Some contrasting London beers

London is awash with microbreweries. It's a city with a proud brewing history, and I'm really excited to taste some of the new beers popping up from my neck of the woods. Three breweries here; first the notes, and then I'll offer a few general opinions.

Camden Town Brewery Pale Ale
Quite gentle on the nose - honeyed, with bitter herbs, lemon zest. Lightly moussy feel to drink, not big flavours here but nice persistent citric hops. Pretty good.

London Fields Brewery Pale Ale -
Quite a cool, clean beer, aromatic with orange zest on the nose and with a slightly smoky maltiness and gentle floral hoppiness. Really like this, and very drinkable at 3.9 %.

Redchurch Brewery Great Eastern IPA
Ok, this is 7.7% and is very different in style. Big fruit aromas here, with stewed plums red berries, and an interesting green-ness that reminded me of celery. Powerful, persistent delivery of complex flavours and malty sweetness on the palate, which really carries that savoury hoppiness through. Really enjoyed this beer, even if it is a bit of an extrovert.

London Fields Brewery Hackney Hopster
Peaches and pineapple, quite floral and fresh. Hops certainly dominate but it doesn't quite carry through as a balanced beer - feels a touch hollow and finishing very bitter. Some refreshment factor, but I think the Pale Ale is a better brew.

Redchurch Brewery Hackney Gold
So the IPA isn't a one off....darker and richer on the nose than I was expecting. 5.5%. These are quite big interpretations of the styles on the label. The fruit is rich and ripe, almost raisiny. It's bold and mouthfilling with a pleasing marmalade sweetness and a long, quite delicate finish. Very convincing, tasty beer, but not what I was expecting from a 'Gold'.

Forgot to make notes on the London Fields Gold. Just drank it. Probably a good sign.

I've had the Camden town beers before, and I'm afraid I don't think they're in the Premier League of London breweries. My impression is that they're focussed on taking on the big brewers in bars and pubs, particularly on the lager front, and good luck to 'em frankly. I did quite like the Pale Ale, but it was probably my least favourite beer here.
Redchurch and London Fields breweries have very contrasting 'house' styles - the Redchurch beers here were both big and bold. Not session beers, these. The Hackney Gold was my pick of the beers - alcohol and sweetness can be flattering in any drink, but I think the flavours here were complex and interesting. I thought the Hackney Gold was a bit heavy-handed, though. After this I really enjoyed the London Fields Pale Ale - their 'house' style is obviously more bright and aromatic.
One final word - value. Poor, in this bottled format. Running a brewery in London is not going to be cheap, but £2.70 retail for a 330ml bottle represents a lot of cash for, well, small beer. All these beers (apart from the Camden town) were bottle conditioned, and I'd have liked to have seen them in full bottles (as with the LFB Pale Ale), but that would have pushed the price up to the same sort of price you'd pay per pint in a pub. The logical conclusion has to be; find a pub that serves these beers well and try them there. That's next on my agenda.