There are few cities worldwide that can match Bristol’s verve. This was Britain’s ’24-hour city’, it is a flagship for the new localism movement, its musical heritage is renowned worldwide, and now its beer scene is often held up as one of the country’s most exciting. Daniel Neilson reports


At Beer Hawk, we always want to go out and meet the producers, see the brewery set-up and have a beer with the guys who make the beer, so last week three of us travelled down to the south-west for to see what the buzz was all about. As we begin to expand our range significantly, especially with some more British bottled-conditioned beers and speciality lagers, it became clear we were in the right place. Expect to see some more Bristol breweries on our shelves very soon. Here are some of the highlights.

WIPER & TRUE
We have stocked these wonderfully inventive beers for a while now and remain deeply impressed. As well as the utterly beautiful gold branding that adorns the labels, these beers also push forward the notion of what British beers can be. Each beer is unfilltered and bottle-conditioned, ensuring they squeeze the most out of every ingredient. There are few pale ales that quite such a punch as Kaleidoscope, a series of beers that uses blends of three regularly changing hops.

LOST & GROUNDED
And the title for 2017’s most hyped brewery goes to… Lost & Grounded. Since leaving Camden Town Alex Tronosco, along with his partner Annie Clements, have poured all their energy into creating Lost & Grounded. Why such the hype? Well, Alex is just such a renowned brewer, a brewer’s brewer if you will. This is a man who understands restraint, quality of ingredients and most of all balance. “Everything in its right place,” he explains as we tour the brewery. It’s a mantra he repeats when we taste our way through the frankly eye-wateringly good beers. The Keller Pils is so drinkable, so charming, so on point that I’ve already ordered a stash for my own fridge. Other beers in their tight range include a farmhouse ale and a hoppy red ale called No Rest for Dancers. We’ve just ordered our first batch, and made plans for plenty more. Must-try beers…

MOOR BEER
Among the many headlines that Moor Beer have generated in the ten year’s since launching (Happy Birthday Moor!), becoming the only brewery recognised by CAMRA for its ‘can-conditioned’ beers certainly turned heads. In fact, it’s the only brewery we know at the moment who condition in a can. It’s an effort to pack even more flavour in its already immensely flavourful beers. It is a brewery always pushing the boundaries, whether investing in using a new English hop called Jester to great effect in Union’Hop or new canning techniques, there’s always something interesting brewing at Moor Beer. Keep your eyes peeled.

ARBOR ALES
This is another Bristol brewery hitting the decade-old mark. With a core range hitting around 18 (yep, you read that right), this is clearly not a brewery afraid of a bit of experimentation. Brewers here have long played around with hops from around the world, the tropical New Zealand hops being a clear favourite. We came home armed with a dozen bottles to try (tough job) and we’ll look forward to working our way through them to pick out our favourites.

GOOD CHEMISTRY
There is now around a dozen breweries in Bristol alone, and this is one of the new wave featuring alumni from Lost & Grounded and Wiper & True. It’s a small set up, but having tried the beers we loved the small range of supremely balanced beers. Each has a little twist, for example the pepper wheat beer. It’s a brewery that focuses on inclusivity and drinkability, and they are lovely guys to boot. The branding is some of the best we’ve seen too. Top marks.      

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