Don’t let the cold weather put you off from what’s going to be another great month for beer events. Like haggis, January’s been and gone, but it was surprising how many beery things the month saw and February’s starting to look even busier.
Caveat: I’ve tried to be as thorough as I could but my usual source for pubs that fly under the radar and don’t really do the internet has buggered off out of online circulation. And if anyone finds London Drinker online feel free to ping it this way. But further updates are expected when I get hold of an electronic or dead tree copy.
Recommendations for pubs to watch the Six Nations this month are The White Horse in Parson’s Green and the Dean Swift (the latter gets particularly packed during rugby matches but for some that’s part of the appeal).
Wednesday 1st
Goose Island – Meet The Brewer and Dinner – The Bull (13 North Hill, Highgate, N6 4AB)
The founder of one of America’s top craft breweries and his team will be presenting seven of their most exciting beers, matched with food cooked by the fine people at The Bull.
Booking page
Thursday 2nd – Sunday 5th
Ale House Rock - The Snooty Fox (75 Grosvenor Avenue, Canonbury, N5 2NN)
Hot off the heels of their “Carry On Up The Snooty Fox” festival comes “Ale House Rock”. 25 “new wave” craft beers from British breweries. Check the Facebook page (link below) for the beer listing, featuring plenty of beers I’m clamouring to try and some I’m keen to try again.
Facebook page
Monday 6th
Arbor Ales – Meet The Brewer – Cask (Charlwood St, Pimlico, SW1V 6EE)
Award winning Bristol brewery Arbor Ales will be showcasing their beers at Cask this coming Monday for a Meet The Brewer event. Not only do Arbor Ales not brew a bad beer but their unconventional brews are really exciting. Hopefully there’ll be a good mix of both on the bar next Monday.
Twitter
Wednesday 8th – Friday 10th
Battersea Beer Festival (CAMRA) – Battersea Arts Centre (Lavender Hill, SW11 5TN)
150 real ales, plus ciders and foreign beers. This is one of the rare CAMRA-run beer festivals where the younger crowd manages to outnumber the sandals and comedy beard-wearing CAMRA old guard. I’d suggest you get there as early as possible as it’s one-in one-out from about 5pm and the cold snap is set to continue (brrr). Fridays are probably best missed if you’re wanting to sample as many beers as possible as things start getting dry after Thursday night. That said they didn’t run out of beer at 7pm on the Friday last year so they’ve learnt their lesson from the previous year.
£4 admission (£1 off for CAMRA members)
Website | Twitter
Wednesday 15th
Budvar Master Brewer & Roger Protz at The Draft House - (Tower Bridge Road, Tower Bridge, SE1 2UP)
A selection of Budvar beers presented by the Budvar Master Brewers Josef Tolar & Adam Broz and award winning beer writer Roger Protz. Included in the ticket price is a four course matching dinner inspired by food local to the Budvar brewery (very pork-orientated. Yum).
Booking page
Wednesday 22nd
Quality SE1 Pub Crawl – Various pubs along the route around London Bridge
Monthly favourite QSE1PC returns slightly later than usual in February. Route yet to be decided but last month was great fun for meeting new and old faces, as well as badgering Arbor Ales at the Draft House with questions (well, that was Tom, I was mostly being all fanboy at how awesome their beers are).
Facebook page
Thursday 23rd
Porklife pop-up - The Bull (13 North Hill, Highgate, N6 4AB)
“Porklife” is the new pop-up concept by Masterchef 2011 veterans Tom Whitaker and Tim Anderson. Their inaugural pop-up is being hosted at The Bull and the mouth-watering menu features a “little board” and a “big board” as well desserts and a few beery treats – click the link below for the full menu. Tickets will be available very soon and will cost £40 per head.
Twitter | Menu
Wednesday 22nd – Sunday 26th
Pembury Taven Beer Festival - Pembury Tavern (90 Amhurst Road, Hackney, E8 1HJ)
45 ales on over 5 days, 25 on at any one time.
Website (not much in the way of other information)
Wednesday 22nd – Sunday 26th
Yorkshire Beer Festival – The Bricklayer’s Arms (32 Waterman Street, Putney, SW15 1DD)
100 real ales, ciders and perries. Two years running and I’ve found loads of interesting beers from my native Yorkshire at the Bricklayer’s Arms Yorkshire beer festival, so it’s worth making the trip. I’ve yet to make my mind up about the Morris Men though.
Website
Tuesday 28th
Extreme Grape vs Grain (France vs Belgium) – The Draft House (Tower Bridge Road, Tower Bridge, SE1 2UP)
Higher ABV wines vs higher AVB beers. It’s all a bit “you had me at France vs Belgium” so I’m definitely off to this one.
Ticket price (£35) includes four beers, four wines and a light meal.
Booking page


Tap East is a rather unimposing bar when you approach it from the mall, and on opening day I struggled to find it, not helped by incomplete maps of the centre. Although once you actually turn into the bar itself it’s quite striking and definitely makes an impression. Since the permanent bar has been installed that’s the thing that draws your immediate attention. It fits rather snugly in the corner at a right angle but when you take stock of how many hand pumps and draught taps are on, not to mention the snacks you realise it’s quite epic.