London’s beer scene is made up of a complex tapestry of interesting folks. Like with any beer community, its people are what really makes it, and here in London, one of those people is journalist Will Hawkes.
Hawkes has written about beer since 2010 for mainstream publications such as The Independent, The Washington Post, and The Financial Times as well as specialist beer mags like BeerAdvocate and All About Beer. He’s authored two books including the city beer guide Craft Beer London along with its accompanying app. And in 2013, he won the prestigious British Guild of Beer Writers Beer Writer of the Year Award.
Will is also the brains behind London’s original craft beer week, London Beer City, which is now entering its fourth year this August. Full disclosure: I’m now involved with helping Will organize this year's event, and as is often the case it was this involvement that made me realize that we should sit down and record a conversation together.
As you might expect, our chat is typically London-centric as we dig into topics such as cask ale, the recent opening of Camden Town Brewery’s $40 million facility and the recent acquisition of London Fields Brewery by Carlsberg and Brooklyn Brewery.