Best British beers
Here are our favourite UK craft brews, including olive team favourites and those of James Hickson, founder of South West London craft beer shops We Brought Beer
Looking for new British beers? Want to try unique brews from across the UK? We've highlighted some of the best craft beers from Britain's top breweries.
Want to get British beers delivered to your door every month? Check out our favourite beer subscriptions here, or take your pick of the winter beer, summer beer, sour beer, best IPA craft beers and lagers to try. We also have our best stouts, or for cocktail lovers, we have our best beer cocktails to try.
Looking for new beers to try? Sample varieties from more than 100 breweries at London Craft Beer Festival, 11-12 August. Find tickets here.
Best British beers
Small Beer gift box
- Available from Amazon (£22.50), olive shop (£19)
Small Beer set the bar when it comes to quality low-alcohol beers and this four-bottle (complete with 2 glasses) gift pack gives you a taste of the whole range, including their flavourful session pale ale and their toasty dark lager.
Available from:
Amazon (£22.50)
olive shop (£19)
More like this
Salcombe Brewery Saison, £25/12 x 330ml cans, Salcombe Brewery
The latest farmhouse ale from Salcombe Brewery is a spicy 5.5% ABV number, brewed with added peppercorns, coriander seed and orange peel, resulting in a floral beer with honey and citrus notes. Enjoy with roast birds or on its own. It also goes beautifully with a curry – a spicy match made in heaven.
Innis & Gunn Islay Whisky Cask, £6/330ml, Innis & Gunn
If you’re a beer lover who also enjoys a dram or two (don’t we all!), then this is a brew for you. This smoky 7.4% Scottish red ale is a limited edition collaboration with iconic Islay whisky maker Laphroaig. With notes of brine, coconut and pear you can really taste the spirit from its maturation in Laphroaig’s single malt whisky quarter casks.
Lakedown Brewing Co. American Red, £36/12 pack of 440ml, Lakedown Brewing Co.
Rich, smooth and malty, this new American Red is the latest addition to East Sussex-based Lakedown Brewing Company’s portfolio of vegan-friendly craft beers. This 4.8% ABV brew combines Magnum, Mosaic and Centennial hops to deliver a strong stone fruit flavour with a hint of spice.
Eko Haze New England IPA, £41.95/12 pack of 440ml, Beer Hunter
London's Eko Brewery makes beer inspired by African traditions and ingredients, and their latest release, a hazy NEIPA, is a homage to a classic African drink, palm wine. Brewed with coconut palm sugar, this is a winningly juicy, fruity affair with tart citrus notes and a rounded sweetness from the palm sugar. At 6.5% ABV it's quite boozy, but the 440ml can means you can easily split between two people.
Buxton Jacob's Ladder, £3.09/440ml, Honest Brew
If you talk to any beer fans about Buxton, they'll wax lyrical about its imperial stouts, double IPAs and sours, but this low-ABV session pale (2.7%) is equally worthy of high praise. Plus, 10p of every pint sold is donated to the Buxton Mountain Rescue Team. However, this isn't a token charity beer, far from it in fact. The brewers have pummelled the beer with hops to give it wonderfully bitter grapefruit, peach and citrus flavours. Although it has very little body, this doesn't really matter because of how wonderfully bright and drinkable this beer is.
Magic Rock High Wire, £2.29/330ml, Beer Hawk
Possibly Huddersfield's finest export, Magic Rock has been brewing critically acclaimed beers since its inception in 2011. High Wire is its tribute to the pale ales typical of the west coast of America, unashamedly hop-forward and bursting with tropical fruit aromas and pithy citrus flavours; think mangoes, passion fruits and lychees all colliding with a superbly dry bitterness.
Beavertown Gamma Ray, £2.30/330ml, Amazon
Although slightly stronger than your average session beer this is a seriously moreish, easy drinking ale that has become one of London's go-to craft canned beers. Rammed with big, intense American hops, flamboyant tropical aromas and colourful label art make this the perfect choice for summer.
Siren Lumina Session IPA, £2.39/330ml, Honest Brew
All summery tropical hoppiness, this winningly accessible IPA has a beautifully soft mouthfeel thanks to the addition of oats in the beer.
Wiper & True Milk Shake, £3/440ml, Waitrose
Bristol's Wiper & True make exceedingly tasty beers all complemented by beautiful label art. The Milk Shake is their take on a traditional milk stout, which they've crammed full of chocolate malt and vanilla pods to create a rich, sweet and velvety dark beer, perfect for finishing off a meal – try it with our malted brownies with sea salt. It really does have a feeling of milk shake about it!
Fourpure Citrus Session IPA, £2/330ml, Four Pure
Fourpure’s whole range has undergone a summer makeover. This crisp, refeshing IPA (previously known as Easy Peeler) packs in the citrus fruit for a light and lovely thirst-quencher.
Wild Beer Co Millionaire. £1.80/330ml, Sainsbury's
A typically quirky creation from this refreshingly unorthodox brewery, this super-smooth, indulgent dessert beer is inspired by a classic millionaire's shortbread. Like liquid caramel in a bottle, but with a savoury edge that stops it from being sickly. Pair with all manner of chocolate and caramel-based puds.
People’s Captain Legend APA, £14.29/6 pack, People's Captain
A classic American pale ale with a piney, citrus kick, this is great served with spicy summery food like tacos or kebabs. A percentage of each beer sold also goes to the People's Captain Foundation to support mental health initiatives.
Thornbridge Brewery Love Among the Ruins, £7/375ml, Thornbridge Brewery
Thought that all fruit beers were sweet? Think again. This poetically named Flemish-style sour beer won gold at the World Beer Cup Awards in 2016 and it's not hard to see why. Aged in Burgundy wine barrels with morello cherries for over a year, expect vivid fruit flavours combined with a punchy sourness. Complex and elegant. Check out more sour beers to try.
Kernel Damson Export Stout, £5.50/330ml, Hop Burns & Black
Kernel's Export Stout spent a few months in a tank with some British damsons and the result is rather lovely. Smooth, mellow and easy drinking, with delicious juicy tartness from the damsons. A cracking beer for autumn.
Grey Skies Headliner, £26/12 pack, Grey Skies
Sometimes simplicity is best – such as with this likeable, straightforward lager from new Manchester brewery Grey Skies. Clean and crisp, with an appealing soft maltiness, it's a great everyday beer. We also liked their Studio Session pale ale, with its perky, piney hoppiness and peachy stone fruit notes.
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