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Local legends

Independent bottleshops are a cornerstone of a healthy craft beer culture, and should be treasured, writes Laura Hadland

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Laura Hadland

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This article is from

Spain

issue 88

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Industrial shelving securely holds the weight of an abundance of beer goodness. I trail my fingers along rows of colourful cans, glinting under bright LED lighting. A tall fridge thrums as it keeps the cold chain going, preserving delicate hoppy aromas. I am greeted by old friends, both on the shelves and standing behind the counter.

I am in the bottleshop, a sanctuary for my kind. This is the point where you would expect to hear the phrase ‘Aladdin’s cave’ in reference to the treasures on display, but I am reminded more of a library. Each holds row upon row of knowledge and experience, carefully packaged into an accessible format. They sit patiently, waiting to be discovered. The shelves are stacked with the very best that each author, or brewer, could create and presume to send out into the world.

Every bottle and can tells a story. Some are deeply rooted in their local geography. They hold the key to the terroir from which they were born. Green hops picked by friends and neighbours. Grains grown by local farmers. Others speak of more exotic climes; inspiration carefully gleaned from foreign travel, or exuberant adjuncts creating flavourful surprises.

In my opinion, the people who run bottleshops are quite like librarians. They are incredibly well informed, the keepers of the cornucopia. They can help you find what you need, and if it’s not there, they can try to get it for you. They are an open book when it comes to sharing their insider knowledge with anyone that asks. These independent businesses proliferated across the country since the craft beer boom took hold, but times are hard now for all industries and we are starting to see closures - two disappearing in the week it took me to write this article.

Mike and Nicola, dry. owners

Some of the longer-established businesses started off as wine merchants, expanding into the beer niche as the pool of available small pack products increased exponentially after around 2010. Some act as importers and distributors of foreign beers that you literally will not find elsewhere in the UK. There are even alcohol free bottleshops starting to pop up, like Club Soda on Drury Lane, or dry. in Shrewsbury.

Many bottleshops act as micropubs as well, since the 2003 Licensing Act made it easier to create a pub on premises that had not been licenced before. In fact, it is often quite difficult to separate where the bottleshop stops and the micropub begins, with most businesses occupying a place on the spectrum between the models.

And they can be found anywhere. The back room of a post office, like Yard House in Tynemouth, or a former bank like the Hop Vault in Stourbridge. Many act as visible safe spaces, vocal LGTBQ+ allies and champions for gender equality in the industry, vocally demanding that beer is inclusive for all, like That Beer Place in Chester.

Brewery Market in Twickenham holds dog parties. No further comment necessary.

It makes sense. It’s nice to be able to have a taste before picking up a little something to take home. And when you get stuck in a two-hour epic conversation about breweries, it’s nice to have a drink in hand. I think the beer sellers would be the first to admit they are nerds. A lot of their customers are too, me included. But they are also welcoming to people who have yet to discover the amazing variety of our shared beer culture.

PHOTO: indiebeer

Bottleshop owners can be found working all hours of the day and night to make their businesses turn a profit, fighting now against rising costs on all sides. They were a source of support and camaraderie during lockdown, and many go out personally to make local deliveries to customers’ doors. Sometimes these deliveries happen by bike to keep costs down and environmental credentials high, as is the case with the Indiebeer shop in Holloway.

If you build that relationship, you will be rewarded. Making friends with your beer-selling crew not only puts you in touch with lovely, lovely people, it gives you an insider line, a finger on the pulse. Visiting the Beer Inn in Southport was described to me by one enthusiast as like visiting “a friend's house, who didn't know you were stopping by”.

And once they know what you like, your local team won’t hesitate to make recommendations and order stock on your behalf. And local is key. Bottleshops change in character and in stock wherever you go in the country. They represent and stand up for the regional market as well as offering the big names.

That makes it well worth seeking out the best beer repositories on your travels as well as staking out your territory at the one closest to your front door. Part dive bar, part Games Workshop. A place to find others of our kind.

You may be writing the first chapter of your own story of beer discovery. Your particular tale may, like mine, extend to several volumes. Either way I’d encourage you to explore, and befriend, our amazing UK bottleshops.

Public favourites

As nominated by the public on Twitter (the first 26 received multiple independent nominations and they are ordered by the number of votes they received)

1. Browtons, Ashton under Lyne

2. Keg, Cask & Bottle, Prestwich

3. Message in a Bottle, Cleethorpes

4. The Offie, Leicester

5. That Beer Place, Chester

6. Stirchley Wines, Birmingham

7. A Hoppy Place, Windsor & Maidenhead

8. Raynville, Leeds

9. Fuggles Bottle Shop, Tunbridge Wells

10. Beermoth, Manchester

11. Wee Beer Shop, Glasgow

12. Hop Burns & Black, Dulwich/Peckham