London For Groups were lucky enough to be invited to experience the new Beer House and brewery tours at Camden Town Brewery - and we took a load of group travel organisers with us!
At 6.30pm on a Tuesday (just in time for a nice cold beer!), 30 of us descended upon the arches beneath Kentish Town West station in Camden, the home of Camden Town Brewery.
Within seconds of arriving we had ice-cold half pints of Unfussy (an unfiltered lager, poured straight from the brewery tanks) shoved into our hands - a good start!
Our group mingled and chatted with the brewery team, until our tour commenced.
At 7pm, we were split into two groups - one half starting with the tour, the other with the tasting.
During the tour, our tour guide Duncan led us into various rooms full of floor-to-ceiling tanks and equipment, expertly explaining the brewing process, often interrupted by loud, hissing-sounds from machinery, our giggling, and a lot of questions from us novices!
Once in the tasting, we were presented with a very impressive flight of 5 beers - and were told to wait to taste them until each was explained to us and we were guided through the experience.....a few in our group may have ignored this and tucked straight in....
There was a drink to suit all tastes, some enjoyed all, others just certain ones - it was interesting to find out how each was made, why it tasted the way it did - and why we perhaps preferred some over others (I liked no.1 and no.5 a lot....the 2,3 & 4 not so much - but I drank them!).
Once both tours/tastings were complete we were reunited in the Beer Hall - and presented with a FULL PINT (at this point I have no idea how much we'd actually been offered/some had drank).
We were invited to remain in the venue for as long as we wished, and many of us purchased another drink or two (with a few moving onto wine having already consumed multiple pints).
Many also sampled the new food offerings, with a selection of platters, pizza slices and pasta dishes being ordered - all very much enjoyed, and I will be going back for one of their Sunday roasts!
Founder of Camden Town Brewery, Jasper Cuppaidge said:
“We’ve been making beer under the arches in Camden for 11 years now, and serving beer onsite has always been an important part of what we do, so we couldn’t be more excited to welcome our regulars, beer fans and local community back in to see what we’ve done with the place.
“Our house will be open again and it will be super exciting to be serving fresh, never pasteurised beer in our home, just like we always have – but now in a space that’s three times bigger and finally does justice to our vision. Bavarian beer halls have a special place in our hearts, as part of the experiences that inspired our Hells lager. If Hells is our version of a German Lager, this is our version of a Beer Hall, perfect for drinking the freshest Hells Lager.
“It made sense to have our great friend and great chef Theo Randall create the menu and look after the kitchen for us, championing fresh ingredients in a way is the perfect accompaniment to our beer. It will be the best beer experience in the city and we can’t wait for beer lovers to see what we’ve been up to when we fling open the doors”.
With tours at just £25 per head (currently with a maximum of 15 people on each tour), this is a great experience and everyone agreed that you definitely get your monies worth.
Overall we had a great evening of food & drink, a lot of laughs and learned a lot - however I think I will be leaving it up to the professionals and drinking my beers, rather than brewing them!