AROUND TOWN WITH AMATEUR DRINKER

Such is the pace of change in the beer industry at present that my first draft of this diary piece felt like I was writing for The Economist so I have written about that elsewhere (Let’s Rake over the Take-overs…) and concentrated on the drinking in this entry!

Although Craft Beer 100 was cancelled this Easter, the perennial Brodie’s Bunny Basher took place at King William IV in Leyton. Usually I love the atmosphere at this event, as the pub is always a great mixture of locals, Sky Sports fans, and beer geeks. Whilst this was as good as ever, it didn’t really feel like an actual festival this year: The tap-list (on Good Friday) felt normal with no festival specials and criminally no sours, which I think is their best style. Still a great boozer, but not the festival it normally is.

Brewdog in Shepherd’s Bush hosted Rheingeist from Cincinnati but delivery issues meant that this was postponed at lunchtime and then re-instated a couple of hours later but with only three beers unfortunately available. However, it was a new brewery for me and the Mosaic Pale, Truth IPA and Knowledge DIPA meant the journey was worthwhile. I also visited for a Northern Monk TTO. 822 DIPA was very good but the 4 Degrees of Separation with Siren, Abbeydale, and Magic Rock was a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth.

Hop Burns & Black: where the chilli sauce stains floors

Incidentally, that evening of Thursday 27 April also saw the following events on simultaneously: Matt Curtis’ focusing on hops at Hops, Burns and Black, fresh Tanto & Money IPA from Barrier at Mother Kelly’s, Marble at London Beer Dispensary in SE4, Tiny Rebel at the Tate Modern, and  Coventry’s Twist Barrel Ale @ Fox E8. While friends popped into Clapham’s The King & Co and reported back that they had both had both Gigantic Wrench Gin IPA and Siren Maiden on tap!!

CAMRA tweeted that Waitrose will be stocking Wild Beer Ninkasi at 209 branches, from May 1st for just £7.50 per 750ml. This is an apple saison, secondary fermented with champagne yeast in a big bottle, and would have been ridiculously exotic for their shelves even a year ago. It’s a wonderful beer and great for consumers, but it was easy to understand the many complaints from independent bottle shops, commenting on how much time and effort they had spent building the brand and educating consumers, and then now they can’t compete with those prices.

They were especially indignant that it isn’t a core range in a can. Moreover, there is the very good point that supermarkets are unlikely to be storing the beer correctly. Burning Sky then tweeted that they had turned Waitrose down, both on core and special releases, as they “favour independent bottle shops” A worthy goal, but then aren’t they at capacity and would find it tough to produce enough to satisfy Waitrose demands.

(pic: Cave Direct)

Lost and Grounded launched ‘Keeping up with the Jones’ DIPA, a reference to Paul Jones, Cloudwater’s founder, at Brewdog, EC1. Unfortunately, ultimately it didn’t. And what is it with that style of beer and puns, with Elusive giving us ‘How DIPA’s Your Love?’ However, I loved their Hunky Dory, an IPA in collaboration with Thornbridge. Bakewell’s finest separately promoted their Mango Halcyon, which hasn’t received a great press, but which I enjoyed at the Hop Locker.

The Bear in Camberwell, SE5 organised a Sour Showcase. There was a new Raspberry Sour from Four pure, an excellent Buxton/Lervig Gooseberry Sour IPA, but, to no surprise, the highlight was a new London Sour from the Kernel – Raspberry & Victoria Plum – one of only three kegs so far produced.

BottleShop held an Omnipollo Imperial Stout Madness evening with five of that style alongside a selection of their other beers. The stouts needed a little time to warm and open up, as their taps are so cold, which is clearly better than being too warm in the clear majority of cases. Magnus Opus was a barrel aged version of their imperial pecan mud cake, whilst there was a ‘normal’ Hypnopompa, an imperial marshmallow and a bourbon BA.  Very interesting from a one-off tasting perspective, a bit too dangerous for after-work Friday drinking!

40ft Brewery hosted the Dalston Beer Day with heavyweights such Kernel and Beavertown pouring alongside newer brewers such as Affinity and Pig and Porter of Tunbridge Wells. Unfortunately, I thought the latter’s Mango Daiquiri IPA was a case of running before they could walk.

Magic Rock Tap Room

This year’s release of Magic Rock’s Human Cannonball DIPA and Un-human Cannonball TIPA was initially exclusive to their tap-room, which led to queues on a workday Friday at 13:00 on an industrial estate in Huddersfield! A few days later, as per tradition, London saw it on keg at Craft Beer Company, Islington. Excellent, as always.

After Kernel Evin’s comments regarding collaborations in last month’s blog, it was interesting to see Jester King announce their joint-venture with Kernel, to produce Colonel Toby, a ‘hoppy little farmhouse ale’ although to be fair Jester King are special.

The Kernel Evin

Finally, I’ll end with some openings news: Jacob Kennedy (ex Bocca Di Luppo) has opened Plaquemine Lock, a New Orleans style gastro-pub, on the site of what was the Prince of Wales, less than 50 yards from The Earl of Essex, and which has been empty since 2014.

I haven’t eaten the food but it’s a very pleasant surprise that it has not been converted into flats, and Neck Oil and Juice Box were amongst others on tap when I popped in. Another positive is that Michel Roux Jr. is to oversee The Wigmore, in Regent Street’s Langham Hotel, which will serve ‘dishes inspired by the English pub and tavern’. Brew by Numbers are developing their house brew with other craft on cask and keg, according to their PR team…

Reporting from the front-line – Amateur Drinker manages to get along to all the beer things you’d like to but couldn’t.