London Beer Week 2016 – it’s on!

It’s the end of February, which means it’s London Beer Week. After 2015’s successful inaugural year, the Drinkup.London team are back with another week of beer-related shenanigans. There are reduced priced drinks for those with London Beer Week wristbands and a whole slew of events running throughout the week.

We’ve had a dig through the bar and event list and pulled out our choices for the week – here’s what we recommend:

THE LONDON BEER WEEK HUB AT THE OLD TRUMAN BREWERY

The ideal place to start your evening – the centre of London Beer Week activity for 2016. You can pick up your wristband, chat with the team to find out what is happening and grab a range of beers. It’s also the site of the Drinkup.London Boilermaker Bar, where beers are £3 or £5 when accompanied by a chaser. Along with the whiskies you might expect – which include the newly released Elements of Islay Peat – they’re also pairing up Becherovka as something different. Definitely worth a visit.

THE KNOWLEDGE BREWING DAY WITH MEANTIME BREWING

One for those who want a more in-depth look at brewing, with a brewery tour and tasting hosted by Meantime brewmaster Ciaran Giblin and Beer Sommelier of the Year Rod Jones. It’s a five-hour session with lunch, food and beer matching and a bottle to take home at the end. It takes place on Friday 26 February, tickets are £90 and you can book them on the Meantime website.

HOUSE OF PERONI ITALIAN SUPPERCLUB

All through the week, Peroni are are teaming up with Gordon Ramsay’s Union Street Café to create a range of Peroni infusions – aka ‘hoptails’ or ‘cocktails with beer in’ – and Italian food to go with it. This culminates in an evening of cocktail making and a three-course dinner on Friday 26 February from 7.30pm. Tickets are £35 each and you can find out how to book them on the London Beer Week website.

SHARP’S SECRET BAR TASTING SESSIONS

Unfortunately we don’t know any more about this than you, and if we did we wouldn’t be able to say anything. However, I went along last year and if it’s even half as good, you’ll be in for a treat, if you can find their secret bar. We’d recommend going to the Sharp’s Brewery Hub in Ely Yard, part of the main London Beer Week hub, and smiling sweetly at the bar staff – if you ask nicely, they might let you into the secret.

There are loads of bars across London doing beer deals all week, so even if you’re out and about in town, it’s worth keeping an eye out. I see a few late nights in the TWE Blog team’s immediate future…