London Off license with good selection of belgian beers

January 6, 2009 9:26 AM

Anybody know of a good London off-license for bottles of rare imported beer? Specifically Belgian Trappist and Abbey beers and other obscure hard to find tasty treasures.

I am near Euston Station until tomorrow evening and would prefer something within walking distance (a couple of miles or so) but will settle for a bit further afield (underground accessible?) if there is nothing close.

posted by srboisvert to shopping (8 comments total)

Utobeer in Borough Market is one a friend of mine uses.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 9:41 AM on January 6

That was actually recommended by the staff at Gerry's in Soho (it is a wickedly well stocked spirits and wine off-license ) that I visited today in hopes that their selection extended to beers (It doesn't). Alas, Utobeer is only open on the weekends so the timing is wrong. I'll definitely file that one away for the future though.

I'm off to check out The Dovetail tonight. Maybe I can finagle a few bottles to take home with me.
posted by srboisvert at 9:54 AM on January 6

I was going to suggest Utobeer (go the The Rake pub just behind the market as their selection is awesome) and Dovetail!

I found this list of places selling Belgian beers, which looks plausible but can't vouch for it. Selfridges is an interesting idea - the food hall does seem to have every conceivable type of drink.
posted by patricio at 11:04 AM on January 6

The Dovetail was lovely. Tiny but a pretty good selection of Belgians. I had a Maresedous 10 and Witcap Stimulo. They were out of both mussels and kronenberg grand cru :( but the beef carbonnade with mustard toast was delicious.

Great list patricio.
posted by srboisvert at 1:27 PM on January 6

Damn dyslexia. Maredsous not Maresedous.
posted by srboisvert at 2:04 PM on January 6

On srboisverts list, I'd recommend "Kris Wines" which is not too far from Euston and fairly easy to get to if you're willing to brave the buses (a couple of direct routes through Camden) or walk.

The selection is geared towards Belgians, but there are lots of ales as well.
posted by phax at 2:10 PM on January 6

And oh, the Belgo Noord on Chalk Farm (2 mins from the tube stop, 10-odd minutes from Euston) is worth a visit, they have a decent selection of Belgian beers.
posted by phax at 2:16 PM on January 6

I put this Google map together based on the list patricio posted
posted by srboisvert at 7:23 AM on February 8