Around town with Amateur Drinker

Fortunately January has been far from dry here, as there has been some really superb beer and events I would have missed out on.

 

However, I have to start with the main news as another takeover saw Camden Town Brewery give up its independence. It may have been the timing, in the slow news week just before Xmas, but the reaction did seem disproportionate.

Firstly, as I wrote last month, surely we must wait and see how and if the quality of the product changes. Secondly, there seemed a great deal of absurd concern for the crowd-funding investors: this seemed ludicrous to me as a rough calculation gives them a return of approximately 70% for a holding period of under a year, which, if, repeated consistently, would make them the greatest investors since Hillary Clinton traded cattle futures.

Moreover, if they wish to carry on investing in beer, they now have more capital to do so, which can only benefit any fledgling brewery which receives it. To summarise, the investors, of which I was not one, gained, but we will have to wait and see about the consumers.

For the latter it is the product and price which matters, not whether the supplier is a good bloke.

We also saw the sad sight of BrewDog head office producing sanctimonious PR, including pathetically tweeting videos of Camden being removed from their boards. I find this incredibly hypocritical: BrewDog are not a small independent but the largest player in the UK craft beer marker, with bars around the world and their products in the UK’s biggest supermarket.

They are also, contrary to their PR department, still subject to the same takeover rules as any other UK company which has taken money from external investors, who then have certain legal protections.

In fairness, BrewDog have done great things for UK beer. Indeed, the month began with the launch of their new bar in Clerkenwell. There is now an excellent crawl starting with Craft Beer Co. and then BrewDog, Dovetail and finishing at the Old Fountain. It would be easy to name it the Clerkenwell B*** M** in memory of James Parrott who allegedly ran the 1^st sub 4 minute mile almost 200 years before Roger Bannister along that very road. (It is likely that the large amount of wagers ensured accurate measurement of time, but that he actually did it downhill).

However, it’s probably best just to enjoy the pubs after Bermondsey’s notoriety. The staff at this new venue are excellent and they have already had two cracking evenings with the top two London brewers taking over the taps – The Kernel and Beavertown. Both very good, and predictably, given the closure of its tap-room, South London’s finest The Kernel really brought the crowds in. (Although, absurdly being closed didn’t stop it winning one of Rate Beer’s annual awards for best tap-room!)

The day of The Kernel’s visit was also noticeable for four tap takeovers on a single day, surely a record with Hammerton at Old Fountain, Anspach & Hobday at BrewDog Clapham and Stillwater Artisanal at Mother Kelly’s!

One of the highlights of the month was definitely Duke’s Highgate Burns Night where Matthew Curtis matched Deeney’s Haggis with whisky and Scottish beer. This was not just a beer event, with equal attention being paid to the food and not-so-wee drams. It was tremendous value, reflecting a lot of thought and hard work by the organisers, with a cracking and friendly atmosphere.

It was also probably the first time bagpipes had been played down the centre of Highgate Village! I have only been to Duke’s Head a few times but have been thoroughly impressed on each occasion- as with the Old Fountain, this is a fantastic local which also has brilliant beers, rather than just a beer destination.

Beavertown have been launching a series of new experimental IPA’s , the Lupoloids, with four different recipes being brewed so far.These were very adventurously named, so much so that most people I know referred to them by number. #1 and #2 (which were very similar) first tasted good but strangely went downhill on subsequent encounters. So far, I feel the best is #3, which is therefore allowed its name, Mavericus.

Interestingly, although this is the common consensus amongst my social group, apparently, according to the brewery, the verdict so far is almost a dead-heat.

There were two Siren tap-takeovers, the first at Craft Beer Co. Covent Garden was chiefly to showcase a one-off special Xmas edition of the Caribbean Choc Cake: it was good but it was more the scarcity that saw the only keg sell out in seven hours. The second was at BrewDog Shepherd’s Bush. I thought the pricing was a tad optimistic whilst the highlight beer was the barrel aged Chardonnay Life is a Peach

Mother Kelly’s hosted Barrier Brewing from New York (top marks for money IPA) and separately Stillwater Artisanal (Imperial Rice IPA). They also deserve a special mention for listing two cracking Alpha State beers, the Vanilla Mocha Double Stout and A Song for Solveig with Orange Zest. This brewery from Kent was new to me but I will certainly be looking out for their beers in the future.

BottleShop had an excellent Stone tap takeover with my favourite being Sorry Not Sorry Imperial IPA. This also featured a special and welcome guest appearance form Omnipollos’s fantastic barrel aged Pecan Moa Mudcake stout.

Finally here’s hoping that the next column in not lamenting the failure of a very promising event at a notable brewery in N17 to issue tickets to control the inevitable numbers attending.

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