In his regular column for the Times, Alex Greig from Fuggles Beer Café shines a spotlight on the Lewes-based Beak Brewery, who happen to be one of Alex’s favourite craft ale suppliers…
Several years ago I was contacted by a chap called Danny. He was setting up a new brewery and was also cuckoo brewing at a few places around the country. If you’re not familiar with the term ‘cuckoo brewing’, then essentially it means using other breweries’ spare space to produce beers under an individual’s or micro brewer’s own name.
It’s not unusual for us to be contacted by new breweries, it happens all the time. But this particular one stood out a bit more as the aforementioned Danny had some strong pedigree in the Food and Drink industry. Not only is he an award-winning journalist, he’s also the author of Food Unwrapped. He was also developing his beers with some of the country’s best breweries, learning and developing his recipes along the way. So when we took some beer in it was duly delivered by the man himself in his VW estate – proper ‘craft graft’!
Time went on and news came through that Danny and his small team had found a site in Lewes under the cliffs and named themselves Beak Brewery. They’d ordered their own brewing kit and hired themselves a rather talented brewer in Robyn Head-Fourman, who had just spent four years working nearby at another of my favourite places; Burning Sky Brewery.
Beak has never locked itself into a set range of beers. Instead it chooses to primarily focus on producing some of the UK’s best hop-forward pales and IPAs, alongside a smattering of stouts and porter, and some mixed fermentation brews. Over the last couple of years Beak has become a firm favourite with us here at Fuggles – and you it seems – as its beers regularly fly out of our pubs, which is no surprise considering the quality.
Watch out for an exciting Beak cask release at Fuggles’ pubs over the coming weeks, as well as some amazing collaborations with a few of the US East Coast’s finest brewers.
Oh, and also do check out These Hills – Beak’s summer beer festival in Lewes – as it features lots of our favourite breweries across one great weekend.
Our latest drop at Fuggles features five beers that really define who Beak are right now for me. I believe that the brewery is in the UK’s top three or so producers of hoppy pales and IPAs right now. Let’s start with ‘Parade’ – a 6% IPA and one of the very few beers regularly available from Beak, which is great as it’s one of my favourites! Brewed with Citra, Mosaic and Idaho 7 it’s loaded with ripe, juicy mango notes, orange and pineapple. It’s soft and juicy but has enough bitterness to send you straight back in for another glug.
‘Lome’ features an as yet unnamed hop variety we know as HBC 585. This one, also at 6%, is all grown up tropical fruit juice. Passion fruit, mango and guava all come through aplenty in this juicy IPA.
Stepping things up slightly is ‘Pillo’, a 7% IPA – brewed with Idaho 7, Vic Secret and Mosaic hops. Stone fruits, pineapple and a touch of piney bitterness lead the way with some juicy passionfruit on the finish.
To finish things off, there’s an 8% Double IPA called ‘Sappp’. It’s got lots of oats and wheat to help soften the beer and carry through the big hop charge courtesy of oodles of Simcoe and Citra hops. Lemon, mango, melon and orange instantly hit you on the nose and again when you taste. It’s a big beer that doesn’t drink its ABV but packs a lot in when it comes to flavour…
