Left, right and centre. That’s where you’ll find craft and micro-breweries these days. And that’s not a complaint. After all, decent beer is not just all the rage – it’s decent beer. But when there’s a Brixton angle to your pint, then that’s even better, right?
So, just in case you haven’t already met, we thought we’d take a look at the stories behind some of the area’s very own brews, as well as meet some of the hop wizards behind them. Watch out for the six part mini-series over the next two weeks.
First up then…
A Head in a Hat “Tommy”
Tommy is an Indian Pale Ale (IPA). And the story goes that most IPAs used to be well strong. And well hoppy. That’s because transporting beer from the UK to India back in the day posed issues around keep. Despite being based on a recipe over 100 years old though, Tommy, comes in at just 4.2%, and challenges this perception of history.
According to Peter, the owner/brewer at local ‘A Head in a Hat’ Brewery, IPAs were hoppy because hops have an anti-bacterial and preserving quality. As for the strength – well that was a bit of a myth. He says there is a popular misconception about all IPAs of the time all being strong. I believe him – after all, Peter has published a book called ‘An Inebriated History of Britain’. So he knows his stuff.
Peter runs his brewery from the Florence Pub on Dulwich Road, and provides beers to quite a few local pubs, as well as shops. All his concoctions are named after hats. And all of them hark back to old recipes because he wanted to give Londoners a taste of their heritage.
Tommy (named after the Tommy Atkins helmet) uses a First World War recipe. It’s a big beer with heaps of flavour and character and relies on Kentish hops. As for the name of his brewery: “Well, in the fifties people stopped wearing hats and there was this slogan: Get ahead. Get a hat. I wear a hat. And I liked the slogan.”
Next up… The Brixton Buzz’s “Brixton Buzz”
