Beer #422 - Five Points Pale

For my birthday recently I was lucky enough to be taken to an E7 Supper Club by Michael Sanders at the Wanstead Tap in East London. Diners are treated to four courses of delicious food with an optional beer pairing also available. I won't go into huge detail about the food (or indeed any, suffice to say it really was amazing) but I did have the four beers to go with each course. The first was Five Points Pale from the east London brewery. This is yet another fairly prominent London craft brewery that I had, up until then, somehow managed to avoid. This APA is brewed with Amarillo, Centennial and Citra hops which give it a zingy fruity flavour. The US hops have been showcased excellently in this beer which was fresh and highly drinkable with lovely orange and lemon flavours.


Brewery: Five Points Brewing Company
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.4%

Beer #410 - Pressure Drop Pale Fire

Bizarrely this is the first Pressure Drop beer I've ever had so I've finally managed to tick off a fairly prominent London brewery that I've inexplicably avoided until now. More fool me, because this bottle of Pale Fire was absolutely brilliant. It turns out that this beer is brewed with different hops and to different recipes, had I known that at the time I'd have noted which version this was but alas, I didn't. Anyway this was pretty much everything you want from an APA - a lovely fruity aroma and a flavour bursting with tropical fruit; pineapple and grapefruit and loads of apricot with a gentle bitter bite. I'm getting excited just writing about it, really, really great and I'm annoyed that I slept on it for so long. Expect to see more from Pressure Drop on this blog shortly.


Brewery: Pressure Drop
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 5.0%

Beer #388 - East London Foundation Bitter

I was pretty happy to see this on the bar at Enfield Town Football Club when I visited there a couple of weeks ago. I still expect to be limited to macro lagers when visiting places like this so it’s always a pleasant surprise to see something more drinkable. This Foundation bitter from East London brewery is a very good one too. A solid bitter base of toffee malts is balanced with some subtle-but-very-definitely-there grassy hoppy notes. I did find it quite sweet but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment at all.







Brewer: East London (ELB)
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.2%

Beer #339 - East London Cowcatcher APA

After an afternoon at Beavertown my friends and I headed to Walthamstow for a few more beers and some food. When I first moved to London I lived in Walthamstow for 18 months or so when it was still one of the very cheapest places in London, but this was my first trip back since I left in 2009. We headed to one of our old haunts, the Nags Head. The pub is pretty much as it was then but with the welcome addition of a few more hand pumps (although Timothy Taylor's Landlord was still available, as it always was). Being in an east London postcode I thought a pint from ELB was apt. This Cowcatcher APA was a hoppy beast with grapefruit and bitter lemon flavours and a hefty bitter finish. A pretty good one.

Brewery: East London Brewing Co.

Country: United Kingdom

ABV: 4.8%