London Craft Beer

If you're around on a Saturday, there is an area in South London called Bermondsey. There is the "beer mile" which has 6 breweries and a bottle shop within about a mile and they are only open on Saturday.

http://thecitylane.com/london-the-bermondsey-beer-mile/

I don't drink a lot of IPAs, but I have had a few that I like. Siren Pompelmocello (grapefruit IPA), Brixton Electric IPA, BrewDog Punk IPA are the few that I prefer. Beavertown makes a Neck Oil that is decent, but I prefer the Double Chin (Double IPA), which is becoming quite hard to find.

Stouts are more to my liking and I have had several decent brews since moving here in November.
Siren Caribbean Chocolate Cake; Partizan Stout (Beer mile); Wild Beer Co. Wildebeest, Millionaire; Beavertown Spresso; BrewDog Jet Black Heart;

There are a few "chains" that specialize in craft beer. BrewDog has 6 or so pubs throughout the city and half of their taps are usually guest beers. Also, the Craft Beer Co. is a good place to check out, they have a few locations.

Depending on the area that you'll be staying, I can point you toward a bottle shop.

 

I haven't personally been to these in particular, but I found them online and they are closer to the West End. They are South of the River, but shouldn't be a difficult journey. I don't have a lot of experience with the West End, as I am usually a tourist there as well.

http://www.bottleapostle.com/clapham

http://www.thebeerboutique.co.uk/

There is a small shop in Borough Market if you make it over there called Utobeer. BrewDog has a shop on Grays Inn Rd (BottleDog), but it would be a significant bus ride from the West End, especially if there is traffic.

 

This thread is still largely relevant ... add a couple more Brew Dog bars and Craft Beer co's - easily searchable.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/london-beer-recommendations-for-visitors.96473/

"I heard that most places are only open on Saturday. Which I don't understand but o well."

Most of the brewery outlets are only open on Saturday, some open on a Friday now ... brew By Numbers, Anspach & Hobday to name a couple. Not sure why this surprises you so ? Plenty of places in the US are weekend only.

All the pubs and bars are open in the week, just a dozen or so brewery venues that are Saturday only.

 

1. If you don't have a Saturday free, then I would recommend going to Bermondsey on the Friday evening. You can visit Brew By Numbers (BBNo) and Anspach & Hobday, which are both good breweries. You can also visit The Bottle Shop, which is literally right next door to A&H and which has around 12 keg lines that generally feature a fun selection of beers from the UK and beyond. There is another brewery in Bermondsey that's open on Fridays (and throughout the week), Southwark Brewing, but they really aren't very good and I wouldn't recommend going there unless you have a lot of spare time and have exhausted the many other, better drinking establishments in London (not likely if you're only here for a week).

2. IPAs from The Kernel. You can usually find their IPAs and APAs on tap at each of the Craft Beer Co locations. The most central CBC locations are Covent Garden, Clerkenwell and Islington. If you're staying in the West End, then you are probably walking distance from the Covent Garden location. I might also recommend a visit to BrewDog Shepherd's Bush. This bar offers a tremendous range of beers on keg - I think around 40 - and usually has an outstanding range of UK breweries (plus US, Scandinavian, etc.). The draft menu is usually split c. 50/50 between BrewDog and guests. BrewDog make some great IPAs and Stouts themselves, so they are worth trying as well. I would also recommend you try Beavertown's beers. They are doing great work across the board.

3. One of the best truly central bottle shops is BottleDog (in the Clerkenwell/Bloomsbury area). The Bottle Shop (mentioned above) is also excellent. You would be able to find most of the high-profile London breweries in bottle/can at the Bottle Shop, such as The Kernel, BBNo, Weird Beard, Beavertown. They also usually have a nice range of Cloudwater beers. Cloudwater is an excellent brewery from Manchester, and worth trying (their hoppy beers especially). Personally, I wouldn't recommend trekking out to either the Beer Boutique or Bottle Apostle in Clapham. These would not be short trips from the West End. However, you could get to BottleDog quite quickly - I would guess less than 20min from the West End, taking the Central Line to Chancery Lane. (FYI, from Craft Beer Co Covent Garden to BottleDog it's less than a 20min walk, and from Craft Beer Co Clerkenwell it would be less than five minutes by foot to BottleDog.)

 

Also, the reason why most of the breweries only open on Saturdays is because they don't have space dedicated to permanent taprooms. So, on Fridays/early on Saturdays they clear space that is normally used for brewing/packaging and set up temporary bars.

 

I would also echo that Siren make great IPAs and stouts. They are located just outside of London, so their beers get good distribution throughout London.

 

What @Ruds posted:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/london-beer-recommendations-for-visitors.96473/

This will get you started and then ask away...