the bottled range, alongside New Zealaners 8 Wired, Londoners Kernel and new Dutch cuckoo brewer Rooie Dop. The rest are split between Belgium – mainly Trappists (Achel, Orval, Rochefort) and proper lambics (3 Fonteinen, Boon, Tilquin) – and the USA. Names rarely seen in London include some exclusives to the chain – a typical roll call might incude AleSmith, Anchorage, Cigar City, Clown Shoes, Diamond Knot, Element, Hoppin’ Frog, Jester King, Port, Sly Fox and Weyerbacher. All are also available to take away with a “buy five, get one free” offer.
National Rail Underground Brixton Cycling Link to LCN+ 25
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