Small Beer, Crouch End, N8

A beer cafe style craft bar with four handpumps, the choices available on my visit were Almasty Best Bitter, Verdant Penpol and Two By Two Leap Frog Pale Ale along with Crafty Apple Rhubarb Cider on the fourth handle, this is backed up by twelve keg taps offering beers from A list craft producers. The interior of this shop conversion is made up of a wooden floor, bare brick walls and a high ceiling with the hard surfaces allowing some rather noisy acoustics. The Pizza menu was in full swing attracting young families on a Saturday afternoon as well as beer drinkers. Despite the downside of noise particularly from toddlers attached to the aforementioned families, something that may be remedied in part by a later visit, I found this bar to be quite enjoyable and certainly on a revisit list.

This is a small shop converted craft beer bar with a great cask ale policy, that makes it much more interesting than your typical keg-led craft beer joint. It's set in a rather basic bare boarded room with exposed brick walls and mid-height front windows, which means it's not like the goldfish bowl of many shop converted micro pubs. High tables and stools run down the right-hand side with a long banquette down the left, supported by metal frame chairs. The servery is in the rear right corner and has a metal mesh counter front which affords you a rare view of the pipes, bins and other such ephemera that hides behind your avearge bar counter. In addition to this, there's a stone top and simple bar back with an arched recess containing shelves for spirits and a long row of obligatory keg taps. A TV screen above the taps lists the keg and cask range plus a lone cider and two non alcoholic options, whilst blackboards to one side detail cocktails and shots. Opposite is a small open kitchen where pizzas are prepared until 1am on certain nights, making it an attractive late-night hangout for those wanting food without having to move on. Muted lighting makes this feel like a cool and cosy space, but I can equally imagine it's all a bit uninspiring in daylight hours. To be fair there was a lively crowd on a Thursday night, enhanced by a good 00's indie soundtrack, and the place felt like a proper boozer rather than a hobby pub or cliquey club. The cask options on my arrival were Unbarred The Long Black (£6.00 a pint) Park Brewery Tazman, Almost Best Bitter and Two by Two Leapfrog. As if that wasn't enough, twelve craft keg beers from various hip and obscure breweries filled the keg lines, but my Long Black was excellent and I never thought twice about switching to keg. I assumed this place would be a bottle shop with draught beer, but it was so much more than that, conforming to the classic micropub format in most respects and offering some great cask ale in a friendly environment that's easy to settle down in. There are a few pubs I have enjoyed in this part of town, but this would be the first that I'd return to. Date of visit - 21st March 2024

Having last visited Crouch End 11 years ago, I ventured back to visit the area's first pub in the Good Beer Guide since the Harringay Arms made it in back in 2011. Small Beer is a rather dark, but modern bar with a distinct emphasis on craft beer. Nevertheless, it does have 4 cask ales, which on our visit were Drop Project Choppy, Two By Two Strata Talus, Burning Sky Plateau & Almasty Best Bitter. The cider was Ascension Pilot. Craft beers were Kernel Mosaic Galaxy Pale & Table Beer, Left-Handed Giant Stepping Stones, Drop Project Shifty, Turning Point Disco Mango, Goodness Sunset, Villages Rafiki & Bassoon, Deya Steady Rolling Man & Indie Rabble The Mob Has Arrived. All beers and ciders are listed on a screen above the bar. There is also a list on Untappd. However, I soon discovered this to be out of date. On our Saturday evening visit, the customer base was a mix of ages. Although the majority were of the younger generation. A hip soundtrack was playing, whilst many were in for pizzas, which were being prepared in the far left-hand corner. Toilets (clean by the way) can be found along a corridor beyond this. The bar itself is in the far right-hand corner. In addition to the beers, a list of cocktails could also be seen at one side of the bar. Whilst there are much more traditional pub options in Crouch End, this modern bar undoubtedly sets the bar for decent beer in the area. It's certainly a good option if you find yourself in the area.