The Rake, London SE1
The Rake, a tiny pub on the edge of London’s Borough Market, is a serious specialist beer venue that in a few short years has become one of the UK’s main attractions for the international beer appreciation circuit, a must-do on the itinerary. The first day of the pub’s annual Welsh beer festival on the Sunday before St David’s Day saw a surprisingly high concentration of brewers, beer writers and bloggers and sundry geeks mixing with those ordinary folk who simply like a good pint. There were even brewing visitors from Hawaii – Garrett and Melanie Marrero of the lauded Maui brewpub.
The day included a Meet the Brewer tasting event, part of a series run upstairs at the pub by the irrepressible beer writer, TV personality and blogger Melissa Cole under the banner lovebeer@borough. The brewer in question was Justin “Buster” Grant of Breconshire Brewery, a true expert (among other things he’s a mainstay of CAMRA’s technical panel) as well as enthusiast, and an articulate and engaging presenter of his own beers, demonstrating the intelligence and imagination behind them. Buster guided us through six of his beers, five bottle conditioned and the sixth an advanced polycask sample of the remarkable cask only Ysprid y Ddraig, a subtle and luscious wood-aged blond.
Downstairs an impressive selection of around 20 Welsh cask beers, mainly served straight from casks out on the heated terrace, demonstrated just how far the country’s brewing scene has developed since the days of dry counties and big beer factories. The likes of Breconshire, Otley, Conwy, Mŵs Piws and Bryncelyn toasted St Dewi in with style.
Selected tastings:
- Breconshire Ysprid y Ddraig 6.5%, Aberhonddu, Powys, Cymru
- Tudor Blorenge 4.4%, Y Fenni, Sir Fynwy, Cymru
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