Words by Helena Nicklin
To celebrate International Beer & Pizza Day on the 9th October (yes, it is a thing!) we’ve rounded up some delicious new beers with great stories to tell.
Hiver Honey Blonde Beer - 4.5% abv
Inspired by founder and superwoman Hannah Rhodes’ admiration for London’s beekeepers, this easy-drinking, refreshing British blonde beer is brewed using three types of honey and unpasteurised to maintain its elegant, floral notes and subtle hints of heather, honey and baking bread. It’s silky smooth and flavoursome without being too sweet or bitter; the perfect all-rounder beer that’s easy to love and quite possibly a game-changer for those who might more usually reach for a white wine. Also try their Hiver Honey Ale: a more hoppy, brown ale with a tasty roasted malt flavour. 10% of all profits got to pollinator charities and urban space projects too!
Find them at Waitrose for £2.50 or hiverbeers.com
Crumbs Bloomin’ Amber - 4.8% abv
Crumbs is brewing with a big heart, using leftover artisan bread from their friends at the Chalk Hills Bakery in Reigate. They currently produce four very different beers, each based on the three styles of bread they are passed and one with coffee grains too. We love the Bloomin’ Amber, a light beer based on a vienna style but with an extra kick from ale yeast. Also try their Sourdough Pale, which is light and hoppy and their Rye coffee porter for something dark and brooding with powerful notes of mocha.
Find them at Waitrose for £2.65 or Crumbsbrewing.co.uk
Fabal Lager - 4% abv
Another brilliant, British beer, named in homage to generations of craftspeople, or ‘fabals’, from the people who brought us Hiver above. This is a fantastic, premium lager that’s crisp and dry with a delicate fruitiness to the malt and fine bubbles, which make it reminiscent of sparkling wine. In a UK first, some of Fabal’s barely has been steamed and rolled rather than roasted, which helps keep its refreshing style. There’s something old school and wholesome about it. Highly recommended. Vegan.
Find it at hiverbeers.com for £2.50
Bellfield Craft Lager - 5.2% abv
Bellfield is a small, independent brewery in Edinburgh who quite simply, want to ‘make beer that everyone will enjoy’. Their craft lager, made with both home grown and imported hops, has a little more weight than some of their others, with a comforting weight and texture and flavours of crushed malted milk biscuits. Also try their Czech style Bohemian pilsner and their a floral and hoppy, American IPA style, Lawless Village IPA.
Find them at BellfieldBrewery.com for £1.95
Ardbeg ‘The Shortie’ Smoky Porter - 6.2% abv
Staying in Scotland, we had to mention the recently released Ardbeg ‘The Shortie’ Smoky Porter from Islay. Not for the faint-hearted, this treacly, flavoursome, smoke bomb is a must-try for Ardbeg whisky fans. Named after the distillery dog and mascot ‘Shortie’, it’s malty and dark with classic Ardbeg notes of iodine and peat. If that wasn’t tempting enough, it’s a collaboration with Brewgooder to raise funds to create clean drinking water in Malawi. (You can donate here brewgooder.com/gathering).
Find it at masterofmalt.com for £3.50
…And for International Beer and Pizza Day!
Show Me The Honey!
Chicago Town, the frozen pizza company, is celebrating the launch of its brand new Stuffed Crust Takeaway Sweet Honey BBQ Salami pizza by launching a beer inspired by the same flavours: tomato sauce, sweet honey BBQ sauce,mozzarella, red cheddar, salami and red onions Made in partnership with craft brewery SEVEN BRO7HERS Brewing co. the ‘Show Me The Honey’ beer blends savoury and sweeter flavours, focusing on a perfumed honey note on the finish. Find the pizza at mosts supermarkets including ASDA, Ocado and Tesco for £4.50. Guilty pleasure!
Find the beer at SevenBro7ers for £3.50
Like this? Why not try Jubel: the exciting new fruit beer, or Would You Invest in Vagina Beer?
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