Beer #394 - The Kernel Pale Ale Citra

Towards the end of my night at Cask I opted for something a bit more special, a half of The Kernel's Pale Ale Citra. Really I should have been drinking this all evening but the pricing of keg beers still puts me off somewhat, but its stupid to worry about such trivialities when you're talking about The Kernel. This is a wonderful number with a huge tropical fruit aroma. The taste is wonderfully floral with a decent amount of fruitiness too, really well-balanced as ever. Such a great beer.








Brewery: The Kernel Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 5.4%

Beer #381 - Anspach & Hobday The Pale Citra, Mosaic & Simcoe

I've been a bit slack with my posts lately but this is the last from my visit to Bermondsey a few weeks ago, an APA from Anspach & Hobday brewed with new world hops Simcoe, Mosaic and Citra. I quite enjoyed this one - comparisons with other Bermondsey brewers are inevitable and this one just doesn't compare with a Kernel pale ale for example - but its a pretty decent brew with plenty of tropical fruit hoppy flavour and not too much bitterness. Reasonably crisp and refreshing, its a decent attempt.







Brewery: Anspach & Hobday
Country: United kIngdom
ABV: 4.4%

Beer #380 - Anspach & Hobday The Cream Ale

I sought to move from one extreme to the other following a black IPA at Anspach & Hobday I next went for a half of their cream ale. This wasn't really what I expected, its not a particularly creamy beer at all but it is an extremely drinkable one, I'd say its probably closer to a session IPA if anything. It has lovely tropical fruit flavours and is wonderfully crisp with a hint of bitterness. As I say its not particularly creamy but it is very easy drinking. A decent one.









Brewery: Anspach & Hobday
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.6%

Beer #379 - Anspach & Hobday / Albion Sasquatch

The third and final stop on our afternoon in Bermondsey was Anspac & Hobday, which was absolutely packed when we arrived mid-way through the afternoon. First up I opted for this Sasquatch Black IPA, a collaboration between the brewery and Albion Brew Co. I've only ever tried a couple of black IPAs but its a style I've been trying to give more of a chance to. This beer has a decent roasted malt aroma but the flavour is dominated by the hops giving it an overwhelming bitterness. The bitterness is balanced to an extent by the hops but bam, its just incredibly bitter and pretty dry, too much for me.





Brewery: Anspach & Hobday
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 6.5%

Beer #378 - Southwark Bitter Sweet

From a pale ale the Kernel to something completely different at our next stop in Bermondsey, a half of Southwark Brewing's Bitter Sweet. I am yet to hear of anyone that is enamoured with what Southwark are brewing, I definitely think a more traditional brewery in Southwark is a great addition but to fit in the beers have to be way above average and my experience so far tells me that they just aren't. Bitter Sweet was a slightly odd beast although the description was fairly accurate! It has a very strong sweetness initially with a flavour that I can't quite put my finger on - almost like a sugar syrup. It's quite thin in body and has a thwack of bitterness in the finish. Really quite a strange beer.



Brewery: Southwark Brewing Co.
Country: United Kingdom
ABV:%

Beer #377 - The Kernel Pale Ale Kohatu, Mosaic, Nelson Sauvin

On Saturday I was in Bermondsey again celebrating my friends birthday. We managed to get to the Kernel for one before it closed at 2pm and I went for one of their two pale ale offerings, brewed with Kohatu, Mosaic and Nelson Sauvin hops. Now generally regarded as one of, if not the best, breweries for hop-forward beers, the Kernel didn't let me down with this one. It had a lovely hoppy arome and the flavour was bursting with tropical fruit with some lovely grassy notes too, there is really a lot going on in this beer. It packs a mild bitterness but no more and its just so drinkable as a result. An absolute winner.





Brewery: The Kernel Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 5.2%

Beer #362 - Partizan Dubbel Winter

A seasonal special from the good folks at Partizan Brewing in Bermondsey. The attentive amongst you will have noticed that I've been getting through a few Belgian beers lately so I thought I'd see how Partizan's take on a Belgian style compared with some of the classics. It was...okay. The flavour was pleasant with some good roasty flavours, some dark fruit and a feint hint of spicing but to me it was just lacking both in depth of flavour and fullness of body. It was very light and whilst the flavours were good I was anticipating something far more rich than the beer provided. Good but not great.





Brewery: Partizan Brewing
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 6.5%

Beer #353 - Southwark London Pale Ale (LPA)

On Saturday I briefly visited Bermondsey and managed to take in a quick half-pint at the newest addition to the Bermondsey Beer Mile: the Southwark Brewing Company. The brewery differs from the others on the mile in that is more traditionally British, producing cask ales. I'm a big fan of each brewery on the mile, each one has it's merits and they all produce absolutely brilliant beers, but there is something quite exciting about a cask-beer brewery joining the ranks. I opted for a half of the London Pale Ale, described as a 'Light Refreshing Hoppy Beer with Citrus Tones'. Despite the description I found the beer malt-forward with biscuity notes dominating.  There are some grassy hoppy tones in there too but if you stand this up against a 'Hoppy Beer with Citrus Tones' from the likes of The Kernel or Partizan...well, this would come off unfavourably. I won't be dismissing SBC on the basis of this one beer but the competition in Bermondsey is hot and on based on this effort there is room for improvement. I'll be following the fortunes of the Southwark Brewing Company closely.

Brewery: Southwark Brewing Co.
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.0%

Beer #261 - Anspach & Hobday The Experimental Rhubarb Sour

The fifth and final beer of my trip to Bermondsey was Anspach & Hobday’s The Experimental Rhubarb Sour. I was heading for home but having read about this one in the week I was keen to try it so popped in A&H just before they closed up for a glass. The Rhubarb Sour is the second of their ‘Experiment’ brews, following a Double IPA which was the first and was available on keg only. Now subsequent to trying this I’ve read a bit more about the beer including reviews on RateBeer which haven’t been the most positive. I, however, made my notes at the time and prior to reading people’s other negative views. I’ve tried a couple of sour beers before and it’s probably fair to say that as yet I don’t really ‘get’ them. As you can see it pours a hazy golden orange colour and you can pick up the tartness that is to follow quite heavily on the nose. It’s sharp and yes, very sour indeed, but isn’t that the point? I found it perfectly drinkable and with a nice strong hint of rhubarb amidst sour berries.  

Brewery: Anspach & Hobday

Country: United Kingdom

ABV: 4.6%

Beer #260 - Partizan Wit Beer

This is beer number four of five from my trip to the Bermondsey Beer Mile last weekend. After a few at Fourpure my friend and I headed to Partizan for a quick one before he had to head off for the day. They'd obviously had a busy afternoon and when we arrived there were only a couple of beers remaining, so we plumped for a glass of the Wit Beer each. Judging by the RateBeer entry this is a new-ish release on keg from Partizan. The beer pours a hazy yellow/orange colour with a white head. The aroma is wheaty/grassy with some notes of bread and citrus rind. The taste too is citrus, and it’s quite sharp yet crisp with the wheat flavour that you’d expect from the style. I really like my wheat beers although again, it’s a style I haven’t explored as much as I’d have liked. This was yet another winner from Partizan for me. Afraid I'm missing a picture again so this one from my last visit to the brewery will have to suffice!

Brewery: Partizan Brewing

Country: United Kingdom

ABV: 5.7%

Beer #259 - Fourpure Oatmeal Stout

This is the third and final beer I tried on my visit to the Fourpure brewery last Saturday. After a pils and a saison I thought I'd go for a dark one just to round things off and opted for a glass of the oatmeal stout. It wasn't really stout weather, a beautiful hot London day, but what the hell. Fourpure's Oatmeal Stout is not going to change the world but it's a very solid example of the style. It pours black with a tan head. The aroma is coffee, roasted malt and more coffee. The taste was sweet up front turning quickly to coffee and bitter chocolate with some earthiness. Nothing ground-breaking but I managed to try three different styles at Fourpure which left me in little doubt that I'll be going back.



Brewery: Fourpure Brewing Co.
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 5.1%

Beer #258 - Fourpure Wai-iti Saison

This is beer number two of five from my recent trip to the Bermondsey Beer Mile. Feeling emboldened after a glass of the Pils I next went for a glass of the Wai-iti Saison which checks in at 7.3% ABV. It was originally produced as a one-off for an event at The Rake in Borough Market but it seems they must have had some left over or something. At the moment I’m keen to try anything with saison in the name and this one didn’t let me down at all. It pours gold with a white head and the aroma is lovely; citrus rind, wheat and a hint of spice. The taste offers more of the same with some wonderful wheaty breadiness, lemon and orange rind and a hint of pepper. I didn’t find the alcohol too prominent and it was very drinkable, a great, straightforward saison. Once again I failed on the photo front hence the shot of the taproom instead.

Brewery: Fourpure Brewing Co.

Country: United Kingdom

ABV: 7.3%

Beer #257 - Fourpure Pils

This was beer number one of five on my recent trip to the Bermondsey Beer Mile that you can read more about here. I’d had a slightly heavy night the evening before so, especially given the brilliant sunshine, I thought I’d start the afternoon at Fourpure with something light and refreshing and went for the Pils. Now I’m not usually a lager drinker as this blog will largely attest, but if more lagers were made like this or Sixpoint’s The Crisp I’d be far more likely to drink them. Not that there are big similarities between these two beers, they’re just well made, refreshing and most importantly, tasty. Fourpure’s Pils is wonderfully crisp, slightly carbonated and with a slight dryness that makes it effortlessly drinkable. Flavour-wise it’s malty, slightly sweet with some pepper and a bitter finish. Very good indeed and it set me up nicely for the day ahead. Unfortunately I didn't have the best day picture-wise and forgot to take this one until the glass was empty. It is a very nice glass though.

Brewery: Fourpure Brewing Co.

Country: United Kingdom

ABV: 4.7%

A(nother) day at the Bermondsey Beer Mile

 At the end of February I spent a very pleasant afternoon at the 'Bermondsey Beer Mile', a hotbed of beer brewing action and home to five of London's best breweries. On that occasion I made it to four of the breweries; Anspach & Hobday, Brew By Numbers, The Kernel Brewery and Partizan Brewing but left it too late to make it to the fifth, Fourpure Brewing Co. You can read my thoughts on that day in a post here, but on Saturday I headed back to Bermondsey for the afternoon to finally check out Fourpure and perhaps have a couple of beers at my other favourites.


Whilst the other breweries are all located in railway arches, Fourpure is actually based on an industrial estate at the east end of 'the mile'. Once again I struggled to locate the brewery but eventually spotted some people who looked like they knew where they were going and followed them in. Fourpure definitely benefits from not being in a railway arch as it's in a huge space that feels much more airy and light than the others. There is plenty of seating inside and plenty of standing room outside for those sunny days too. It also looks like a fair bit of money has been poured into both the equipment and the taproom, everything is huge and shiny and impressive looking, quite a different to the more ramshackle appearance of say, Partizan.

The bar is well set-up with plenty of keg lines. On Saturday there were at least nine beers available on keg with the brewery's core range as well as a couple of specials; on this occasion the Wai-iti saison and a couple of beers brewed in with collaboration with Michel Roux. The beers are served in 1/3, 2/3 or pint measures and with most of them at £1.50 for a third there is plenty of potential for trying a lot of beer very cheaply. The brewery has also recently started canning its beers and they were also available to take away at £2 each or six for £10. They also have a bit of merchandise including some beautiful glasses, and I took one of those away for £3.

As I arrived the sun came out and after a bit of a heavy night the evening before I fancied something light so went for a glass of the Pils, which went down very nicely indeed and made me feel much better, well enough in fact for a glass of the Wai-iti saison, which at 7.3% I wasn't previously sure I could manage. After a short break and a game of table tennis I rounded off my drinking at Fourpure with an oatmeal stout and a bit of a nose around the brewery. I'm glad I made the effort to come out to Fourpure, as I said it's by far the most spacious of the Bermondsey lot and with plenty of seating in a very, very pleasant environment I could quite happily spend a day here downing £1.50 glasses of excellent beer.

 My friend and I then took a brief stroll to Partizan where we called in and had a glass of the wit. They'd obviously had quite a busy day as a lot of the keg beers had gone, but I'm a big Partizan fan and it was good to sneak in another new beer. By now home-time was approaching but I knew that Anspach & Hobday had a couple of new beers on including their 'Experimental Rhubard Sour' so I hot-footed it over to try that one too. My last visit happened to be Anspach & Hobday's first day of business. On that occasion they only had bottles available but they have since introduced keg lines and expanded their range with six or seven beers available. A bit of a difference price-wise from Fourpure with the beers starting at £3 for a half pint. This is no doubt partly down to economies of scale and it'll be interesting to see if there is any change over time as and when the brewery expands their activity further.

So another excellent day in Bermondsey and as we head into summer it's the perfect time to head down for a look. On a lovely sunny day I can't think of many things I'd rather be doing than drinking excellent, fresh beer.

Beer #201 - Bullfinch USA IPA

Beer 11  of 11 from my visit to the Bermondsey Beer Mile. And so I reach the final beer from my day out in Bermondsey. After most of the breweries had shut down for the day we headed back to 118 Druid Street where the party was still going strong at Anspach & Hobday. By this point I didn’t think I could manage another of their porters so went for the Bullfinch USA IPA. As far as I can tell Bullfinch shares space with A&H although I can’t find many details about the brewery at all. The USA IPA poured dark reddish amber and was a grassy pine on the nose. It’s pretty bitter all round with an instant thwack of hoppiness that follows through to the finish. There is some maltiness in there too but I just found it far too on the bitter side for me.

 

Brewery: Bullfinch Brewery

Country: United Kingdom

ABV: 7.2%

Beer #200 - Partizan Porter 5 Grain

Beer 10 of 11 from my visit to the Bermondsey Beer Mile. and the fourth and final beer of the day from Partizan Brewing. The five grain porter pours very dark brown with a nice creamy tan head. Coffee on the nose with a taste of bitter coffee, chocolate and some earthiness with a slightly sweet finish. It was pretty thin on the palate although this may well be down to the fact that I was drinking it alongside the FES. I'd like to give it another try without the comparison as it just felt very light in comparison. As a small aside I didn't expect to hit 200 beers within less than a year of posting...I'm not quite sure whether to be proud or concerned!

Brewery: Partizan Brewing
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 5.8%

Beer #199 - Partizan Saison Grisette Lemongrass & Lychee

Beer 9 of 11 from my visit to the Bermondsey Beer Mile. Another saison this time at Partizan with the interesting additions of lemongrass and lychee. Regular readers (ahem) may have noticed a few saison posts lately, the style seems to be increasingly popular at London breweries and I’ve made an effort to try a few as generally, I’ve found them to be pretty tasty. Partizan has put out a whole series of them with interesting additional ingredients including sage, coriander, orange and thyme. I’ve been trying to find out what constitutes a ‘grisette’ as I’ve not come across it before. My research indicates many possible answers but nothing definitive, some state that grisette was what miners drank while farmhands supped saison, others suggesting it’s simply a lower strength saison.  Whatever it is, Partizan do it well. It poured a hazy, pale gold. The aroma was light and fruity, oranges and lemons, a hint of spice. The taste was freshy fresh fresh, it’s crisp and clean, beautifully light and delicate. Flavour is lemon, lychee, straw. This ran the Anspach & Hobday porter very close for my beer of the day and in summer I’m going to make the Partizan grisette series my beers of choice.

Brewery: Partizan Brewing
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 3.9%

Beer #198 - Partizan FES

Beer eight of 11 from my visit to the Bermondsey Beer Mile. We went for variety at Partizan and variety was what we got. This FES (does the E stand for Extra or Export? Not quite sure!) was absolutely superb and for me ran Anspach & Hobday’s porter close for dark beer of the day. It poured black with a tan head and had a lovely roasty aroma. It was very full-bodied with a taste bitter coffee, chocolate and dark fruits, really smooth and rich. A really nice stout this one and I will definitely have it again.









Brewery: Partizan Brewing
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 8.2%

Beer #197 - Partizan IPA Citra

Beer seven  of 11 from my visit to the Bermondsey Beer Mile. Incredibly/ridiculously this is the first Partizan beer to ever feature on my blog and indeed, the first time I’ve ever had one. Fortunately another three will follow closely. I mentioned it in my Bermondsey post but I really love the Partizan labels. It was probably quite risky when you compare it to the simple yet effective and labels used by the Kernel and Brew By Numbers. I wouldn’t have thought bold primary colours are particularly in fashion at the moment but they really do stand out on the shelves and to have a different label for each different style was an inspired decision. That’s enough about what was on the bottle, it’s the inside that counts, right? Whilst the Kernel is genuinely regarded as the place to go for an IPA in London it’s hard to discount Partizan on this basis. This single-hop IPA is an absolute stormer, its full bodied and fresh with big bold bitter flavours of grapefruit and lemon. A really, really good IPA.  

Brewery: Partizan Brewing
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 6.6%

Beer #196 - The Kernel Oak Aged Saison

Beer six  of 11 from my visit to the Bermondsey Beer Mile. The final beer I tried at the Kernel was the oak aged saison. This saison is blended with a sour beer that results in a curiously sharp yet ultimately very refreshing beer. It pours a slightly hazy pale gold, the first sip is sour, not sour compared to the London sour, but definitely sour! It’s quite dry and tart and there is a definite, but not prominent, smoky oak hint to the beer. I naturally wanted to compare this to the London Sour and found this much closer to my cup of tea. It’s not overly sour and is very well-balanced making it rather drinkable.

Brewery: The Kernel Brewery

Country: United Kingdom

ABV: 4.1%