{"id":610,"date":"2019-11-21T01:14:30","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T01:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=610"},"modified":"2019-11-21T01:17:14","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T01:17:14","slug":"champion-beer-of-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2019\/11\/21\/champion-beer-of-london\/","title":{"rendered":"Champion Beer of London"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The competition, organised by Christine Cryne, took place at this year\u2019s Ealing Beer Festival in July. The awards have recently been presented to some of the winners as follows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FIVE POINTS \u2013 PROVIDING SOME BALANCE! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may be argued that awards\naren\u2019t everything but it is interesting to note how many Five Points have\npicked up recently. What makes it even more interesting is that, unlike some\nbreweries, it isn\u2019t for just one beer. Five Points is not a one trick pony; 2019\nsaw their Porter win the Champion Beer of London and Five Points Pale claim\nSilver in the Golden Ale category in CAMRA\u2019s Champion Beer of Britain\ncompetition, being pipped by longstanding golden ale favourite, Oakham Citra. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the spring, Five Points started to experiment with a best bitter, maybe an unusual choice for a modern brewery, especially as, if you Google Five Points, you tend to get towns in the USA. Head brewer, Greg Hobbs, explained the reason for the beer, \u201cI wanted to drink a beer style I grew up with. I like beers where balance is important. We tried this out at a Brewers Challenge at Whitelocks and I was delighted with the reception we got amongst other brewers. It\u2019s designed to be drunk in volume. It\u2019s definitely a session beer<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Greg holds the certificate, with brewery owner Ed Mason (right) and CAMRA egional Director Geoff Strawbridge<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Various hops were tried in this 4.1% ABV, dark amber bitter before settling on the British iconic hop, Fuggles. A great deal of care has been taken to source this hop with Greg visiting the Kent hop farm where it was grown. Greg continues, \u201cIt comes from Hukins, which is a fifth generation hop growing farm. It helps us do our bit for the environment too, using English hops from 50 odd miles away rather than importing them from half way around the world<\/em>.\u201d It was clear from the pleasure on Greg\u2019s face that he is personally delighted in the unexpected success of this more traditional beer. He elucidated, \u201cI\u2019d hate to see Best Bitter die out. People have flocked to it from beer geeks to ordinary drinkers. It now accounts for 5% of our total beer production.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This however doesn\u2019t mean that\ncask is the majority of Five Points\u2019 sales; 55% is keg and 25% cask, with the\nrest being small packaging (cans and bottles) but Five Points is bucking the\ntrend detailed in this year\u2019s Cask Beer Report. The brewery\u2019s cask beer is\nshowing a 5% increase year on year and Five Points\u2019 total beer sales are up\n30%, which means that the brewery is fit to burst. To meet demand they are\nbrewing three times a day except Friday, when it is twice. A search for new\npremises has been going on for a while. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside the expectation of a new brewery, Greg is enthusiastic about real ale\u2019s prospects, \u201cWe are proud of our cask range. In a nutshell, we love the fact it is growing. As long as breweries and pubs are doing the right thing, then cask ale has a future<\/em>.\u201d And that means more experimenting with traditional styles. May will see the introduction of a mild and, who knows, if it proves as drinkable as their Pale, Porter and Best Bitter, they may see another gong on their hands.
Christine Cryne <\/em><\/strong>
Note: <\/strong>Whitelocks Ale House is a famous pub in Leeds (Good Beer Guide page 571) which is also owned by Ed Mason, the owner of Five Points. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MILD MAKETH THE BREWERY! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tap East brewery has been\naround for eight years but it probably doesn\u2019t come to mind when you think of\naward winning London\nbreweries, yet this 2.5 barrel operation punches well above its weight. As well\nas winning SIBA\u2019s South East IPA category this year, they scooped the award for\nthe best speciality beer and best mild in CAMRA\u2019s Champion Beer of London\nawards. It was also the overall silver award (to Five Points\u2019 Railway Porter\u2019s\ngold). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what makes this brewery\nspecial? The pub brewery was set up in 2011 in the Westfield Centre, Stratford. It may be an\nunlikely venture in a place dominated by the big names of the high street but\nthat is why they are there. Westfield\nwanted some smaller, local outlets alongside the likes of Waitrose, Boots and\nCosta Coffee and so Tap East came into being, a venture set up by Mike and\nRichard of the Rake in Borough Market fame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the early days, there have been four brewers but the ethos of each appears to have been the same: to keep the best and tweak the rest! Josh, the current brewer, explained, \u201cThere are certain beers within the portfolio that are loved and it\u2019s important that the regulars continue to be satisfied<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Josh Walker, Christine Cryne and Mike Hill plus lots of awards!<\/code><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite this, each brewer brings in their own flair and Josh said that Richard and Mike are happy for experimentation as long as the beer sells! An example of the experimentation was the hosting of a home brew competition with the winner having the chance of brewing their beer at Tap East although it didn\u2019t turn out quite as expected because the winner lives overseas and they ended up doing a \u2018virtual\u2019 brew via the internet. The winning brewer will however be coming over shortly for the launch of the beer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Josh started as a brewer at the\nBrewhouse & Kitchen at the Angel before moving on to Camden Town Brewery.\nEach has provided a unique experience from creativity to efficient brewing,\nlessons that Josh is fully aware of but the latter can\u2019t really be applied to\nTap East. As he explained, \u201cIt\u2019s the weirdest\nbrewery I have ever brewed at. It\u2019s been designed to occupy as small as space\nas possible. It messes with my head a bit but, unlike at Camden, efficiency is not the name of the\ngame<\/em>.\u201d Take the mash tun and kettle;\nthey are stacked on top of each other, as are the four fermenters, so in total\nit looks like just three vessels and the kettle doubles as a hot liquor tank as\nwell. Space has an impact on the storage of ingredients too. They keep the hops\nand some smaller ingredients on site but everything else is stored at Five\nPoints Brewery. Cask and keg storage space is also at a premium (60% is cask\nand the rest is keg) although the kegs are KeyKegs so the beer is still live\nwith a shortish shelf life. This is no problem with most of the beer being sold\nin the Tap East pub and a little in the Rake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what of the future? With Josh\u2019s energy and com-mitment to quality, more awards are likely and, if nothing else, do try their East End Mild and Coffee in the Morning; their gongs are well earned.
Christine Cryne <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WIMBLEDON<\/strong>\nON THE BALL <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wimbledon Brewery\u2019s XXXK Vintage\nAle (10% ABV) won the award in the Barley Wine and Strong Old Ale category. On\na rainy Saturday in October a hardy bunch from CAMRA\u2019s South West London\nbranch, along with Regional Secretary Roy Tunstall representing Ealing Beer\nFestival visited the brewery to present the certificate. As ever, the\nhospitality was excellent, led by master brewer Derek Prentice, later joined by\nowner Mark Gordon and head brewer Charlie Long. Thanks also to Max who kept the\nbeer flowing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Left to right: Derek and Charlie with Regional Director Geoff Strawbridge<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mark\u2019s research in the local papers of the time had revealed that the original Wimbledon Brewery brewed an XXXK in the 1880s although there is no record of its recipe. Alas, this year\u2019s XXXK had all gone, although more is on its way. We therefore started with its \u2018little brother\u2019 XK Mild (3.3% ABV), a seasonal beer, well recommended with its flavour of malt, red fruit and chocolate. It comes from the same brew as the XXXK using the parti-gyle system. We also sampled Common Pale Ale and the wonderful Quartermaine IPA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Brewing Book<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The visit had its educational aspects with Derek giving us a demonstration of a Lovibonds Comparator. This device measures the colour of beer against a set scale. A sample of beer goes in one side and a calibrated wheel in the other and you turn the wheel until you get a match. Derek also showed us a hand-written brewing book from his days at Truman\u2019s which was rescued from a skip. It is part of a small collection of brewing memorabilia that he has assembled. Our thanks go to all concerned.
Tony Hedger<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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