How we’re showing our craving for a crafty beer

A couple who put their shared passion for pints to use by launching a brewery company in an industrial estate in Peckham are now giving Londoners the chance to create their own beer.

Lucy Grimshaw and Ian Clark set up independent micro-brewery Clarkshaws three years ago and their four English ales and one lager are stocked in pubs across central and south London.

The company, which operates out of the arches of Belinda Road in Brixton, produces about 70,000 pints a year. Now the 37-year-olds, who met 15 years ago at Cambridge, are giving Londoners the chance to bring their own hops and create their own tipple.

Ms Grimshaw said: “We had a lot of interest last year from friends who had grown hops. We only made about 800 pints last year in one day… but we want to make it a bigger thing and make about 1,600 pints.” The event is set to happen in September with details to be finalised in the next few weeks.

Three beer festivals hit the capital this week - The Great British Beer Festival, London Craft Beer Festival and London Beer City.

Dan Sylvester, co-founder of the London Craft Beer Festival, said: “Home and craft brewing has got much more popular across the country since the Labour government relaxed taxes on micro-brewing. But even three years ago when we started, ale and craft beer had a reputation for being a man’s thing. Now more women are getting into it.”

Clarkshaws brewery has been nominated for a Urban Food Award - City Hall’s celebration of food produced in the capital, supported by the Standard.

Readers are being asked to submit their top picks in six categories - cheese, salad, sausages, honey, bread and beer - before August 20.

To make a nomination for the Urban Food Awards, visit londonfoodlink.org