Lazy Golden Pints
In an attempt to actually write my round-up of my year in beer within the year itself, this isn’t a fully-formed ‘Golden Pints’. I’ve been too busy working (read: drinking) to fully pay attention to/document/pay attention to much of that which has passed before my eyes, so here is my (for want of a better phrasing) lazy version of events and opinions.
UK Brewery of the Year:
You may well lump me in with the haz3craz3 fanboys with this, but I think Deya are my brewery of the year. Not simply because they’ve gone from strength to strength with their beers this year, but also for a personal reason. Whilst on university holidays back home in Cheltenham, I worked at Wild Beer’s first bar at Jessop House. My good friend Matthew Taylor told me about this tiny brewery up by the train station, who were producing a couple of great beers. I visited once or twice over the summer of 2016, and quickly got to know Theo and Gareth, and their ‘core’ APA — Steady Rolling Man — was great. They were just starting to get a small amount of buzz around them, though at the time it was considered a gamble to buy one keg to pour at Jessop — they simply weren’t known that well, even in Cheltenham. Seeing them grow from the tiny outfit they were then to one of the country’s foremost haze producers, collaborating with the likes of Warpigs and Verdant, pouring all over the country, and becoming so, so popular really fills my heart with pride for a brewery I’m lucky to call my friends. Here’s to you, guys!
Honourable mentions go to The Kernel for fucking the trends and simply continuing to make excellent beer, time and time again; Marble, for that fucking Barley Wine in a can (amongst others); and Emperor’s Brewery, for being an out-fucking-rageous one man outfit making some of the best stouts I’ve ever had. That man is a lunatic.
Overseas Brewery of the Year
I first tasted Brasserie De Franches-Montagnes’ beer at Jessop House — we had both the 225 Saison and Abbaye De Saint Bon Chien on draught. The Saison was, and still is, the best of the style I’ve ever tasted (the green apple skin tho), and the Saint Bon Chien opened my eyes further to what beer could be. I caught up with them at ViniBirreRibelli this year, and was blown away again by the complexity, and innovation, evident within their beer. The fact that founder Jerome Rebetez also brought a t-shirt and pen knife (what kind of brewery has pen knives!?) from Switzerland for me was a testament to the fact that not only is he a phenomenal brewer, he’s also a really, really lovely guy. I ❤ BFM.
Best Bottle Shop:
Ghost Whale. It has to be Ghost Whale. I started the year with this bottle shop quickly becoming my new local — whilst living above the Craft Beer Co Brixton I quickly grew tired of their often limited selection of beer when I became of Ghost Whale’s appearance on the local scene, thanks to my friend Jo, who’s been there since the open and is an utter dreamboat. From the off it was clear that they work incredibly hard to find the best stuff they could, from both domestic breweries and those further afield. Their range includes some utter bangers: Pizza Port; Lost Abbey; the occasional Cantillon; and Prairie, to name a few, as well as the core range of some excellent breweries we all know and love. Their commitment to searching out exciting beer has taken them all over the country, as well as overseas (oh, boo hoo..), and it shows. It’s also worth mentioning that Alex and Stuart’s shop has the single best aesthetic of any bottle shop I’ve been to, and the soundtrack is often perfect — post-rock and -metal can often be found aggressively wooing the customers, who are often in abundance, and it’s not hard to see why. I count the guys there as good friends of mine within the industry, and I wish them every success for the coming year.
Best Tap Room:
Again, this has to be Deya. It’s certainly hometown bias, but the aesthetic really elevates this ‘tappy’ from yet another fucking industrial unit into a genuinely charming place to enjoy beer. The hand-carved wooden bar top is a work of art in itself, then there’s the artwork (including an enormous mural) by Thom Trojanowski — I really advise checking Thom’s work out, as an aside. The staff are lovely, there’s street food in the summer, there’s often some of Theo’s family helping out, and there’s a high chance that there’ll be some great dogs there. And it’s 10 minutes from my girlfriend’s house…
My honourable mention would be to the L’Ermitage Nanobrasserie tap. A stone’s throw from Cantillon, the entrance was barely visible when I visited; off a side street, the archway through which you enter illuminated by oil lamps in bowls — it seemed almost mystical and ethereal, in keeping with the branding and ‘hermit’ theme. The beers themselves were excellent, the guys themselves are a delight, and the aesthetic is mindblowing. I thoroughly, thoroughly recommend it.
Best Beer:
(It doesn’t technically count as a beer from this year, but I loved it so much when I had it that it’s all I can think of as I write. I told you this was a lazy round up, remember?) Mikkeller/3 Floyds Blå Spogelse 2013. I chanced upon this in a tiny wine shop in Florence. If you’re ever in Florence, Enoteca Millesimi (run by Fracois Pirelli) is a veritable goldmine — I knew far too little about wine to make a purchase unassisted, but I found a few gems hidden in the back — the Mikkeller Spag Bol being one of them. Unfortunately, the cap got knocked on the flight home, so it was quickly drunk with my good friend Mike at The Bottle Shop. I’d had the 2016, but by god was the 2013 intense — deep, deep blueberry, super vinous and sharp. Astounding.
Best Non-Alcoholic Beer:
When we began to source non-alcoholic beers for 7000 Jars (something I feel is often overlooked in bottle shops), I only managed to sample Nirvana brewery’s brews, and as I was eager to get some on the shelves, we placed an order. It wasn’t until a month or so later that Big Drop sent some samples over, and I was blown away at the complexity and depth of flavour in their beers, as well as the fact that it actually fucking tasted like beer. It’s a toss up between their lager and pale ale, and whilst the lager is excellent, I think the pale pips the former to the post: it’s pleasantly hoppy, well-balanced, with a bitter finish — exactly what I’ve come to expect from a beer, it’s just that this one has rather a very small amount of booze in it.
Best Personal Moment:
The first proper beer event I led was our first at 7000 Jars of Beer: ‘Beer 101’. Kingston’s craft beer scene is small, albeit definitely present, and the idea behind our Beer 101 events is to de-mystify and open up the world of craft beer to those who aren’t quite into it. I went through six different styles of beer, and covered the histories of the styles, brewing techniques, typical flavour profiles, and general bizarre anecdotal nonsense. I was shitting myself going in, having not done much public speaking at all for some time, and only once or twice on beer previously. We aimed for the event to last an hour and a half, and we overran to the point that we had to cut it short. It was insanely fun, and some of the attendees have become regulars in the shop, and friends. It was a boost of confidence that has followed through into our other events, and is a reminder that my job isn’t simply about selling beer, it’s about introducing people to new things, sharing great times with them, and making a difference, even if it’s fucking tiny.
