London Beer City: A Retrospective

For the second year running London went mad for beer in the second week of August (even more mad than usual, I mean), and again this year there were far more London Beer City events on than you could possibly manage to attend. This time round we sat down with the programme and ticked off everything we were remotely interested in... but obviously that was still way too many. We ruthlessly whittled the list down to one or two events per day and cleared any non-beer related things from our diaries. And, maybe, most important of all: we cleared the entire final weekend so that we could spend it at home with the curtains drawn.

1. Cask Tasting Event at We Brought Beer (Wednesday 5^th August)

Starting London Beer City a bit early we visited our local bottle shop, where there are usually four keg beers on tap for drinking at the shop or taking away in growlers of various sizes. In honour of LBC they had put on six casks from six different breweries to highlight the joy of cask ale and celebrate their first birthday (there would be even more casks on later in the week). On the night of the launch we got to take part in a (free) tasting event conducted by the brewing legend, Derek Prentice.

As experienced homebrewers (and scientists by training and/or profession) we are familiar with the four ingredients of beer and how they are used, and we've stood or sat through many a talk on how beer is made. That said, I found it a pleasure to listen to a more ‘technical’ edition of this speech. As well as brewing at a number of long standing breweries (e.g. Fullers and Trumans), Derek also teaches apprentice brewers who are studying for a brewing qualification. It was a pleasure and an honour to get to talk to him about beer and brewing.

The cask beers were obviously of secondary interest to meeting Derek, but during the organised tasting we sampled Burning Sky Arise, Cloudwater Session IPA, and Wimbledon Tower Special Pale Ale. They were all good beers which we were happy to drink but the outright winner was the Wimbledon Tower (from Derek’s new brewing venture). It had everything you could want in a cask pale ale: a well balanced hop bitterness and malt character, and a thirst-quenching dry finish making you crave another sip. But the most notable thing about it was its vibrant fruity nose, for me it was peaches, but other people got soft red fruits. And where did all of this outrageous fruit come from? Dry hopping with Target (used along with two other British hops for bittering and flavour). I enjoyed this refreshing use of  British hops - really nice to see in the current British brewing culture of 'Citra this' and 'Mosaic that'.

2. Opening Party at BrewDog Shepherd's Bush (Friday 7^th August)

If there was an influx of people who were there especially for the launch of LBC or whether it was just a typical Friday night in Shepherd’s Bush, I couldn’t really tell. Although when I was at the bar shortly before 6pm a group arrived who were there specifically to try Lizard Bride (a new BrewDog beer launching at 6pm that day), who were expressing mild embarrassment at themselves for having to wait for a beer to come on. But there was certainly a general air of good feeling when London Beer City organiser, Will Hawkes, jumped on the bar to introduce his week long programme of beer activity. Later on we won some prizes at beer bingo (although we were sad to miss the beer quiz at BDSB later in the week). It was a low key Friday night, but ideal preparation for the manic week ahead.

3. GBBF at Olympia (Tuesday 11^th August)

It’s always a pleasure to catch up with our friends from out of town but yet again I’m left wondering why we bother with this event. Too many of the British cask beers I tried were just not in great condition and I find this really sad. Every year I keep hoping that I'll try some British cask beers which do not disappoint me but every year it's the same. The German beers were the best things we tasted at GBBF. As always I get sucked into trying stuff from the US cask bar but this is generally a hit and miss affair.

One tap short of a takeover

4. Thornbridge Tap Takeover at Craft Beer Co (Tuesday 11^th August)

In hindsight I wish we had just gone here instead of GBBF as the cask (and keg) beers were in better condition. If I had visitors in town from the US this year (as I have had for previous GBBFs) I would have just brought them here instead and said, "here is some great British beer for you to try." Plenty of variety in style with all of the consistency of quality you can expect from Thornbridge. With so many beers on tap I got to tick off a couple of Thornbridge beers which have been evading me for a while (Cocoa Wonderland and Bear State).

5. Mid-week opening at Brew By Numbers (Wednesday 12^th August)

Kernel, Partizan and Brew By Numbers came together to offer their beers to the general public on a weekday evening, this year it was the turn of BBNo to host. As anyone who has visited Bermondsey on a Saturday will be aware it gets busy down there, at times it is insanely busy. If you are bothered by big crowds (as I am these days) then you tend to limit your visits to Bermondsey, which is a shame because we’d like to spend more time drinking beers from Kernel, Partizan and BBNo at source. But on this occasion the queues for the bar were minimal or non-existent and we were even able to talk to the employees – who are usually run ragged and unable to stop for a chat.

Hard to decide between the Kernel Mosaic Stout and BBNo Black IPA

So for us this night was about great company first and foremost, with the beer was run a very close second. The beery highlights were the Kernel’s Mosaic Dry Stout (that magical mystery hop, which can be used in so many different ways and can seemingly do no wrong), and the BBNo 15|02 BIPA Citra. As someone who is fussy about black IPA as a style, who has had many a discussion with pro brewers and homebrewers and beer writers about it, this particular beer offered me an angle I’ve yet to experience with this beer style before: a fresh green hop character. One of the things I enjoy about a BIPA is how if the malt bill is done right then the beer still be enjoyable when the hop character has faded away a little (if not, it gets as stale as a standard IPA when the hops fade out). Sadly, I don’t get to witness this often enough as most BIPA are not quite ‘roasty’ enough for my liking. In fact this particular beer, 15|02, wasn't roasty enough but it had this amazing FRESHNESS OF GREEN HOPS to it that contrasted very nicely with the dark malts present. Obviously, that’s not going to persist too long – it was very much a ‘drink fresh’ moment. But I’m glad I was there to catch it.

But the icing on the cake of this fantastic evening was the bottled BBNo 14|02 - a BA tripel, brewed with Wai-iti, one of my favourite hops: a zesty lemon fragranced delight from NZ. BBNo are well known for their saisons, of which they have produced many variants, and my favourite of all of those is the 01|08 Wai-iti. Saisons often have naturally occurring lemon aroma and flavour from the yeast but this hop really amped that beer up to a zesty wonder. I'd already bought a bottle of the 14|02 from the brewery when it was released and had been advised by them to age it a while yet. So when I was shown their fridge toward the end of the night and asked what I fancied trying I pointed at the 14|02 and said, ‘THAT ONE!’ It did not disappoint. If you’ve ever cooked lemons, as part of a savoury meal, to the point where they caramelise, become sweet and lose their bitterness but still retain the refreshing zing of a citrus fruit...well, that’s precisely what I got from this beer. A definite contender for my beer of the year so far.

ZESTY FEELS ABOUNDED

6. Coffee vs. Beer at The Department of Coffee & Social Affairs (Thursday 13^th August)

One event we really fancied doing during LBC was the beer and cheese matching sessions, but having recently held our own private beer and cheese event we couldn’t really justify the cost of us both attending a session with so much else going on. But another keen interest we have aside from cheese is coffee, which we love but feel like we know hardly anything about it. It seemed like the cost of the event could be justified in order to advance our knowledge.

Sensory perception 

At the start of the event we learned how to taste coffee correctly (which similar to but not exactly the same as tasting beer - it makes a more unpleasant noise), starting off with a reminder that almost everything you taste is informed by its aroma. We then went through five paired rounds of blind tasting, first sampling the beer and voicing our thoughts and then doing the same for the coffee. Finally we were asked to vote on whether we preferred the beer or the coffee option from each pairing. The very first round (which I felt was a little bit of a cheat) was Carling vs Nescafe. The other rounds featured a wheat beer, a sour beer, a ‘hoppy porter’ (which we still feel we were correct to identify blind as a BIPA), and a stout – each beer was paired with a coffee which had similar or related elements to its flavour profile. This was a real eye opener and we’re really glad we did it. For example, prior to this experience I couldn’t quite have gotten my head round how you could pair a sour beer with a coffee. But you can!

We went away feeling like beer is easy and simple (to deconstruct) while coffee is ultra subtle and nuanced with layers that we can’t even begin to approach at this point. Yet, we still feel like we learned a lot from this event and can begin to appreciate the enormous spectrum of what you are able to taste in a coffee. We will definitely be taking more time to over our coffee in the future and will begin to learn the basics of the myriad ways in which processing affects what ends up in your cup.

7. London Craft Beer Festival at Oval Space (Friday 14^th August)

I was looking forward to this event as comfortable territory, knowing we would get to see yet more friends from near and far; knowing there would be great beers both new and familiar to me. I wasn’t disappointed. As with last year, Chris was pouring beers for Weird Beard and I was roaming around the place solo. This year I even lent a hand to pour a few beers for WB. Had I thought about this in advance I might have volunteered to pour for Magic Rock, especially had I known they were bringing some Big Top with them. On second thoughts it’s probably best for everyone that I didn’t as I got so excited when I saw Big Top had gone on that I knocked down their blackboard in my haste to get some in my glass. :)

The unlimited small pours (90ml) worked perfectly well. As far as I can see it is better for both the customer and person serving them if neither has to faff around with taking payment and I think that doing away with tokens all together is preferable. I’ve seen a complaint that the small pour does not encourage sensible drinking. This makes me think that there really is no pleasing some people. If you find yourself in a long conversation and your glass is dry you could either position yourself near a bar so that you can easily obtain another refill or *gasp* get yourself a glass full of water to drink while you’re chatting from one of the many water dispensing points. If someone cannot move away from the mindset of drinking pints to the point where drinking anything that isn't a pint bothers them, this type festival probably isn't for them. It's about trying lots of beers, not about how much you can drink. That concept goes beyond beer festivals too. For some of us, at least.

If you happen to be in town during London Beer City and you like beer (whether you live there or are just visiting) there are more beer-related activities on offer than you can actually physically go to.  You will be spoiled for choice. Some events have an entry fee but many do not. If you enjoy matching beer and food there are a wide variety of options to choose from across a spectrum of budgets. If you enjoy meeting brewers, you're in luck: there are brewers all over the place just waiting to talk to you about their beers. If you want to learn more about brewing or even have go yourself, there are events to suit you. In short, there is so much variety (including lots of things I haven't even hinted at here) that there should be something to please everyone.

Post by Emma

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

The Evil Twin tap takeover held at Craft Beer Co in Clerkenwell back in January was probably the first time I've ever bought a round of three 1/2 pints and only got 50 pence change back from a twenty pound note. That was the moment that crystallized for me how ridiculous it is to sell (one-off or unusual) high ABV beers without offering them in 1/3 of a pint measures.

The Company of Strangers

Here is a blog post written in January 2013 which never saw the light of day - but it hasn't gotten any less relevant since I wrote it then...

A few weeks back I’m drinking with some mates in a Glasgow bar on a Friday evening. After a couple of halves the others indulge my burning need to try the beer cocktails. I’m at the bar waiting while the anxious girl serving me (“Nobody ever asks for these!”) cautiously creates the outlandish drinks when a middle-aged guy next to me starts asking me what I think about ‘all this fancy beer stuff’. What he’s referring to is that we are in a BrewDog bar. That’s right – a bar in Glasgow where they don’t serve Tennants*. Essentially he is asking me if I think craft beers are worth all the fuss.

Well, I could talk about that one for hours. And this guy is polite enough. He’s not being creepy or pushy or making me feel uncomfortable. I’m just a little, kind of, put on the spot because I’m only there in Scotland to visit my mates and I want to get back to my table. Plus I am stood in the way of other people getting served at the bar and it’s busy in there at 5pm. But I’m interested in the topic of conversation and I don’t want to be rude - so we’ve been chatting for a few minutes when I feel a tug at my elbow. Initially I thought it could be a friend of this guy and I was being tag-teamed. But in fact it was our friend Jamie. So luckily, I didn’t elbow him in the face first and ask questions later.

A couple of weeks later I am at a beer festival at a greater London pub, a few miles down the road from where we live, that’s renowned for its beers. A key point to note about the pub is that it’s community-owned - it was all set to close down but some locals clubbed together and funded its continued survival. Somebody must have done something right as it was CAMRA’s Greater London pub of the year for 2012. It’s 6pm on a Thursday night and I’m stood at the small bar out of the back of this pub where the festival is being held, with the beer list in hand. I’ve just asked the barman if all the beers listed are on. Between him, myself and Chris, we are just discussing the order we should tackle them in, when I become aware of this looming presence to my right. I turn and see this big guy, who is swaying slightly, leaning against the wall next to the bar and intently watching me. I’m thinking: go away, drunkard. Also please stop staring at me.

So I say: ‘Oh, would you like to go first? Because I might be a little while...’ I give him a big friendly smile, thinking: please buy your drink and move on.

He says: ‘No. I’m just watching!’ *creepy grin*

I smile and say: ‘OK then’ and turn away to continue my discussion with the barman.

Random interloper guy interrupts us: ‘I’ll tell you which beer you should try if you want a REALLY good beer!’

Hmmm.  I say: ‘Oh yes?’

He names a collaboration stout which we've already had twice in the past week and we have Every Single Intention of sampling it again that night. But we planned on starting with the light beers and working toward the dark ones, hence we’ll get to that one later. I explain this to him.

He says: ‘No! You should have it NOW!’

I smile and say: ‘No, it’s OK, we’ll have it later’ and turn away.

He says: ‘DON’T WAIT. HAVE IT NOW.’

I ignore him. We purchase our beers, sit down and start tasting them. We note that it’s 6pm on a Thursday evening, the beer festival only started at midday, and there are an awful lot of loud drunken people in there. Are these loud people local residents who have invested in this pub? Or are they just people who have come here for the festival (albeit, getting started six hours before us)? To be clear: we think this is a lovely pub which offers a fantastic range of beers. We really like it there. I guess their beer festivals are just very popular and attract a lot of custom.

At this point I begin to muse on the whole concept of talking to (or sometimes at) strangers in pubs. Ever since I first started visiting pubs and drinking beer (20-odd years ago) I’ve held a soft spot for that camaraderie you get with strangers in pubs sometimes. I wonder if it is more of a noticeable concept in the UK (compared to the US, for instance) because for the most part we try pretty hard not to interact with strangers over here. I’ve always had a certain level of respect for that particular species of social interaction and I’ve always tried to be polite to strangers who have tried to chat to me in pubs (to a point, obviously).  

While I was up in Scotland (visiting BrewDog Glasgow and so on) my friends and I were reminiscing about weekend away we had in Galway back in 2008 when we were in some grotty Irish pub where about 20-30 of us were sat in one long line of tables, like we were at Oktoberfest (except without any decent beer).  I always remember that day because of the trampy Catweazle guy who seemed really keen on chatting to some of us. My Scottish friend Fee wouldn’t have a bar of him and told him flat out to fuck off. But I felt a kind of empathy for the scruffy old bloke, like one day I might be a sad, old lonely drunk and be desperate for someone to talk to, and so I let him babble at me and hold my hand for a little while. It seemed to make him happy and it was a small cost to me... But it’s quite possible that Fee was right and I was just being a sap by tolerating the guy.

So all of these events have made me question the ‘right’ of a punter to accost strangers in pubs? Do you really have any more right to talk to someone and expect to get a response just because you’re in a pub and people are there to enjoy themselves? Or should people take even more care to leave you alone since you are ‘relaxing’ and are entitled to be left alone in your ‘leisure time’? Obviously there is a level where interacting with strangers becomes intrusive. Are we obliged to show ANY politeness to strangers when we are out having a drink? Is it different in your opinion to any other social setting, e.g. commuting to work or sitting in a park? Does it make a difference if you’re alone? Should it? Do you find this kind of ‘friendly’ social behaviour threatening? Does it annoy you? Or do you welcome it?

*please don’t be offended, Glasgow. I’ve visited quite a few of your bars and many of them do not serve Tennants or any ‘mainstream’ beers for that matter. In fact, Glasgow, I miss you and need to come back soon.