"Binettes" of London Beer Life
Today I invented a new word. I started off calling this blog a collection of “vignettes”, but then it struck me that this way of describing “brief evocative description, account or episode” (thanks, Oxford Dictionary) was derived from “vine”. I wanted to find something beer specific. I discovered that a “bine” is a twining stem or flexible shoot of the hop. Hence binettes, or little bines. I will bask in my own creativity tonight. But in the meantime, some random short stories of my recent explorations with my Beer Passport.
Chapter 1: The smallest pub in Britain - Brightwater
Alex Coomes founded Brightwater Brewery in 2012. In 2015 he took over a tiny building just outside Claygate Station in Surrey, which became “Platform 3” (Claygate Station has two platforms…). His website shows an impressive roster of awards for his beer. This was another example of a taproom that I would never have heard of had it not been for the Beer Passport. As it was, I found a suitable afternoon to catch the train for the short journey from Clapham Junction to Claygate. As advertised, you step outside the station and there it is, impossible to miss. It has the air of a very pretty garden shed stuck in the middle of the pavement, with a grand total of one seat inside (but tables outside) and two incredibly fresh containers of beer on offer.
I proffered my passport to Alex - for indeed it was he serving the beer - to obtain my free pint. The passport is often an excellent conversation starter, as (most) people want to know where you have travelled from and where else you have been. I gathered that not many passport holders made it all the way down to Claygate, which is after all outside the Travelcard zone. I split the free pint into halves of the two beers on offer - the “Ernest” Pale (“Ernest” being a hop named after Sir Ernest Salmon who developed it) and the multi-award winning “Daisy Gold” golden ale. Alex eventually got himself a beer and joined me at my table to carry on chatting. He told the classic story of how he used to have a highly paid job in business but had got hooked on the joys of brewing beer and decided to make a go of it commercially. The decision to obtain the site outside the station was explained by the fact that customers were coming to “the brewery” (i.e. his garage) to get their supplies and as business blossomed his wife got fed up with this. I sank a couple more pints of Daisy Gold, which was absolutely delicious on a hot summer afternoon, as a man played his guitar in the background and other customers leaned across from their tables to join the conversation. Rich people from Surrey (and Claygate is clearly a prosperous place) have a reputation for being a bit stuck up, but there was none of that. My only reflection was that if I lived in Claygate I would end up drinking there on the way home every day, and that this might not be great for my health.
Eventually I had to catch my train, leaving Alex to deal with a customer who had asked if he could supply a large quantity of beer for an event - Alex’s stipulations about the proper love and care of cask ale reminded me of an anxious parent briefing the babysitter before leaving his adored child for the evening (and I think may have led the customer to the conclusion that he would be better off getting a keg of something boring) .
Overall, a life-affirming experience and one of the passport venues to which I will definitely return.
Chapter 2: A social enterprise - Ignition
It was a Saturday afternoon, I had been busy all day and I wanted just to cover off one more brewery from the Passport. I chose Ignition partly because it was easy to get to (the Overground from Clapham Junction to Sydenham) and partly because of the story behind it. The USP of Ignition is that they provide jobs for adults who are neurodivergent or with learning difficulties, training them in all aspects of producing and serving beer. The brewery began in 2015. The taproom in the Sydenham Centre on Sydenham Road dates from 2017. In 2023, they teamed up with the Brighter Horizons charity.
The Sydenham Centre is not the most charming piece of architecture from the outside, but the taproom is a lovely welcoming space, with art on the walls and flyers on the tables advertising a rich mix of activities. I would have killed for a “Babies and Beer” session when I was a young father and the Neurodiversity Social (low lights, arts and crafts, board games) also sounded very appealing. And beer, of course. I enjoyed the GT Turbo DDH Pale and (especially) the Jump Start IPA, which was Ignition’s first beer. Look at their website (ignition.beer) and you see how seriously they take the beer - this is not make-work. Of the staff on duty, I was pleased to recognise Tom (“Hop Picking Hero”), Benedict (“Pied Piper of Beer”) and Michael B (“Pint Pouring Perfectionist”) from the photos on the website.
So overall I would definitely recommend this place. Buying a pint from Ignition is not (just) giving to a good cause - you will get a good feeling in your taste buds as well.
Chapter 3: The stews of Southwark - Friday night in Bermondsey
There is a proud history, going back to Shakespeare’s time, of London gentlemen crossing the river into Southwark to escape the confines of the City and indulge in all manner of vices. Historically this tended to be gambling, whoring and (gasp) theatre. To this was added craft beer when Evin O’Riordain established the Kernel Brewery in 2009 and inspired a host of others to try something similar, thus creating the “Beer Mile”.
My passport has seven locations in Bermondsey, which of course only scratches the surface (no Kernel, no London Barrel Project, no Cloudwater, etc). I had thought of tackling it all as a major weekend sesh, but eventually resolved to follow the wise counsel about eating an elephant a couple of bites at a time. Anyway, recently after a frustrating Friday at work I resolved that Bermondsey could be a cure for my ills.
It was a short stroll from Bermondsey Tube to the vibrant hub that is Enid Street. I reached my first stopping off point, which was Mash Paddle. As well as being a brewery, they teach brewing - they describe themselves as an “incubator for start up brewers”. I have long tried to interest work colleagues in indulging in a “Brew Your Own Beer” team building exercise, so far without success (and as we are civil servants I can think of certain newspapers who would not view such an enterprise favourably). They have a great selection of guest beers including from my old Sussex friends Beak (see https://www.londonbiermeister.co.uk/blog/sussex-wunt-be-druv ). But with the passport you have to drink the brewery’s own. Which was not a hardship as I settled for two-thirds portions of a couple of succulently rich and strong (6.5% ABV) Belgian-inspired beers - a Frambozen and a Dubbel.
As I savoured these two beers, the taproom filled up and we had to share tables. I got chatting to a group of gentlemen who were clearly exploring Bermondsey as a social activity. I was left in awe of them when they revealed that they had visited the infamous London Craft Beer Festival earlier in the day… and were still standing and thirsty for more. Let me explain LCBF to those unfamiliar. It brings together an unparalleled collection of the wares of the best craft breweries. But then you come to the dangerous bit - you pay a single entry fee (I think around £68) and then all the beer is included for the four hours of your ticket’s validity. I am sufficiently aware of my own weakness to stay away from such temptation.
I mentioned that I would be attending the Great British Beer Festival in Birmingham in August, and we fell into conversation about the eternal cask v craft debate. But then I learned something new as one of their number launched into a description of Key Keg, which the Sanhedrin of CAMRA had determined - after much debate - to be kosher (“the gas doesn’t touch the beer, you see, and you really can’t taste the difference from cask”). I gather that the issue of Key Keg has been running for a while, and is seen as a proxy for which century CAMRA decides to live in. So the final decision this year to allow Key Keg beer to call itself Real Ale is, to mix religious metaphors, something akin to the Vatican II reforms of 1967. The official CAMRA line is one of pained frustration that people think they might have been driven by anything other than the facts, good science and the taste. But apparently there are still the diehards shouting “chemical fizz!” at anything which is not the one true cask. I look forward to getting a sense of the room at GBBF.
(As my new companions left, one of them turned back to me, gestured and said softly “my son runs a craft beer bar so he likes his Key Keg. But you can tell the difference, really”).
Sometimes when exploring taprooms it is a bit of a walk between them. Not in Bermondsey. I had barely ventured out onto Enid Street when I was at the door of Bianca Road Brew Co. Bianca Road is in Peckham, where this brewery started out before they were drawn to the Beer Mile. They advertise themselves as majoring on beer that is fresh and sustainable. All I know is that I had not heard of them before but they smashed straight into my top 10. I tried the Long Play session IPA and the Cracked Summer lemon and black pepper saison - which was the most interesting beer I have tasted in a long time.
It was hard to escape from Enid Street as I was drawn into sampling the “Against the Grain” cidery (recently moved from my home turf just by the mighty AFC Wimbledon) and Gosnells Nectar. Suddenly I realised that, although the night was young, I had quaffed my fill and it was time to stagger back to London Bridge. I ignored the siren call of one taproom after another as I strode with more purpose than accuracy, vowing to return soon.
Epilogue
There are more stories I could have told. I have ventured down to the leafy charms of Blackheath for Zerodegrees microbrewery, where I discovered the joys of their “So Mango” pale. I have started to scratch the surface of East London with a walk around Leyton. But many pleasures remain for another day.
[For my other “passport” blogs, seehttps://www.londonbiermeister.co.uk/blog/looking-for-my-passport-i-m-going-drinking and https://www.londonbiermeister.co.uk/blog/brixton-beer-passport-journey-part-2 , and see here for the full list https://www.londonbiermeister.co.uk/blog/annex-beer-passport-the-story-so-far ]