Laurence Andrews

What do you do when your favourite Finnish brewery has a tap-takeover in London? Well, there’s only one option. Hosted at the fantastic Brew By Numbers in Peckham Rye, CoolHead brought ten beers to showcase for one day only with a chance to meet with their Head Brewer.

Brew By Numbers or BBNO have a great unit under two railway arches in Peckham Rye, only a short walk beyond a few trendy bars including Brick Brewery, just around the corner from the station. Their taproom unit is kitted out with a stack of large barrels which sit behind the prominent wood and stainless steel bar. There must be at least twenty lines feeding back to chillers and kegs sat behind the barrels, all visible when you walk to the loo! There’s plenty of dog-friendly space inside and out with sofas and festival-style benches where people were happy to share and discuss beer.

CoolHead aren’t something you see much of in the UK, but they are a very up and coming Finnish Brewery, known well in Helsinki and beyond for their sour beer specialities. My personal favourite is the Salted Liquorice Raspberry Sour which is like nothing else, an explosion of flavour with a sour kick to stop It from being too sweet. I tried all of their beers while at BBNO, my favourite of the day was Haziness, a chilled out Session IPA which was a welcome treat on a sunny Friday afternoon. Others were a little too strong for my taste but they were certainly worth trying.

My craft beer friend Heidi joined us live from Finland when we met CoolHead at Brew By Numbers and we shared the dangerous 10.3% Sapphires on draft in London and by can in Finland! A great evening which was followed up with a quick visit to Brick Brewery before heading back to Central London. Will certainly come back here, eager to try BBNO’s beers too, this is a great little beer spot without the crowds and expensive prices.

After a recent trip to Finland Heidi kindly gifted me a supply of canned CoolHead beers which I successfully smuggled back home! It’s been rather difficult pacing myself with them, very much looking forward to the Deep Double Apple Crumble which I’m saving for a special occasion! If you see CoolHead beers in the UK (or anywhere else) do give them a try, you can’t go wrong.