Gipsy Hill Brewing Company
Beatnik Pale Ale
3.5%
Crystal Palace, London, UK

Tucked away between Gipsy Hill and Crystal Palace in Norwood is relatively new brewery Gipsy Hill. The south London brewery boasts medium strength and full flavoured beers. Beatnik was my first foray in the brewery.

Gipsy Hill focuses on big tastes, moreish brews and makes “no nonsense” beers. Beatnik is very much that, it is a pale ale and at 3.8% an incredibly drinkable one too. By that, I mean it is to have a few pints of it without feeling particularly guilty about the ABV. Having said that despite the ABV Beatnik still packs a punch and there’s plenty of hops coming through. It pours a lovely golden orange colour and has a sweet hoppy aroma to it.

It has the bitterness of an IPA but every so often you get a sweetness. There’s a hint of malt and in some ways reminds me more of an amber beer or golden ale. It’s a really solid beer and there isn’t much to fault here. Gipsy Hill do exactly what they say do: great beers and big flavours done really well. I’ll be sourcing more in the future!

OVERALL: 3/5