Orbit Turn 9, Brewing With DEYA?!, Your New Favourite Orange Wine
H E L L O
C L A PT O N C R A F T
C R E W !
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Now just look at what we have here for you this week! Up top, we celebrate unsung heroes, and forerunners of the London scene in Orbit, who turn nine this month. Then, it's a sneaky preview of our trip to Juice Disneyland aka DEYA. We've cooked up a croc-king Antipodean-inspired Hazy Pale for our first ever collab with the giants, in what is an actual dream come true!
Meanwhile, over in the world of wine, we've discovered an orange stunner to take the world by storm this Summer, in Gulp Hablo.
Via the magic of the internet, we also have a frankly insane line-up of newcomers for you. Trillium. Omnipollo. Cloudwater. Floc. Vault City. Are you not entertained?
Rounding things off nicely, our dearest Manager's select their freshest and finest. That means the likes of BBNO and Drop Project (tastings tonight), Baron, Beak, Gravity Well and more. But first, to those OGs...
B R E W E R Y
O F T H E
W E E K
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With an on-point core range and an ever-expanding selection of specials or 'White Labels', Orbit have become synonymous with the best of drinkable, finessed UK Craft Beer. Possessing a loyal following akin to fellow pioneers of bottled brilliance, The Kernel we're overjoyed to see how far they've come since stocking them nine years ago.
Beginning quite rightly, with their core range classics, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better regularly brewed Lager in London than the clean, citrusy Kolsch Nico. Now classified as Gluten-Free, this crispy crowd-pleaser really does everything!
Meanwhile, the oft-overlooked Belgian Pale gets its turn in the spotlight with Peel, a peppery, bracing, limey take on the style. Alongside, reliable roasty goodness is served by Porter Deadwax with the light, bright, tropical Ivo dishing out the sluggable Pale Ale panache.
Adding to the heavenly line-up, and having now attained legendary beer status, is their Tzatziki Sour, a vibrant, zingy sunshine-ready refresher from start to finish. Cucumber, mint, and citrus aromas burst from the bottle upon opening, all carried by a smooth mouthfeel along with a mildly tart, lactic sourness. Light, vivid, and dry this is an all-time bestseller, and for good reason.
Brewed in collaboration with the award-winning BBQ kitchen of the same name, their Cue Point Pale is another White Label not to be missed. Here, expect a floral nose with lemon peel, grapefruit and honeydew melon bouncing off bready malt flavours for a certified hit.
To wrap things up rather nicely, we have double loyalty points in-store on all of Orbit's range until next Friday or 10% off 6 or more online on their brews.
If you're yet to sign up, shoot us an email or simply ask in-store. It goes without saying we wholeheartedly recommend pushing those taste bud boundaries!
T H E C O L L A B
T O E N D
A L L C O L L A B S
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So then, we've kept it secret for long enough, but we can barely contain our excitement any longer. That's right we've got another bucket list brew in the works, with little old Clapton Craft teaming up with the mighty DEYA on a heavenly Hazy Pale, what else?!
Travelling down to Cheltenham early last Wednesday with an A-Team of hop-head staff, we were given the full tour of their mega production facility.
Long gone are the days of driving to the brewery being the only way to pick up beers for the shops (how far we've both come!), in fact, they've entered the stratosphere of breweries we've visited like Verdant, which are just doing things on another level.
After previously bouncing around ideas for a supreme recipe, we then put our selected hops under the microscope, while tasting through their latest and greatest to get a sense of where our beer will fit in. Featuring Australian and New Zealand varietals, both brand spanking new, and classic, we've got no doubt this could be our biggest and best beer yet.
A huge thanks to the team at DEYA for realising our dream, and for their incredible hospitality on the day. Expect a release sooner than you think!
M E E T T H E
T A N G E R I N E
D R E A M
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Located in central Spain stretching between the Toledo mountains and the western spurs of the Cuenca hills, La Mancha, known to the Arabs as Al-Manshah (βDry Landβ or βWildernessβ), is now a hotbed of vineyards, somehow growing more grapes than all of Australia combined.
Famed for its inclusion in Don Quixote with those iconic windmills, unfortunately, there's rather less romantically a lot of bulk, commercial wine made in the region. Though, in and amongst the megacorps there's now some fantastic young producers coming to the fore.
Grabbing our attention immediately, Gulp Hablo, in its luminous litre, orange splendour couldn't really be missed! Founded in 1993, by the three Parra brothers, they set out to work organically and biodynamically, farming every vine under their control with the utmost care, in comparison to the often profit-oriented business in the region.
Set an incredible 600m above sea level, their Sauvignon Blanc and Verdejo grapes are harvested and macerated separately on skins for 5-7 days. With the cool climate keeping overripe, cloying sweet notes in check, here delicate, subtly complex aromatics of orange blossom and tropical fruit lead the way. Mingling with moderately tannic dried citrus peel, tea and preserved apricot notes are carried on a slightly yeasty and textured plate.
As a result, we think this easily goes toe-to-toe with the likes of Baglio Antico's Catarratto, Tragolargo's Moscatel or the magnificent Bob Orange. Accessible, but with a slight citric funky edge, we think we've found your new favourite orange wine, and a hit for 2023. But there's only one way to find out, and at Β£18.50 for an extra few glasses, it's surely worth the punt...
B R E A K I N G
T H E
I N T E R N E T
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Yes, it's a big one this week over on our Online Store. Arguably one of the top ten, or even top five breweries in the world, we're pretty blown away to have beers landing on CC shores, from Boston's Trillium. With a few of us lucky enough to have visited them in years gone past there's no doubt, these warrant the same amount of hype the likes of Other Half, or Treehouse generate.
Not only that, but for our inaugural Webdrop we've got a breathtaking eight different juicy bevs, inclusive of one outrageous Lager, and running from Session Pales to IPAs, all the way to DIPAs. We'll have a limited selection heading out to some shops, but hit the button below to secure what you need from our rather tiny allocation. We can't say when, or even if, we'll be able to get anything from these behemoths again...
It's not just US domination though online, no we've also got a slinky drop from Scandivania's finest, Omnipollo. Featuring a Mexican Lager Luz, Imperial Pastry Stout Noa Bourbon Pecan Mud Cake 2023, their Solar Session IPA, and zingy Sour Ranchwater, we've again gone for quality over quantity.
Meanwhile, a little closer to home, Floc deliver two slurpable Pales, while there's a plethora of hop-forward freshness from Cloudwater, including a Baron collab and a fresh new Simcoe and Idaho 7 Pale.
Not to be outdone, Vault City bring with them their third collaboration with Mash Gang a Virgin Blackcurrant Kir Royale Sour, alongside the zingy Raspberry Lemonade and the luxurious (and more than a mouthful) Red Jammie White Choc Chip Stuffed Cookie Dough. Lord above.
As ever, if you'd like any online order collected from another one of our shops, simply select local 'Pick Up' at checkout, and shoot us an email for your chosen destination, or leave a note in the cart. Our next transfer drop will be Friday PM latest and that way you guarantee those limited edition suds, and we keep 'em as cool as you like.
M A N A G E R
P I C K S
T H I S W E E K
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ILARIA - KENTISH TOWN
π’ BBNO π’
Peach Melba - Fleshy, saline, Summer Gose loaded w/ jammy-tart fruit.
German Pils - Bright w/ satisfyingly malty complexity & a snappy finish.
Session IPA - Characterful & packed w/ lush, prickly pineapple notes.
π£ TASTING TONIGHT 5-7PM π£
JOEL - CLAPTON
π¦ DROP PROJECT π¦
Shifty - All-star Pale! Punchy citrus combines w/ sheer sluggability.
Wedge w/ Unbarred - Puckering lemon & gooseberry Sour, primed for the sun!
Grounded w/ Tate - Dark Mild choc-full of fruity, nostalgic toffee flavour.
π£ TASTING TONIGHT 5-7PM π£
TOM - BALHAM
π¦ BEAK π¦
Hum - NE Pale made w/ a new yeast for ripe, vibrant tropical flavour!
Pig - Dank DIPA w/ a melange of mango, blueberry & spongy pine notes.
Loopa - Sweet, zesty OJ-like NEIPA. Straight mandarin madness.
GUY - ST JOHN'S HILL
πΊ HOWLING HOPS πΊ
Park View - Spritzy, quenching Witbier w/ delicate, citrusy clementine notes.
Wind & Sea Surf Club - Zingy Pale finishing with dry, grapefruit aplomb.
Just The Classics - Throwback WCIPA, resinous & bracingly bitter.
MEL - WALTHAMSTOW
πΊ LOST & GROUNDED πΊ
Helles - Soft, floral & bready Lager. Deceptively simple & delicious!
Altogether Elsewhere - Subtly biscuity, nuanced, but smashable Czech Pils.
Wanna Go To The Sun - Peachy, piney & ever so slightly dank Pale.
SAM - WOOD ST
π₯ BARON π₯
Tiptoes - Silky-smooth NEIPA saturated w/ Nelson Sauvin, Citra & Idaho 7 hops.
Stumped - Aromatic, crushable Pilsner w/ robust brioche-malt character.
Harry's New Wheels - Vivid, zippy Pale packing a deadly passion fruit punch.
ORLANDO - FINSBURY PARK
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Weegie - Fan fave IPA bursting w/ fluffy pineapple & stone fruit succulence.
Big Weegie - TIPA spin on their classic, for even more tropical salad fun.
Pale Simcoe - Think gluggable grapefruit & bright citrus w/ earthy undertones.
LARA - FOREST HILL
πͺ GRAVITY WELL πͺ
Endymion - Crowd favourite Imperial berry Sour, thick, tangy & luscious.
Inner Space - Bonkers smoothie Pastry Sour. To be tasted, to be believed.
Planetary Misalignment - Subtly saline mango, passion fruit & pink guava Sour.
See you next Friday, same time, same place! Have a great weekend - Team CC