Learn Your Alphabet, Verdant & Gipsy Hill Juice, Fresh Depot Caps!
H E L L O
C L A P T O N C R A F T
F A N S !
We're delighted to be back in your inboxes once again, ready to spread some more boozy joy! And, for the first week of April proper, we're thrilled to welcome back an array of fizzy favourites. Up top, we have some of our most requested beers ever from Manchester maestros Alphabet. In addition, there's fresh faced Verdant, including a Pulp comeback as well as both Stigbergets and Pressure Drop collabs. Meanwhile, we're keen to remind you of Gipsy Hill's supreme Spring specials, and there's Manager picks from the likes of Mondo, Black Lines, Mackmyra, Vault City, Howling Hops and more. Lastly, over on the Web you'll find choice cuts from an inimitable trio of Cloudwater, Pressure Drop, and Siren.
Now as a fair warning we'll be taking a break from the Newsletter next week, but fear not we'll be back and going bigger than ever the following Friday, with our 8th Birthday on the 22nd! Make sure you're all over our Twitter and Instagram on that front, we've got a few exciting things up our sleeves...
B R E W E R Y
O F T H E
W E E K
A mainstay across the shops since we opened, Alphabet have been making hop-forward, inventive beers since way back in 2014. And, while craft beer can often lean too far into the self-serious, this lot have doubled down on both sheer smashability and good humour. With it being increasingly hard to find exciting, inexpensive 330ml cans, they've rather ironically carved a real niche out by sticking to their guns in format, flavour and fun!
As such we're overjoyed to usher in a raft of core range crushers with a few new faces thrown in for good measure. And, you'll be reassured to know ABC's Haribo in a glass banger Juice Springsteen and their Session IPA stunner Charlie Don't Surf are of course the first names on the team sheet. We're pleased to say A To The K is also back in fine form, a tropical APA with generous aromas of mango and pineapple, this balances sheer vibrancy with delectable drinkability.
Of course we'd never turn down some crispy goodness, so their latest addition the Italian Pils Biciclette is right up our strada! Light and clean with a small dry hop of Tettnang, this has a floral, refreshing finish. Finally, amping up their slurpable juice winner to a pure vegan milkshake monster Moose Springsteen sees them jam pack the pineapple, mango, passion fruit, *deep breath*... guava, and mandarin IPA with oats and vanilla for a lush, creamy effort.
As always, we've got a rather mouth-watering double loyalty points in-store on everything from our Brewery Of The Week with 10% off 6 or more online. If you're after some portable liquid sunshine, with some beery benefits, look no further!
V E R D A N T &
G I P S Y H I L L
G E N I U S
Yes, we've got some bangers from brewing besties based near and far, both with a trio of tantalising suds featuring some huge collaborations! Kicking things off we've got a few Cornish classics including the belting DDH Pale Ale, The Experiment Requires That WE Continue. Another celebration of Verdant's and Pressure Drop's partnership in E8 this boasts an all-star hop lineup of Australian, American and New Zealand varietals delivering punchy tangerine, watermelon, and grapefruit flavour.
Following up An Endless Stream of Random Words sees them team up with Swedish superstars Stigbergets for a dank, complex NEIPA with a savoury edge. After an extended hiatus DIPA Pulp is back, straddling the East and West Coast profiles this is exceptionally clean but saturated in hoppy heaven. We've missed you! Finally, if you're quick off the mark Forest Hill, Balham, Wood St and Online have late bonuses of Five A.M. and that ever sluggable stalwart People Money Space Time.
We alluded to Gipsy Hill's fresh April specials last week when they took to our St John's Hill site for an exclusive preview tasting, but these bevs truly bear repeating! Working with 'the king of open fire cooking', DJ BBQ on Della, they've crafted an exceptional rustic lager with layers of honey and soft caramel to cut through those big smoky flavours. Now if only the weather could play ball...
Supplying the finest za's to our Finsbury Park, Balham and Wood St branches, a Yard Sale collab is a match made in heaven for us, and Sliceworld duly delivers. A wonderful hybrid of styles, this Cold IPA is fermented with Lager yeast for a clean and crisp mouthfeel but hopped like a juicy Pale. The result is a tropical punchbowl, with a lick of resinous marmalade and a bracing finish all rolled into one. A seriously slurpable affair, this is begging to be paired with slice after slice of gooey cheese goodness. Finally, Santa Ana is a little more straightforward, if not full of just as much fruity fun. This NEIPA features Sabro, Mosaic, Ekuanot and Citra for stone fruit succulence, a tinge of coconut and bags of zesty lime. Piña Colada fans, roll up!
T O C A P
I T
A L L O F F
That's right we're experimenting with some limited runs of fancy, fresh Merchandise and we thought you'd like to know all about our rather sleek Low Profile Dad Caps. Embroidered with our Depot logo on the front and Hops & Dreams on the back, it's exactly the kind of thing we need to keep the sun out of our eyes during long delivery days (or more likely the rain off our heads). Made from 100% Organic Cotton and built to last, we're pretty proud of these, though based on our last few shifts we may or may not need a figurative cap on how many of us are allowed to wear them at once...
M A N A G E R
P I C K S
T H I S W E E K
LARA - FOREST HILL
🤖 MONDO 🤖
Steve - Copper-coloured Altbier, light & dry w/ refreshingly fruity nuances.
Eder - Traditional Rotbier, like a Marzen this has deep, red, malty depths.
Figgie Smalls - Dark, strong Belgian Ale w/ caramelised fig & plum notes.
🗣 TASTING TODAY 5.30-8PM 🗣
CHIPPY - ST JOHN'S HILL
🧪 VAULT CITY 🧪
Triple Fruited TIPA w/ North - Mammoth guava, pineapple & passion fruit TIPA. The full fruit spectrum!
Apple Soor - Sweet, zingy apple stars in this nostalgic green & positively glowing, succulent Session Sour.
OPHIE - CLAPTON
🇸🇪 MACKMYRA 🇸🇪
Organic Gin - Feat. lingonberry & mango, this is peppery, lightly spicy joy.
Mack - Fruity, floral single malt whisky w/ hints of vanilla and toffee.
Svensk Rök - Smoky, peaty & complex whisky. Ideal for Islay fans!
🗣 TASTING TODAY 5-8PM 🗣
ARTHUR - BALHAM
🍇 MAS THEO 🍇
Ginger - Vibrant skin contact w/ notes of yellow plum & hazelnut!
Petit Gaby - Bold blend w/ super value. Think pomegranate & sour cherry.
Gemeaux - Robust red where crunchy Carignan meets rustic Mourvedre.
ILARIA - KENTISH TOWN
🍷 EL MAESTRO SIERRA 🍷
Fino - Archetypal dry sherry made in Jerez. Richly textured, w/ a deep nuttiness & welcomingly tangy salinity.
Oloroso - Complex sherry w/ aromas of hazelnuts & exotic spices w/ warm ginger & lightly bitter caramel depth.
FIONN - FINSBURY PARK
🧱 BRICK 🧱
Tamarind & Lime Sour - Indian-inspired Berliner loaded w/ citrus fun.
Two Ways - Intense Yuzu & Gooseberry Sour IPA w/ pals Pastore!
Citra, Cashmere NEIPA - Delectable NEIPA w/ ripe melon & peachy notes.
SAM - WOOD STREET
🐺 HOWLING HOPS 🐺
Switch Back - Light, zippy & supremely easy-drinking Session Pale.
Brew 1000 - Jammy anniversary NEIPA w/ 10 different malts & hops.
Pompadour w/ Exale - Tangy, tantalising, cocktail-inspired wonder.
MEL - WALTHAMSTOW
🍹 BLACK LINES 🍹
Paloma - Tequila, grapefruit & Maldon salt make up this sweet-sour, salty siren.
Negroni - Herbal, fresh & zesty in equal measure w/ ELLC gin.
Elderflower Collins - Dangerously clean, crisp & quaffable!
W E B S H O P
W O N D E R S
T H I S W E E K
🌦 CLOUDWATER 🌦
The Other Shore - Snappy West-meets-East Coast IPA. Clean & zingy!
I Say We - A fan fave, soft, juicy NZ-hopped DIPA w/ waves of dank flavour.
And Relax... - A rare CW Table Beer, pithy, drinkable & packed full of green hops.
Helles - Crisp, delicate & well balanced this is refinement personified.
💦 PRESSURE DROP 💦
Dreamlife - Ripe, saturated New England Pale w/ zesty orange & grapefruit flavour.
Cheese - Huge, pungent, & yes even a little savoury Strata & Mosaic IPA.
Just You Wait - Sluggable Table Beer w/ notes of melon, fresh pine & satsuma.
King Queen Knave - Hazy, smooth Pale w/ a full fruit basket of flavour.
🚨 SIREN 🚨
Ten Dollar Shake - Lauded Milkshake IPA loaded w/ mango, papaya & passionfruit.
Antidawn - Roasty-toasty Export Porter where fresh hop flavour meet malt magic.
As ever, we hope you enjoyed our rather mega rundown, we'll see you soon!