Basqueland B'day Brews, Pastore & Baron, Black Lines Takeover At Finsbury Park!
H E L L O
C L A P T O N C R A F T
F A N S !
Fasten your suds-seatbelts as we're coming at you with an absolute doozy this time around! With more bangers than any fireworks night been and gone, we have our inaugural drop from Basqueland, hazy hits courtesy of Baron, and some Sour sensations in Pastore thrown in for good measure this week.
The fun doesn't stop there though, with details on a Black Lines takeover down Finsbury Park way in just under a week. Meanwhile, our Manager's sing the praises of the likes of Drop Project, Lost & Grounded, Pressure Drop, and more. Finally, on the Webshop we have some choice cuts from Arbor, Gravity Well, Howling Hops, and English Natural Wine pioneers, Tillingham. Now onto the good stuff!
B R E W E R Y
O F T H E
W E E K
🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆
It's perhaps fitting that we should debut Basqueland, at that institution of introductions - the Birthday party. Celebrating seven years of serving up the best beers in the Basque Country, we're delighted to have our first drop proper live and direct from these legends. Founded by San Diego surfing buddies, Ben Rozzi and Ben ‘Jerry’ Matz, the former was brewing in Mexico while the latter was working at US craft greats Stone Brewing before they packed it all in and headed to San Sebastian. The final part of the puzzle was another American expat - Kevin Patricio. Bringing knowledge of the local scene, having worked at Michelin star restaurants in the local area, they all injected fresh ideas while never shunning the Basque way of thinking.
In turn, they've developed one of the most exciting breweries in mainland Europe, becoming renowned for their progressive beers as well as their consistent quality. These days it's hard to justify not opting for homegrown talent when considering freshness, environmental impact, cost, and the sheer talent in the UK scene right now. But, their ability has proven them to be one of the few outliers, and worthy of a rare little treat for us!
To celebrate their achievements, and to introduce them to you fine folk, we've got six slammers including some frankly insane collaborations. Leading the charge though is their West Coast IPA, Imparable, a freshly squeezed, crispy clean effort bound for chugging rather than pontificating over. Meanwhile, Waffle Supreme is their go-to Imperial Pastry Stout, featuring a wonderfully sticky-sweet, boozy maple meets buttery milk chocolate syrup vibe, with a scoop of ice cream for good measure.
Next, Lucky Number 7 is their flagship feathery soft IPA for the occasion. Here, expect big fruit salad aromas with a suitable septuple of hops backed up by a super slick mouthfeel. The first collab to kick things off sees them work with none other than Cloudwater. The result is Finest Hour, an all-NZ hopped IPA with sharp and intense flavours of tangerine, gooseberry, and white grape - zingy to the high heavens! If that wasn't enough on the juice front, they've also teamed up with fellow Spanish superstars Garage Brew for The Great Beyond. A saturated TIPA, think dense prickly pineapple and tropical cocktail flavour with a lick of green umami goodness.
Lastly, we have Chocomel Caralate with their Estonian pals Pohjala. Garnering knowledge from the 'Kings Of Darkness' this is basically a salted caramel chocolate bar of a beer. With a deep, rich molasses character created as a result of the wort being boiled for hours upon hours, this has concentrated malt flavour, with cocoa, chocolate and vanilla being infused, layering decadence with dessert-like drinkability.
As ever, there's 10% off 6 or more online, with double loyalty points in-store across all Basque brilliance. However, we should warn you there's limited supplies, so get your skates on if you want to taste a bit of everything, we don't expect them all to last the full week!
P A S T O R E
& B A R O N
B E L T E R S
💫 💫 💫 💫 💫
Speaking of short supplies, you'd be hard pressed to find two more sought after breweries than Hertfordshire's Baron and neighbouring Cambridgeshire's Pastore right now. In fact, we simply can't get enough of them at this rate, as we're limited to an unofficial once a month drop, but, with the class on show we'll take whatever we can!
This time around there's a duo apiece, with Jack from Baron gifting us Soft Focus and Dojo. Two equally deadly NEIPAs, the former puts the focus on Enigma, Eclipse and Citra hops for flavours of redberries and squishy tropical fruit, while the latter is all dank, sticky passion fruit with Idaho 7 and Strata taking the fore in this hyper-hoppy effort.
From Pastore we first have their Waterbeach Weisse Blackberry & Raspberry, a deep, brambly, and juicy number in their superb session house style. Pastry Sour Il Crumble rounds things off, featuring a medley of rhubarb, strawberry, almond, honeycomb, and vanilla. Indulgent gastronomical greatness with a tart twist to keep the slurpability in check - they've done it again!
B L A C K L I N E S
P A R T Y A T
F I N S B U R Y P A R K
🍸 🍸 🍸 🍸 🍸
That's right our cocktail comrades Black Lines are joining us from 5-7pm, next Saturday 17th November in our cosy Finsbury Park haven. Alongside showing off their classics, they're bringing back the surprise hit of last year's festive season, their Oatnog. Decadent, creamy, and deliciously daily-free, we'd be lying if we said we didn't polish off a bottle of this on Christmas Eve last year, way before the end of our shifts. Ready to serve hot or cold, this limited edition serve brings together winter spices and East London Liquor Company's buttery Demerara Rum, for a velvety, rich finish. What's more, for every bottle sold, they'll be donating five meals to Londoners through The Felix Project; a charity fighting hunger and food waste.
On the night we'll have good vibes aplenty too, with a live DJ, your usual supply of top notch Yard Sale Pizza to deliver in, and plenty of free boozy tasters to get to know these spirit sorcerers. We'll see you there!
M A N A G E R
P I C K S
T H I S W E E K
👌 👌 👌 👌 👌
ILARIA - KENTISH TOWN
🗺 LOST & GROUNDED 🗺
Keller Pils - Top-tier UK Lager! Bright & wonderfully balanced.
No Rest For Dancers - Hoppy, floral Red Ale w/ bags of dark fruit flavour.
Hop Hand Fallacy - Pillowy soft, citrus flecked continental Witbier.
🗣 TASTING TODAY 5-7PM 🗣
FIONN - FINSBURY PARK
🍹 BLACK LINES 🍹
Oatnog - THE hit of Xmas 2021 returns. Vegan-friendly brilliance.
Espresso Martini - A creamy, cacao, caramel & caffeine-filled classic.
Negroni - Herbal, fresh & zesty in equal measure w/ ELLC gin.
🪩 SHINDIG NEXT SAT 🪩
EDDY - CLAPTON
🛰 ORBIT 🛰
Peel - Hoppy Belgian Pale w/ banana, clove & spicy black pepper notes.
Tzatziki Sour - Minty, yoghurty madness. A zingy sunny classic!
XX Nico - Doubled-up banger! Smooth, malty magic w/ a boozy undertone.
TOM - BALHAM
🌡 PRESSURE DROP 🌡
Apres - Sparklingly clean, punchy & super refreshing Cold IPA.
Green Means Go - Dry, spritzy & eminently guzzle-able traditional Gose.
At Your Leisure - New England Pale w/ the full fruit salad fantasy of flavour!
LARA - FOREST HILL
🌧 CLOUDWATER 🌧
Echo Dream w/ Floc - NZ DIPA boasting ripe citrus rind & piney flavour.
Happy - Vivid, brilliantly balanced & super sluggable Pale.
Pampel Weisse - Quaffable white grapefruit & yuzu fruited Wheat beer!
CHIPPY - ST JOHN'S HILL
🎤 SIGNATURE 🎤
Backstage IPA - Citric meets pine party. Simultaneously juicy & clean.
Roadie - Ever-dependable SIPA w/ a touch of grapefruit & lime.
Studio Lager - All-day & all-night drinking Pils w/ a herbal bitter bite.
SAM - WOOD STREET
🍺 PILLARS 🍺
Pilsner - Gluggable & Gluten Free, an eternal, crispy crowd pleaser.
Helles - Easy-drinking, yet award-winning traditional Munich Lager.
Hop Lager - Delicately bitter Light Lager meets zippy, green Pale.
MEL - WALTHAMSTOW
💦 DROP PROJECT 💦
Scoff - Crushable grapefruit & apricot tasting Table Beer.
Dawn - DDH DIPA boasting sweet, sticky stone fruit succulence.
Lip Smack - Tantalisingly tart raspberry & blackberry Sour.
W E B S H O P
W O N D E R S
T H I S W E E K
🍁 ARBOR 🍁
Diary Of An Impy Kid - Warming, dense & delectable Impy Stout aged in plantation rum barrels for a massive 9 months.
Elliot Has Left The Building - Ridiculously smooth & utterly pastry-free Stout aged 9 months in heaven hills bourbon barrels.
🪐 GRAVITY WELL 🪐
Planetary Alignment - Tangy, saline Gose full of mango, passion fruit & guava.
Cosmic Dust - Double dry-hopped SIPA w/ ludicrous punch for its abv.
Non-Standard Candle - Juicy, savoury NEIPA saturated in hoppy fun.
🐺 HOWLING HOPS 🐺
Barleypop - Vibrant, crisp, Light Lager, bound for Session slurping.
Tropical Deluxe - Legendary Session Pale delivering a dry-hop tropical tango!
House IPA - Fluffy, fruity & ridiculously moreish NEIPA. A classic.
🍇 TILLINGHAM 🍇
Field Blend One - Six grape blend exclusively sourced from their Sussex vineyards. Expect rounded acidity, gentle grip & lifted aromas of elderflower, greengage & pear.
Field Blend Two - Biodynamic blend w/ their own fruit. Luminescent ruby in colour with notes of pink peppercorn and grapefruit on the nose. Light, juicy & absolutely joyous.
Thanks for reading & we'll see you same time, same place, next week! - Team CC