Peckham Beer Rebellion - Four Quarters

Thursday 14th July - Those clever chaps at Late Knights Brewery have done it again.  Beer Rebellion Peckham is now their third pub / beer bar / brewery tap in South London after Beer Rebellion Gypsy Hill and London Beer Dispensary in Brockley - two of my favourites.  They've even got one in Brighton.

Each outpost has its own little quirks, and in Peckham you pick your own glassware off a shelf before you order.  You have 18 taps to choose from (10 keg, 4 cask, 4 cider), and all the beers are from London-based breweries.  Some of the prices seem a little steep compared to their other bars, but there are several pints around the 4% mark at £3.40.

There's no space for a kitchen, but their crafty burgers will be popping up outside from time to time.  It's lacking space in general, leading to bottlenecks at the bar and plenty of spilling out on to the street, but it's a good fit for Peckham.  The beer is great and there's not much else in the way of competition nearby (though Brick Brewery taproom is a 10 minute walk), so I expect it will be very busy for the foreseeable future.

Beer Rebellion, 129 Queen's Road, SE15 2ND

Fourpure IPA at Peckham Beer Rebellion

Whilst in town, we wandered over towards Peckham Rye to find Four Quarters, London's first arcade bar, much like Emporium and Beercade in Chicago, and Barcade in New York (guess where I've just been?). 

London is lacking in the fun department as far as bars go, as most leave the speakeasy quirks at the hidden door and take themselves very seriously, but hopefully, inspired by our friends across the pond, this is starting to change.  Bounce, Ping and Pop-Up Ping Pong have been leading the table-tennis charge, a game of cornhole was spotted outside Beavertown's new tap room, and Draughts board game bar is soon opening in Haggerston.  Now all we need are a few shuffleboard tables and some skeeball and I'll be happy.

Anyway, I digress.  As the name hints, you swap £1 for 4 American quarters (not a good exchange rate!) to use in a variety of lovingly restored classic arcade games and pinball machines.  Try your hand at Pacman, Tron, Point Blank, Star Wars Trilogy, Pong, Street Fighter II and more whilst consuming beer, wine and grilled cheese.  Games from your childhood and adult drinks - the perfect combo.

Since I visited, they have also opened an upstairs room to celebrate some old console classics such as Mario Kart, Micro Machines and Bomberman.  A perfect excuse for a return visit.

The draft beer options aren't terribly exciting but there's plenty of good stuff in the fridge including Odell 5 Barrel Pale Ale and the Fourpure range of cans.  If they upped their game on the taps too, I'd be there every week.  

With opening hours as late as 2am on weekends and a few night bus options nearby, it's the perfect relaxed place to end a Peckham bar crawl, and hopefully the first in a wave of similar fun-focused watering holes.

The Four Quarters, 187 Rye Lane, SE15

London Beer Dispensary - Little Nan's Cocktail Club

Some housekeeping before I talk about Friday's adventures. You may have noticed a name change from The List to Matt The List. This is not me getting in touch with my inner ego, but an attempt to make the blog name less generic (and different to the Scottish publication of the same name) without actually changing anything too much! 

Along with this, I have set up Matt The Tumblr and Matt The List on Facebook (Matt the Face? Face the List? Matt the Book?) - please take a look / follow / like / share etc if you get a minute! A new twitter handle & domain name might follow soon once I can work out the best way to avoid having the letter t three times in a row...

Friday 23rd May - Friday's outing saw me getting a train from Elephant & Castle for the first time ever. Not knowing quite how far through the shopping centre it was (lovely place by the way), I ended up missing my train and spending 20 minutes with a pushy but entertaining Big Issue seller.  After parting with some change, he gave me a manly hug and sent me on my way to Sevenoaks.

I got off a few stops short of Kent at Crofton Park, just down the road from Brockley, to visit the latest pub venture from the clever chaps at Late Knight's Brewery.  Having recently spent a great evening at Beer Rebellion in Gipsy Hill, I had high hopes for their new joint, London Beer Dispensary.

They have taken over one half of Mr.Lawrence's wine bar & shop on Brockley Road, still sharing a garden with their grape-loving neighbours.  Most unusually, they have stripped away the previous space-wasting bar, and replaced it with a large central barrel.  There is no bar. Anywhere. Just a load of cask and keg lying around, waiting to be drunk.  Genius.

The bearded duo of Darren & Aidan man the open space, offering up tasters and friendly advice on what to drink.  With cask at £3.40/pint and keg at £4.20/pint, you should be able to go through the majority of the 8 casks, 3 kegs and 5 ciders with friends without breaking the bank.  For a bit of fun, order from the mysterious Dark and Light kegs which are only revealed once totally finished.  They imported this idea from their Brighton Beer Dispensary.

Is it a barrel? Is it a bar?

The likes of Weird Beard Decadence Stout (on the Dark tap), Truefitt Erimus and Great Heck Amish Mash (awesome name) impressed on our visit.  There are plenty of exciting bottled beers if nothing on the board takes your fancy, as well as a fine selection of whiskies.  You can probably bring a glass of wine in from next door if you ask nicely too.

The top notch burgers from Beer Rebellion are on offer here, and the quality remains high. Also, Late Knights' witty scribblings are once again present - the emergency Stella box was our favourite.

My hopes were not misplaced.  They've set up another cracking little beer (and whisky) haven in an unlikely SE London location.  Watch out Peckham & Penge, you are probably next.  

Matt The List tip - You might occasionally find Late Knights beer at Alexandra Nurseries, an independent garden centre & café in Penge which has just come on to my radar.

Flatmate Maggie did her classic arrive late thing and rocked up just as we were leaving London Beer Dispensary, parting ways with SE locals, Sister Jo, Ant and Ryan.  Three remained and we sped over to The Talbot pub nearer St.John's & Lewisham for a round or two of teapot cocktails upstairs in Little Nan's Cocktail Club.

Not far apart - Little Nan's Bar & Little Nan's Cocktail Club

Little Nan's invite

Paul, Maggie and I weren't quite sure what to expect as we wandered through The Talbot, passing some local Brockley Brewery beer on cask.  I haven't made it yet to the original Little Nan's Bar in Deptford (not as far away as I once thought), but have read numerous amusing reports including this one from Keith Barker-Main.  

The Deptford bar is a tribute to owner Tristan Scutt's nan, who enjoyed a drink every now and then. This second site is supposedly in honour of Little Nan's Little Nan (stay with me), and so has been royally kitted out with all sorts of wonderful Victorian tat.  

We picked our own china tea cups for the evening from a large selection dangling off the wall, and squeezed our way through a packed parlour to our reserved table in the corner.  They filled every last inch of space with customers - hats off to the couple who squeezed into a window seat with their knees around their chins.

Several pages worth of sharing teapot cocktails are stuck into a book, and orders are taken on large playing cards. If this all sounds very on trend and East London, it's not.  It's genuinely tacky and charming, and the punters are not your usual bearded hipsters.  Alongside the cocktails, unlikely sharing plates including Toad in the Hole are available - 6 for £7.50.

On to the tough decision, do you want a Kriss Akabusi or a Lord Paddy Ashdown? A teapot of Sir Christopher Marlowe or a Dame Patsy Stone?  

Our Queen Ladybird of Brockley was not the fiery rum & ginger punch that we were hoping for, but a sickly sweet mixture reminiscent of Ginger Ale & Cream Soda.  We fared better with the Lady Barbara Windsor, a tad heavy on bitter Campari with mint, lime, tonic and prosecco.  

They won us round with "limited edition" shots of Werther's Original vodka presented in little pots in a striped sweety bag, accompanied Little Nan's magnets and glacé cherries on sparkly sticks.  

Don't go in expecting a masterclass in mixology and you will leave with a large smile on your face. Little Nan's Cocktail Club is a bonkers little bar that doesn't take itself too seriously, and its clearly already a huge hit with the locals.  

Matt The List tip - If you visit the Deptford branch, make sure you couple it with a trip to Big Red Pizza, the pizza restaurant, bar and venue that makes use of a double-decker bus on Deptford Church Street.  Whilst in the area, you should also check out the Lewisham Micro Library - a free-to-use library in a phone box that we stumbled across on our way to the bus stop! Apparently there's another phone box in Brockley that is used as an art gallery - read more about both of them here.

More of Matt The List in Brockley - Brockley Market & Brockley Brewery

Lewisham Micro Library

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Beer Rebellion - Meat the Butcher

Sunday May 4th - After spending half the day wading through "May the Fourth be with you" puns on twitter, I eventually made it out of the flat and hopped on a train to Gipsy Hill to try out Beer Rebellion.

The 17 minute train journey from Clapham Junction in the direction of Crystal Palace will put many off, but they will be missing out on a peaceful part of London, and a cracking little pub.

Beer Rebellion is run by the Late Knights Brewery guys, and it just celebrated its 1 year anniversary.  It is technically a popup, situated just opposite the station, but they have recently bought up the old betting shop next door so soon it will be a permanent fixture.  On top of that, they are planning to open several more beer bars across South London with Peckham and Penge sites rumoured.  The next to open will be London Beer Dispensary in Brockley around 22nd May.

Photo Credit - Jo Hones

They weren't lying about the hill.

As well as fresh Late Knights beer, they always have several more guest cask ales on.  On our visit, Liverpool Craft Beer Co. Hop Beast & Brighton Bier South Coast IPA impressed alongside Late Knights Worm Catcher IPA.  Prices are refreshingly low - you can get 3 x 1/3 pints for £3.20!  Takeaway cartons are available, and you can also take home bottles from their excellent range.  If you aren't a beer drinker, there are a few ciders plus wines & whiskies.

Core Late Knights beer range

Photo Credit - Jo Hones

Beer Rebellion also do a pretty great burger.  Lauren and I opted for two Wilson Picketts and a pint of chips for £14.50 altogether.  As my mother is constantly reminding me, I eat a lot of burgers, and Wilson held his own very nicely.

We were already charmed by the location, quality beer and tasty burgers, but the little messages scribbled on walls and doors sealed the deal. "Toilets, innit" was probably my favourite.  Add to that a quirky downstairs living room with a mirror on the ceiling, ridiculous board games such as Smokers Wild ("The Hilarious Anti-Smoking Game!"), and a cute garden, and Beer Rebellion really has everything you need!

Beer Rebellion is a welcome alternative to the beer tap arms race that is going on between the likes of Brewdog and Craft Beer Co. at the moment - bring on London Beer Dispensary in Brockley!

Tuesday May 6th - I wrote recently about Gillray's Bar & Steakhouse without actually eating any steak, but I can put that right now having attended their Meat the Butcher event with O'Shea's Butchers.

We gathered in the wonderful bar with sunny views over the Thames for a round of G&Ts (Death's Door & Martin Miller's for starters) before heading through to the back of the restaurant for a butchery demonstration.

O'Shea's established the first Butchers in Tipperary in 1789.  Now you can find them in Bermondsey on Druid Street, next door to Anspach & Hobday brewery and close to Maltby Street Market & Spa Terminus (which they are part of).

Darragh O'Shea (8th generation butcher) and Gillray's Head Chef Gareth Bowen talked us through proceedings whilst Jozef worked away with hands, knives and hacksaws.  A crowd of 40 or so salivated from a safe distance. They made it all look rather easy - apparently any butcher worth his salt should be able to prepare and weigh up cuts from a 75kg hind quarter in around 30 minutes!

Rather than ramble on, here are a few random notes that I jotted down:

- Bavette Steak is "the monkfish of the beef world"

- 35 days is the optimum length for ageing rump. The carcass has lots of blood, so they put it in a dry ageing chamber with no moisture in, drawing out just enough moisture from the meat so that you can leave your thumbprint in it.  Any longer and you might end up with biltong!

- They make every effort to minimise stress for cows in their final few hours (e.g. not allowing them to see round the corner!) to keep the meat in top condition

- Tri-tip is the butcher's little secret cut that most people don't ask for - they like to keep it to themselves!

- The fat cap is great for making burgers - let it melt in to the meat

- Finish off steaks in the oven

- Don't freeze ideally, and if you have to, make sure it isn't too wet going in or ice crystals will form

As Darragh said, go and talk to your local butcher, most of them will (hopefully) be more informative than a supermarket shelf!

Don't try this at home

T-Bone Steak

All the meat

After the excellent presentation, we all moved back in to the dining room to sample Gillray's & O'Shea's finest!  We started with a ridiculous Yorkie - a giant Yorkshire pudding filled with melted Montgomery cheddar, served with a light horseradish sauce.

Gillray's Yorkie

Next up, we were given not one but two generous cuts of meat - a skirt steak and a rib-eye.  Both were full of flavour and beautifully cooked.  A 300g Skirt Steak at Gillray's is £20.00 which I highly recommend with some of their Baked Bone Marrow, and either the Triple Cooked or Truffle & Old Winchester Chips!

Skirt & Rib-eye steaks

A comment on foodie blogger society // Gavin's camera phone on a plate

Fantastic Mustard with Old Rosie Cider from Westons

Dessert was two miniature versions of the enormous puddings I raved about last time, Sherry Trifle & Lemon Meringue Pie - read more here.

Sherry Trifle and Lemon Meringue Pie

Hats off to Gareth Bowen & his culinary team at Gillray's once again - superb food from start to finish. I couldn't leave without one or two more gins - thanks to Head Bartender Joao for recommending the interesting Saffron Gin for a G&T.

As for O'Shea's, go and say hello to them in Bermondsey and buy some meat! They are also firing up a BBQ on Saturday lunchtimes which I will definitely be going along to soon.