Craft Beer Rising Review by @cathiasays

Bohemian Brew's coffee-y, fruity and biscuity beers

Bohemian Brew’s coffee-y, fruity and biscuity beers

A couple of Sundays ago (while I was still bumbling round in America), London blogger Cathia Randrianarivo kindly  subbed for me accepting to attend on my behalf a beer-ific event I was unable to make. As Cathia puts it, “I had never heard of the festival before: Craft Beer Rising. Those of you with a penchant for beer may already be familiar with this event, unlike me, a complete novice and not the biggest beer fan. Great start.” In order to make sure she wasn’t immediately turned away at the door, Cathia brought along her buddy Asad for some beer street creds.

This-a-way: keeping us focused on Destination Beer

This-a-way: keeping us focused on Destination Beer

Here’s Cathia’s excellent write up and fantastic shots from her visit: 

Located on Brick Lane and surrounded by some amazing-smelling food markets on a bright sunny day, initially it was difficult for me to focus on getting my beer on. As soon as we entered the venue, the brewery smell hit me and I thought this must be what beer-heaven smells like, hehe. We were greeted by some very cheery folks who showed us to the main desk where we could get tokens. We exchanged cash for play money and off we went to investigate the 60 or so stalls of breweries.

Craft Beer Rising play money, way more fun than the real deal

Craft Beer Rising play money, way more fun than the real deal

Shot-sized tasters of Bohemian Brews' concoctions, (clockwise from left) coffee, orange & choccy biscuit

Shot-sized tasters of Bohemian Brews’ concoctions, (clockwise from left) coffee, orange & choccy biscuit

There was no real starting point so we just decided to dive in and start browsing and tasting. Soon enough we got into the swing of it and it was really fun, even for a beer amateur! The first few stalls we tried weren’t to our taste. I was sticking to the blondes as anything stronger would have made me sad. Asad suggested I stick to pale ales so that became by buzzword at every stall 😀 Eventually, I managed to bag myself a 1/3 pint [yep, I went big] of something delicious from Hells Yeah! of Camden Town Brewery.We then moved to Batemans Bohemian Brews stall where I decided to get adventurous. This fun team believe that brewing beer is similar to making biscuits, as they use the same ingredients. I forget now how exactly but I am sure their website can explain in more detail. We tried three of their creations: Mocha Amaretto, Orange Barley and (the brand new) Winter Chocolate Biscuit. The first two were too strong for me but I quite liked the choccy biscuit one – an unexpected combination but nice surprise at how well it worked.
Grub Corner hosted by a lovely looking fräulein

Grub Corner hosted by a lovely looking fräulein

My Hix's Fishdog with minty mushy peas and ketchup yuuuuummmmmy

My Hix’s Fishdog with minty mushy peas and ketchup yuuuuummmmmy

With 60-ish stalls to try beers from, it can soon become quite dangerous. Especially when tasters are served in shot-sized cups. Ideally, this wasn’t just a beer festival as it’s complimented by some delicious food stalls serving the perfect accompaniments: saucisson sec, bratwurst, pork pies, burgers and what I ended up opting for: the Fishdog by Hix’s. One of my favourite food discoveries this year. I can hear some of your brains thinking “but isn’t that just a fish finger in a hotdog bun?”. Well my friends, this is no meer fish finger sandwich snack we would usually tuck into on a rainy afternoon. Imagine the flakiest white fish you could get in a good fish and chip shop, make it giant fish finger shaped and tuck In. It’s surrounded by sweet, minty mushy peas of the perfect consistency and I topped with some ketchup. Bea-u-ti-ful.
Burger Bear: giving you burger hugs in amidst all the beer-haze

Burger Bear: giving you burger hugs in amidst all the beer-haze

Burger making tekkers by Burger Bear

Burger making tekkers by Burger Bear

The amazing food didn’t stop there. Asad then decided he fancied some chips so we headed over to Burger Bear [the best name… I can just see a big burger giving me a giant bear hug]. They had sold out of chips, oh no. It’s OK though, the awesome guys at Burger Bear decided to give Asad a signature burger for the price of chips. Winning. I then genuinely lost Asad for about 15 minutes. Not physically, but he was so into that burger I think everything around him just disappeared. It was just him and the burger bear burger, and I hadn’t been invited to the party.
Glaswegian Heart, German Head

Glaswegian Heart, German Head

Green King's ace bottles of brew, inside and out

Green King’s ace bottles of brew, inside and out

Post-food, we tried out some more beer. It was great meeting such a variety of brewers, from those relatively new to the game to the seasoned pros. Other highlights for us were WEST brewery and Greene King. I was particularly drawn to the Greene King stall because of the colourful bottles and quickly discovered that their speciality beers were pretty good too. I first tried their Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA, which Asad and I both later bought, and then went onto their specialities: Yardbird, Double Hop Monster and St Edmunds. This was definitely one of my favourite stalls, the beers were accessible (plus not too strong) and had a little interesting twist.
Label Love: admiring beers with the full package

Label Love: admiring beers with the full package

Getting Educated: the lovely team and offerings from the famous Truman's brewery

Getting Educated: the lovely team and offerings from the famous Truman’s brewery

Outside of the tastings, it was just fun looking at all the different labels. There was a particular stall, I think manned by the Duvel team which had the best bottle labels. They looked like they could belong in an art gallery or something, and had a little retro-touch which I’m always a sucker for.
Craft Beer Rising is also a great opportunity to discover and learn, even if you go in not knowing anything about beer. Another favourite stall was Truman’s, the venue’s own reps who were really friendly and super knowledgeable. I learnt about and tried Truman’s London Keeper, pushing my pale ale limits to the max. For most, beer is just something you drink casually in a pub or bar or with a tasty take-away. However, this particular bottle was pretty special. More like wine, you will appreciate it if it’s sipped alongside a good cheese board or even christmas pudding. Only 2,000 bottles of Truman’s London Keeper were made, each bottle has been hand signed and finished in ivory wax; and like wine, it’s meant to improve and develop over time [for up to a decade to be precise]. Me equals lucky girl to have tried it, plus always good to get out of that comfort zone.
Picking up a blue-top from the friendly team at Old Dairy brewery

Picking up a blue-top from the friendly team at Old Dairy brewery

Funk and Brew: having fun ending the event with the legend that is Mr Scruff

Funk and Brew: having fun ending the event with the legend that is Mr Scruff

Oh, and to top it all off – Mr Scruff was DJing as the backdrop to this great event. Normally I would have enjoyed with a cup of tea but beer was a good second on this occasion. Post quickly picking up a blue-top from the team at the Old Dairy stall, Asad and I decided to have a little dance with the crowd. It was pretty surreal but amazing. After a super funky set, the evening ended with the crowd singing along to a brass-band version of Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye. It was epic, and a perfect way to end a really fun day.

Make sure you check out Craft Beer Rising next time around.

Cathia Randrianarivo is a London based marketer-by-day and blogger-by-night, always on the lookout for the next adventure. Check out her own blog at jingle-jungle.blogspot.co.uk.

About tikichris

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