The Kernel Brewery

The Kernel Brewery is one of the most successful micro brewers in London and its rise has been meteoric with its beer winning awards and fans within months of setting up shop. Taking inspiration from US craft beers, Irishman Evin O'Riordain operates The Kernel Brewery out of an archway on Druid Street where his small team share the space with the Ham & Cheese Company, both are open to members of the public on Saturdays, from 9am to 3pm, (enter at 1 Ropewalk around the back of the arch, just off Millstream Road). This area is a hive of artisan food and drink producers with arches houses warehouses run by Neal's Yard Dairy, Monmouth Coffee and St John Bakery, all open to the public on Saturdays. The Kernel Brewery fits right in with the community of specialist producers and has become renowned for its experimentation. Among the many beers created here is a coffee IPA brewed in collaboration with Square Mile Coffee. But its their Export Stout, based on a 1890 recipe from a London Brewery, that's their best performing beer, having won 'Supreme Champion' at the International Beer Challenge as well as the Society of Independent Brewers' UK Champion Bottled Beer in 2011, the same year The Kernel Brewery celebrated its second anniversary. Not bad for a newcomer. If you can't make it to the brewery - and it's certainly worth making the effort to experience the ambiance - you can also sample Kernel beers at London bars including Shoreditch's Mason and Taylor, Simon the Tanner, and the Rake. Perhaps more surprisingly - and a sure sign of the calibre of this beer - it's also available at some of the more discerning London restaurants including the Michelin-starred Chez Bruce, Hawksmoor and Pied a Terre.