Mikkeller Brewpub London

Mikkeller Brewpub London opened on Exmouth Market in Clerkenwell in October 2019, a year after the Danish brewery's first London bar in Shoreditch, and was launched in collaboration with the singer Rick Astley, whose partnership with founder Mikkel Borg Bjergsø had already produced beers such as their Astley's Amber Ale. It began as a pop-up pouring from 20 taps before the on-site brewery and restaurant came fully online, with fresh beer eventually flowing directly from the tanks and a kitchen inspired by Mikkeller's Copenhagen venues. Mikkeller is one of the most influential names in modern craft brewing, a "gypsy"-turned-bricks-and-mortar operation with an international bar network, which makes this one of the more pedigreed brewpubs in the city.

The venue occupies two floors and about 264 square metres, with a raw, industrial feel softened by the brand's signature quirks; as its creative director put it, "this is not a restaurant with a brewery, it is a brewery with a restaurant." The compact 7.5-hectolitre brewhouse sits on site and normally supplies around half of the 20 draught lines, with the remainder split between other Mikkeller beers and rotating guests, so the tap list changes constantly and the room carries the smell of malt and hops. It sits in the middle of Exmouth Market's pedestrianised run of restaurants and stalls, a short walk from Farringdon and Angel.

Crucially for non-drinkers, the brewpub keeps at least one non-alcoholic beer on draught at all times, so there is always a real zero- or low-alcohol pour to have alongside the food rather than a fridge afterthought. The standout is an alcohol-free IPA that reviewers single out as tasting like a proper IPA with no sense of compromise. That credibility is backed by Mikkeller's own extensive non-alcoholic range, brewed at around 0.3% ABV and led by its widely stocked flagship Drink'in the Sun, a bright, citrus- and pine-forward wheat ale, so the alcohol-free beer here comes from a brewer that treats NA as a serious category in its own right.