#WeAreBeavertown
The Beer Kat is a new concept pub on Holloway Road (on the corner with Liverpool Road). The pub is set up to host monthly takeovers / residencies of craft breweries putting their own stamp on the place and serving a wide range of beers, a sort of gypsy tap room. For its inaugural month Tottenham Hale’s Beavertown take up the mantle and it’s a logical choice for the first month, their unique visuals leave you under no illusions that this is a special event. Nick Dwyer’s artwork gracing every possible surface including some great takes on classic film posters and the usual Gamma Ray and 8-Ball artwork throughout this 3 storey boozer.
Food was provided by Grill My Cheese and we enjoyed some excellent buttermilk chicken and hot sauce which went very nicely with the IPA I was drinking at the time. Music was a pleasingly old school 90’s R&B vibe including Inner Circle’s classic ‘Bad Boys’, I’m led to believe there is also live music from most weekends as well as other special events.
But the real reason we are here is for the beer. 18 different Beavertown beers are available plus a weekly guest brewery in the fridge (on the day we visited it was Stockholm Brewing Company). Of course the core range is there plus some excellent seasonal and short run beers. Disappointed to miss out on Molecular Mayhem and ‘Spresso on cask but still couldn’t complain about the choice on offer!
I took the opportunity to try some of the beers I haven’t yet had chance to sample and wasn’t disappointed. Bloody ‘Ell on cask was a pleasant surprise, giving a nice round taste to an already cracking beer. I also took in two of the ‘Invasion of the Lupoloids’ series, Uy Scuti which was very decent but paled in comparison to the genuinely excellent Armillaria Mater. AM was cloudy, rich juicy and beautiful tropical aroma and clean bitter finish. Very drinkable and I went back for more as the night went on. It was also very exciting to see Heavy Water on tap, the Cherry and Sea Salt Imperial Stout was a real beauty, like drinking the kind of black forest gateaux that would give Mary Berry a soggy bottom. We also enjoyed the collaboration with Heretic, Peacher Man was an enjoyable Witbier (I’d have like the peach to have been a bit fuller) and a new one from Beavertown’s Phantom sour beer range – Pom Pom Phantom a grapefruit Berliner Weisse, I’ve been spoilt by some excellent Berliner Weisse’s recently so PPP didn’t quite hit the spot for me, I’m hoping to see Yuzilla or Lemon Phantom make a return at some point but sadly these weren’t to be seen. I finished up with Stockholm’s Hop Hound which was excellent and piqued my interest in them.
(photo courtesy of twitter.com/beerkatpub)
Also a word to the bar staff who were very friendly and knowledgeable on the beers available. No mean feat for a pub that was only two weeks old and with a constantly changing line-up of beer. Overall an excellent idea well executed, it will be very interesting to see how it develops when the next brewery comes to town and what they bring to the set up. Will definitely be there to check it out and am hoping to get another visit in before Beavertown finish on the 26th of June.
Follow The Beer Kat on Twitter @beerkatpub and on Instagram
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