About Time: You Discovered Avalon BeersBy Elliot Mitchell

If January is for anything, it’s for ditching the dry in favour of the wet. No, we’re not condoning alcoholism, but you can’t deny that the first month of the year is pretty, well, bleak. If there was ever a time to hunker down and experience new beers and open your peepers to new breweries, it’s now. I like to think I’m across all the comings and goings in that world rather well, but it can’t hurt to get some help – which is where Avalon Beers come in.

Avalon Beers: The Lowdown

One of the newest Craft Beer Subscription services to hit the market, Avalon Beers is a gloriously independent champion of British craft breweries. Available in either one-off gifts or a monthly subscription box, these craft beer geniuses collect the best new beers from indy breweries of all shapes and sizes, and send them in the post lightning fast – what’s not to like!?

Naturally, we’ve tried a lot of these kinds of things in the past (the cancellation process for Beer 52 still haunts our nightmares), so it’s undoubtedly refreshing to see someone doing things differently in this space. Where most boxes are almost too familiar in their choices, Avalon really pushes the boat out to introduce us to new finds.

Of course, there were some classics from big hitters like Kernel and Signature Brew in there (we could drink the Mosaic Pale for days in fairness), but it was also refreshing to see some breweries we had never tried before. Real highlights include the Everyday Pale from Jiddlers Tipple – a home brewer from Turnpike Lane, North London, The Mariana Trench Transpacific Pale Ale from Weird Beard, and a glorious 7.5% stout from fellow Londoners, Wild Card Brewery.

The wide variety in each box also made for fantastic beer-fridge filling for the festive period. Where most boxes play it safe by sticking to session IPA’s and Helles Lagers, our box had some remarkably innovative brews to steal the show. BBNO’s Solero Gose provided a gorgeous sour twist with a hint of nostalgia, while ‘Technological Adolescence’ – a DDH Pale from Mondo fast became our new go-to Pale Ale.

For those looking to try something different each month, and like us don’t have the chance to visit bottleshops as much as we’d like to, Avalon is a great solution for trying new and exciting beers from some of the UK’s most creative and innovative breweries.

For more information on Avalon Beers, see here.