London – Southwark (Borough of) – Anspach & Hobday

Someone mentioned the Bermondsey Beer Mile to me last year, but most of the premises along it were shut last year when I visited, so the options were limited. Things have improved somewhat since then and there’s a good choice of venues open, although the downside is that they’re often small and Covid-19 has restricted the number of customers who can visit.

This is the rather lovely taproom of Anspach & Hobday and they have a couple of other venues in London, including a new taproom in Croydon. The staff member at the door was friendly and helpful, telling me that they had a table for six available that wasn’t needed for nearly an hour until the next reservation, and I could have that. This pleased me. This isn’t a large location though, it has just a handful of tables inside and a small number outside, so I was rather fortunate.

The beer fridges and the bar area, although table service was offered. It’s card only here, which I like, I agree with them that it’s the way forwards. The brewery produce quite a range of beer styles, and although it wasn’t available when I visited, I’d like to try their Sea Salt & Chilli Stout at some point.

The beer list, including some of their own beers and some guests. Nicely balanced selection, including numerous different beer styles.

The beers I went for, which are the Pacific Ale from Stone & Wood on the left and the porter from Anspach & Hobday themselves on the right. The former was refreshing, but not overly exciting in terms of the flavours. The porter was rich with its chocolate and coffee flavours, and it tasted fresh and was at the appropriate just slightly chilled temperature. Nice.

The environment was clean and comfortable, I liked this taproom. Friendly staff, relaxed vibe and all really rather lovely.