The Draft House, Tower Bridge

Now that I’m older, it’s rare for me to get excited. But as I made my way to an evening of food and beer matching at The Draft House, I was rather giddy.

After sitting down with proprietor Charlie McVeigh and my fellow diners, we began with some simple but tasty canapés of toasts, pate and fish, all served in large communal trays. With no suggested beer to match on the menu, we were treated to a bottle of Estrella Damm Inedit, claimed by its creators to be the first beer designed specifically to match food. Such a revelation led me to expect a lengthy rundown of its genesis, tasting notes and reason for canapé accompaniment, but alas we were none the wiser. However, the beer itself was rather pleasant, although nothing extraordinary.

For our second course we had pork belly, black pudding hash and apple sauce (£12.75), teamed with a Sierra Nevada 30th anniversary oak-aged ale (8.3 per cent). This was a wonderful dish, with the mouth-watering crackling, rich black pudding and tangy apple sauce working exceedingly well with the delicious bitter caramel finish of pale Nevada. Curiously, the menu matches the pork with a Porterhouse Red, but after I enquired, I was told ‘we serve a range of beers’. None the wiser again.

A cheese course followed (£7.75), complete with oatcakes and chutney, and although again not coupled to a beer on the menu, we were presented with the fearsome sounding Double Bastard Ale. At 10.3 per cent, this is a veritable dragon of a beer, jetting flavours of burnt wood, copper coins and fruit across your taste buds. It may sound like an acquired taste, but it was a real treat in my opinion. However, such powerful flavour was a mixed blessing. Although the strong cheddar accompanied it well, the milder cheeses and rather drab, dour chutney had no chance.

Perplexingly, the panna cotta dessert that ended our meal was not even on the menu! Nevertheless, it was probably the best I have ever tasted, served with rich fruit and washed down with an equally fruity beer. This fruity pairing initially seemed perfect, but the combined sweetness meant that by the end of the dish it was the last thing you wanted. A crisp, dry beer or white wine would have been better.

All in all the whole experience was fraught with a curious lack of menu adherence and inconsistent matching. In my opinion, good food and good beer will undoubtedly go well together most of the time, and I think that’s all I witnessed at The Draft House.

Overall it felt like an attempt to appeal to a culinary ideology rather than display a genuine passion for the pairing of beer and food. Don’t take my word for it – towards the end of the evening, the owner actually alluded to some disbelief in the appeal of the whole process himself. However, let’s forget about matching: I will definitely be back at some point to try more of the delicious food and the extensive and intriguing range of beers…I’ll just do the choosing myself.

The Draft House
206-208 Tower Bridge Road
Tower Bridge
SE1 2UP

Tel: 020 7378 9995