We all had a pretty decent night on Monday sampling seven superb brews curated for us by the perfect brewsome twosome of James Casey and Kris Langhorne from the Pretty Decent Beer Co. who made the treacherous road trip from deepest darkest Forest Gate to guide us through each of their beautiful brews. 

We really really like Pretty Decent because (apart from some very very decent modern, progressive, seasonal beers) for every beer sold they include a donation to causes driving change for good. They are for instance right now brewing a superior stout the proceeds of which will go to support relief efforts in the Ukraine… we will of course be taking some so watch this space.

It was as ever a bustling busy night so thanks to all who attended. Not only were we treated to seven superb brews we also got the chance to chew on some different malts and most of all to gain some very rare insights to the brewing process. For instance, who would have thought that all of these Rock Star hops (you know Mosaic, Simcoe, Citra etc) are bred specifically for the purpose rather than growing wild in the hedgerow on the Cut. Not only that they are tightly controlled by their owners/creators and can only be grown under licence or with copyright permission or something (the Even Greater Love 8% was kicking in by then!!). There is also a futures market in hops with brewers taking up tactical buy positions for hops that will be delivered in 12 months or more and that may not even have been used in a beer yet… So that’s why hops can account for 40%++ of the cost of craft beer raw ingredients!

Suffice it to say we will be inviting James and Kris back a bit later in the year so watch this space for confirmation of the date as it will be another cracking night!

In the meantime, we have regular monthly Meet the Brewer tastings lined up starting in April with our very good friends and Popes Yard Brewery in Apsley and then… yes!… THE VERDANT BREWING COMPANY in May. Dates with Tring Brewery, Neon Raptor and Fierce are all in the mix!

Before all of that of course on Monday 28th March it’s the mouth-watering monthly Casual Tasting Night! And we are getting the big guns out this time round with nothing less than 8% as we delve into the dark domain of the delicious DIPA!

Gather at 7:30 pm for an 8 pm start. It’s free except for the normal “pooled” tab. There will be a few freeby samples and some other discounts thrown in too. And all beers sampled will of course be scored blind… it’s all really quite exciting and will doubtless get a bit “animated” as different opinions emerge through the haze of those delightful Double IPAs!

Hope you can join us!!