Camden
London, England
Camden pretty much helped kick modern London lager into life. Back when British craft beer was still heavily dominated by aggressively hoppy pale ales and beard-powered experimentation, Camden came along and reminded everyone that a properly made lager could actually taste incredible if you didn’t rush it or treat it like fizzy background noise. Revolutionary stuff, honestly.
Founded under railway arches in North London by Jasper Cuppaidge in 2010, the brewery built its reputation on Camden Hells, a clean, crisp hybrid of German helles and American attitude that somehow became both massively popular and genuinely respected by beer nerds at the same time. Which is harder than it sounds.
The whole Camden style leans fresh, modern and ridiculously drinkable. Even when they branch into pale ales, IPAs and seasonal specials, there’s usually a focus on balance and drinkability rather than just setting fire to your palate with hops for sport. The branding helped too of course. Bright, playful and instantly recognisable without feeling painfully corporate at the start. Although yes, AB InBev eventually turned up waving a giant cheque at them like they tend to do.
Still, whatever people think about the ownership side now, it’s hard to deny the impact Camden had on UK beer culture. They made craft lager cool before most breweries realised lager could even be interesting, and helped push fresh, properly brewed beer into far more pubs than the tiny hardcore craft scene alone ever could.
Also, any brewery confident enough to name its flagship beer “Hells” deserves at least some respect purely for the pub ordering potential.
