A line forms outside The Experiment well before the Hackney taproom, a collaborative effort between Pressure Drop Brewing and Verdant Brewing, opens at 5pm on a cool Friday in January. Both breweries drop two new canned beers this evening, including Lorikeet, a 6.8% ABV double dry-hopped New England IPA from Pressure Drop, and Verdant’s Albino Pheasant, a roasty 7.7% export stout.
It is the award-winning Putty, however, for which the crowds largely clamour. Billed as the hoppiest beer Verdant has brewed to date, the hazy 8% double IPA sold out the previous day in just more than 30 minutes at the brewery’s webshop. That set a new record for the Cornwall brewery, which is fresh off crowdfunding £1.2 million from more than 2,100 investors to quadruple its brewing capacity in a new brewery. At The Experiment, we’re told 14 cases of Putty disappear even quicker, though the kegged version, somewhat miraculously, lasts all night.
A few days later, leading bottle shops across London–Hops Burns & Black, Indiebeer, Caps and Taps, others– announce limited Putty stock, and within a day it’s all gone again.
Exactly one week after it broke its webshop sales record for Putty, Verdant Brewing makes two more beers available: Mary Lou (5.2% pale ale) and Headband (5.5% pale ale). Putty’s sales record lasts exactly one week.
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The Experiment is located at Unit 19, Bohemia Pl., London. Open Thursday 5pm – 10pm, Friday 5pm – 10:30pm, Saturday 12pm – 10:30pm, and Sunday 2pm – 8pm. Card only.
