Putting beer back where it belongs

Duncan Sambrook is young at heart and he has Young's at heart, too. When Young's Brewery in Wandsworth, south London, closed in 2006, it was a hammer blow to Sambrook. Fuller's of Chiswick was forging ahead and Meantime in Greenwich was growing at an astonishing rate.

But Sambrook felt south London had lost an iconic brewery and he was determined to restore the fortunes of the area.

He had no brewing experience but as an accountant at the big City firm of Deloitte — where he had helped people float companies on the Stock Exchange — he knew how to raise money and get investors.

He bought some old brewing vessels and then went on a course at the Brewers' Laboratory (Brewlab) in Sunderland to learn the skills of mashing, boiling and fermenting. In his late 20s — he's 32 now — he was ready to start life as a brewer.

Sambrook comes from Wiltshire where he developed a fondness for Ringwood Best Bitter. By a stroke of good fortune, he met David Welsh, former owner of Ringwood, who had been bought out by Marston's but was keen to maintain a brewing role.

Welsh said he would invest in the new brewery but only if it were four times the size envisaged by Sambrook. Welsh knew from his Ringwood experience the strain on both equipment and people if a brewery is outstripped by demand.

The venture became a serious one. More investors were found and the sizeable sum of £350,000 was raised to buy a custom-built, 20-barrel brewery using kit built in Canada. The brewery now has a total of 25 shareholders.

Former studios were found and gutted in Battersea and, following trial brews, Sambrook's opened for business in November 2008. The first beers were Wandle Ale (3.8%) and Junction Ale (4.5%). The first is named after the river that runs through the area and gave its name to Wandsworth, while Junction salutes Clapham Junction station.

More importantly, the beers are traditional copper-coloured cask bitters and their strengths are not dissimilar to Young's Ordinary and Special. Beer was back in the old Young's heartland but Sambrook is adamant he's not copying the old brewery's recipes. "London needs new styles of beer," he says. "I want locally made, locally sourced beers."

Welsh was proved right. Sales of the beer took off. The brewery is now supplying 200 pubs and producing 100 barrels a week. Luckily, there's plenty of room for expansion in the spacious buildings if additional vessels are needed. Welsh worked full-time at Sambrook's for a year but he's now taking a back seat with an advisory role. Demands on Sambrook have forced him to take on a brewer while he sells beer and finds outlets.

The brewer is South Africa-born Udo Van Deventer, who worked in the wine industry in New Zealand.

A good match​

When he came to London with his partner he thought brewing would be a good match for his wine-making skills. He joined Sambrook's as a driver but soon moved on to brewing duties.

He has taken up Sambrook's belief in using the best raw materials. In common with Young's, malted barley is the finest Maris Otter, sourced from Warminster in Wiltshire and Muntons in East Anglia. Wandle has an addition of crystal malt, while roasted grain is used in Junction. Only English hop varieties are used: Boadicea, Fuggles and Goldings in Wandle, with Bramling Cross, Challenger and Goldings in Junction.

Last week, to mark its second anniversary, Sambrook's launched its third beer, Powerhouse Porter (4.9%), named with a deep bow in the direction of Battersea Power Station.

It's good to see Sambrook's delving into London's brewing past and not rushing down the 'golden ale' path. What pale ale is to Burton-on-Trent, porter is to London. It was first brewed early in the 18th century and designed to quench the thirsts of the army of porters in the capital.

Demand for porter became so huge it outstripped the ability of licensees to brew sufficient quantities. The result was commercial brewers such as Sam Whitbread went into business to make porter on a vast scale: porter was the catalyst for the modern commercial brewing industry.

The strongest versions of porter were called "stout porter", later reduced to stout. Some modern interpretations of porter are too stout-like, but Sambrook's has got the balance right. Porter, despite being dark, had to be a refreshing beer for people doing manual labour. Powerhouse — brewed with pale, brown and chocolate malts, a touch of wheat, and Boadicea, Challenger, Fuggles and Goldings hops — has hop bitterness and rich, creamy malt with delicious hints of chocolate.

"It's a modern beer brewed to an old style," Van Deventer said.

And it's equally good to find a brewery deep in south London restoring the good name of beer to an area of the capital that lost part of its heart and soul back in 2006.