The rise of the craft beer shop — theguardian.com

Love it or hate it, craft beer has re-energised the British beer scene, and given a serious boost to that once seemingly doomed entity, the specialist off-licence. If you prefer to swerve the supermarkets and buy more interesting and original beers from fellow hop-heads, then there has never been a better time to be alive. Today, what Brewdog are promising will be the ultimate offy, Bottledog, will open in London, at the King's Cross end of Gray's Inn Road. The first of a planned national chain, it will sell not just UK and international beers, including draught refills for your growler (no, that isn't a euphemism), but also homebrew equipment, glassware, books and more. Like Manchester's Beermoth, whose basement space hosts meetings of local homebrewing enthusiasts, tasting sessions and meet-the-brewer events, Bottledog will be both a shop and, in order to lock-in its hardcore regulars, a community hub for likeminded craft beer geeks.

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