A small crawl in London
I had Friday off work so I decided to go to London for a few beers. I'd not done a proper London pub crawl in ages so it was rather nice, I got to drink some beers that I otherwise wouldn't tried.
I started off in Craft Beer Co Covent Garden (which, btw, isn't really in Covent Garden) with a half pint of the Siren/Beavertown/Magic Rock collaborative beer Rule of Thirds. It's 6.4% and pours golden with a fluffy white head, it's full of grapefruit, blood orange, mango & peach flavours and was really delicious.
The bar itself is brilliant... one long bar with 45 beers on draught. Most of these are keg, but there were around 10 cask beers (about a third of these were Thornbridge so not that varied). It's very bright upstairs, windows all around allowing you to look at the busy passersby. There was also a small smoking area out the front which made me happy as I could take my drink with me, unlike many craft beer bars. Downstairs is The Lounge, which is dark and beautiful. They also serve burgers, but I didn't have one this time. They all sound amazing though.
I then decided to have another beer, which was Siren Haunted Dream, a pumpkin porter at 6.5% and possibly my favourite pumpkin beer ever. Straight up you could smell the spices and chocolate so I couldn't wait to take a sip... yum. Chocolate, coffee, spices. I could have drunk two pints!
I then walked to the first craft beer bar I'd ever been to, many years ago, The Euston Tap, which I'm sure I've written about before. As soon as I got there I knew I needed to try the Lagunitas Hop Stoopid at 8%. Big, boozy, sweet and fruity. I loved it but I'm glad I only got a half as it was a little hop sticky. Next was Founders Breakfast Stout (8.3%) which was basically breakfast... chocolate coated oatmeal with coffee on the side. I'd had this bottled before but keg was even better. I needed something lighter next, before I headed out, so I plumped for an old favourite - Maisels Weiss... a perfect hefeweizen.
Next was Brewdog Camden, again it's a favourite. The ante was upped here when I saw Alesmith Speedway Stout on keg... this beast is from California, is 12% and cost £5.05 for a third of a pint, expensive but a rarity. Was it worth the price? Well I enjoyed it. The true tradition of imperial stouts being chocolate and coffee, this had all of that but without the insanely booziness that such strong beers often deliver. My good friend Boggle then arrived and got himself a beer, so I got another... it was a collaboration beer from Brewdog and the legendary Weihenstephaner, India Pale Weizen. The whole idea was to create a hefeweizen but hop it to fuckery like an IPA. It was good but I'd take Schneiderweiss Tap 5 Mein Hopfenweiss over it anyday when I want a hoppy wheat beer. Next came Stone Sprocketbier, a black rye kolsch which was certainly interesting with spicy rye and chocolate notes working well together. Andrew then arrived and we got more beers... I went for Dead Pony Club which has long been a favourite and these days I think I'd even prefer drinking it to Punk IPA.
We finished at The Black Heart where we met Jonny from Craft Beer Channel and to be honest, I don't remember what I drank and nor do I care because I was having a great time with good friends.
It was a really nice day out and I do need to get back to London more often.
Nate
I started off in Craft Beer Co Covent Garden (which, btw, isn't really in Covent Garden) with a half pint of the Siren/Beavertown/Magic Rock collaborative beer Rule of Thirds. It's 6.4% and pours golden with a fluffy white head, it's full of grapefruit, blood orange, mango & peach flavours and was really delicious.
The bar itself is brilliant... one long bar with 45 beers on draught. Most of these are keg, but there were around 10 cask beers (about a third of these were Thornbridge so not that varied). It's very bright upstairs, windows all around allowing you to look at the busy passersby. There was also a small smoking area out the front which made me happy as I could take my drink with me, unlike many craft beer bars. Downstairs is The Lounge, which is dark and beautiful. They also serve burgers, but I didn't have one this time. They all sound amazing though.
I then decided to have another beer, which was Siren Haunted Dream, a pumpkin porter at 6.5% and possibly my favourite pumpkin beer ever. Straight up you could smell the spices and chocolate so I couldn't wait to take a sip... yum. Chocolate, coffee, spices. I could have drunk two pints!
I then walked to the first craft beer bar I'd ever been to, many years ago, The Euston Tap, which I'm sure I've written about before. As soon as I got there I knew I needed to try the Lagunitas Hop Stoopid at 8%. Big, boozy, sweet and fruity. I loved it but I'm glad I only got a half as it was a little hop sticky. Next was Founders Breakfast Stout (8.3%) which was basically breakfast... chocolate coated oatmeal with coffee on the side. I'd had this bottled before but keg was even better. I needed something lighter next, before I headed out, so I plumped for an old favourite - Maisels Weiss... a perfect hefeweizen.
Next was Brewdog Camden, again it's a favourite. The ante was upped here when I saw Alesmith Speedway Stout on keg... this beast is from California, is 12% and cost £5.05 for a third of a pint, expensive but a rarity. Was it worth the price? Well I enjoyed it. The true tradition of imperial stouts being chocolate and coffee, this had all of that but without the insanely booziness that such strong beers often deliver. My good friend Boggle then arrived and got himself a beer, so I got another... it was a collaboration beer from Brewdog and the legendary Weihenstephaner, India Pale Weizen. The whole idea was to create a hefeweizen but hop it to fuckery like an IPA. It was good but I'd take Schneiderweiss Tap 5 Mein Hopfenweiss over it anyday when I want a hoppy wheat beer. Next came Stone Sprocketbier, a black rye kolsch which was certainly interesting with spicy rye and chocolate notes working well together. Andrew then arrived and we got more beers... I went for Dead Pony Club which has long been a favourite and these days I think I'd even prefer drinking it to Punk IPA.
We finished at The Black Heart where we met Jonny from Craft Beer Channel and to be honest, I don't remember what I drank and nor do I care because I was having a great time with good friends.
It was a really nice day out and I do need to get back to London more often.
Nate
Sounds similar to my minicrawl 2years ago (or was it 3?!) When Camden brewdog opened except I visited Mr dredge at the newly expanded Camden town and imminently opening tap. I think I may have stopped somewhere else on way back but that's now lost in the fog of time and ab:08
ReplyDeleteKeg overdose. You'll turn into a fucking keg one of these days, so you will.
ReplyDeleteI realise these days how little cask ale I drink
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