London's best craft beer bars and pubs

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US-style craft beers are becoming popular in London – and these are the best places to drink them

Craft beer – interesting, progressive beers made by small-scale breweries, and distinct from real ale – is often explosively hoppy and quite unlike traditional British beer. An increasing number of London bars and pubs are specialising in them. Here's our pick.

Do you have a favourite bar that serves brilliant craft beer? Let us know about it – leave a comment below.

Craft beer bars and pubs in east London

Brewdog
Rating: 4/5 51-55 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA
Everything on offer at this second branch is a celebration of the endless drinking possibilities that arise when malt, water, yeast and hops come into contact, from the dark and spicy Alice Porter to the sharp and fruity Raspberry Revolver. The most popular brew, Punk IPA, has enough hops packed into it to dispel all memories of any brackish brown beer you might have tried and hated
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Crate Brewery
Rating: 3/5 White Building, Queens Yard, E9 5EN
Not quite a stone's throw from the Olympic Park, perhaps more of a decent javelin pitch away, is this cool new pizzeria and microbrewery. Draught beers include Crate Golden, an IPA. Truman's Runner was also available, and other bottles ranged from the local (Kernel) to the international (Goose Island) and even the ironic (Pabst Blue Ribbon).
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The Fox
Rating: 3/5 372 Kingsland Rd, E8 4DA
There are brews from Kernel and Bristol Beer Factory, a good few Belgians, and from the US, Goose Island and the fabulous Odell at this Dalston hang-out. And on the eight draught pumps is a rotating selection from brewers such as Scottish Hillfoots' Harviestoun and the rarely bettered Thornbridge in Bakewell. Along with Dark Star (also represented) they create some of the most exciting British cask ale around.
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Sebright Arms
Rating: 3/5 31-35 Coate St, E2 9AG
Showcasing all that's good about London microbreweries like Truman's, East London Brewery, London Fields and the Redchurch Brewery, the Sebright Arms in Bethnal Green also serve cask ciders and perry.
Read Sebright Arms review