If you drink beer and weren’t aware that London Beer City was happening last week, then where were you? Probably just in the pub as normal but if you are still none the wiser, it was the debut of a week of beer related events around the city (London), from beer and food pairings, to brewery open evenings and live brews. However I didn’t do any of these, I took the opportunity to try beers from breweries that are normally less accessible to me and drink as many of them as possible. This was quite a challenge with a bout of potential vertigo, so at times required a great deal of mind over matter but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. So on Saturday the 9th August, I headed to my first stop, the recently opened The Bottle Shop on Druid Street, which is two or three arches down from Anspach and Hobday (one of the ‘Bermondsey Five’), who were hosting a popup event for the almighty Weird Beard Brewery. Up until the point of writing this blog post, I actually thought that Weird Beard were based outside of London but in actual fact they are in Hanwell which isn’t really London anyway to be fair so the trip was worth it.

On entering, it seemed fitting that your eyes are immediately drawn upwards to look upon the Weird Beard sign in awe and we immediately went up the stairs to see what awaited us. Here we discovered three Weird Beard beers on draft, two of their staple beers, Little Things That Kill, a light pale ale brewed with the hop of the moment, Sorachi Ace and Lord Nelson a wonderful tribute to the Nelson Sauvin hop. The third beer looked rather more intimidating, 貞子,otherwise known as Sadako, or as my useful Japanese friend told me, the girl with the hair from The Ring films, which in beer terms is apparently a 9.2% Imperial Stout. I picked up my complimentary Weird Beard beer mat and Holy Hoppin Hell sticker, (a double IPA which up until that point had been my favourite Weird Beard beer) and after chatting to who I think was Weird Beard Paul headed outside with my half pint of Little Things That Kill. Despite the name, it was very light and refreshing with a hint of lemon from the Sorachi Ace hops and made a nice change from the grapefruit flavoured or more lager type pale ales that I’m used to. After sensibly sharing a third of the Holy Hoppin Hell with a friend, I decided I had to have a bottle of the Sadako to take away, even at £6 a bottle. The contents did not last long. En route to Partizan Brewing and after passing by Anspach and Hobday for an IPA and an IPA Saison (no one I’ve spoken to seems to know exactly what this is but it tasted nice), I am somewhat ashamed to say that I decided it was a good idea to crack open the bottle of Sadako on the street and share it with my friends, which felt like I was committing a terrible crime. Needless to say as soon as I took my first swig I knew this was a bad idea, not only because I knew I was peaking too early but it just didn’t feel or taste right drinking an Imperial Stout in this manner. I did however manage to keep the bottle and get it home in one piece for a change.

My second attended London Beer City event (apparently LondonBeerFestival.com was taken), was the A Head in a Hat and Moncada Brewery tap takeover at The Kings Arms in Waterloo. I have enthused about A Head in a Hat beers before as their 4.2% IPA Tommy, is one of, if not my favourite proper ‘English’ ale in all the land (see here). I was looking forward to two things in particular, finally meeting the brewer Peter Haydon and to trying Gin, my friend’s favourite A Head in a Hat beer, which is brewed using gin botanicals. Both were in fact a pleasant surprise. The Gin was very different from the Tommy and you could really taste the gin spices in the beer which I have never experienced before and loved. The two other beers were Titfer, the more bitter of the four and finally Boater, a lighter pale ale. As always Mr Haydon showed that there is absolutely no need for ales that are brewed with English hops and below 5% ABV to be bland. Each one has a distinct flavour but share a commonality in that they are all influenced by traditional recipes from the early 1900s and contain whatever magic ingredient Peter uses that means that after a few pints l feel only mildly tipsy. Not only that but we also discovered that Peter is also a bit of a DJ, bringing along his gramophone to spin some 1930s classics. By the way if you are also hoping to read about the Moncada beers, sorry I forgot to have any.

Oh dear we’re only on Monday. Now on to Wednesday which was a real treat for me. On a Californian road trip last year, I tried several locally brewed beers which fuelled my love of craft beer and prompted me to start this blog. One of the beers was Pranqster, a Belgian Golden Ale by North Coast Brewing Company, and was one half of the best beer and burger combo that I have ever had in my life. So I was ecstatic when I found out that they would be doing a tap takeover at The Three Johns in Angel as part of London Beer City. I decided to start with the Pranqster as it had been a year since we had last seen each other and fortunately my friend is happy talking so I did not have to take too many breaks in between sips. It was as good as I remembered, if not better, like a less heavy and more fruity wheat beer. There were six North Coast beers on tap to try that night and I could not have gone with a better person as we were both drawn towards different beers, meaning I got to try them all.

So from left to right, Acme California Pale Ale, Scrimshaw Pilsner Style Beer, Acme California IPA. My selection was definitely more tame than my friend’s and even the brewers had a hard time telling the difference between the Pale Ale and the IPA, which were both quite reserved on the hops and were not particularly stand out beers. The Pilsner was nice and crisp as you would expect. My friend had definitely gone for the better choices, the Red Seal Ale and the beer with perhaps the biggest reputation and deservedly so, Old Rasputin, a 9% Russian Imperial Stout which was right up my street but shocked the hell out of my friend who was not used to such potent stouts. To my delight the Pranqster is available online from Ales By Mail but I fear it could be some time before I get to drink any of the beers on tap again but it was definitely good while it lasted.

On to the last of event of my Beer City Week, the opening of Late Knights Brewery’s latest offering, Beer Rebellion in Peckham. Late Knights have built up quite an empire over the past year, already on their fourth bar opening with other branches in Brockley, Gipsy Hill and Brighton. The premise for the evening, was to serve beer from local breweries, which understandably includes Late Knights themselves and the likes of A Head in a Hat in Herne Hill, Brick Brewery in Peckham, Gipsy Hill Brewing and Rocky Head in Wandsworth. They have 10 keg beers and 4 casks serving real ale and will be serving London beers only for the first month.

Within about a minute of entering and in my enthusiasm, I managed to knock a glass off a shelf which in my defense was on a shelf full of glasses very close to the bar so I can’t be entirely to blame. The reason for the positioning of said shelves is that you have the option to choose your own drinking vessel before approaching the bar, which is a nice idea but if this is too big a decision to make or you forget, then they have plenty of glasses behind the bar also. On a night when I was being particularly picky, I was very impressed by the knowledge and patience of the barmen, particularly Roger who had to deal with me trying several beers with a pretty large queue behind me but I also had very friendly chatty neighbours which made the process even longer. Overall the stand out beer for me was Zen from Rocky Head which is a very punchy American style Pale Ale (again with that lovely lemon flavour) and not one that you see around very often, so if you do, I would advise you to grab it while you can. Late Knights’ own brew Peckham Rye IPA was another favourite of mine making its debut on the night but I personally spent most of the night on the aforementioned Gin, which lacked as much flavour as it had at The Kings Arms (who are particularly good at keeping their taps clean) but I was very happy to drink it all the same. The place itself feels oddly quite claustrophic which is odd considering that one side of the room is one big window and could explain why the majority of people were outside. The outside space at the front is pretty big by London standards though so is a bonus. I look forward to going back as they continue to add more exciting beers to the lineup.

So from my experience, London Beer City was a brilliant way to introduce people to the exciting beer scene in London. For me, most weeks are a London Beer City week but I hope that there are many more ‘official’ ones to come. It seems to me that it was a great success.

Upcoming events this week, 100th Brew Party at Partizan Brewing, Brew by Numbers End of Summer Party, Open Day at Five Points Brewing, Tap East Open Brewhouse Festival 2014, Tank Party 2 at Camden Brewery More info at http://impissedagain.com/events-2/