Camden Town Brewery

I often over-enthuse about how I love the USA beer scene with reckless abandon, it’s not just the beer that’s got me captivated but the very vibe that runs all the way from the brewer to the consumer. When I came back from my first trip to the States, which you can read about here, I was captivated not just by the hop forward brews that were transforming my taste buds but the tap room culture that’s at the heart of the local community. In many parts of the US local craft beer nuts are encouraged to swing by the brewery for a growler refill whilst stopping for a couple of pints and a chat with passionate bar staff and down to earth brewers. They are the most popular hang outs for local workers, students and fans of craft brewed beer alike.

When I returned to the UK after my first trip to the States I not only craved a sensory barrage of hops and malt but I also wished that there were more bars that catered for my new found tastes. My wish was soon granted as bars such as the Euston Tap and the Craft Beer Company started popping up like daffodils in spring but despite these bars being excellent I still desired to feel the ‘tap room’ culture that I had observed across the pond.

This is what the bar looks like after several pints of Pale Ale

Camden Town brewery was established in 2010, by coincidence the same year I started to become an established beer nerd and I remember the first time I enjoyed Camden Town Pale ale at the Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes, since then I have followed their development closely. Now, creating the same community feel in London is quite different to creating it in a small town in northern Colorado but when I heard that Camden Town were going to build a bar and open up to their adoring public I felt that finally the UK brewing scene was catching up to it’s transatlantic cousin and sorely wished that the bar would carry the great vibe that I felt in the States.

Earlier in the month they had their debut public opening as they launched their US hopped lager ‘USA Hells’ but as I work on Saturdays I couldn’t make it down so when I saw that there would be a second opening last Friday I yelped with a little excitement and hastily emailed a bunch of friends to see if they fancied visiting with me. As chance would have it my Dad, who lives in Fort Collins, Colorado and frequents the tap room at Odell brewing with alarming regularity was also in town and in a further twist of fate one of the three guest beers that Camden Town would be tapping along with Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye PA and Ska Brewing Modus Hoperandi was Odell IPA. I thought it would be an excellent chance to see how well these hyper hopped US brews fare after they have completed their trek across the Atlantic as the IPA is my Dads regular tipple, I was also wondering how he would react to the price as he is used to paying just $3.00 for a 16 ounce pint.

For the record I didn’t make any tasting notes on this trip as it was more about socialising with friends and experiencing the brewery itself than over analysing every drop of beer that slipped down my throat. I started the evening with a pint of USA Hells, now I’m not normally a lager drinker as I generally find it too gassy and lacking a bit in substance for my tastes but I was very impressed by this beer. It smells faintly of lemon juice and elderflower and this translates perfectly into the taste which is backed by a lively, refreshing lager base. It was very easy to drink and easily up their with some of the best lagers I’ve had but those zingy USA hops appeal to my personal tastes more than the peppery, earthy notes you usually get with the Saaz variety. I’d definitely sip USA hells on a hot summers day but it was a Friday night and I was ready for something a bit more robust so moved on to my old favourite Camden Town Pale Ale. I’ve had this beer on numerous occasions in both bottle and on keg but never has it tasted so fresh and flavoursome as it did this time, it smelt of lemon rind, grapefruit and a bouquet of spring blooms and tasted incredible. The malts were robust but never too sweet and the bitterness was wonderfully balanced, zesty, but not too bitter, my perfect idea of a session beer and I did indeed come back for several more pints of this later in the evening. 

I only really drink wheat beers in the hot summer sun so I skipped the Camden wheat effort and sent my Dad to the bar for a pint of Camden Ink a stout that’s served using a nitro-keg. It’s my understanding that nitrogen fuelled kegs produce smaller bubbles resulting in a creamier mouth feel than standard carbon dioxide based kegs and so Ink is not dissimilar to Guinness in appearance. The taste though, is quite a lot better, imagine if you will the roasted malt flavour of around ten pints of Guinness condensed into a single pint then dry hopped for good measure. Once you get past the beautiful smell of roasted coffee beans you get a lovely deep espresso flavour backed with burnt toast and then a long, lingering bitter grapefruit finish. It’s a beautiful beer and definitely one for stout aficionados and fans of beers such as Magic Rock ‘Dark Arts’.

Strong branding is prevalent throughout the brewery

I then moved on to the guest selection, two of which I have never tried before. My dad commented after his first sip of Modus Hoperandi that this was ‘definitely more his thing’ proving that living in the town that contains both Odell and New Belgium wrecks your palate (he also commented that earlier in the evening he had a pint of cask ale and couldn’t taste a thing!) This IPA from Ska brewing was a delight, the malt character was a lot more present than the other pale beers I had sampled this evening but unlike the roasted flavour of Ink these were much sweeter, like chewy toffee in the Ska and in the Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye PA it was like a sickly caramel and I actually found it a little too sweet for my tastes. I love the grassy, piney hop character of the Modus Hoperandi and vowed to track it down in a bottle when I’m in the States next month so that I can taste it with a fresher palate. This shouldn’t be a problem seeing as Ska brewing are also based in Colorado. I did enjoy the Ruthless but I’ve had better beers from Sierra Nevada so I’m not too fussed about trying this again.

We then made our way to the bar to get some of the holy elixir, Odell IPA. When we ordered it (my Dad refused to have a half so forked out £6.00 for a pint because ‘that’s what he usually has’) the barman commented that ‘this is the best beer we have on tonight’ and he wasn’t wrong. I don’t really feel the need to describe Odell IPA to you, it’s probably one of the best examples of an American IPA and one of the best beers being brewed at the moment, it’s pretty easy to track it down here in the UK so you have no excuse not to try some. The real test was passed when my Dad said he couldn’t really tell the difference here to how it would taste in the tap room back at Odells which is a real testament to how well hop forward beers keep in a keg as long as they are drank within a relatively short period of time.

After my half of Odell IPA I felt that it would be rude not to have another as it truly was the best beer of the evening but then I returned to the Camden Town Pale. I was initially worried that the big USA brews would have over coloured my palate but the wonderful citrus notes still cut through and so carried on drinking it until inevitable oblivion ensued. Perhaps my one complaint of the evening was that the choice of guest beer was all too similar, they were all American IPA’s and it would have been nice to have a slightly broader selection of styles to choose from.

So does Camden Town Brewery have the tap room vibe that I feel has been the missing element to the craft beer culture that’s blossoming in the UK? Yes, it has it in spades, down to the USA style pump handles, each beer listed complete with IBU and which hops have been used in the brew and although they don’t fill growlers they do have an off license so you can take some bottles home with you! The brewery officially opens up in April and I look forward to making many more visits when it does. I’d also like to give a special ‘big-up’ to Big Apple Hot Dogs for providing some fantastic food to go with some fantastic beers and congratulate Camden Town Brewery on such a successful evening, keep it up guys.

Dark Days - A Stoutoff

Although the rise of craft beer has been predominantly focused on hyper-hopped brews (and rightly so, they are the best kind) other great styles are coming to the forefront of peoples attentions and now dark beers such as stout, porter and more recently, mild are rapidly gaining popularity.

This is no surprise as there are some fantastic dark beers available at the moment and in this, my first proper blog about beer I am going to talk about three of my absolute favourites. Now I’ve always considered myself a fan of stout even before I discovered the world of craft beer and I am of course referring to Guinness… Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with Guinness, it’s nice enough, not particularly interesting or exciting but it serves a purpose and is my ‘emergency’ beer if I ever find myself in a drinking establishment that doesn’t (gasp!) do ales. My major problem with Guinness is the marketing, its just crap which is all the more reason to go out there and try some of the amazing stouts that are available at the moment.

Many people consider stout be a pretty heavy going drink, the name itself suggests that stout should be robust and well, stout but I for one find dark beer incredibly quaffable and you shouldn’t let it’s dark appearance deceive you into thinking that this style of beer isn’t easy to drink.

Enough waffle, let me get into my first beer Marble Chocolate winner of the silver medal at this years Great British Beer Festival. Hailing from Marble Brewery in Manchester, Chocolate pours almost like a thick toffee syrup and settles with a lovely off white head. The aroma is fantastic with notes of toffee, caramel, licorice and funnily enough chocolate… maybe it’s the name giving me some sort of beer synesthesia but this beer is making me feel like Augustus Gloop at the banks of Willy Wonkas chocolate river. Upon tasting the beer is as thick and rich as the pour and aroma suggests and all the flavours you would expect from the smell are there but then the magic happens. All the roasted malt sweetness is perfectly balanced by wonderful hop bitterness which I was not expecting the first time I took a sip of this brilliant brew.

It’s worth noting here that I keep my beer in the fridge, I discovered craft beer when I visited the USA, this is how they drink it and I agree that this is how beer should be served but Chocolate definitely needs half an hour to stand and warm up slightly before drinking as the cold does mask some of the subtleties that this beer has to offer.

 

Some Marble Chocolate, yesterday

Moving swiftly on we’re going to hop (HAH!) to the other side of the pond so that I can unashamedly review my favourite brew of this style; Sierra Nevada Stout. This one can be drank straight from the chiller, it doesn’t have any subtleties it just has a supreme flavour wallop that takes you to stout heaven. It doesn’t pour as thick as the Marble, the head is still very pronounced but is slightly lighter and the beer is noticeably more carbonated... and hopped. The hops combine with the roasted malts to give you a wonderful mix of bitter and sweet aromas that beg you to take a sip. The beer is noticeably thinner in the mouth than the Chocolate but the extra carbonation helps the mixture of flavors zing around your tongue. Being American this beer is a little hoppier than the two British brews I’ve put it up against which to be honest probably has a lot to do with why it’s my favourite but it still has that wonderful malt backbone which makes stouts so great to drink.

Some of you might say why would you drink this beer straight from the fridge and that’s simply because I think it’s better that way. I find no benefit from letting a beer like this warm up, in fact I think that you would be going against the brewer if you did. If you rocked up to the Sierra Nevada tap room in California it would be served chilled and from a keg, just as the brewer intended. I am totally in love with the North American beer scene, not just the beer but the attitudes of the drinkers, how people go out of their way to drink local and the fact that you can rock up to pretty much any bar and they will have fantastic local microbrew on tap. The UK beer scene is slowly catching up but us Brits think differently to the Yanks and I think that they will remain one step ahead for a while.

I digress, this is another subject for another time so I’m going to move on to a brewer that is clued up about the beer scene and for me is injecting some much needed USA attitude into the UK. This brewer is of course Magic Rock and the beer is Dark Arts.

I’m off topic again, clearly I have a lot to write about in the future but lets get into Dark Arts. It pours thicker than the Sierra Nevada but is not quite a syrupy as the Chocolate, it does however have the most off white head of the three as well as the biggest bubbles. The darker head indicates what I expected, enough malt to capsize a battleship and the aroma is one of burnt chocolate, digestive biscuits and I’m definitely getting licorice (I’ll be honest writing about how a beer smells is new to me and feels weird, I just like drinking them but hey, maybe I’ll get used to it!) The taste is full, and rich with the roasted malts powering over your palette, this is definitely the ‘stoutiest’ of the three which I’m sure is why the hardcore stout drinkers rave about it on twitter so much. There are hops there which give the beer a wonderful finish but this beer is all about those roasted malts and as such pairs wonderfully with sweet foods (I once had it on cask with a sticky toffee pudding, those were good times).

Again I’ve tried this beer at several temperatures and enjoyed it the most straight from the fridge and if this makes me some pitchfork wielding beer heathen then so be it but at least I’m happy. 

So there we have it, one genre but three very different beers which I highly recommend you all try unless of course you don’t like beer but then, why would you be even reading this blog?