The Brewery Bar is open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday as usual. There’s a brewery tour running on Thursday from 6.00pm if you want to look around, see how we make beer and have a tasting through everything that’s on tap. You can book onto the tour here – they take up to two hours and you’ll get a few pints of beer.

Food on Thursday is pizza called in from Itta pizzeria in Kentish Town.

Friday’s food comes from Bokit’La, who’s brilliant Bokits are pockets of awesomeness which you have to taste to believe. Always great with an Unfiltered Hells Lager. We’ve also got Kamchi, who’s delicious gyozas are so good as a beer snack – get a range of them and have them with a flight of beer for the ultimate beer and food pick n mix.

On Saturday we’ve got Kimchi Cult slinging their kick ass burgers. Kimchi in a burger? It rocks. Especially with Camden Pale Ale.

As the Paralympics are starting there’ll be Camden 1908 on the bar (you won’t get to drink it in many other places now – it’s only available at the brewery) and the TV will be showing the action from around the city.

Mr Drink ‘n’ Eat has put together this great video from the launch of USA Hells, which happened back in March. Watching it brings back great memories of the day – foam hands, hot dogs, delicious American-hopped unfiltered lager… good times! We really should find some space in the brewing schedule to get another USA Hells made…

Do you want chicken, burgers or pizza? Most of the time, the answer is all three, right? For me it is, anyway. Well, my dreams came true this week when Chicken Shop, Dirty Burger and Pizza East all opened a 15-minute hunger-inducing walk from the brewery.

Pizza East takes up the big corner spot making their fantastic pizzas (you might know them from Shoreditch or Portobello). The inviting blue door on the left leads down to Chicken Shop (sit at the counter, if you can) where outrageously delicious chickens turn on spits. Or head around the back of Pizza East to Dirty Burger, a metal shack making brilliant burgers (the bun is fantastic – don’t underestimate the bun – and the simplicity of burger cheese is lifted to another level). All of the food is seriously good and you can also get a Camden Pale Ale at each site – perfect with pizza, chicken and burgers.

It’s great to have these guys around the corner from us (especially at lunch time or after work – or in the morning, in fact, with a Dirty Breakfast burger). You should head over there and check them out.

Pizza East and Chicken Shop photos are from their websites and social media. Dirty Burger is from Time Out’s great blog. Note: Chicken Shop has had a soft opening and officially opens on 28 August.

Production is increasing and we want a new brewer!

The job includes brewing, filtering, cropping, pitching, cellar work, packaging (kegging, bottling), blagging, listening to loud music and kicking ass in the brewhouse.

Ideally you’ll have a recognised brewing education and have chilled and filtered experience.

It’s best if you live close to the brewery. You should be willing to work on a 24-hour shift pattern. Must be able to multi-task. Great knowledge of safety, happy to work hard, thirsty.

We’re looking for someone to try out in the brewhouse for a few days first, then moving into starting full time. The position is open now. If you want to apply or find out more then email James – james@camdentownbrewery.com.

It’s about time we got an exciting beer festival in Britain. A festival which brings together the best breweries over a couple of days but also tries a bit harder than pies and pub singers when it comes to the food and entertainment.

On 5 and 6 October, it’s the Independent Manchester Beer Convention (or IndyManBeerCon for short). There’s going to be 30 keg lines which the attending brewers are manning and also 30 cask lines which will be put together by Port Street Beer House and others. There’s a beer and food dinner with Aumbry which promises to be fantastic, plus there’ll be talks and seminars and lots more. It runs over four sessions with two sessions each day – take a look at the ticket range here. It all takes place in the Victoria Baths, Manchester.

And even better news… we’re going to be one of the breweries there for the weekend – you can see the other breweries attending here. We’ll be on the keg bar and we’ll be taking a range of different beers to pour over the two days (different beers each day) including some exciting new things you probably haven’t had before.

We can’t wait to be there – it’s going to be a real celebration of British beer and done in a great new way.

We’re going, are you?

You know how it is… You walk into a bar and see all the beer they’ve got on tap. I’ll have the pale ale… No wait, I think I’ll start with a lager… Actually, wait a minute, is that a wheat beer… Oh no, I know, I’ll have the stout… Unless you’ve got a special beer on? Oh, you have, well perhaps I should have that instead… No, no, I’ll go with the pale ale. Pint of pale ale, please…

We’ve all been there but now there’s no need to worry about what beer to go for because you can have them all!

We now serve flights of Camden Town beer at the Brewery Bar. You get five one-third pints for £7. Sample all the beers and then go back and order a pint of your favourite. You can have any five Camden Town beers.

Why have one beer when you can try five?

We’re rolling into permanent new opening times from now on. The Brewery Bar will now be open from 12pm every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, closing at 10pm on Thursday and Saturday and open a little later on Fridays. If you want to come in and pick up some bottles any other time then you can come in Monday to Friday from 9am until 6pm.

This Friday it’s the Brewer’s Table and we’ve got three of our favourite traders. Spit & Roast are bringing their incredible fried chicken, including some double hot chicken wings. Load up on Hells Lager before diving face first into those fine things. We’ve also got Bokit’La who make amazing little French Caribbean parcels of joy stuffed with beautiful chicken or salt fish – best with a Camden Pale or Wheat. There’s Taste of Tawa for all those who want some Punjabi street food – it’s got to be the cooling brilliance of an unfiltered Hells with that. And for those with a sweet tooth you want to go to Molly Bakes for the wonderful cakes, delicious with Wheat or Ink.

On Saturday we’ve got Bell and Brisket here from 4pm with her wonderful salt beef. That’s dinner sorted!

After last week’s Ska takeover we’ve got a great bunch of cans still in the fridge, so you can grab them to take home or drink here. There’s Ska True Blonde, ESB, Modus Hoperandi and Mexican Logger. There’s also some Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils and Old Chub. You don’t see these beers in the UK very often!

We’ve also got some t-shirts now available to buy from the Brewery Bar – they are £10 each. Below is one (also available in black) and above is the other. Look way more awesome by wearing a Hells Lager t-shirt!

Last week was fun! A night with Ska Brewing on the Thursday (with plenty of cans left behind, including some Oskar Blues, which are now on sale in the Brewery Bar!) and then the Friday together in the brewhouse making a new beer.

That new beer is now in tank and fermenting away. It’s 100% Pilsner malt as the base, fermented with our Hells Lager yeast and we’re aiming for around 7% ABV. Loads of Cascade, loads of Columbus and some Centennials went in the kettle and whirlpool and there’s a whole, extensive, outrageous dry-hopping schedule to follow. It’s going to be in tank for six weeks and will come out unfiltered.

The six week countdown is now on! If you can’t wait that long then come down and drink Camden Town and Ska separately in the Brewery Bar this week – the cans won’t last forever so get them while you can!

Hey everyone, meet Renn! He’s been making beer at Camden Town since June 2011. Before he came over to England, he worked at The Monk Brewery and The Old Swan Brewery in Perth, Western Australia. While we say hello, we also say goodbye as Renn is leaving us this week: he’ll be travelling around Europe and then going back to Australia via America (lucky!). Cheers Renn!

Name…
Renn Blackmann

Job title…
Brewer

For breakfast today I had…
Toast with peanut butter

Today at work I have to…
Brew, filter, dance

If I wasn’t at work, I’d be…
Milking cows

Favourite CTB beer…
Pale Ale. It’s everything I like in a beer!

Favourite non-CTB beer…
Coopers Pale Ale, the green one, is a fantastic all-rounder which you can drink anytime, anywhere, and it’s the beer I grew up with

My favourite hop is…
Amarillo because it’s really good as bittering and aroma with a lovely citrusy, orangy thing

When I’m not drinking beer, I’m drinking…
Chocolate milk

The last beer I drank was…
Stone & Wood Pacific Ale at GBBF!

If we could brew any beer at CTB it’d be…
Russian Imperial Stout because it’s got huge depth of flavour and so many different things can go on in a RIS – they are all so different. They take you on journeys when you dirnk them!

If I could brew a beer with anyone in the world, it’d be…
Chewbacca. Because it’s Chewbacca!

Favourite song/album to brew to…
It varies depending on mood and the type of beer being brewed (example!), but I’ve been listening to Fat of the Land by Prodigy recently

Favourite place to have a beer…
Clancys Fish Pub, Fremantle, Western Australia

Favourite food to go with a beer…
Pizza

Good luck Renn – go make some more amazing beers!

Here comes another fun week at the brewery!

As it’s the Great British Beer Festival, we’re cooking bacon sandwiches from 10am until midday on Tuesday to Saturday (because everyone needs a bacon sandwich before going to a beer festival – there’s more details here but basically it’s free for brewers and £2 a sandwich for drinkers). We’ve got bacon, tea, coffee and beer for anyone who wants to come along before jumping on the train above the brewery that goes direct to the festival at Olympia.

On Thursday we’ve got a massive special event: Ska Brewing, from Durango, Colorado, will be here! We’ve got a pallet loaded with beer coming over and Bill Graham from the brewery will be around to talk about them. The Byron Van will be here serving their brilliant burgers. Then on Friday we’re brewing a beer with Ska – out first collaboration with another brewery and it’ll be an American-hopped super lager!

The Brewery Bar is open 12pm-10pm Wednesday to Saturday and we’ve got a great food line-up:

Wednesday 8 August: Kimchi Cult
Thursday 9 August: Byron Van
Friday 10 August: Roost, Kamchi and KP Viet

Then on Saturday it goes crazy and Street Feast are back in town with a street lined with great food!

Come and get it!