It took its time but it has finally arrived, the ceremonial county that holds our great capital city and the most populated county in the country. Officially formed in 1963 absorbing parts of Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey along with the whole of Middlesex. Greater London itself is not a city as such but the much smaller Cities of London and Westminster make up part of the conurbation.
The City of London, or square mile, is the historic heart of the area, settled by the Romans in the 1st century AD, now referred to as The City. This is where the UK’s Trading and financial services industries are centred. Londinium was the lowest point on the Thames that could be bridged by the Romans and became the centre of Roman road building and a major port. The city declined along with the Roman Empire and came under numerous attacks where many of the Roman buildings were sacked. It’s renaissance came under the Anglo Saxons under whom the capital moved from Winchester. After the Norman invasion London was surrendered to William 1st who built 3 castles to defend it including The Tower of London. England’s progress has always gone hand in hand with London at its centre, virtually all the King’s & Queen’s ruling from there, then Parliament has been centred there at the Royals side. It has had its time of disaster, The Great Fire of 1666, The Black Death and the German Bombings have all shaped its path.
Enough of all that I hear you say, we are here for the beer. On Ratebeer we have an enormous total of 281 Breweries listed, 205 active and 76 now closed. A remarkable 88 of these are Client / Commissioner brewers.
The oldest we have on Ratebeer was Youngs of Wandsworth (Est 1831) at The Ram Brewery. However in 2006 the owners decided to close the Ram Brewery and brew at the short lived Wells and Youngs in Bedford and become a pub company in essence. Wells & Youngs took on many different forms after that and are now run by Marstons with Youngs beers being produced within their many breweries. The other great London brewer we have is Fullers of Chiswick (Est 1845). Beer had been produced on the Griffin Brewery site for 350 years but John Fuller was brought in when there were money problems and the company Fuller, Smith & Turner came into being. In 2019 Fullers sold all its drinks related business including the Griffin Brewery to Asahi of Japan for £250 million, under the promise that Asahi would continue to brew on the site, we shall see how that turns out.
In the 2020 Ratebeer awards the best brewery was the Kernel Brewery, in addition their Kernel India Double Porter Citra Simcoe was awarded best beer. The Best Newcomer Brewery was Drop Project Brewing Co.
The Top 10 Beers for Greater London are –
- Fullers Vintage Ale 1999 R
- Beavertown / Caravan Coffee Spresso 2016 Edition R
- Beavertown / Three Floyds Tempus Project – Heavy Lord
- Beavertown / Three Floyds Tempus Project – Heavy Lord Coffee
- Beavertown / Naparbier Bone King R
- Kernel India Pale Ale Double Citra R
- Fuller’s Imperial Stout (10.7%)
- Kernel Imperial Brown Stout London 1856 (Glen Garioch Barrel Aged) R
- Kernel Imperial Brown Stout London 1856
- Kernel India Double Porter Citra Simcoe
The Top 8 Bars for Greater London are –
- Craft Beer Co, Clerkenwell - 99
- Cask Pub & Kitchen, Pimlico - 98
- Hop Burns & Black, Peckham Rye - 96
- Euston Tap (West), Euston - 96
- Mother Kelly’s Tap Room, Bethnal Green (E2) - 95
- Southampton Arms, Gospel Oak - 95
- Beavertown Brewery, Tottenham - 95
- Kernel Brewery, Bermondsey – 95
The Top 5 Raters of Greater London beers are –
The Rater who resides in Greater London with the most overall ratings is
@Leighton Who happily is still rating with us.