An overnight success nearly 12 years in the making, Anspach & Hobday have long since cemented their place in London’s rich brewing fabric. Through a commitment to classic and heritage styles coupled with a focus on drinkability and consistency, the brewery has become a byword for quality in the capital and beyond.

“Sometimes it can take an awful long time to really find the one thing that pulls it all together. Everything prior to London Black has essentially been the groundwork for the one beer that has given the business a real, true identity and also the hope of a sustainable future,” says Paul Anspach. “I suppose you could say that this beer is kind of a distillation of what we were building from the beginning.”

The liquid in question is London Black, Anspach & Hobday’s flagship beer. A 4.4% nitro porter, it’s a beer that had long been in the hearts and minds of brewery founders Jack Hobday and Paul Anspach. But its one that, through the pandemic lockdown, and the associated disruption to daily lives and routines, that enabled the duo to research how best to transform and specify their session porter for nitro dispense and can package.

The end result is a beer that brings together the rich history and heritage of London Porters with the modern techniques of brewing nitro beers, London Black is characterful, yet smooth, balanced and effortlessly drinkable. Notes of roasted coffee and chocolate are balanced by a touch of red fruit from the hops, and brought together with the smooth, creamy mouthfeel achieved by the use of nitrogen.

Jack Hobday adds: “The success of that beer doesn’t mean we take it for granted. I feel that after the last decade or so, the big lesson of business is that just because you’ve made something you think is of real quality doesn’t mean it all simply works out in your favour.

“There’s a lot of learning, finding your way and working really damn hard. I guess that’s the sort of dream of youth meets the practical reality of brewing for some 11 years. Some things work, others don’t.”

Friends since nursery, Paul Anspach and Jack Hobday founded their eponymously-named in Bermondsey back in 2013. A part of the capital that has seen breweries both come and go, Hobday is acutely aware of his brewery’s established position on that famed stretch.

“Back when I was working in Brixton at the Craft Beer Co, I’d always be suggesting to our customers that they must visit breweries such as Partizan, The Kernel and Brew By Numbers,” he recalls. “So to then start your own brewery in the same area and find that the beers you were producing were being recognised in a favourable manner alongside businesses and people you have so much respect for meant a lot. It gave us encouragement and fed into our ambition.”

And that ambition was underpinned by a desire, like many great brewers, to make the beers that they want to drink and hope that the consumer will come along that journey with them. Over the years this has resulted in the production of beers such as ‘The Rauchbier’, ‘The Pale Ale’ and ‘The London ESB’ to ‘The Imperial Baltic Porter’, ‘The Pfeffernüsse Stout’ and ‘Sea salt & Lime Gose’.

“Their London Black has become more than a craft beer. It is the British nitro porter,” Jason Hackett aka Prime Mutton

Chasing trends has never been the duo’s raison d’être. “I feel that London Black emerges very naturally from everything we were doing before,” says Hobday. “Look at New England IPAs, for example. I don’t want to speak for everyone that has worked here previously but we collectively just don’t like them very much.

“There are, of course, great examples, but they are just not the beers that we want to produce. Don’t get me wrong, we have had conversations about making them because commercially there might be a really sound business case for it.

“But I just don’t think the market would find it particular believable coming from a brewery that’s never ventured into that territory previously.”

He adds: “Whereas with London Black we feel that it does all kind of make sense and it’s more of a believable style for us to be making and drinking.”

In addition to London Black, visitors to the brewery’s ever-popular Arch House in Bermondsey can enjoy beers such as the ‘Smoked Brown’, ‘The Porter’, ‘ Bermondsey Pale Ale’, ‘Ansbacher Lager’ and ‘Ordinary Bitter Smooth’. Beers that remain testament to the styles the team continue to enjoy making, drinking and selling.

“Jack has always been more of a historian than me but I think it’s maybe the fact that we learned a lot about beer and its history when we were initially learning how to make beer that it all really resonated,” says Paul Anspach. “It’s hard not to learn about what came before and not be inspired and enthused by it. For us the history of beer and our enjoyment of making beer are somewhat wedged together.”

“If we can continue to contribute to the fabric of London’s brewing fabric through this beer then that will be amazing,”
Paul Anspach

Hobday adds: “For me, it’s a bit like science or music. You are standing on the shoulders of giants of those who have come before you. That gives you a direction regarding what others have done before. We are not so ‘anoraky’ that every beer has to be from a recipe we have found in someone’s attic but at the same time, why not riff on that or at least have a look at it.

“There is something humbling in having the awareness to go back and look at how things were done. Not least because you will often find surprises. For example I can’t imagine many would expect us to feature American hops in our London Black recipe but historically the import of hops from America was quite a big thing. Or that our Ordinary Bitter features corn in the grain bill, which is again very traditional but not something that everyone would expect either.”

Anspach & Hobday beers are produced on the team’s 40HL brewhouse that operates out of its production facility in Croydon alongside six 80HL FVs and a quartet of 40HL and 60HL vessels. There is potential to double, or even treble production capacity but the duo admit that with such a move would likely come the need for an additional unit, too. “We have a bunch of tanks for single brews and some for double brews, with London Black going through on that side,” says Hobday.

London Black accounts for approximately 450,000-500,000 litres of production per annum while the rest of the capacity is primarily accounted for by its Bermondsey Pale Ale, The Ordinary Bitter, Ansbacher Lager and the brewery’s special releases. While London Black dominates much of the spotlight, Ansbacher Lager and The Ordinary Bitter continue to swell in popularity, too.

At 5.0% the lager is a bright, brilliant gold in colour, and is clean, crisp and refreshing. It has a delicate aroma of traditional and contemporary hops is paired with a subtly sweet malt base. While the 3.4% Ordinary Bitter is brewed with US Chinook hops and boasts a delicate hop aromas of pine, spice and dark fruits are followed by a smooth, velvety palate, with cascading notes of biscuit and caramel.

“There’s a lot of learning, finding your way and working really damn hard,”
Jack Hobday

The Ansbacher Lager is typically lagered for 30 days but never sent to package unless its ready. “Tank capacity is obviously a premium when it comes to beers like lagers so you find yourself inclined to put them into a bigger tank but then you also find yourself moving into London Black territory so its a balancing act,” says Anspach.

Hobday adds: “There’s definitely some tension in that respect because we want to carry on making really great lager. It doesn’t sit well with us if you’re planning on cutting corners when it comes to lagering and we’re seeing more and more accounts considering taking it on as their main lager in addition to London Black. It’s an unusual situation to be in where we’ve inverted it and the lager or pale is an add-on beer to the porter rather than the other way around!”

Keeping everyone happy and all products in growth are all-too familiar growing pains for many breweries but it’s also a challenge the brewery is facing head-on. And with London Black at the helm, they know they are in a great position to push on, too.

“At one point in time porters produced in London were the biggest beer in the world in terms of volume and this year, there’s a good chance we will overtake Fuller’s as the largest porter producer in London,” says Anspach. “It’s at a much smaller level than the Victorians had it but still, it’s quite a step for a small brewery like ours. The way the dark beer market is growing, why can’t we start to bring back some of those historical volumes?”

And while the volumes of London Black produced at Anspach & Hobday continue to grow, the team acknowledge they are “minute” compared to the production volumes that emerge from Guinness at St. James’s Gate brewery in Dublin. But the frequent comparisons with the famed Irish liquid are something that spur on the brewery rather than deter them.

“We’ve not tried to clone Guinness. There was obviously a gap in the market for a local London alternative to it,” says Hobday. “It filters back to that respect for the past and what came before. There are so many lessons to learn from such a business. And if you are entering the market as the smallest David to the biggest Goliath and think you are simply going to take them out then that is just mad.”

He adds: “What we respect and learn from Guinness is the importance of a clarity of message, a singularity and a focus on what you do. There are obviously some aesthetic cues that we flirt with but I hope that enough of our originality comes across so it’s clear that we’re actually coming up with something new and interesting.”

And the beer that was once called the ‘Nitro Porter’ and then ‘London Dark’ before becoming ‘London Black’ is proving just that. As a company Anspach & Hobday has experienced year-on-year growth of approximately 24% but over the last six-to-nine months that’s tracking at closer to 50% thanks to the success of their beloved 4.4% porter.

That beer continues to attract a growing legion of fans and  among those ranks is Jason Hackett. A bridge expert who has won titles across the globe, he’s also a beer and food reviewer. The content creator and social media star, known as Prime Mutton, has nearly 150,000 followers on Instagram and has clocked up millions of views on YouTube.

A beer fan and a penchant of a quality pint of Guinness would eventually lead him to try London Black and such is his love for the brewery’s beer, he can be often be found stopping in at the Anspach & Hobday Arch House when following his beloved Manchester City FC near the capital or while in London for his travels.

Hackett tells us that Anspach and Hobday are “pioneers” in modern craft brewing. “To the point that their London Black has become more than a craft beer,” he says. “It is the British nitro porter. In fact when served on 80/20 gas at their taproom in Bermondsey, it’s the best stout or porter you can get in Britain.”

“He’s a very, very honest man,” adds Anspach. “When he says something he means it and he’s genuine. It’s amazing the attention his work has garnered for us and we sincerely thank him for that.”

Through breweries such as Anspach & Hobday, dark beers are well-and-truly back in the spotlight and the appetite is there for all to see. Just as excellent outfits such as Lost and Grounded Brewers, Pillars, Braybrooke, Donzoko, Braybrooke and others have shown that the modern consumer demands and wants a great UK lager. When the London outfit moved to their new Croydon home in 2020, London Black had yet to exist. So for a brewery nearly 12 years into its story, it’s also one that is just getting started, too.

“I was at a beer festival earlier this year and someone asked me if I worked for ‘London Black’,” smiles Anspach. “But to be known as the brewery that makes that beer, you can’t look at that as anything other than a massive positive. Yes we want to make lots of different beers but in the early days I also remember us saying how much easier life would be if we could make just one beer. It goes both ways!”

He adds: “We are going to continue making different beers as that is what excites us and it’s what we want to drink. But London Black excites us, too. There’s a real technical element to it from the grain bill and the gas mix to the pour, the branding, the storytelling and beyond.

“There are lots of great breweries across the globe that are known for one beer or one style that they do well. So if we can continue to contribute to the composition of London’s brewing fabric through this beer, still be doing it in 5-10 years, and have it become a meaningful part of London’s brewing history then that will be amazing.”