Vegan and Vegetarian Beer - Round Two

Hi there... it's been a while! A really, really long while.

I've been away from the blogging for pretty much a year now, to my shame. It's been a funny old three-hundred-and-sixty-five days to be honest, and one that has seen quite a few changes for me personally. But I won't go into those details here, mainly because I actually want you to keep reading!

Almost two years ago, I posted a blog about the woes of being a vegetarian or vegan beer drinker. In our current climate, so many people are starting to take into consideration what it means to move away from some/all animal products. Of course, moral and ethical concerns for animal welfare are still the biggest priority when it comes to moving away from a meat-based diet, and rightly so, but more and more people are turning to veganism and vegetarianism for environmental, agricultural and health reasons. As a vegetarian living in London, I am in a privileged position to be able to be able to eat as well as (I would argue better than) my meat-eating friends when we go out for dinner. Obviously at home, the options are endless! And although I know not everyone across the UK is in such a nice position, when visiting friends in places including Southampton, Bristol, Leeds and back home in Norwich, the options for someone choosing not to eat animal products are constantly improving.

But, I hear you cry, what about my beer? In my last post, I spoke of how difficult it was to know if your beer is vegetarian or vegan-friendly, and that has not completely changed. But it is definitely getting better. It is becoming more and more important amongst craft brewers (big and small) to ensure that they are fair and ethical, in fact I would say that is one of the many factors that sits in the 'what is craft?' discussion. And for many brewers it also means that, where possible, their beer is suitable to be drunk by all.

Note: For anyone not wanting to revisit the old post, the reason a lot of traditional cask or craft beer wasn't vegan was due to isinglass being used in the filtration process.)

Last time I wrote on this topic, I made myself a list of the breweries that I knew off the top of my head were vegan-friendly. Even then, I only knew these due to having attended a vege food festival, a vegan beer festival and through my own experiences at work. At the time, that list was:

Clarkshaws, Brixton
Pitfield's Brewery, Essex
Brixton Brewery, Brixton
Moor Beer Company, Bristol
Freedom, Staffordshire
Moncada, Notting Hill

As you can see, not exactly an extensive list by any means. They might do vegan beer, and do it well, but were clearly at the time amongst the minority, no matter good their beer was or how loud they shouted.

But in the words of Nobel prize laureate Bob Dylan, the times they are a changin'...

Since I wrote my first post, Brewdog announced they were registered with the Vegan Society, and everything they make (apart from a few beers that contain honey or milk) are all cruelty free. There was still some outcry over their use of taxidermy roadkill, but apart from that, top marks! Having the leading craft brewer in the UK step up to the mark in that way was a pretty big move. More recently, northern powerhouse Magic Rock announced they were now registered as vegan, again with the exception of any beer that contains non-vegan ingredients. London's Beavertown and Manchester's Marble Brewery are also on this growing list.

In order to achieve this, breweries are moving away from traditional methods of filtration using isinglass via innovations in the modern brewing process. A centrifuge is the most common filtering method in the modern process, essentially 'spinning' the beer at high speed to remove anything that could negatively impact the beer, whilst retaining the flavour and taste profiles that a traditional filtering might strip away. A centrifuge negates the need for vegan-unfriendly isinglass whilst still allowing a brewery to pre-determine the 'haze' level of the beer.

This is great for anyone who drinks mainly kegged or canned beer, along with most bottles, particularly those from any brewery registered as vegan. Cask, however, is still a different story. There is still a myth around cask beer that a hazy beer is bad or not ready to drink, making breweries ask themselves the question whether to traditionally filter. Filtering might leave a nice clear pint and avoid any drawn out debate over quality, which gives everyone an easy life. On the other hand, not filtering will, in the best cases, result in repeated reassurances that 'it's actually meant to look like that', and in a worst cases, could negatively impact the brewery's and the pub's reputations. And with 2016's big debate on the long term sustainability of cask beer still fresh in the mind, with its tight margins and unpredictable quality at the point of serve, most brewer's just can't afford that. Even Magic Rock concede that 'to satisfy local preference for super clarity', their cask beer has to be their vegan-exception.

Overall, it is still absolutely brilliant that so many players in the craft beer world are embracing the importance of vegan beer. After all, if craft beer is the community that we all want to believe it is, it should doubtlessly make efforts to be inclusive. There is still still a way to go and some myths to extinguish, but to all the work so far, we should be thankful!

So let's raise a (vegan) beer and say, 'Yes please!'

This blog post has been written to the sound of: Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'

Go West: A weekend in Bristol

Before I get into this entry, I have come to the realisation that my posts are forever going to be some time apart. I read plenty of blogs where people are writing weekly and more, some even every day. As much as I would like to be able to do this, life at the minute just isn't letting me. And to be fair, I'm not sure if I have that much to say...

I do have a list of things I want to write about, so however often this blog gets added to, there is definitely some content ready and waiting! Anyway, let's get on with it!

About a month ago now, I went to visit one of my oldest friends who at the start of 2016 moved to Bristol from our childhood county of Norfolk. We spoke about me going down to visit a few times in the first couple of months of the year, although never really set a date. So when I had a couple off weeks off over Easter, I did not need much persuasion to hop (no pun intended) on a train at Waterloo and head out of the capital for a weekend in the West Country.

The weekend was fantastic, getting to catch up with my friend and see the beautiful and vibrant city of Bristol first-hand. Another friend of ours also came up from Southampton on the Saturday so we could really make a night of it! Good company, good food and pretty good weather all came together to make this weekend a highlight of the year so far.

But of course, I know what you are thinking, where is the beer? Well, that's also the question I asked my friend on the train down. Where can we get good beer? I have always known that some good beer comes into London from out West, but where exactly has never been something I've looked much into. But a few minutes on Google showed me that the city of Bristol has breweries coming out of its ears; Moor, Arbor, Wiper and True and Bristol Beer Factory to name a few. (I have to be honest, I had guessed the final one was based in the city!)

On our first evening, after a nice, hot chilli courtesy of my host (Note: Dr Burnorium's Hot Sauce Emporium is also based in Bristol) we wandered into the city to find us some beer! Our first stop was the city's Zerodegrees brew pub. I've never been to one of these before, and there is one in London. The pub itself was stunning, situated high up on top of Bristol's Christmas Steps, sitting out in the garden can give you a view across a large part of the city. We got ourselves a Pale Ale and started off our night. To be honest, the beer wasn't the main focus and was a bit forgettable. Nothing to write home about, but a nice venue!

Next, we headed back down the steps to the conveniently named Christmas Steps! A cosy little pub that was packed full, we shared a table with a few locals as we supped our pints... something on cask from Arbor I believe, and as we both agreed the next day, the best beer of the evening! As a warning, this blog is less about naming beers... memory and alcohol have let me down on that front!

We carried on our night and took in more pubs and plenty more beer... Small Bar, Brew House and The Beer Emporium all very different but all very good, a great atmosphere throughout the city centre. Beer was pouring fresh and plentiful and it was really nice to see some very dedicated craft beer outlets making themselves accessible to all... something I think a lot of London places could learn from!

And before we knew it, it was Saturday! Over breakfast, my friend raised the point that a colleague had told him about a place that does a brewery tour on a Saturday, and it was only a short walk from his house. Little did I know, the brewery in question was Moor! As we arrived at the brewery located in the middle of an industrial estate (filling a London-based beer drinker with a sense of home) for the midday tour, we also discovered that there was a food festival happening, involving some independent retailers across the city, and Moor's Brewery would be hosting some food stalls and a DJ all afternoon!

First on our list that afternoon was So'Hop, one of Moor's many pale ales. This golden one is hopped with varieties from the Southern hemisphere. To my delight, they had this on both cask and keg, so I could not resist a 1/3 pint of both. I have had versions of the same beer from different vessels in the past, but never side by side like this. The keg obviously offers the colder temperature and with it a more pronounced sense of the zest and grapefruit in the taste. The cask offered a much smoother, more balanced version, and I got a lot more of the grass and straw notes coming through with the citrus. I genuinely still can't pick a favourite!

The brewery tour was good fun and we topped it off by enjoying the sun and the wonderful Indian food from one of the vendors in the courtyard. More drinks in the afternoon, including both Nor'Hop and Union Hop, hopped-up favourites Hoppiness and Revival and the red Confidence. A great, beery afternoon in the sun left us ready for some food as we waited for our third member to arrive.

Once he did, we spent another evening in the city at various places, including The Apple, a cider barge where we sampled the 8.4% Old Bristolian Cider and a return to the Brew House for some beer from Wiper and True. Then the less said about our takeway late night pizza, the better...

On the train back to London on Sunday afternoon I contemplated my great weekend and how it was a breath of fresh air from London. It felt like Bristol, not just with its beer culture but as a city overall, has a much more relaxed attitude to how it functions, less competition and haughtiness and more of a community. Don't get me wrong, I love the London beer scene and community, but they can sometimes, accidentally or otherwise, alienate themselves a little. Plus everything is in walking distance in Bristol, which is also nice!

Signing off now, but with some good ideas for future post. The big emphasis Moor puts on its unfiltered beer has got the cogs turning about another vegan-inspired post, and I'm also trying to piece together something about subscription boxes and my mixed feelings towards them! So whatever happens, expect something else in the next couple of weeks!

For now, enjoy the sun and speak soon!

This post was written to the sound of: Dark Necessities by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Back at the Tap End

Hello! I think this is probably the longest I have been without blogging since I started this page about a year ago.

The past 6 or 7 months have been a bit crazy and really just flown by! My job has changed slightly, we've moved flat again (sadly to possibly the only area of Greater London without any breweries or decent pubs), Christmas, mine and my girlfriend's birthdays have happened, and the clocks have gone both backwards and forwards in the space between this post and my last.

We also took an amazing trip to Thailand back in January. And, would you believe it, stumbled upon a craft brewery! 

 It was a Chalawan Pale Ale from Full Moon Brewworks, enjoyed at Pint Factory in Phuket. It was a real find in the city and great to see how craft is present across the globe! The bar itself had a small but nice selection of American and British craft beer, along with a couple from Thai breweries. 

The beer scene in London in these few months has also gone from strength to strength, with more new breweries spouting and events happening across the city. My social media barely goes a day without someone announcing a tap takeover, meet the brewer or beer festival, and I think the London and UK beer scene is all the better for it.

I'm keeping this post short as I dip back into the mash tun of blogging, but expect to see over the next couple of weeks a look back at my recent beery trip to Bristol and something on vegan breweries, which I am in the process of writing.

That's all for now, but if you're looking for something a bit longer I'd suggest taking a look at Matt Curtis' recent articles on Total Ales about the modern beer drinker and on Good Beer Hunting about the London beer scene, accompanied by some great photos.

Liquid Culture - Modern British Beer's Ven Diagram

And the Rest Will Follow - The Evolution of London's Beer Culture

Until next time, happy drinking!

Written to the sound of: Bye Bye Bye by Scott Bradlee's Post Modern Jukebox

Something Smells Fishy: The Woes of the Vege and Vegan Drinkers

Hello and welcome back, it's been a while!

So once again I feel like opening with an apology, predominantly to myself, about my lack of blog writing over the past couple of months. Again. I have been busy, but also in this time I've been struggling to actually think of some genuinely interesting topics, both for readers and for myself.

It's not even like I haven't been doing anything in this time though... I've been once again to the London Brewers Market in Shoreditch, been to a few Meet the Brewer events at We Brought Beer in Balham and spent a brilliant day enjoying the beery delights of Gipsy Hill. Two taprooms, a brewery bar and a pub with an excellent craft beer range just outside my door is never going to get old! But I have recognised recently that a lot of my blogs, if not all of them, have essentially been only descriptions of my own comings and goings. Hopefully some people find these interesting, but there is only so much I can write about pubs I went to and beers I have drank before the posts are just variations on a theme. I will always enjoy writing about these things, and I am sure there will be more posts about them in the future, but I also want to try and find some new and interesting topics to discuss. There are some great beer blogs out there so this could take some doing to get something genuinely original! But I'll give it a go...

The Problem

Recently, I have been taking a lot more note of not only what goes into the beer I drink, but also how it is made. Podcasts, articles and visits to breweries all tickle my curiosity at what is a really intricate science and I take great pleasure in actually knowing what a mash tun is, or what fermentation means, or why you would want to dry-hop something. But I have also come to realise that a lot of the been I drink, or at least used to drink, is not vegetarian friendly. A year ago, this wouldn't have made a difference to how I feel about beer or how I drink it.

But just over a year ago, I decided to take the plunge and become a vegetarian. I'd been essentially living as a vege for some time before this, as my girlfriend was a vegetarian and about eighteen months ago became a vegan. I really only ate meat at work or when at a restaurant, and decided it was time to actually engage my moral compass and stop eating meat.

I know, big whoop right? Today, being vegetarian is not difficult, I am not going to kid myself otherwise. Veganism on the other hand IS harder, as I experience daily living with my girlfriend. Alternatives are often harder to find, generally a bit more expensive and most frustratingly of all, vegans are barely catered for in most restaurants, small or large. It is not surprising when having dinner out to see the only vegan option on a menu being a very sad and uninspiring-looking salad, or having to pick a mixture of sides instead of a main. That's not to say there aren't people out there who do cater excellently for vegans, and we have found some great places, but more often than not it is a struggle, especially when visiting a new area or going on holiday.

 I fully recognise that the cruelty inherent in the meat business can and does translate into the trade in milk, eggs and obviously leather too, but like many vegetarians I think veganism is a step I currently don't feel able to take yet. Yes, I've made the odd cock-up since starting (accidentally eating a meat pizza in a drunken new year party haze, buying pick'n'mix at the cinema) but generally it has not been much of a challenge. I don't even really miss meat, and apart from the odd craving for an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet or battered cod from the chippy, I am perfectly happy. I imagine that someday I will become a vegan (even our dog is almost vegan), but that's not really the point of this article. I've gone rather off-topic...

So to come back to my main point; beer. What a lot of people don't realise is that a lot of the beer they drink isn't vegetarian. They also probably don't care, as much of the time will be quaffing down their pint alongside a burger, steak or chicken madras. But for the veges and vegans out there, particularly those who love beer, this is an issue.

The Facts

This is where my vegetarianism fell down without me even knowing it. Particularly in relation to cask beer. As a lot of people know, beer if filtered and fined at two or three points in the production process. One of these processes uses a substance called is Isinglass. And although it sounds like a castle in Middle Earth, it is in fact a protein made from the swim bladders of certain tropical fish. Mmm, tasty!

It is added to cask-conditioned and often bottle-conditioned beer in order to reduce the yeasty haze that a lot of traditional ale drinkers would complain about. "It looks off", "it hasn't settled" and "it must be the bottom of the barrel" are all common complaints when served a hazy beer. Traditionally, cloudy beer meant infected beer, and this has stuck with the product to this day, even though it is generally not true any longer. But, in order for these complaints to be avoided, Isinglass is added to bind to the yeast particles, dropping them to the bottom during stillaging and resulting in a bright, clear pint at the bar.

Yes, excess yeast can cause changes to a beer's flavour as well, but as Adnams Head Brewer Fergus Fitzgerald says, it is the drinker's expectations that are the main reason for the fining. And for a brewery such as Adnams, you can kind of understand why. It would be hard to change the perceptions of every Adnams drinker in every pub across the country, who at the end of the day couldn't really care less if it was filtered through fish guts or a cow hide. Maybe they'd care if it was filtered through Cecil the lion's pelt though (look at me, doing satire!) Beer will always eventually clear as the yeast drops to the bottle of the barrel, tank or bottle, so Isinglass merely speeds this up. But a slow-clearing beer is going to take up space in pub cellars and add time to the already 3-day long stillaging process.

I was actually at a Cellar and Cask Beer qualification session recently via work and I brought up the question of are the brewery's beers vege friendly? I won't go into detail on who the brewery are who ran that session, but the answer was a very clear no. Again, fine; this would be too difficult to change for a national brewer and distributor. But the almost more pressing issue here is that it is essentially hidden. Very few pump clips are going to tell you if your beer is vegetarian, and at the end of the day there are probably a lot of vegetarians still sitting drinking their beers with no understanding of the facts. I should know, as until recently I too was doing it too.

The Solution

Sadly, there isn't much of an alternative around at the moment. Gelatin has been suggested, but again doesn't really change anything for the vegans and veges Simply leaving the beer unfiltered or unfined is also becoming more common. This might work for smaller breweries whose customers are more likely to read their information and understand the reason for a cloudy beer, but will struggle to be rolled out on a large scale.

The best option for anyone worried about what they are drinking is to do their research. It's become the norm to trawl through menus or Google after each new suggestion of a restaurant or food stuff is suggested as the next meal for anyone living a meat-free diet, even more so for Vegans, so this won't come as a big shock. As a general rule of thumb, cask beer is a no, keg beer is a yes. This is because keg beers are usually pasteurised instead of being fined. Although Vegans, it might sound obvious but be aware of anything with 'Milk' or 'Cream' in the name. Canned beers are generally fine, whereas bottled beers are dependent on where they are conditioned - brewery-conditioned is usually fine, bottle-conditioned may or may not be (easy, right?) However, these are just guidelines; some keg beers are fined before being kegged, while some bottled-conditioned beers are left cloudy and are therefore okay. Essentially, it's a bit of a minefield. There are some breweries out there who do make specifically vegan and vege-friendly products, and others who only make vegan beers, but it all comes down to research.

Hopefully with time, someone out there will come up with a new way of fining that is both vege-friendly for the drinkers and cost-effective for the brewers. In these days of experimental brewing and meat-free alternatives to just about any animal products, it doesn't take much of an imagination stretch to see it happening. I bet there are already people working on it now! I suppose we will just have to wait and see.

For now, just keep your eyes open and as always, happy drinking!

Cheers.

This blog post has been written to the sound of: Public Service Broadcasting – Theme from PSB

Beer for Miles...

Hello Cleveland! Or wherever you may be reading this from...

It was actually on the train I started making some notes for this post, yet over a month later I finally get it written up! Therefore a few details may be missing, but hopefully from my ramblings you get the jist of the day! And looking back, it's been about two and a half months since my last post. It genuinely doesn't feel that long, but that's just life I guess. It is flying by! So what have I been up to in this time I hear you asking?... 

Well, I've been to my old university housemates' beautiful wedding in Derby, planned some summer beer and music festival adventures, discovered the great We Brought Beer in Balham and attended for the first time the Late Knights' Beer Rebellion pub quiz (losing gloriously in the process). All whilst drinking some fine beer!

But this post isn't about any of those things in great detail. As you might of inferred from the title, this post is about the Bermondsey Beer Mile! For those of you who haven't heard of this, it is a well-recognised bar crawl of tap rooms and brewery bars in the just over a mile stretch between and London Bridge in South East London. For whatever reason, this area of the city has become a haven for craft and micro breweries to locate themselves ever since The Kernel opened its doors in 2009. Back then, when the craft beer world was just beginning to come into its own, these fledgling breweries had to set up wherever they could afford the rent, and the Bermondsey railway arches were as good a place as any. Now, there are no less than 8 separate breweries in the area, all of whom throw open their doors on a Saturday afternoon for the beer geeks, casual drinkers, birthday parties and fellow brewers to come and sample their brews fresh from the tanks.

So, on Saturday 9th May, my girlfriend and I jumped on a train and made our way to sunny Bermondsey. First stop, Fourpure.

I have only recently discovered Fourpure and their adventure-inspired beer, but they are fast becoming one of my favourite London breweries. I really like the fact that they have embraced cans from the start, and plenty more breweries are taking this route now, for many reasons (Beavertown are a big one, and I've also seen cans from Wild Beer and Weird Beard popping up recently). Fourpure's brewery and tap room are located on an industrial estate just round the corner from South Bermondsey station, and on arrival I treated myself to their new West Coast Saison. Sweet and sharp with zingy citrus, this beer brought out the sun (literally) and was a great start to the Beer Mile. This was obviously the start point for a lot of beer aficionados that day, as by the time we had got through beer number one, the bar and the outside seating were all full. I would have happily stayed for longer, but breweries to visit with beers to drink were calling!

Stop number two was Partizan. Probably the longest walk between breweries of the whole day, this took about 15 minutes and as we arrived under the railway arches on Almond Road, I could already see a lot of the same faces who had been at the bar at Fourpure. The Beer Mile really is taking off with so many different people. With a penchant for interesting saisons, there were a number on tap and in bottle, so we opted for a Raspberry, Plum and Ginger for the girlfriend and a Le Moyne for me. Crisp, tart and refreshing, these really take over the palette, and although not really my thing usually, a welcome change from the pales, porters and reds that frequent my glass most of the time! So we obviously couldn't just have the one...!

Interestingly, it was at this brewery I heard a different view on the Beer Mile and its popularity. For some, it seems that the Beer Mile is just a 'Let's Do It to Say I've Done It' kind of thing, with a real detachment from the actual appreciation and enjoyment of the beer. Too many people viewing it as a standard pub crawl, with every other customer at the bar asking for directions to the next place, can take away from the actual craftmanship and passion behind the beer itself. I, however, would argue that this 'Beer Mile' can only be a good thing. Not that I don't understand this view, and agree that it would be a shame to see the route clogged with stag parties and birthday bar crawls, it seems counter-intuitive to be frustrated by the 'event's' popularity. Craft beer, like it or not, IS becoming a trend across the world, and London is one of the cities at the forefront of this post-American, new wave of craft brewing. This should be something to be proud of, and if there are multiple breweries all open on a Saturday afternoon in the space of a couple of kilometres of each other all inviting you to come and drink their excellent beer, you can't blame people for wanting to sample as much as possible in that short window.

Yes, there may be a some people coming just for the status of doing it, but I'd say from my experience there are 3 or 4 times as many coming for the love of the beers. These generally small tap rooms for the most part have little or no furniture, so this isn't your normal pub crawl, so those expecting that will soon be put off, or at the very least not come back for seconds. There were also plenty of people more than happy to sit at their favourite one or two breweries for the whole afternoon, and how best to decide that without finding your favourite first? And you know what, if just one of that hen party or that gang of lads out for a session decide that they actually ARE enjoying this new-fangled craft beer over their standard bland lager, then that's surely a win, right?

Anyway, back to the Beer Mile! Sadly The Kernel, which was the next brewery on the route, closes its doors at 2pm, so we were straight on to the next one: Brew By Numbers. Sitting pretty much bang in the middle of the Mile, this bar was operating a one in, one out policy by the time we got there. Admittedly, I did feel a bit sorry for the guy on the gate who really only wanted to be there talking about and drinking his brewery's beer, but all in the name of licensing, there wasn't really another choice. So we joined the queue, and were in really quickly anyway. I had myself a nutty brown ale whilst Steph got a hazy golden, and we managed to claim a palette outside in the sun to enjoy them on. I'd never had anything from BBNo before, and really enjoyed the Brown. Maybe a heavy choice for such a sunny afternoon, but the malty ale with its hints of chocolate, dark fruit and earth easily made this a minor concern!

By now, it wasn't just the beers that were getting hazy. The sun was low in the late Spring sky and the beer was starting to cloud our heads just a tad! So around 5pm, we found ourselves on Druid Street. This final stretch of the walk has 3 breweries all in close proximity to one another. We knew we would probably already be missing last orders at one of the newest additions to the mile, Southwark Brewing, so instead settled in at the joint brewery bar shared by Anspach & Hobday and Bullfinch Brewery. Now I'm not sure if it was just my beery goggles, but I couldn't find anything from Bullfinch, which is a shame as I've heard some great things about them. Instead I opted for a couple of tasting boards from A & H, consisting of their Pale Ale, IPA, Best Bitter, Noble Ale, Sour Ale and Cream Ale. Particular favourite there was the Sour, a real palette-cleanser at that time of the day!

So as the day was drawing to a close, there was one final treat in store for us, in the form of a place close to my hoppy heart, The Bottle Shop. This gem began life in The Goods Shed in Canterbury where I went to uni and worked for a couple of years before upping sticks to London, and along with a couple of fantastic pubs and individuals in the city, helped provide my first real venture into new and exciting beers. I remember being blown away by the artwork, taste and accessibility of a Beavertown Gamma Ray (back when it was still in bottles) from the original Canterbury store, so it was apt that the Bermondsey site was hosting the Beavertown tap takeover the day we visited. Again, our reasonably late arrival saw us confronted with empty kegs of some exciting beers like their DIPA Skull King (which I have since tried... and it's amazing!) and some interesting collaborations. 

That said, their are very few things about Beavertown and their beers that could be described as 'unexciting', so we grabbed ourselves some halves of the Bloody 'Ell Blood Orange IPA and savoured our last stop on the Mile.

Ultimately, this was a genuinely great day with good weather, good friends and some top notch beers. Yes, it was really busy at some points and yes, in some ways queuing out the door at the makeshift brewery bar of a micro brewery seems slightly against the ethos of what many of them are trying to do. But realistically, craft beer is commercialising; Sambrooks, Camden Town and Thornbridge are all now available in some form in chain superstores and it's even making appearances on cookery programmes and breakfast TV. Maybe some people would lead you to believe that the spirit behind the beer has gone, but as I said before, I don't believe this. Don't be that guy/girl who revels in being the only one drinking something different at the bar, like you are in some kind of secret club that becomes uncool the moment you let too many people in. The term 'hipster' is something papers and the internet love to casually stick on to any new-ish movement at the moment, no matter if it is prefixed with music, fashion, craft beer or numerous other terms. Instead, be that person who buys the rounds in specifically to get your friends or colleagues drinking better beer. In my opinion, there is no bar crawl better than one when you are drinking beer fresh from the brewery with like-minded people, where you know your are putting money back into helping these breweries do what they do. 

So the next Saturday you have an afternoon free... I'll meet you in Bermondsey! 

This post was written to the tune of: The Bohicas – Where You At

London Brewers' Market - Shoreditch, Saturday 28th March 2015

First post for a few weeks, it's been a busy time! Work has been quite crazy, and although I've still been managing to get a few beers drank in the evenings (as you'll know if you have me on Instagram), I haven't had a whole lot of time to spend finding new places to drink. That's not to take away from the great beers I've enjoyed from the sofa (Delirium, the already renowned Bloody 'Ell from Beavertown and some of the Adnams Jack Brand beers), but you just can't beat that new-pub feeling!

So it was with great anticipation that the girlfriend and I made our way to Shoreditch on Saturday to take a look round the London Brewers' Market. I had heard about this via social media, and had been looking forward to it since. It's actually my first full weekend off in March, so it made an afternoon at a market full of beer all the sweeter!

I hadn't got in until 6am Saturday morning from work, so after walking the new dog, we didn't leave home until about 1:30pm. Actually, I don't think I've mentioned the new dog in the blog yet - his name is Fudge, a 4 year old rescue dog from Battersea - so I've put a picture of him in below for everyone to see just how adorable he is.

As you can see, we have already bonded over a love of action films. He hasn't sampled the beer yet though...

Arriving at the market about 3pm, we were greeted by a mass of people and stalls, with everyone clutching either a can or pint of beer. What was cool is that there was also the Independent Record Label Market sharing the space that day, more than doubling the amount of stalls and meaning there was constant good music to listen to from the DJ in the centre and a load of great music to sample and merch to wish I could afford!

The market was packed, so the first beer I tried was one of the first stalls I visited - Fourpure. I got myself a half of their new Outpost series, a rich Vienna-style lager called Amber Trail. It was full of dark fruit and rich malt, very satisfying and totally should have got a pint! The girlfriend grabbed a Raspberry and Lime Saison from Partizan at this point - sour and fruity with a citrus kick, and very moreish! 

Wandering round, almost every great London brewery was represented. I sampled beers from Sambrook's, One Mile End, Hop Stuff and Brixton Brewery, but could have tried many more if I had had the cash! It was a really nice event to just speak to the stall-holders and fellow craft beer lovers, about their beers, bars and upcoming events they mare hosting or going to. Also had a great chat with the guys at Home Brew Depot about their kickstarter campaign, which sounds fantastic!

But, alas, all good things must end and after grabbing a couple of takeaway brews from Windsor and Eaton and London Beer Factory (whose brewery and bar is also just round the corner from me!) and an IHL from Camden Town for the road (up there with my top craft lagers this one, although sadly I couldn't get a bottle of the barrel-aged version), we got ready to head home.

Overall a great event, and hopefully next time it will expand to include a few more breweries too. It's so good to live in a city where these type of things are happening more regularly, and that the products from all the breweries there and more are so easily accessible. Only the other day I was tweeted by a local wine and beer shop about the new craft beers they just got in... sadly I may need to wait until pay day for that visit!

This blog was written to the tune of: Circa Waves - T-Shirt Weather

I'll take you to (not so) foggy London Town

Hello again, fellow beer-heads! It's been some time since I last wrote here, but that isn't through lack of beer-related adventures. I've just been super busy with work, seeing people and visiting Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in search of a new furry friend for the household!

But these things have, as always, been interspersed with good amounts of new beer in new bars, which is always good.

Just over a week ago, the girlfriend and I took a trip to London Zoo when we both had a couple of days off mid-week. Although the weather wasn't the best, we still managed to see most of the animals and have a good afternoon snapping pictures and 'aww-ing' over a variety of critters from porcupines to tiger cubs. It was a great afternoon, and later in the day we also took our first visit to a Brewdog bar [insert big cats to big dogs joke].

For someone who raves about craft beer in all its varieties, I always feel bad for not having been to one of Brewdog's bars before now, considering there are at least 2 within half an hour of where I live. But now I have, and I wasn't disappointed!

First up, I had a Pressure Drop Pale Fire whilst the girlfriend had a 5am Saint from Brewdog. Pressure Drop were the featured brewer when we went, and the Pale Fire was brilliant. Often made with different hops, I had this from draught so sadly can't remember which this was (or even if it was advertised). Regardless, it was delightfully citrusy and hoppy, with enough strength to kick more than your average pale ale, but still very drinkable. As quite a fast drinker, I then decided to grab a second half before we headed off, this time going for one of Brewdog's own - Bourbon Baby. A bourbon-barrel aged scotch ale, I was silly to think this could be a 'quick half'. As with any dark beer in my opinion, you really need to savour the complex flavours and heavy aromas. Bourbon Baby is a test in barrel-aging low ABV beers, and it works particularly well, giving you an almost sessionable dark beer that still has the complex dark fruit and roasted flavours, with the bourbon notes coming through nicely, but doesn't leave you feeling like you've just eaten a whole steak and ale pie.

The Brewdog bar itself was great inside, modern and bright, with great areas and what looked like great food, although we didn't have any. I love the fact that these guys have got bars springing up everywhere, although maybe it's just the modest Brit in me but I get a slight feeling of an over-the-top attitude present in the whole make up of the bar. The 'Hopinator' tap (on this occasion filled with orange peel), the vast array of merchandise feels kind of like they are just shouting about themselves, and not the beer. Maybe it is just that very few genuinely great people are comfortable saying "yes, we ARE great at what we do!", but something it just feels like Brewdog are, in some aspects, overly concerned with their appearance and reputation. However, this is only a very small niggle that I'm not expressing too well... plus they have just announced a Norwich bar opening, which is great news for my home city where craft beer is just starting to find its feet.

After Brewdog, the on-demand lady that she is, my girlfriend was whisked away to an art exhibition by fellow models and photographers she knows, so I was left in Camden with no choice but to drown my loneliness with more beer...

Ok, slight exaggeration, I actually only sat in one bar by myself, which was the Black Heart. Not having been here before, it's located near the station in a little alley behind the World's End, which most Camden frequents will be aware of. Filled with a mix of clocked-off professionals and old school metal heads, this bar does well to recreate the divey bars of many of our childhood's in what is actually a pretty nice (albeit pretty dark) space.

Firstly, after seating myself at the bar I ordered a Mikkeller Czechet Pilsner. A nice, dry pilsner, light in bitterness and medium in body, this was the first Mikkeller beer I've sampled, having heard great things about them. A nice choice for a solo drink, light and easy on the finish. I was actually going to head off after this, until I spotted the canned Beavertown beers in the fridge. I couldn't help myself, I had to have a Gamma Ray! Immediately  this became one of my favourite American Pales so far. Tropical fruit, hops and some floral notes, this hazy ale is exquisite and designed for summer swigging. Also, Beavertown are up there with Partizan for my favourite designed beers, and I love that their whole line come in cans now - if I can just find them by the case, my festival drinks this summer are sorted!

It was overall a great day for beer. And, I almost forgot, I finally visited Late Knight Brewery's Beer Rebellion bar the night before! I had a Pale from 5 Points Brewing and a Frosty Morning from the hosts, Late Knights. I can remember I enjoyed them both, particularly the flavour-ful Pale, but other than that it was almost two weeks ago now, so sorry for a lack of detail! I was particularly enamoured by the bar itself thug, with its nice range of guest beers, Monday quiz night (which I am currently assembling my team for) and great looking menu with beer-batteres gherkins on! So happy this is just on my doorstep!

So overall, it's been a great week and a bit for my beer exploits. In addition to the above, I also managed to enjoy pints of Gentleman's Wit and  Hells Lager from Camden Town Brewery whilst at the incredible Jungle gig at The Roundhouse on Tuesday, a Magic Rock High Wire and a Meantime Urban Lager (which is probably my favourite beer that's ever come under the 'lager' label) at another local watering hole The Westow, along with some bottled treats from Adnams, Wolf Brewery and The Orkney Brewery at home.

If you want to keep up to date with all my beer-drinking (and why wouldn't you?) you can follow me on Instagram if you're that way inclined for all kinds of tasteful pictures of tasty ales - @dangreen89.

For now kids, I'm off shopping, so see you all soon!

This post was written while listening to: Everything Everything – Distant Past