Beer Culture with Des de Moor

Handpumps in the King William IV, Leyton, London E10

London is the crucible of industrial brewing, the birthplace of several key world beer styles and the capital of one of the world’s greatest brewing nations, but in the last few years its brewing activity had been starting to look embarassingly sparse. Young’s and Pitfield relocated, numerous micros went under, and even the historic Stag brewery at Mortlake, latterly home to the British version of American “Bud”, was rationalised out of existence. For a while it seemed only Fuller’s, Meantime, tiny Twickenham and a brace of stylish brewpubs were still firing up the mash tuns within the 33 London boroughs. But now it appears that London brewers are bouncing back — over the past 18 months three strong new micros have emerged, and their products are already impressive. Sambrook’s opened in Battersea, SW11, in summer 2008; about the same time the Brodie family revived brewing at their Leyton, E10, pub the King William IV, formerly home to the Sweet William brewery; and since the beginning of the year the beer has been flowing from Redemption in Tottenham, N17. There’s also news from Bermondsey, SE1, of the newly started Kernel brewery.

This resurgence saw London beers making an appropriately strong showing at this year’s London Drinker Beer Festival in early March. I even bumped into two of the prime movers of the revival, Duncan Sambrook and Redemption’s Andy Moffat, chatting together over pints of each other’s brews in the friendly manner that’s customary for commercial rivals in this industry of enthusiasts. Both are doing well, with Sambrook’s expanding production and Redemption bathing in early praise from drinkers.

London Drinker Beer Festival 2010

The future of the festival itself, however, is less certain, with news that its longstanding venue, the Camden Centre, a large council-owned theatre-style meeting hall round the back of Camden Town Hall, will either undergo major refurbishment or close for good in the next year. At the moment, the Drinker is the most central of CAMRA’s London festivals and probably one of the most well-connected of all festivals — it’s right opposite Kings Cross and St Pancras with Euston just down the road, so you could have lunch in Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Brussels or Paris and still be here for the evening session. Unsurprisingly the festival’s annual branding takes a transport theme — this year, in anticipation of its likely demise, the posters and glasses featured Death on a mean-looking motorbike.

Which is a shame, as the Drinker, actually organised by North London CAMRA and not directly connected to the regional free magazine of the same name, is a friendly festival with much going for it. As well as the fine range of beers, focusing on London and surrounding counties but with great choices from all over the UK too, plus a well-stocked imported beer bar that’s strong on German draughts, it’s also one of the few to offer its own simple but wholesome food, home-cooked by volunteers, with decent vege options including the celebrated mushroom and beer pâté. The disadvantage of centrality is that it soon becomes very busy, with only a handful of chairs in a main space that gets packed with standing drinkers. Then there’s the odd quirk of keeping old-fashioned pub hours, with lunchtime and evening sessions and an afternoon closure, and the fact that it hasn’t yet progressed to making beer available in thirds, but if it really does fall foul of Death on a Bike due to venue problems, it’ll be a loss to London’s drinkers.

King William IV, Leyton High Road, London E10

The last weekend in March saw further evidence of London’s re-emergence as a brewing city with Brodie’s showcasing around 20 of their own beers at their Leyton headquarters under the banner of the Bunny Basher Easter Beer Festival. For some reason I’d not yet got around to trekking out to the William so this was a great reason to go. It’s a sprawling landmark corner pub on Leyton High Road, on a site long associated with the licensed trade, though the present building largely dates from an 1891 rebuilding, with a quirkily traditional interior now divided into two big bars. The pub is one of three in London long owned by Brian Brodie, and from 2000-2005 someone else ran a brewery known as Sweet William in outbuildings across the yard. The brewery was then abandoned until 2008, when Brian’s son and daughter, former home brewers James and Lizzie, restored it, relaunching as Brodie’s Beers.

Brodie’s cover a huge variety of styles, many of them inspired by London brewing traditions, and what’s impressive is that they make a good fist of nearly all of them despite the relative newness of the brewery. The offerings at the festival included British and American style IPAs, bitters, porters, the excellent regular mild, various stouts including a Jamaican-inspired session stout and an imperial, a blueberry wheat beer, a dry brown ale and a golden ale featuring Amarillo hops, the name gender-changed to Amarilla after the London pronunciation. Most remarkably, all were on sale at the pub’s standard £1.99 a pint, even the 12% Romanov Empress imperial stout!

The London Drinker may have drained its last firkin, but there’s clearly still plenty of London worth drinking.

Selected tastings

• Brodie’s Romanov Empress Stout 12.1%, London E10, England
• Crouch Vale Amarillo 5%, South Woodham Ferrers, Essex, England
• Redemption Urban Dusk 4.6%, London N17, England
• Sambrook’s Wandle 4.2%, London SW11, England