Tag Archives: london

Great London Beer Flood

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October 17, 1814. London, near Tottenham Court Road. A huge vat of porter collapses, sending a flood of beer into the surrounding tenements, killing eight, all women and children.

There are a lot of myths surrounding that almost-200-year-old tragedy. (Plenty of jokes, too. Being washed away by a tsunami of beer sounds like something from a Family Guy episode.) But what really happened?

My favorite beer historian Martyn Cornell, the Zythophile, has a long and fascinating piece on the events of that day and the history leading up to it.

So what REALLY happened on October 17 1814?

The first hint of what was going to happen occurred at around half past four in the afternoon of Monday October 17 1814, when a seven-hundredweight iron hoop, the smallest of 22 securing a 22-feet-high vat in the storehouse at the back of the brewery, and about three feet from the bottom of the vat, fell off. The vat was filled within four inches of the top with 3,555 barrels of “entire”, porter already 10 months old and destined to be sent out when judged properly mature to be mixed with freshly brewed porter to customers’ tastes, in Meux’s pubs. George Crick, the storehouse clerk, who was on duty at the time, told the inquest held into the deaths of the victims of the disaster that he was “not alarmed” at the hoop falling off as it happened “frequently”, two or three times a year, and was “not attended by any serious consequence”. Nevertheless, Crick said, he wrote a note to Florance Young, one of the brewery partners, who ran a back-making (that is, brewery vessel making) business, to let him know what had happened, so that someone would come to mend the hoop.

At 5.30pm Crick was standing just a short distance from the vat in question, with the note for Young in his hand, when he heard the vat burst. He ran to the storehouse where the vat was, and was shocked to see that the end wall, at least 25 feet high, 60 feet long and 22 inches thick at its broadest part, together with a large part of the roof, lay in ruins. The force of the escaping beer, and flying debris, including the huge staves of the collapsing vat, smashed several hogsheads of porter in the storehouse and knocked the cock out of another large vat in the cellar below which contained 2,100 barrels of beer, all of which except 800 or 900 barrels joined the flood.

A couple of hours later and the men would have been home from work and the tragedy would have been that much worse. Imagine if it had been in the wee hours of the morning.

This is definitely worth your time to read.

Candy store: Utobeer, London, England

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(Another unsolicited candy store.)

At their eponymous blog Boak and Bailey have touted the virtues of Utobeer in the Borough Market multiple times.

In describing their first visit…Map to Borough Market

Beer heroes of the month (June) – Utobeer, London

We went there today, for the first time. Yes, the first time – I cannot believe I have never been here before. A mixture of laziness, and suspicion of Borough market (some great food, but boy, do they charge for it…) mean that we had never got our arses over there in the past.

It was definitely worth it – I have never seen such a fantastic range of porters and stouts in one place. Reasonably priced too – we came away with 10 beers we had never had before for just over £20.

Utobeer
Borough Market
Southwark Street
London, SE1 1TL
(Near London Bridge Station)

(We want to profile your “candy store”. Send us your enthusiastic comments and we’ll feature it here. Photos a plus.)

No American beer in London, but lots of American hops

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While Ron and Al take a little break, please enjoy this guest post from Bailey of boakandbailey.com, based in London.

It’s still comparatively rare to see American beer in bars and pubs in London. Almost every place now has at least one Belgian beer, even if it’s only Leffe, whilst some of the best places don’t have any American beer at all. There are some places with a bigger selection — the Rake at London Bridge, for example — but they’re few and far between.

The most common brands are Brooklyn Lager and Anchor Steam, which are turning up in corner shops and supermarkets as well as pubs, bars and restaurants. Goose Island IPA is becoming more common, too.

This is a bit odd, given that beer enthusiasts are more-or-less united in their enthusiasm for American craft brewing — witness the scrum around the American bar at the Great British Beer Festival last month. The fact is, though, that Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic are very nearby, whereas there’s a bleedin’ great ocean inbetween Britain and America.

But don’t despair. The taste for American beer in Britain, combined with its scarcity, has led to a very welcome development. Many small British breweries are being inspired by American beer to add to their range British style ales with huge amounts of citrusy American hops. Crouch Vale‘s Brewer’s Gold and Buntingford‘s 92 Squadron are great examples, but by no means the only ones.

These beers come in a range of colours and styles, from golden ale to brown ale, but stand out from the crowd because of the use of these distinctive and refreshing hop aroma and flavour. The style where American hops are making the biggest impact, however, is IPA. Even in the UK, where fuggles or Kent goldings have been the the more traditional choices, cascades or similar are becoming a necessity — it’s just not an IPA without the intense floral, orange aroma. St Austell‘s excellent Proper Job (better in bottles than on tap) could pass for an American craft brew, thanks to the use of American hops amongst a blend of five or six others.