Hackney Brewery
American Pale Ale
4.5%
Hackney, London, UK
Hackney Brewery was set up in 2011 by Jon Swain and Peter Hills following many years working in pubs, including one of my favourite pubs in London, The Charles Lamb. At present the brewery has a core range of four beers including this APA (American Pale Ale).
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Meantime Brewing Company
Yakima Red
4.1%
Greenwich, London, UK
I visited the Meantime Brewing Company back in April as a late birthday present and got to meet the infamous “Big Al”. If you’ve been on the tour you’ll know exactly who I’m talking about, if you haven’t been on the tour then you must visit! As it was my birthday Big Al treated me to my favourite Meantime beer, when he asked me I shouted “Yakima Red” to which he said, “YES! Get this man a YAK.” Big Al is in agreement with me that Meantime’s best beer is the Yakima Red.
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Brixton Brewery
Electric IPA
6.5%
Brixton, London, UK
I previously got excited by Brixton Brewery last year when I tried their Reliance Pale Ale, you can read about my thoughts here. As I mentioned in that post Brixton are one of the newer breweries in the UK but since they first opened have really put a stamp on the UK craft beer scene. Starting with three beers, the aforementioned Reliance Pale Ale, the Effra Ale and this wonderful Electric IPA. They’ve now got a couple more beers in stock that I’m yet to try including the Atlantic APA and Windrush Stout. This newly founded brewery is one of the finest in the UK and none more so than the Electric IPA.
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The Five Points Brewing Company
Hook Island Red
6%
Hackney, London, UK
I got very excited last summer when Five Points Brewery, a short walk from Hackney overground station opened and visited on two different brewery open days. Every beer I tried within the brewery was tasty but it was the Hook Island Red that really showed the most promise. I previously said very good things about their pale ale here a few months ago here. But it was the red ale that I fell in love with.
London Fields Brewery
American Black Ale
7%
Hackney, London, UK
London Fields Brewery was born in 2011 in Hackney and has a core range of beers that are wonderful including a pale ale, an IPA, a red and a couple of others. This American Black Ale is part of their Bootlegger Series and thus far in my beer drinking career is one of my favourite beers of all-time.
Brew By Numbers
05/05 India Pale Ale Simcoe & Chinook
7.3%
Bermondsey, London, UK
On a recent what I would call pilgrimage to the Bermondsey beer mile I stopped off at the rather impressive albeit underrated Brew By Numbers brewery and was seriously impressed. The variety of beers Brew By Numbers, often referred to as BBNo offered was incredible and for someone who loves an IPA I went straight for the 05/05 India Pale Ale, Simcoe & Chinook.
Mikkeller
Bravo
6.9%
Copenhagen, Denmark
Mikkeller was founded in 2006 in Copenhagen, Denmark and is one of the best microbreweries in Europe, if not the world. I went to the Five Points Brewery opening last summer and Mikkeller were there with around 20-30 varieties of beer. The sheer variety and enthusiasm for making beer sparked my interest in the brewery. Since then I’ve tried various brews by them but Bravo remains my favourite.
Volkan
Santorini Blonde
5%
Santorini, Greece
So last year I went to Greece and found two breweries on the island of Santorini and was able to sample them both whilst on the island. However, I was also able to bring back a few bottles in my luggage and Santorini Blonde by microbrewery Volkan was one of them. The other was Red Donkey by Santorini Brewery Company that I previously waxed lyrically about here.
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Keg to Differ 