Sociable and Quaffable: Helles is the German word for ‘light’ as in light colour, and this golden coloured beer is typified by a refreshing piney, citrus hop aroma sitting atop a predominantly light malt accented palate. The hop aromas and delicate malt flavours work together in perfect balance to produce a refreshing beer with a clean, crisp finish. The Hallertaur hop does all its work on the nose, meaning this is a beer with very low bitterness.

Meantime brewmaster, Alastair Hook, has spent 20 years planning the quintessential English lager. His reasoning is simple.The great European lager brewers use very soft water and neutral yeasts to ensure that only the flavours of their locally grown malt and hops come to the fore. East Anglia is home to the world’s finest malting barley and Kent is home to some of the world’s best hops. Midway between the two, London is ideally placed to bring them together in a straightforward, clean, long-matured, unpasteurised lager, where all you can taste is malt and hop.

Malt sweet, hop bitter: A combination of the traditional in a classic English style beer, bittered with glorious Goldings hops, with the inventiveness of exciting New World hop aromas. Cascade and Cluster, with late hopping with even more Cascade, conspire to assail the nose with a complex, heady mix of spearmint, grass and ‘hop sack’ aromas. The fruit on the palate gives way to a very dry finish with the slight lingering bitterness, that calls for a further sip, which is truly characteristic of the Pale Ale Style.