American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
Source (London Craft Beer Festival)
August and September are very busy months for craft brewers in the UK and one of the core events of the season, the London Craft Beer Festival just wrapped up. An annual event, this banger brings together over 100 breweries from the UK and the world for a 3-day beerganza that’s second to none.
Here’s the deal…
Set in a great venue, the 1811 Tobacco Docks, breweries were organized by geographic area, and found throughout a maze of corridors, circled around verandas, and under old brick arches in the “the vaults.”
Tight passages of beer opened up to dance floors and food courts. Informational talks about innovative whisky barreling occurred next to a special cask room exhibiting some of the original English craft beers. All while serious beer was flowing, and given the amount of “must try” beers at the event, there was no lack of a solid buzz throughout the weekend.
And when we say serious beer, we mean it.
Some local highlights included East London’s Hackney Brewery serving a fresh NE Table Beer- Pinball (3.5% ABV which we love), South London’s Gipsy Hill serving up Napa, a Brut IPA. And a bit further up North, Northern Monk surprised us with a Melon and Raspberry Kölsch.
Jon Swain, Founder, Hackney Brewery; Brian Dickson, Head Brewer Northern Monk; Allie Bobak, ACB
And UK beers were not the only ones to represent.
Honest Brew, a craft beer delivery company, impressed with its well curated ‘beer tour’ of Europe where we could try some of the best small breweries from miles away, specifically some great sours from Spain and Poland.
And a US highlight, was the much talked about 70k Amburana Wood Barrel Aged Stout, from Louisville Kentucky’s Against the Grain. With its high Untappd ranking and one of the highest ABVs at the event, this barrel-aged beauty did not disappoint!
At a time when one could easily fill their whole social calendar with cool beer events, especially in London, LCBF managed to really stand out, while still making it all about the beer.
A great time was had and some SERIOUS drinking…and ACB looks forward to making the London Craft Beer Festival it a yearly stop!
