Beer #423 - Partizan Pale Ale Sorachi Ace Calypso Bravo

The second beer of four at the E7 Supper Club I attended was this pale ale from Partizan. Brewed with Sorachi Ace - a Japanese hop commonly used in wheat beers and saisons this was a very interesting beer and a definite break from the pale ale norm. The hops lent the beer a lemon flavour alongside some pineapply and some lovely grassy/wheaty notes. I really enjoyed this one and having been a touch disappointed with the last couple of Partizan beers I'd had, I was glad I liked it as much as I did.








Brewery: Partizan Brewing
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.5%

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 #418 - Beavertown Bloody 'Ell

This is a seasonal brew from the good folks at Beavertown and it won’t shock you to learn that I massively enjoyed this. It’s a heavily hopped IPA brewed with blood orange zest and juice and its bloody great (no pun intended). It’s mouth-wateringly fruity with plenty of bitter grapefruit and some orange flavour and the after-taste does leave you feeling like you’ve just had a glass of orange juice. The aroma and the after-taste are probably superior to the experience of actually drinking it, but that’s because they are great rather than the taste letting it down at all. Super.







Brewery: Beavertown Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 7.2%

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 #405 - Clarence & Fredericks Cascadian Black

I paid a ridiculous £2.29 for this pint in my local Wetherspoons, the Fox on the Hill. Clarence & Fredericks is a Croydon brewery so south London-ish it is probably fair to say. Based on the clip and beer name I was anticipating either a stout or porter or, possibly, a black IPA. It was probably closer to the latter, and indeed it is listed as a black IPA on RateBeer, although it poured a dark reddy-brown colour rather than the black that I was anticipating. The flavour was dominated by the malt with caramel notes most prominent and a mildly bitter finish. For me the hopping was quite delicate and it felt more like a slightly bitter bitter, pretty good but possibly a bit jumbled!



Brewery: Clarence & Fredericks
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 5.0%

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 #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 #385 - Siren / Magic Rock / Beavertown Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds IPA is a collaboration between three of the top craft beer breweries in the UK; Siren, Beavertown and Magic Rock, that combines the flagship IPAs of each into one beer. Its an interesting concept and a beer that I couldn't really not try. The aroma of this beer is absolutely wonderful, big fruity hoppy notes on the nose as you'd expect, lovely. Flavour-wise its more of the same but with a dominating grapefruit bitterness, its really quite aggressively bitter and is a bit too much for me. Its well worth trying, especially for those that love their hops, but its entirely possible that its no greater than the sum of its parts. I'd much sooner tuck into a Gamma Ray than another of these.




Brewery: Siren/Beavertown/Magic Rock collaboration
Country: United Kindgom
ABV: 6.4%

Beer #384 - Beavertown Applelation

Some spare time in north London recently led me to calling in at Beavertown for a beer. I went for Applelation, a bramley apple saison. Beavertown first brewed this in 2013 as Barley Champagne but a complaint from the Champagne Association (seriously) resulted in a name change. This was certainly quite different - a dry saison with a slight tartness from the apples and some bitter toffee but no sweetness. Its quite woody with a big dry, boozy finish. A bit out there for me, I struggled with the dryness and its 8.7% ABV wasn't as well masked as I'd like.






Brewery: Beavertown Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 8.7%

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 #375 - Fuller's London Porter

I probably don't drink as much Fuller's beer as I should, I certainly think the brewery gets overlooked by drinkers in the UK while it seemingly has a feverish following overseas. Their London Porter is a popular multi-award winner and deservedly so, it'll be interesting to see how traditional beers like this, especially the good ones, stand up to the ongoing surge of craft beers. It has a beautiful dark malty aroma and wonderful roasted malt flavours of chocolate and coffee with some dark fruits in there as well. The flavour is very finely balanced, sweet but not too sweet.






Brewery: Fuller's
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 5.4%

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 #357 - Camden Town India Hells Lager

When I read an ode to this beer on Matt Curtis' Total Ales blog I knew I had to get hold of it, if only to see what all of the fuss was about. A burst pipe in my office meant a day working from home which meant an opportunity to go and check out a new beer shop in my neighbourhood; Hop, Burns & Black on East Dulwich Road. Lo and behold, the shelves were stocked with plenty of excellent beer including this one so I grabbed a can (yes, just one) and off I went. This is a very tasty beer indeed, I'm not sure that it'll change my life, but it is good. The aroma of IHL is absolutely bang on. If I could only smell one beer for the rest of my life it may well be this one, it really is just wonderfully hoppy on the nose. The flavour is more of the same with sweet malts offset with lovely fruity hops that with some grassy tones and a bitter finish. It's well-documented on this blog that I'm not a massive hop-head so the full impact of this one may well be lost on me, but it's a cracking beer and one I'm sure I'll go back to.

Brewery: Camden Town Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 6.2%

Beer #356 - Camden Town Camden Pils

It's been a while since I'd had any new Camden Town beers - well over 12 months in fact - and now you're going to see two in a row. A trip to an Indian restaurant that allowed BYOB meant a quick dash to Waitrose and a bottle or two of Camden Pils, it seemed the most appropriate choice to go with a curry (although I also grabbed a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale). I'm far from a Pils expert - in fact that is something I need to address - but this is a good beer. This is light in body, crisp and refreshing and very drinkable. There is also a hearty dose of citrus hop flavours and a clean, bitter finish, which lends it the character of an American-style pale ale. Pretty good.




Brewery: Camden Town Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.6%

Beer #345 - London Fields Hackney Hopster

East London beers have been featuring quite prominently on here lately and today is no different. This time it's Hackney Hopster from London fields, a pale ale brewed with a hefty dose of New Zealond Nelson Sauvin and Motueka hops. This beer has a cracking aroma of fruity hops and the flavour is more of the same with bitter orange and grapefruit nice balanced by some sweet malty notes. The beer has a bitter finish but despite that it's very fruity and perfectly drinkable. Really enjoyed this one

Brewery: London Fields Brewery

Country: United Kingdom

ABV: 4.2%

Beer #340 - London Fields Love Not War

Another pint at the Nags Head in Walthamstow and again I went for a local-ish brew this time from London Fields. The story goes that Love Not War was brewed by the London Fields gang when they were stuck in the brewery during the London riots a few years ago. It's a very good take on a classic English bitter and was perfect drinking after a long day of out there, flavoursome stuff. Sometimes all you want is a decent bitter. Love Not War has some lovely caramel notes that dominate the flavour and it has a hint of nuttiness in there too. Really enjoyed this one.






Brewery: London Fields Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.2%