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Best beer and travel writing award 2015, 2011 -- British Guild of Beer Writers Awards
Accredited Beer Sommelier
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 Albany, London W1 Fitzrovia
Contemporary pub (Castle/M&B)
240 Great Portland Street W1W 5QU
T 020 7387 0221 w www.thealbanyw1w.co.uk f thealbanyw1w
Open 1200-2400 (2230 Sun). Children welcome until early evening.
Cask beer 5 (Adnam’s, Sambrook’s, Sharp’s, 2 unusual guests) Cask Marque, Other beer 7 keg, 12 bottles, Also 35 wines, some specialist rums and whiskies.
Food Upmarket pub grub, Outdoor Standing area on street, Wifi. Disabled toilet.
Live music, comedy, DJ nights, occasional big screen sport, functions.
The growing interest of big pub owning companies like Mitchells and Butlers in specialist beer is a sure sign of how the market is growing, and the Albany, part of the group’s unbranded Castle chain, makes more than most of offering a good “craft beer” range. Besides the ubiquitous Doom Bar and other regulars Broadside and Wandle, the two guest cask handpumps are usually given over to contemporary minded small brewers like Hopdaemon, Ilkley, Rooster’s and Sunny Republic.
There’s a rotating Sierra Nevada keg tap – not just the revered but often seen pale ale – besides the likes of Bernard Dark, Camden Town Hells and Meantime London Pale, and worthwhile Belgian stuff like Bosteels Tripel Karmaliet in the fridge besides Worthington White Shield and bottles from Flying Dog and Goose Island.
The sizeable and often busy corner pub right by Great Portland Street Tube is now a single open space with a split level floor, a vintage textured ceiling and cream painted pillars well lit by big arched windows. A generally lively and youthful crowd with a good gender mix occupies its eccentric mix of furniture. Popular DJ and performance nights take place in the cellar.
National Rail Euston Underground Great Portland Street, Regents Park Cycling Links to LCN+ 0 50 Walking Link to Regents Park Path
 Bar Boulud, London SW1 London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
Central London: Kensington, Chelsea and Earls Court
Restaurant, bar (Boulud)
66 Knightsbridge SW1X 7LA
T 020 7201 3899 w www.barboulud.com
Open 1200-0100 (2400 Sun). Children welcome until early evening.
Cask beer None, Other beer 8 keg, 6 bottles, Also Cocktails, specialist spirits, wines.
Food Charcuterie, cheese, French & US comfort food. Disabled toilet.
Tastings, bridge society.
Hopefully it will soon no longer be unusual to find great beer wherever quality drinks are sold, but as things stand the swish upmarket bar with a fine beer list remains a rarity. So it’s pleasantly surprising to find a decent range of beer options among the cocktails and fine wines in a corner of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, just down the road from Harrods, especially since the bar was created by a Frenchman. But then Daniel Boulud also has a similarly named joint in New York City, where craft beer has a more prestigious image, and he’s clearly got good taste.
Smartly dressed head bartender Fabio is as enthusiastic about the beers dispensed from the shining zinc counter top as you’d expect the landlord of a good real ale pub to be – they include decent British lager Cotswold, BrewDog Punk IPA, Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted and classic Bavarian wheat beer Schneider Weisse on tap, plus choices from London’s Redchurch brewery and Harviestoun’s cask aged Ola Dubh in bottle.
The beers are attracting increasing attention so the list may well grow further. Expect to pay at least double pub prices, however, to enjoy them in a stylish and relaxed bistro-style environment with attentive staff and a mix of seating creating numerous attractive spaces. Non-dining drinkers are welcome at the bar, though the simple, high quality food is better value than you might expect, with a reasonable three course prix fixe deal and tempting tasting plates of gourmet cheese and charcuterie from the UK, France and Italy. Note there’s a smart casual dress code.
Underground Knightsbridge Cycling LCN+5, Hyde Park paths Walking Jubilee Greenway, Princess Diana Memorial Walk
 East India Arms, London EC3 London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars updates
Central London: Aldgate
Traditional pub (Shepherd Neame)
67 Fenchurch Street EC3M 4BR
T 020 7265 5121 w www.eastindiaarms.co.uk
Open 1130-2100 (Closed Sat-Sun).
Cask beer 4 (Shepherd Neame) Cask Marque.
Food None, though customers welcome to bring in from local takeaways, Outdoor Table and sheltered standing room on street, Wifi.
This modest but attractive and very friendly little pub close by Fenchurch Street station is one of London’s better options for sampling Shepherd Neame cask ales, with Bishop’s Finger, Kent’s Best, Master Brew and Spitfire all regularly available in a consistent condition that’s earned it a Good Beer Guide listing. The current corner building dates from 1839 but the pub claims a history back to 1630.
Indoors is a small single space still furnished in traditional woody style with floorboards and engraved windows and mainly dedicated to standing room and high stools which are enthusiastically occupied by what’s largely a city boy clientele. Worth knowing about.
Pub trivia. The pub was renamed relatively recently after the British East India Company which ruled and ruthlessly exploited the Indian subcontinent for over a century from 1757-1858. The Company played a role in the emergence of India Pale Ale, originally developed as an export style to quench the thirsts of its workers and their families. It’s a shame the pub doesn’t stock a modern example.
National Rail Fenchurch Street Underground Aldgate, Tower Hill DLR Tower Gateway River Tower Cycling LCN+ 11 13, links to NCN 13 CS 3 Walking Link to Jubilee Walkway, Thames Path
European Beer Bloggers Conference 2012
ABV: 7%
Origin: Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland
Website: www.williamsbrosbrew.com
 Williams Brothers Brewery Alloa is the largest town in Clackmannanshire, central Scotland – once the smallest Scottish county in the days when the country still had them. A hundred years ago the town ranked alongside Burton upon Trent, Edinburgh, London and Tadcaster as one of the most important brewing centres in Britain but now boasts only a single brewery. It’s doubtful that the brewing dynasties of old would recognise much in the way things are done at Williams Brothers, who have become the last keepers of Alloa’s brewing flame through a very circuitous route.
When the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) was founded in 1971, Maclay’s Thistle Brewery in Alloa was one of only four independent family brewers left in Scotland, and the only one north of the river Forth (the other surviving brewery in the town was by then owned by Allied, one of the ‘Big Six’, and was finally closed by Carslberg in 1998). The Thistle dated from 1870, but the Maclay family had previously brewed since 1830 at the nearby Mills brewery, established around 1804.
In 1999, Maclay became yet another old established British brewery turning its back on the tradition of vertical integration, closing down its brewing operations and converting itself into a pubco, in which form it survives today. Following the closure, former head brewer Duncan Kellock set up the Forth Brewery, a much smaller modern micro at Kelliebank to the southwest of the town, close to the river. Originally Forth had a contract to continue to brew Maclay branded beers, but also brewed for other commissioners – including an up and coming little business known as Heather Ales which was pioneering a new way of creating and marketing Scottish beer.
The Heather Ales story starts in Glasgow, on the other side of central Scotland’s watershed. Founder Bruce Williams ran a homebrew shop in the city where in 1988, so the story goes, he encountered a customer who had inherited from her Highland ancestors a recipe, originally written in Gaelic, for leann fraoch or heather ale. Intrigued, Bruce developed a contemporary version of the beer, which was first sold as Fraoch in 1992, brewed under contract at the tiny, and now closed, West Highland brewery at Taynuilt, Argyll and Bute.
Heather Ales was set up by Bruce and his brother Scott to market this beer and a growing range of other specialities made from unusual Scottish ingredients. The venture proved a great success – with their consistent quality, unusual flavours, attractive labels and national heritage appeal, Heather Ales were an early example of beers that reached out to an audience far beyond the traditional cask ale drinker, and were largely sold as bottled products, including through supermarkets and international exporters. Demand rapidly outstripped capacity and by 1993 the beers were being contract brewed at Maclay.
 Williams Brothers Nollaig In 1995 the brothers established their own brewery at Craigmill, South Lanarkshire, but this only ever brewed cask beers, with bottled production still at Alloa. When Maclay closed, Duncan Kellock invited Bruce and Scott to invest in his Forth brewery project, and production of bottled Heather Ales relocated there. Then in 2003, with Maclay no longer commissioning its own beers, the brothers took over Forth wholesale and renamed it Williams Brothers, eventually bringing all the brewing in house at Alloa. As well as its own brands, the Alloa site is still used for contract bottling beers from several other Scottish breweries, including Fyne, Inveralmond and Traditional Scottish Ales.
I was always a little disappointed that Williams Brothers shied away from bottle conditioning its beers – the regular bottled products are filtered and usually pasteurised too. I asked Bruce about this several years back and he insisted this was to ensure the beers were consistent for their extensive bottled trade, but he did say they’d considered doing the occasional bottle conditioned speciality. It’s only very recently they’ve taken that step.
Nollaig – named with the Gaelic word for Christmas – was first launched late in 2011 as a limited edition bottle conditioned seasonal special packaged in an attractive bulbous growler-style litre bottle with a swing stopper. You’ll be lucky now to track down the original vintage as only 800 bottles were produced, but it may well be revived again this year. In line with the brewery’s long established penchant for unusual Highland flavourings, it’s enlivened with spruce tips, as well as Amarillo and Centennial hops.
A sample tasted at the 2012 European Beer Bloggers Conference was a rich amber, with a definite spruce note alongside apricots and peaches on a spicy, fruity aroma. An unusual and rather sweet palate had lightly resinous and oily spruce alongside more fruit, pepper, nuts and pastry. Hops came to the fore in a drying finish that became lightly bitter, pursing and herbal, with that rich fruitiness persisting. The flavours were seasonally appropriate without trying to do an impression of a Christmas pudding, and I really enjoyed it, though the sweetness and the hint of conifer wouldn’t be to everyone’s taste.
The Craigmill brewery, incidentally, now operates under new ownership as Strathaven Ales, having been finally sold by Williams Brothers in 2005. And Maclay still just clings on as a beer brand thanks to the Clockwork brewpub, now owned by the pubco, which every so often serves up a version of the defunct brewery’s Oat Malt Stout. It’s been a long way down from a big Victorian factory to a five barrel (8hl) brewpub kit, though there’s a satisfying circularity in the fact that the pub itself is not in Alloa, but Glasgow, where Heather Ales began.
European Beer Bloggers Conference 2012
ABV: 7.4%, 9.2% and 10.5%
Origin: Huddersfield, Kirklees, England
Website: www.magicrockbrewing.com
 Welcome to the beer circus: poster at Magic Rock brewery, Huddersfield. The last few years have seen not just the relentless growth of microbrewing in the UK but also the emergence of new approaches that challenge the old business model of the traditional cask ale market. A broad movement is emerging that cultivates an image and approach more attuned to the tastes of the growing numbers of younger drinkers developing an interest in specialist beer, and is much more open to international influences – particularly from the US in terms of both the beers themselves and the way they’re marketed. Some people tag the representatives of this trend as “craft breweries” and though I think this is an unhelpfully narrow use of the term (see why here), I know what they mean when they say it.
Magic Rock has rapidly established a place for itself in the forefront of this new wave in little over a year. It was founded in March 2011 by businessmen and beer lovers Richard and Jonny Burhouse, the former with previous form in the specialist beer world through his involvement with online retailer myBrewerytap.com. They brought in brewer Stuart Ross from the Crown brewery in Sheffield brewpub the Hillsborough Hotel, whose CV also includes a stint at Kelham Island – thereby placing Magic Rock among the branches of that intertwined family tree that links back to the influence of brewer, licensee and British beer legend Dave Wickett, who died earlier this year.
 Fermentation tanks at Magic Rock, Huddersfield. From the start the men behind Magic Rock were upfront about their transatlantic aspirations. “The intention is to brew modern flavour-forward beers inspired in part by US craft breweries,” said Rich early in 2011. In this they’re not alone but they’ve certainly caught the style more accurately than most British brewers and managed to bring in their own character too.
I was struck by this when the brewery sent me some sample bottles last autumn, nicely presented in 330ml size and labelled with very distinctive and elaborate pen drawings depicting the brewery’s chosen circus themes. I particularly singled out Cannonball as a well balanced example of a contemporary US-influenced India Pale Ale. It’s brewed with pale, pale crystal and Vienna malts and a trio of US hops – Centennial and Columbus in the boil, Citra in the hop back and more Centennial as a dry hop during conditioning.
 Stuart Ross, head brewer at Magic Rock. It’s a deep gold beer with an off-white creamy head and a creamy and spicy but rounded hop aroma. Estery notes indicate something of its 7.4% ABV, and there’s also a hint of ginger in the nose. The palate is packed with bitter marmalade, pine and almonds, warming into a peach fruit finish with a very light touch of roast in the flavour. The hops leave an assertively resinous, slightly vegetal slick but are nicely rounded by the fruit.
Following this promising encounter I seized the opportunity to visit the brewery during the European Beer Bloggers Conference in May 2012. Arriving at the rather plain industrial buildings in an unexceptional suburb of Huddersfield, the origin of the brewery’s name is immediately obvious – it adjoins the Burhouses’ existing family business trading in crystals, gemstones and decorative rocks. Bins in the yard at the front sparkle with polished pebbles and crystals in a rainbow of colours, destined for home and business decoration, jewellery and new age vibe channelling.
 Magic Rock rocks! Baskets of decorative minerals in the yard outside the brewery. Inside, spread across two floors, is a fairly standard brewhouse from Malrex of Burton upon Trent, originally around 20hl (12 barrels) although the size of the vessels has since been increased to accommodate 26hl (16 barrels). Fermentation capacity has also multiplied since opening, with several outdoor cylindroconical tanks now supplementing the original pair of indoor ones.
The main grist suppliers are Yorkshire maltsters Fawcett, supplemented by speciality producers Weyermann in Franconia. The brewery runs a single infusion mash, using hop pellets in the boil and whole hops in the hop back – an important stage in achieving the desired hoppy character. Yeast is mainly a Californian strain originally obtained in dried form and related to the yeast used at Sierra Nevada, but they also use an ale yeast supplied by Thornbridge. The same tanks are used for fermentation and conditioning, with the latter now lasting for a month on most beers, including a week of dry hopping in tank.
About 90% of the beer goes out in cask. At the moment bottling volumes are small but are likely to grow – the beer is now being bottled at Camden Town brewery in London from bulk supplies. Bottled beer is rough filtered and unpasteurised, but as there’s no intention for it to continue to ferment, it’s not strictly speaking bottle conditioned.
Another growing area is keg or, more precisely, keykeg – the new “bag in a ball” system increasingly favoured by small craft breweries worldwide. The beer is placed in a disposable sterile bag inside a reusable PET container which is itself housed in a distinctive octagonal cardboard carton. It’s dispensed by pressurising the space between the bag and the outer container with air or CO2, literally squeezing the beer out, with no extraneous air or gas coming into contact with the beer itself.
Keykeg beer isn’t intended to referment in the container like traditional cask, but at Magic Rock and many other craft breweries it’s not pasteurised or artificially carbonated either. Instead it’s brewery conditioned with its natural sparkle sealed in the keg, giving a livelier beer than is typical for cask.
 Beer taps at Magic Rock, Huddersfield. The interest in this format in the UK is increasing significantly – previously only one keg at Magic Rock might have been filled from a single brew, but now it’s closer to ten. Keykeg is also suitable for export, whereas the skills and equipment for handling cask are virtually unknown outside Britain. At present Magic Rock exports on a small scale to Norway but hopes to expand. “We expect the demand for keg is going to be massive in future,” predicts Stuart.
The sampling taps at the brewery only dispense keykeg beers and very good they are too. One of the highlights was Human Cannonball, the big brother of Cannonball, boosted not only with extra alcohol but with a whopping 25kg of hops in the hop back for every 20hl brew. This rich amber beer hits you with an aroma of lemon squash, melon and hay, with stewed hops so vivid you can almost see them steaming in the hop back. There’s a firm malty body with more melon fruit and obvious, though rounded, alcohol. Spicy pepper, pine and chilli-like notes dance on a warming finish, leaving a burry bitter slick that takes minutes to fade.
You’d expect a brewery like this to offer an imperial stout and they don’t disappoint with Bearded Lady, a development of a more approachable 6% stout called Dark Arts. I sampled it on keg at the Port Street Beer House in Manchester back in January, discovering a complex beer with a near-black colour, chocolate, carbon and some cakey malt on the aroma.
 Refill barrel destined for Magic Rock beer at the brewery in Huddersfield. This too had a notably hoppy palate – with 10kg of hops in the hop back per brew, it’s some way behind Human Cannonball in the hop monster league, but the resinous cones made their presence felt alongside roast, minerals and tangy fruit. Overall, though, these vivid flavours were well integrated within a smooth and milky mouthfeel with not too much sweetness. The finish turned immediately tangy to the point of slight astringency, with emerging ashy flavours and fine dark chocolate.
Given the pervasive US influences, barrel ageing is a logical next step and sure enough Magic Rock is already experimenting, having acquired four refill barrels of various kinds. The first result is a version of Bearded Lady aged for six months in a former bourbon barrel and called, naturally enough, Bourbon Barrel Bearded Lady. This was eagerly anticipated during the beer bloggers’ visit, and a communal cry of anguish went up when it appeared the beer had run out after only a handful of glasses, followed by an even bigger sigh of relief when it turned out only to be a dispensing problem that was soon solved.
 Magic Rock Bourbon Barrel Bearded Lady This thick black beer had a spirity, brown sugar aroma with notes of sherry fruit cake and a sharpish black cherry yoghurt-like touch. A tingly, minty palate boated richly fruity, raisiny malt, followed by a massive development of chocolate flavour teased by Listerine-like phenols. The very long and toasty dry chocolate finish had shards of hops with generous sweetness and developing roast coffee character, with more raisin fruit – an impressive example of the style.
One criticism that could be levelled at Magic Rock is that they are just a little too slavish in their apeing of the US craft brewing model, but the desire to experiment opens up the opportunity to create beers in a really distinctive style, and there’s a Yorkshire groundedness about the operation that should help too. Definitely one to watch.
European Beer Bloggers Conference 2012
Top Tastings 2012
ABV: 6.8%
Origin: Manchester, England
Website: www.marblebeers.co.uk
A serious looking 750ml bottle from Manchester’s marvellous Marble brewery can usually be relied upon to contain something at least interesting, but they’ve excelled themselves with Marble Earl Grey IPA (6.8 per cent), a collaboration brew with Emelisse from the Netherlands. A robust US-style India pale ale with fresh and fruity Citra hops has been given extra layers of flavour by adding Earl Grey tea.
“It was like putting a giant teabag into the copper,” head brewer James Campbell told me at the 2012 European Beer Bloggers Conference in Leeds, where Earl Grey proved one of the hits of the live beer blogging session. I managed to persuade him to part with a leftover bottle, which drew equally enthusiastic reactions at a tasting I hosted a few weeks later at Mason & Taylor in London.
As tea aficionados will know, Earl Grey is a smoky black tea perfurmed with bergamot oil, derived from a highly fragrant citrus fruit (Citrus bergamia) used in perfumery as well as to flavour other products. It turns out to form a good match with this particular style of US-inspired IPA – tea and smoky flavours are not unknown in the beer flavour palate and the subtle hints of bergamot match well with the citrus fruit notes from the hops.
My samples poured a cloudy warm amber with a bit of foamy head. Bergamot was certainly detectable on the aroma alongside apricots and more familiar orange and lemon notes. The palate was very fruity – tropical fruits, apricot, a lemon tea-like character, some very subtle oily perfume from the bergamot and a pronounced but not excessive bitterness. The tasty finish had plenty of complexity, with a controlled and lingering bitterness, building tannins and a slightly boxy, musty note.
This was one of the most distinctive beers I’ve tasted all year, and though he planned it as a limited edition one-off, James hinted to me that as the reaction had been so strong he might consider brewing it again. Let’s hope so.
European Beer Bloggers Conference 2012
ABV: 6.1%
Origin: Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England
Website: www.roosters.co.uk
 Roosters Brewery Long before many of the current crop of in-yer-face British “craft” brewers had even reached legal drinking age, Roosters Brewery was challenging a market drenched in traditional brown bitters with the complex and distinctive aromas and flavours of imported US hops. Sean Franklin, who founded the Knaresborough brewery in 1993, was an early advocate of the beauty of hops in the UK, helping to shift the prevailing nervousness among breweries, and particularly brewery marketing departments, of the International Bittering Unit (IBU) dial creeping above 30.
At a time when British awareness of the great things starting to happen on the other side of the Atlantic was limited to a handful of enthusiasts and an even smaller scattering of specialist pubs, Roosters beers were some of the very few UK cask products that could line up alongside the likes of Brooklyn, Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada without causing too much of a double take. Yankee, a lovely pale ale focused firmly on the fragrant delights of the Cascade hop, was once a regular at the London’s legendary White Horse.
Then in 2011 Sean announced he was selling the brewery as a going concern and moving to Canada. Thankfully it’s been passed into what appear to be very safe hands, well placed to take advantage of the hard work of the past couple of decades, now that tastes are starting to catch up with it. The new owner is Ian Fozard of Market Town Taverns, a small Yorkshire pubco with a specialist beer focus, and the brewery is being run by his sons Ol and Tom. Both are longstanding homebrewers with professional beer credentials, the former with Copper Dragon, the latter with importer and retailer Beeritz.
Baby Faced Assassin is an IPA that originates from one of Tom’s favourite homebrew recipes, using a single malt – pale Golden Promise – and a single hop – Citra. It was first brewed at Roosters, on the trial kit, as a cask special for the live beer blogging event at the European Beer Bloggers Conference in Leeds in May 2012, but hopefully it will become more common as it has considerable potential.
The yellow-gold beer had lots of dense pinkish head, thanks to traditional Yorkshire service through a sparkler, smudging a slightly sweaty coconut and pine aroma with a slight but pleasant note of buttery diacetyl. The palate had plenty of soft body to support a complex mix of tropical fruit, mint and pine flavours, subtly stated against cereal sweetness. A crackly burr of hops, like bitter salad leaves or young nettles, made itself felt on a slightly salty finish, rounding off a subtle and interesting beer.
I’m coming to the conclusion, as more British brewers experiment, that strong and heavily hopped IPAs aren’t always best suited to cask dispense, as they can easily become too thick and cloying, and work better in bottle or from a keykeg with a more assertive carbonation. Baby Faced Assassin is a happy exception – despite a robust ABV for a cask beer it was an easy drinking delight.
European Beer Bloggers Conference 2012
ABV: 3.8% and 4.4%
Origin: Leeds, England
Website: www.leedsbrewery.co.uk
 Leeds Pale The closure and demolition of an historic brewery is always a loss in economic and heritage terms and, depending on how embedded it was in the life of its surroundings, a potential loss to local culture too. But take a step back from the immediate bad news story and you might get a different perspective.
Since beer consumers first started campaigning against such closures in the 1970s, times have changed dramatically. Back then a dwindling stock of Victorian breweries was all we had. Today brewing is once again on a growing trend, with approaching a thousand breweries in Britain, most of them small and innovative micros. You could say that brewery closures are just part of the cycle of renewal.
The closure of Tetley’s brewery in Leeds by owners Carslberg is a case in point. Since it opened in 1822 the brewery had played a major role in the economic and cultural life of the city, ultimately dominating pub outlets in the area and becoming part of its sense of place. Its departure also reminded us that the old school cask ale of the sort for which Tetley’s was famous is no longer Britain’s most popular drink.
 Vessels at Leeds Brewery. Pic: Leeds Brewery. But it certainly didn’t leave a vacuum behind. Indeed Leeds already had several breweries producing beer which was often superior to Tetley’s in its last days.
The simply named Leeds Brewery became the biggest in the city on Carslberg’s departure. Opened as recently as 2007, this is a professional and ambitious operation that was already enjoying great success with a highly competent and consistent range of cask ales, such as its award winning mild Midnight Bell.
Though its approach is contemporary, the brewery appears to be following in the footsteps of the old style local and regional family breweries in seeking to become a vertically integrated business with its own estate of pubs. It already owns five and good pubs they are too, civilised and forward thinking places with decent food, and one of them – the Brewery Tap in the city centre, right by the station – equipped with a microbrewery of its own.
Like most smaller breweries, though, Leeds continues to depend on selling beer through other outlets, including nationally through several pubcos, and the Carlsberg closure has given it new opportunities locally. Though the core Tetley brands are still available, the fact that they’re now brewed under contract at Marston’s Banks’s brewery in Wolverhampton, 180km away, hasn’t played well with Leodensians. Consequently Leeds brewery pumps are now popping up in former Tetley pubs in response to customer demand for a genuinely local product.
Those pumps normally dispense the best selling Leeds Pale, an excellent example of an easy going light cask ale that fills the traditional role of English session beer while adding a slightly contemporary twist. Sampled in the brewery’s flagship Midnight Bell pub at Holbeck, an attractively regenerated industrial area just outside the city centre, this poured a light amber with a creamy yellow head.
A bready, grainy aroma had a hint of buttery diacetyl – not too much to be unattractive. The palate was also bready and grainy, quite full bodied with a hazelnut note and a touch of orangey fruit. The nuttiness played through into a nicely balanced finish with more cereal, a very gentle rooty hop note and a hint of autumn fruit.
 Leeds Gathering Storm At the Brewery Tap I sampled Leeds’ cask stout Gathering Storm, which is billed as a winter seasonal but was still being brewed in May. This was near black with a thick and persistent fine grained beige head and a creamy, slightly woody aroma with a pencil lead note.
A very smooth and comforting palate was rich but dry and again well poised, with plenty of chocolate and dark malt and a well judged roast note that wasn’t too aggressive. A soothing finish had more luscious chocolate, turning slightly pursing later on. It’s by no means the world’s most complex stout but it’s clean, well made and approachable, which typifies the brewery.
Leeds Brewery has also recently started brewing its own ‘real’ keg lagers. A golden lager, Leodis (4.6%), began as a short run on the kit at the Brewery Tap but is now a permanent beer produced at the main brewery, while the Tap experiments with other lager styles including a Dunkel.
I found Leodis rather sweet and malt-accented, like a very sweet Helles, with a slightly unwelcome note of sweetcorn besides lemon squash and vanilla, but again it was easy to drink and a credible alternative to industrial products of the sort pushed by the multinational that closed down Tetley’s. It’s good to see that Leeds’ status as a brewing city is still secure.
 Tap East craft beer bar at Westfield Stratford City E20, within a javelin’s throw (or a shot’s put) of the Olympic Park. Pic: Rob Howard for Tap East. With the 2012 Olympic Games taking place between 27 July and 12 August 2012, followed by the Paralympics between 29 August and 9 September, we’re in for a few hectic months here in London, with visitors pouring in to enjoy the Games themselves and the carnival atmosphere that always grips a host city.
If you’re here for the Games but also fancy a good pint or two along the way, welcome to London and its flourishing beer scene. Let me help you find your way around.
But don’t expect to see anything of London’s beery glory at the Games venues themselves. In a multimillion deal, Heineken has secured the right to offer a meagre two beers at the venue bars – its standard Dutch lager, and Yorkshire-brewed pasteurised keg John Smith’s Smoothflow bitter. The latter will be sold unbranded and simply labelled English bitter.
Even at Lords cricket ground, the cask Marston’s beers usually on sale are banned during Games events. Perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised given the big business ethos that pervades major sporting events these days, but it’s still infuriating in the capital of one of the world’s great beer nations, particularly at a time when London itself is enjoying a major beer renaissance.
The answer, then, is to get out of the venues as quickly as possible and spend some time exploring the rest of the capital and its flourishing pubs and beer scene.
Might I recommend that if you haven’t done so already, you equip yourself with my book The CAMRA Guide to London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars? Although it was published a year ago, I’ve been issuing regular updates since, most recently in July. With the book, the update and an Oyster card, you’ll be able to treat yourself to a beer experience few other world cities can offer.
The latest update even includes a list of Olympic venues with nearby pub and bar recommendations, and you might also want to work your way through my most recent Top 25 Places to Drink list.
If this is your first visit, don’t expect business as usual. London in Games Time will be a changed place. Transport will be under huge pressure, with particular ‘hotspots’ expected to be very crowded. And even many pubs and bars that normally avoid screening sport are likely to show Games coverage. Some places will undoubtedly be much busier than usual, others much quieter. If your visit gives you a taste for London and its beers, do try to come back when things are more settled!
Please take even more care than usual to plan your journey – see www.tfl.gov.uk, including the Get Ahead of the Games section with advanced information about potential difficulties.
The regular slot for the Great British Beer Festival falls during Games Time and CAMRA has taken the decision – the wisdom of which remains to be seen – to go ahead anyway on 7-11 August. As Earls Court is being used as a Games venue, the GBBF has returned to its previous home at Olympia, and will be smaller than normal, but still provides a great opportunity to try a dazzling range of beer from the UK and elsewhere.
The London CAMRA branches are promoting London as City of Beer during July and August, starting with the open air Ealing Beer Festival in Walpole Park W5 on 4-7 July and running to the end of the GBBF. There’s a programme of events at a variety of pubs, bars, breweries and other venues and a special edition of London Drinker as a guide.
A special event I’ll be participating during Games Time is the Alelympic Ale Trail around Newington Green — on Saturday 28 July, the first day of the Games proper, you’ll find me spinning the discs at participating pub the Snooty Fox, with my usual eclectic mix of retro soul, rhythm and blues, easy listening, ska, punk, rock and roll and who knows what else. Perhaps I’ll see you there for a gold medal beer or two.
Let the Games begin…
See also my 10 great places to drink near London 2012 venues post at View London.
 The CAMRA Guide to London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars (2011) When my book The CAMRA Guide to London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars was published a year ago in July 2011, London’s specialist beer scene was in its healthiest state for years, and the expansion hasn’t stopped since. And with so many more great places to drink, the Top 25 seems in need of a refresh.
 Craft Beer Co So here’s my updated list showcasing pubs and bars that should be regarded as essential calls for anyone on a beer odyssey in London. Most are independent specialist pubs and bars offering a notably wide range of unusual beers; a few are exceptional brewery and chain pubs. I’ve cheated a little in excising the specialist shops that appeared in the original list, and giving them a Top 5 of their own.
Note the list is in alphabetical order, not order of merit.
Asterisks indicate the new entries, most of which have opened since the book went to press. A couple were in the book but not in the original Top 25. I’ve had to drop some venues from the list – not because they have fallen in quality individually, but to make space for others I now consider more deserving of a place.
The list represents a personal choice and wasn’t drawn up according to any formal scoring or assessment, but I feel confident that in visiting all these pubs and bars in turn you’d be treating yourself to a beer experience few other cities in the world could rival. If you choose to test this suggestion, please bear in mind the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines on alcohol consumption and ensure you build in some alcohol-free days.
If you have you have any comments, objections or suggestions of other pubs that should have been there, I’d be delighted to hear from you.
The list is included in the July 2012 ‘Games Time’ PDF update of the guide on my London page.
- BrewDog Camden* NW1
Camden Town, www.brewdog.com/bars/camden
Beer geek heaven in the Scottish iconoclasts’ stylish new bar – but no cask.
- Cask SW1
Westminster, Victoria and Pimlico (p115), www.caskpubandkitchen.com
Connoisseur’s choice with 10 casks and 400 bottles.
- Craft Beer Co* EC1
Clerkenwell and Farringdon, thecraftbeerco.com
30+ draughts and hundreds of bottles in a grand old Clerkenwell boozer.
- Crosse Keys EC3
City (p66), www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-crosse-keys
Top Wetherspoon with up to 25 casks in a spectacular setting.
- Dean Swift SE1
Borough (p54). thedeanswift.com
Homely new generation specialist with rare casks and cool bottles.
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 Duchess of Cambridge Dog and Bell SE8
Greenwich and Deptford (p179)
Civilised community pub with good cask and top Belgian bottles.
- Duchess of Cambridge* W6
Fulham and Hammersmith, www.theduchessofcambridgepub.com
Sister pub to the cask friendly Bree Louise, but world beer and comfy chairs too.
- Dukes Brew and Que* N1
Canonbury and Barnsbury, www.beavertownbrewery.com
Brewpub and barbie with immaculate cellar and great guest policy.
- Euston Tap NW1
Bloomsbury, Euston and St Pancras (p49), www.eustontap.com
A TARDIS of rare delights with 8 cask, 19 specialist kegs and up to 100 bottles.
- Falcon* SW11
Battersea and Clapham (p198), www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/thefalconclaphamjunctionlondon
Best range in the Nicholson’s chain at this Clapham Junction landmark.
- Harp WC2
Covent Garden (p75), www.harpcoventgarden.com
8 top local casks in the first ever London pub to win CAMRA Pub of the Year.
- Hoopers SE5
Camberwell, Dulwich and Peckham (p174), www.hoopersbar.co.uk
Refurbished local with rare casks and a classic bottled list.
NOTE: This pub sadly closes on 8 October 2012.
- Jolly Butchers* N16
Stoke Newington (p158), jollybutchers.co.uk
Craft beer pub for mere mortals, with great beer and food matching.
- King William IV E10
Leyton, Leytonstone and Walthamstow (p129), williamthefourth.net
Brodies’ rambling, quirky brewpub with up to 20 beers on tap.
- Market Porter SE1
Borough (p59), www.markettaverns.co.uk/the_market_porter.html
12 handpumps constantly rotating through new and unusual cask delights.
-
 Mason & Tayor. Pic: M&T Mason & Taylor* E1
Shoreditch and Hoxton (p103), www.masonandtaylor.co.uk
Relaxed contemporary refuge with well chosen craft choices near Brick Lane.
NOTE: This pub sadly closed in late September 2012 and is due to be converted into London’s second BrewDog bar.
- Old Brewery SE10
Greenwich and Deptford (p180), www.oldbrewerygreenwich.com
Meantime’s upmarket beer hall in the heart of a World Heritage Site.
- Rake SE1
Borough (p60), www.utobeer.co.uk
London’s international beer geek drop-in centre with a wide world beer range.
- Red Lion* E11
Leyton, Leytonstone and Walthamstow, www.theredlionleytonstone.com
The adventurous and quirky Antic pubco’s showcase beer venue.
- Royal Oak SE1
Borough (p61), www.harveys.org.uk/theroyaloaklondon.htm
Close to perfect traditional pub with fine cask and bottled beer from Harvey’s.
- Southampton Arms NW5
Kentish Town and Tufnell Park (p157), thesouthamptonarms.co.uk
Outstanding contemporary ale house with 10 mainly local casks.
- Star* SW1
Westminster, Victoria and Pimlico (p118), www.star-tavern-belgravia.co.uk
Fuller’s pub with award winning cellar in every edition of the Good Beer Guide.
- Sussex Arms* TW2
Twickenham and Hampton Hill, www.thesussexarmstwickenham.co.uk
Big roadside pub in rugby country revived with dazzling beer range.
- Tapping the Admiral* NW1
Kentish Town and Tufnell Park, www.tappingtheadmiral.co.uk
London and local beers in a delightful backstreet hideaway.
- White Horse SW6
Fulham and Hammersmith (p225), www.whitehorsesw6.com
Longstanding smart specialist beer champion with 8 cask and 200 bottles.
Outstanding Offies
 The Kernel.
- Beer Boutique* SW15
Putney, www.thebeerboutique.co.uk
Raising beer retailing to a stylish new level with well chosen beers.
- Dr.Ink* SW6
Fulham and Hammersmith (p224), www.drinkoffulham.com
Indian spices and snacks alongside an extensive and well priced beer range
- Kernel Brewery* SE16
Bermondsey, thekernelbrewery.com
Open only on Saturdays and stocks only own beer – but what beer!
- Kris Wines N7
Kentish Town and Tufnell Park (p155), www.kriswines.com
750 specialist bottles, including many rarities, sourced by persistent beer hunter.
- Utobeer SE1
Borough (p62), www.utobeer.co.uk
Shop with more than 700 international beers in Borough Market’s gourmet haven.
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Cask  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.
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