20 Breweries in London...(and the rest!!)

The Championship break to allow for international games means that there is little to write about Charlton over the next fortnight, which may come as a relief to some!

Since starting this blog I have been paying a little bit more attention to the beers I have been enjoying, rather than just the taste, and I have been amazed at the number of breweries that I have uncovered.  However a recent statistic did take me by surprise.  An article(1) in the Evening Standard last week claimed that beer drinkers in London and the South East paid as much in tax as the whole of Germany.

However what caught my eye in the article was that London had over 20 Breweries!  Really?  I was intrigued and tried to see how many I could reel off in my head.

Well lets start off with the obvious one.  Fullers have a decent operation in Chiswick and I believe are the only remaining large scale (my definition) brewer left in London as Youngs (formerly in Wandsworth) and Courage (East London) are now brewed in Bedford.

I could also recall Sambrooks of South London (whose staple beer is Wandle) and Camden of North London as these are regularly served in my after work local.  Similarly I know of Meantime as their excellent Old Brewery restaurant and bar in Greenwich is nearby.  I've not been to Zero Degrees microbrewery in Blackheath for a while but its still there serving four decent styles of beer from its premises.

Firkin pubs and their eclectic range of brews were a favourite of mine in student days with names such as Dog Bolter but these stopped in 1999 following their takeover from Bass (thanks fellas!) so can' be included in the list.

Well that is only five so where are the other 15, and more importantly where can I sample the wares?

I found a few more while searching the Internet but It was only when I stumbled on the website of Leyton's Brodie brewery (www.brodiesbeers.co.uk)  that I came across a link to the holy grail of the capital's ale producers that is the London Brewers Alliance to find that there are actually over 40 brewers (hallelujah!). 

www.londonbrewers.org/

Membership is limited to breweries inside the M25 with a track record of brewing beer commercially.  There are too many to do justice to by naming them all so do take a peak at the website and see whats on offer.  I for one will be doing a bit of intensive research over the international break sacrificing my liver doing some hard nosed research (all for the sake of my blog you understand).

Cheers......

Note
The above may not be top quality investigative journalism, just my amateur sleuthing on a boring midweek evening.  I'm happy to correct any mistakes in the name of promoting good local beer in the capital.

(1) Original Evening Standard article link below
(www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/drinkers-in-london-and-the-southeast-pay-more-beer-duty-than-whole-of-germany-8530868.html).