There has been a veritable explosion in micro-breweries around Dulwich. There are two in the Gipsy Hill area, the London Beer Factory and the Gipsy Hill Brewery. At Peckham there is the Brick Brewery, at Herne Hill the Canopy Brewery and the Brixton Brewery and finally Clarkshaws which is located in Dulwich. All their craft beers are available at Dulwich Vintners, in Dulwich Village where proprietor Robin Eadon is a craft beer enthusiast.
The compiler of the Villager’s Notebook thought it only right to test these for the membership and so assembled five tasters, two youngish men, two older men and a woman of whom it was impolite to inquire of her age. Altogether, 20 beers were tasted including - wheat beer, red ale, pale ale, IPA, stout and porter. The more unusual included a Japanese pale ale, made by Gipsy Hill Brewery in collaboration with the Kent Brewery, which is infused with Japanese lemons and Yuzu fruit, Brixton Brewery’s Coffee stout which has a decided coffee flavour and the 1891 Velodrome ale from a recipe of that year, created in support of the Herne Hill Velodrome by the Canopy Brewery.
The result of the tasting was as follows:
1. Canopy Brewery - Milkwood Amber Ale 6.2% ABV
2. Gipsy Hill Brewery/ Kent Brewery Yuzu Japanese Pale Ale 5.2%
3. London Beer Factory Chelsea Blonde 4.3%
4. = London Beer Factory Paxton Pale Ale 5%
4. = Brixton Brewery Reliance Pale Ale
5. Brick Brewery Hefeweizen Bavarian Wheat beer 5.2%
Also sampled were (in order of popularity), Canopy Brewery Pale Moon Porter, Clarkshaw’s Strangebrew, Gipsy Hill Brewery Beatnik, London Beer Factory Summer Pale Ale (can), Brick Brewery Pioneer American IPA, Brick Brewery Red Brick IPA, Brixton Brewery Electric IPA, Brixton Brewery Coffee stout, Canopy Brewery 1891 , Gipsy Hill Brewery Dissident porter, Canopy Brewery Ruskin wheat beer, Clarkshaws Phoenix Rising, Clarkshaws Hellhound IPA, Clarkshaws Wheat beer.
