Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

Beer banter with Clapton Craft

Jodie Kharas
By

The craft beer movement is huge in London right now. I mean, really huge. So local craft beer connoisseurs rejoiced when Clapton Craft opened in East London earlier this year. The store, founded by William Jack and Tom McKim, has already gained a loyal following of regulars who can’t get enough of the fine brewed produce and the growlers – just to clarify, a growler is a large bottle that can be refilled over and over again by the beer of your choosing.

The Manual caught up with the guys to talk shop and bottles for all occasions.

How’s business been so far this summer?

Recommended Videos

Good! We got a taste of what the fine weather would mean for us with a few hot days in Spring. Thankfully people also love a beer when the weathers rubbish . . .

Can you remember your first introduction to the craft beer movement?

Will: I did an internship for a New Zealand micro brewery called Limburg back in 2005 when I was in my last year of high school. They made an NZ hopped pale ale called ‘Hopsmacker’ which I’d get refills of direct from the brewery. The brewer was really into Lambics and Belgian styles too so I started getting into these.

How was Clapton Craft born?

We’d been discussing the potential for a beer specialist for a while and in the middle of last year decided it was viable and we started looking for a location. We had both lived in or around Clapton for years and decided Lower Clapton Road would be the area of focus. It was then a matter of scraping together some capital, planning, designing and executing. We did just about everything ourselves, from gutting the premises, taking out walls and plastering and painting. There was plenty of swearing, late nights, asthma and lots of stock went missing.

The store opened at a time when people seem to care so much more about what they’re eating and drinking. Any thoughts on how this shift has come about?

It’s probably due to a number of factors – health, environmental, education and taste, but I also think that Londoners, or people that live in London, are increasingly proud of their city and are keen to improve it. I think beer is a great example because it’s been so essential to peoples lives forever and it really suffered from the industrialization of the industry. Many of the beer styles are just replicas of old recipes, just with the bonus of New World hops and a huge dose of creativity and freedom.

Tell us about the growler concept.

Pretty simple, we sell 1.89 litre glass Growlers or 1 litre plastic bottles which customers can come back and have refilled with any one of 8 different beers. We use a counter pressure filling system, which means the beer stays fizzy and fresh for up to 6 weeks from filling.

What is the single best thing about craft beer?

It’s delicious.

What kind of beer would you recommend for the following…

1. A BBQ –
Beef – Black IPA or Porter
Lamb – Belgian Dubbel or better still a Flemish Sour
Pork/Chicken – Saison or Farmhouse IPA
Fish/Veg – Hefewizen, Session IPA, Berliner Weisse

The best thing about beer though is that it’s pretty flexible with food and if you get it wrong you can move on to something else fairly quickly . . .

2. A night in with friends –

A bit of everything, save the double IPAs til’ later, they really do ruin your palate

3. A whisky chaser –

Rye IPA

Thanks guys!

Topics
Jodie Kharas
Jodie Kharas
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Jodie Kharas is a style, art and culture writer who lives in London. She has contributed to the online platforms of POP…
Cocktail classics: the Negroni and its millions of variations
Negroni

Of all the classic cocktails that are well-known in bars across the world, one stands out for being both complex fascinating to drink, but also incredibly easy to make: the negroni. This beloved cocktail from Italy consists of equal parts of gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari, and it doesn't even need to be shaken. Traditionally made in a mixing glass, where it is stirred with ice to add water, in practice you can even add the ingredients to a tumbler glass with a large ice cube and stir it in the glass. That isn't really the technically correct way to make the drink, but it works well enough and means that you can make this cocktail with practically no equipment whatsoever.
The negroni is popular for its intense, bitter flavors and its bright red color, both of which come from the Campari. But the addition of gin gives the drink that heavy, boozy note with plenty of spicy juniper, and the sweet vermouth adds a touch of sweetness and more herbal notes. The result is a drink which packs an incredible flavor punch, and which tends to be either loved or hated (mostly depending on how you feel about Campari).
Thanks to its simplicity, the negroni lends itself to endless variations. While in truth I think it's hard to beat the classic version of this cocktail, if you're a long-time negroni drinker and you're looking to try something new – or maybe even if you're not a fan of the classic negroni but are interested in finding a version which does work for you – then we've got suggestions on some of the many variations you can try.

Experimenting with gins

Read more
Gose-style beers are perfect for spring, and these are our favorites
This salty, tart, sour beer is perfect for spring.
Gose beer

As we mentioned in an earlier post, the Gose style might be the best beer choice for spring and summer drinking. This wheat beer is top-fermented and gets a second fermentation with lactobacillus bacteria. This gives it a tart, sour flavor profile similar to your favorite sour ale. The addition of coriander and sea salt adds some spice and salinity to this very unique, refreshing beer.

On top of that, this tart, salty thirst-quencher is usually between 4-5% ABV. This results in a crushable, salty, crisp beer you won’t be able to put down even between horseshoe throws or cornhole turns.
A strange, salty history

Read more
This is how to make a proper Moscow Mule
It's the classic cocktail in a copper mug, and we're going to show you how to make a Moscow Mule
Moscow Mule with a bowl of limes

You know you've made it as a cocktail when one of the most popular ready-to-drink options is made in your name. That's the case with the Moscow Mule cocktail, the classic mix of vodka and ginger beer, preferably in a copper mug.

Here are some pro tips to keep in mind. First, select a quality vodka. The flavor may be mostly buried in the rest of the drink, but you're still after smoothness. In terms of ginger, go with a proper ginger beer instead of ginger ale. The latter is far too sweet. If you're really feeling intrepid, do as Death & Co. does below and make your own ginger syrup to couple with club soda. You'll be amazed at how much more pronounced the ginger qualities are when going this route.

Read more