BREWERY CLOSURES
There is only one report of a London brewery closing since the last edition. This is Solvay Society, the brewers of Belgian style beers from Leytonstone. The message that they issued in December read in part as follows, ‘As has been the struggle for lots of breweries with the COVID hangover and rising costs, we are bringing you the unfortunate news that Solvay will not be continuing into 2023. The decision hasn’t been taken lightly and we hope our fans, crowdfunders, stockists, suppliers and everyone in between understands’. We wish Roman and his team well.
Other brewers to close recently whose beers have been seen in London are: Linfit (Linthwaite), Old Dairy (Tenterden), Slaters (Stafford), Twisted Wheel (Warrington) and Wild Beer Co (Shepton Mallet). All however is not lost. A buyer with a previous association to the company has stepped in to rescue Twisted Wheel and Curious Brew of Ashford (Kent) have acquired the Wild Beer portfolio. Their operations may not necessarily continue as before but, at least, they will continue to exist in some form. Old Dairy’s taproom and retail business has been sold but it is unclear what is to happen as regards brewing.
CHAMPION BEER OF BRITAIN
The London & South East Regional judging for CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain competition (Brown & Red Ales, Old Ales and Strong Milds category) was held at Pig’s Ear Beer Festival in December. The Gold Award went to Wimbledon Brewery for their Copper Leaf ale (4% ABV). Second place, somewhat ironically, went to Old Dairy Snow Top (see opposite) and Harvey’s Old Ale came third. Both Kernel and Fuller’s won awards in the bottled beer category. The presentation to Wimbledon Brewery was made on 13 January and will be covered in the next edition.
BIG PENNY BEER FESTIVAL
Big Penny, the successors to Truman’s, are holding a beer festival at the Big Penny Social (1 Priestley Way, E17 6AL) from Thursday 16 to Saturday 18 February. They plan to have around 200 beers available from some 50 breweries in the south east. There will also be food, live music and other drinks available. There will be two sessions each day: afternoon (12pm to 5pm) and evening (5.30 to 11pm). The afternoon session is child friendly and the evening adults only. Tickets are available from here. If all goes well, this may become an annual event. Their beers are currently brewed under contract but they plan to start brewing again as the business expands.
BOHEM BREWERY
Bohem, the Tottenham based brewers of authentic Bohemian beer, have recently collaborated with the Old Street Brewery to produce a 4% ABV lager called Emil. It is named after one of the Czech Republic’s most famous and best-loved athletes, the long distance runner Emil Zátopek, who won three gold medals at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. The owner of OSB, Adam Green, is a keen runner and felt that Bohem were the perfect partners to help celebrate one of his running heroes. The beer was brewed at Bohem’s Tottenham plant using their Czech-made specialist decoction brewing kit and lagered for a minimum of five weeks. Bohem’s head brewer, Matej Krizek, commented, “Emil is the light, easy-drinking lager that we wanted but the decoction brewing method means it also has a real depth and complexity of flavour. Emil Zátopek is one of our national heroes and we like to think he’d have awarded a gold medal to the lager named in his honour.” It was planned that the beer would be available on draught during December and January, so you might just be in time to sample it at either the Bohem Brewery tap room in Bowes Park (N22 8NQ) or the OSB tap room in Hackney Wick (E9 5EN). For more details go here.
FIVE POINTS BREWING
I mentioned in the October/November edition that Five Points had brewed a special beer to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the introduction of Small Brewers’ Relief (SBR). Before Christmas, courtesy of Meg Hillier MP, SBR IPA (5.1% ABV) was the guest beer in the Strangers’ Bar at the House of Commons. The beer is brewed entirely from British ingredients, including Sovereign, Bullion and Relentless hops, hence SBR. Relentless is a new experimental variety. Five Points director of brewing, Greg Hobbs, said, “We’re delighted to see Five Points being poured in Parliament and grateful to Meg Hillier for putting us forward. Five Points’ growth has been possible because of SBR and it’s great to see it being recognised in Parliament.” It is estimated that some 1,900 small independent breweries have come into existence because of SBR but, sadly, this is currently at risk of being reversed.
FULLER’S (ASAHI)
Although overshadowed by the closure of the brewery at Partridge Green, Fuller’s have revived Prize Old Ale (POA) under the Dark Star name. The legendary 9% ABV beer was originally created in the 1920s by Gales of Horndean who were acquired by Fuller’s in 2005, thus inheriting the final batch of POA. The beer was originally taken to Fuller’s brewery at Chiswick but more recently was moved again to Dark Star’s site in Sussex. Dark Star’s head brewer, Henry Kirk, has worked on the project for some six years, predating Fuller’s takeover of Dark Star. Sadly, this was one of Mr Kirk’s last projects for the company. The beer, which still contains an element of the original Gale’s brew, has notes of caramel, vanilla, liquorice and orange. It is available in 500 ml bottles and, if you are lucky, can be found on draught. Dark Star’s Partridge Green site closed on 31 December and, at some point, brewing will be moved to Meantime site in East Greenwich (SE10). None of the websites involved give any indication as to whether Prize Old Ale will survive the move.
PRETTY DECENT BEER CO
There is a new addition to the Blackhorse Beer Mile in Walthamstow. The Pretty Decent Beer Company opened their new brewery and taproom on 9 December in a former motor repair shop. The site houses a 1,500 litre brewing plant and the taproom has 20 taps featuring both core and weekly special beers. For more information, go here.
THAMES SIDE BREWING
I’m pleased to report that TSB succeeded in finding new premises before Christmas. They are now based at 1 Hale Street, TW18 4UW, part of the Two Rivers shopping centre in Staines on Thames. For more details, go here.