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Hackney Oktoberfest and Other Beer to Drink This Month
Hi friends.
Ok, full disclosure, I hate Autumn (or Fall as we like to call it over in the United Idiots of America). But the colors, the crispness, the pumpkin lattes you say! I know I know, I get it. But ultimately, everything dies and we enter into the cold wet dark darkness of winter where it seems everyone who is from here feels enlivened by soggy country walks and sideways rain. But, if I was forced to choose an autumn month to like, it would be October. Mostly because of Halloween. Halloween is the best. Costumes, fear and candy. What’s not to love! Sadly, Halloween isn’t until the end of the month where there will be a dedicated guide to everything Halloween. Spoiler:
No sexy cats/rabbits/teacher/ghosts/witches/football players/refrigerators allowed. No. Sexy. Anything.
But, as you basically have the whole month until Halloween, keep your liver working extra hard and check out the Hackney Oktoberfest. The German, original Oktoberfest is actually over now, because it primarily happens in September. Maybe you already went and want to keep the Spaß going? Or maybe you feel sad because you missed the German one? Or maybe you just want to drink awesome beer at awesome parties STARTING TODAY! Its run by the excellent team that does Jamm Factory and Summer of Love, so lots of dancey dancey music with 2 different brewery take-overs – London Fields Brewery (6-7 October) by – you guessed it – London Fields, and Crate (21-22 October) in Hackney Wick. Both weekends have lots of music, delicious beer and Bavarian street food (sausages, sausages, other kind of sausages and pretzels!). For this weekend at London Fields Brewery get tickets here. And for Crate get tickets here.
If the whole festival thing isn’t really what you are after, check out the breweries anyway for their excellent beers and good foods – Crate make awesome pizzas and have a lush location right overlooking the River Lee and London Fields Brewery do great brunch and platters all sustainably supplied by stellar local businesses.
Or you could do a brewery crawl. London has loads of micro-breweries. I have been to most of them. Because beer. My favorites are:
Howling Hops –It’s in the same Hackney Wick Yard as Crate, which makes for a perfect taste-testing afternoon. They serve their beers direct from the tank in 2/3 glasses and have amazing smoked meat and vegetables for when you get hungry. I have lost many a-sunny-afternoons to Howling Hops, and have regretted none of them.
Redchurch Brewery – Redchurch make some of the most delicious beers, often very very strong. Their taproom, only open on Thursday-Saturday, is super cool with lots of live events and food stalls. But the beer is so good, it sort of doesn’t matter what else is there.
Wildcard Brewery – Walthamstow might seem far away from Shoreditch, but it isn’t. I promise. You can get the train from Liverpool St or Bethnal Green and be there in less time than it takes to get to Buckingham Palace (that great little place we all obviously visit to drink beer with the Queen and Princess Pretty Pants. DUH.). Wild Card is a great end to a walk on Hackney Marshes and through Walthamstow’s pretty village-feeling streets. You can order pizza to collect or be delivered from the excellent nearby Sodo and check out the very unique neon sign shop God’s Own Junkyard just across from the brewery.
Beavertown/Duke’s Brew and ‘Cue – they don’t brew the beer here anymore, but go to Duke’s, order some ribs and drink some beer. Then if you want, you can write me a very nice letter thanking me for telling you about this place. To which I will respond I would like you to take me to Duke’s and buy me a beer and some ribs to show your appreciation. Because it’s so fucking good. Like so good. Like hurts my heart and makes me think of flowers good. They also have a taproom in Tottenham only open on Saturdays that I haven’t visited yet, but I bet it’s great.