Mark Charlwood aka Chunk, writer of beer and brewing blog ‘Beer. Birra. Bier‘, describes the emergence of a new breed of pub…
There are those with the football shirts hanging up and the big screens and the lager fonts, those in the country with a thatched roof and a real fire, those with a guest house above and a great roast dinner. Pubs come in different shapes and sizes, from countryside to city centre, evolving from Anglo-Saxon inn to Greenwich Village gastro, an evolution that continues with every pull of the pump handle and every pint of pale ale, an evolution that makes its next stride forward in the form of pubs like Craft Beer Co.
Craft Beer Co, nestled snugly between Farringdon and Chancery Lane, London’s newest beer destination. A pub that can boast 37 (yes 37!) draft beers and a bottle selection that’ll make you do a happy dance. Yeah, it’s cool and contemporary inside with a flash mirrored ceiling and great bar snacks, but whatever, it’s all about the beer. A whopping great beer selection that’s been hand picked to showcase beer at it’s very best – irrespective of style, country of origin, method of dispense or cost.
The one-off casks from the best breweries in Britain, the West Coast IPA’s from California and the sour beers of Belgium; beer is cool again, and there’s a thirst for more than just ordinary bitter. People want to drink good beer, and this new wave of pubs is happy to serve it to them. Craft follows in the footsteps of its sister pub Cask Pub & Kitchen, beyond that London also has The Rake in Borough, a Draft House at Tower Bridge, Clapham and Battersea, The Euston Tap and a Brewdog Bar on the horizon at Camden. All pubs with something in common, a huge variety of fantastic world beer and a desire to get people drinking it. As far as quality and selection are concerned, it’s a great time to be a beer drinker and a pub goer!
So is this a short-lived trend that’ll go away as quickly as it arrived, or is this the next big step in the development or our treasured pub? Will these pubs replace the ones we currently drink in, or will they survive alongside them? Time will tell, I’ll be at the Craft whilst we wait to find out …
I went to the cask for the first time last night. The selection of beer was just amazing, I can’t believe they can keep so many beers. The ‘house larger’ (I can only assume it was named as such to be a two fingers up at anyone who would try and take the ‘easy’ option when choosing a beer) was just fantastic. It was more of an american IPA and is brewed by Mikkeller only for craft.
The house lager is fantastic, not cheap, but fantastic. Time will tell as to whether or not they can keep that number of cask ales in good condition, but for now at least, it’s pretty unrivalled.
Mark.