American inspired London brews.
Duke's Brew and Que, based near Haggerston Overground
Station, is an establishment born of London's modernistic brewing
community. It has brazenly combined a largely Americanised style of
craft beer brewing, with an unabatedly American food menu. Popping into
Duke's is well advised, whether you simply fancy sampling their range of
top quality beers (some brewed on site don't ya know), or whether you
want to make an evening of eating your body weight in delicious BBQ meat as
well. Offering five beers on hand pull, and a further eight on keg,
visiting Duke's as a restaurant goer is by no means a necessity. A
further strong range of dozens of beers in bottle (Moor, Meantime, Sierra Nevada - all excellent stuff) cements Duke's as
a haven for beer explorers.
Duke's in-house brewery, Beavertown,
fits perfectly to the feel of the entire joint; charismatic, inventive
American style craft beer without abandoning its London roots. I was
lucky enough to try Moub, a 4.2% Brown Ale, which was full bodied, with
delicious chocolate and toffee nutty flavours, rounded off with a tangy,
dissipating bitter finish. Another in house brew, Smog Rocket, was a
5.4% smoked porter, which I can only describe as an excellent
representation of the style, a bold smokey flavour that perfectly
complemented the BBQ food.
The building itself compacts this
ambitious project into a surprisingly small space. All contained within
one room, from left to right, a vibrant and bustling open
kitchen in one corner, that proudly displays Beavertown's brewing
equipment. This flows through into the restaurant area, then onto an American style
bar. The functioning mix of bar/pub/restaurant that Duke's successfully collaborates, is
mimicked in the decoration; the room combines clean white
tiles, with traditional pub features and bare wood, as well as adding an
element of the industrial into the room, with steel girders and raw metal fittings. The music
that plays isn't out of keeping with the vibrant youthful attendees of
the establishment, also helping to add legitimacy to the American style
bar down one end (complete with yankee bar stools).
Utterly worth seeking out, even making an evening of it. The flavoursome beers, the mountains of delicious food: everything is bigger at Duke's Brew and Que.