The brewery
Canopy Beer Co may only have been turning out small-batch craft brews from its railway arch home in Herne Hill, South London since 2014, but the brewery's old J.J. Grandville-style animals on its bottles and cans made it instantly recognisable for beer swillers who've spent any time exploring the capital's craft brewing scene. These days, the beer art is equally recognisable, taking the form of mythical animals created by playing the old-school parlour game of Consequences (see below).
The fact that Canopy's taproom – a bar and four trestle tables inside the brewery arch, plus a few outdoor tables – is just a few seconds from Brockwell Park makes it a perfect haunt for summer drinking, too. Tasting flights cost a fiver, and locally made snacks like snacking charcuterie and sausage rolls adorn the bar if the variety of beer on offer starts to go to your head a little.
The beer
View on Instagram
Canopy's biggest selling beer is the straightforward, easy-drinking 5.6% Brockwell IPA, brewed with cascade and citra hops. Other core beers include Tall Trees Session IPA, Sunray Pale Ale and Champion Kolsch – and most of this lot is stocked at good London bottle shops. If you want to try something a little more experimental, you're going to want to head to the taproom. There, you can pick up the likes of You'll Be Fine Spring Saison: a dry, peppery brew with notes of citrus and white wine. Supine XPA, meanwhile, is a light and cloudy beer packed with ripe stonefruit that's made for hot days in summer. And if you prefer things rich and roasty, try the Full Moon Porter in the brewery's core range, or the rich and ever-so slightly saline Everyday Oyster Stout, which is brewed with Maldon oysters from the river Blackwater in Essex.
What else?
If you don't fancy sitting in, the brewery's taproom in Herne Hill sells all of its ten lines of draught beer to take away by the two-pint bottle or 1.8-litre growler. Selected beers are available in five-litre micro kegs while stocks last, too, meaning you're only ever a few seconds from drinking an ice-cold brew in Brockwell Park. Lovely.
Arch 1127 Bath Factory Estate, 41 Norwood Road, SE24 9AJ; canopybeer.com
