TAG | London
The Great British Beer Festival is on at the moment in Earl’s Court; and I visited on Wednesday afternoon and evening – on a very hot and muggy day. Here’s what I had… all thirds of pints (and from about 3.30pm till 10.30pm, so I certainly wasn’t drinking fast!)
Vortex IPA (7.4%)
Fort George Brewery, Astoria, Oregon
I should have probably spotted the “IPA” and not “APA”, which is why I was disappointed with this first beer. Fruity aroma, I wrote, but almost unpleasantly bitter – not an enjoyable drink. It quickly sold out, which is concerning!
Fine Raisin Beer (5.1%)
Cain’s, Liverpool
An amber beer which I’ve only ever had at the GBBF, and ensure I have every single visit. It’s splendidly lovely – creamy, fruity, with a tiny little nod to a dark raisin taste. Excellent stuff.
Liverbird Ale (4.3%)
Cain’s, Liverpool
A light beer, made with American hops. Light, bitter, citrussy, thirst-quenching.
Wandle Ale (3.8%)
Sambrook’s, Battersea, London
As splendid as I remember it – a wonderful, fruity, citrussy, splendid beer. I only wish this was on tap near me; sadly, I’ve never seen it. (Excitingly, it was on the Wetherspoon’s “Bar Nouveau” stand, which bodes well).
A drop of Nelson’s Blood (3.6%)
Farmer’s, Essex
Nothing too special – amber, full flavoured, but a bit dull. But a nice name. But a bit dull. Nice name though. But dull. Name good. Beer dull.
An APA from Italy
(sadly, the programme doesn’t recall it, and neither do I)
I’ve never been impressed with Italian beers, but this was a good American Pale Ale, and I enjoyed it.
Lia Fail (4.7%)
Inveralmond, Perthshire
Frankly, bought because its name was funny (hello @llia). A nice, amber, beer – though not particularly special; typically less sweet, as Scottish beer generally is.
West Fest Ale (3.8%)
Malvern Hills, Worcestershire
Light, blond ale: the favourite of @agrumbri who was there in the evening and stuck with this all night. Very nice beer, and not too strong either.
Twisted Spire (3.6%)
Hobsons, Shropshire
Not quite as nice as the West Fest Ale, but fairly similar. A nice, non-heavy, end to the evening.
With more than 450 ales, ciders and foreign beers, even if none of these sound to your taste, you might like some you’d find; and join CAMRA when you get there, too – it’s good for the soul.
I was late. I’d done the Journey Planner Run – visit the TfL Journey Planner, tap in my journey to find out when to leave, and discovered I was due to leave ten minutes ago.
I ran onto the train at Victoria, clutching my printed Google Map. I’d run. I was out of breath. “James, isn’t it?”, said Rob from Qype, who was standing next to me, grinning. “You’ve got the same printout that I’ve got”, he said, flourishing his. Time to relax. I was still going to be late: but this was the man who ran the website through which I’d had my invitation. They weren’t going to start without him, surely.
And they didn’t.
Walking into a pretty anonymous industrial estate building in Battersea, we were welcomed by the rather splendid words “Welcome to our brewery”.
Sambrook’s Brewery hasn’t been brewing for long: in fact, it only started in November last year. The brewery has three rooms – a small tasting room (coupling as reception), the hot room (where they brew the beer), and the cold room (where they let it settle, and then stick it into bottles).
First, the tour. We learned how beer was made – in rather more detail than a standard tour. For example, we discussed the additives put in the water to soften it, and the isinglass used to make it clear. Mmm, sturgeon swimbladders.
We were given floor malt to eat (it’s really yummy, and reminded me of Shreddies). We were given hops to sniff – proper leaves of the hop flowers, not unpleasant pellets. These people are brewing beer properly. We went to see how they ship it out – in their own barrels, it turns out, all carefully branded. And then we got to taste some.
Wandle Ale – named after a nearby river – is delicious. Clear, light, not too strong (3.8%), but beautifully hoppy. And so splendidly fresh-tasting. A great session ale, and one that I’d have been quite happy to drink all evening.
At a time when breweries are abandoning London (Young’s closed their Ram Brewery in 2006; Pitfield Brewery leaving the East End for Essex), it’s great to see a brand new one. And when their beer tastes as good as this, it’s even better.
(There are more pictures here.)
