Chilling out at Zerodegrees

I tasted last month a malty/hoppy Pilsner, a roasted grain and chocolatey black lager, a crisp and fruity American-style pale ale, and an aromatic, creamy wheat beer in the Bavarian fashion, all under one roof and all brewed in this country. The brewery in question is part of the Zerodegrees restaurant and bar in Blackheath in south-east London. There is now a second, bigger branch in Bristol, both serving these sumptuous beers.

The inspiration is clearly American. One of the founders of the company had been bowled over by American brewpubs, while the first brewer in Blackheath, Grant Johnson from California, wanted to create the type of pale ales brewed in his homeland, zinging with the tart, tangy character of native hop varieties.

The name Zerodegrees stems from the fact that the area is based on the Greenwich meridian. The Blackheath restaurant opened in 2000 and has won praise ever since for the quality of both beer and food. The brewery doesn't hide its malts under a bushel: it's visible from the street and from the bar area inside.

The design and ambience of the entire site is plain, functional and no-nonsense, Frank Lloyd Wright meets New Brutalism: uncovered girders and ducts, a kitchen area open to view, and a vast, curved bar with two stainless steel beer dispense units fed by pipes linked to the brewery.

In keeping with the cosmopolitan approach of Zerodegrees, the current brewer, Norman Gapare (left) hails from Harare. There are many sound reasons for leaving Zimbabwe, a minor consideration being that the main beer producer there is a subsidiary of South African Breweries. Norman started as a student of wine making in Germany, then took a post-graduate course in brewing at Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh. He put his skills to use at the Meantime Brewery in Greenwich - where another Heriot-Watt graduate, Alastair Hook, produces a spectacular range of classic European beer styles - before moving to Blackheath. The 10-barrel brewing plant is German. The steam heated mash tun doubles as the boiling copper: after mashing, when the sugars are extracted from the grain, the sweet wort is filtered in a lauter tun and returned to the first vessel, where it's boiled with pellet hops.

When the hopped wort has cooled, it's pumped to four 10-hectolitre upright tanks where fermentation and conditioning take place, using the correct yeast strains for each brew. The wheat beer, for example, uses a strain imported from Weihenstephan near Munich, the world's oldest brewery and producer of an acclaimed Bavarian wheat beer.

The final resting place for the beers is in two 20-hecto horizontal tanks, where the lager beers enjoy a 21-day cold conditioning, the ales 10-14 days. The beers, both ales and lagers, are carbonated only by the natural gas produced by fermentation. In the holding tanks, the beer is in plastic liners and therefore not in contact with the stainless steel. When the beers are ready to be served, compressed air is pumped into the tanks and the pressure forces the beer from the liners to the bar.

In other words, pukka beer: no artificial carbonation or applied gas pressure.

Norman uses only the finest brewing materials, chosen to underscore the traditional values of his beer styles. Malts are supplied by Thomas Fawcett and include lager, Munich, pale ale, crystal and wheat malts. Hops come from Charles Faram, which supplies the Saaz variety from the Czech Republic's Zatec region, Hersbrucker from the German Hallertau, and Cascade and Centennial from the Pacific North-west in the United States.

Close your eyes as you sip the 4.8% Pilsner and you could be drinking in a bar in Prague or Munich. It's brewed from 98% lager malt with a touch of caramalt to give it the faintest hint of bronze. It has a tempting aroma of rich, slightly toasted malt and cornflour with aromatic, resinous hops. There are light fruit, bitter hops and juicy malt in the mouth, followed by a long, bitter-sweet and wonderfully quenching finish that finally becomes dry and bitter: the hops create between 27 and 30 units of bitterness.

The 4.6% copper-coloured Pale Ale is ravishing, with a massive 40 units of bitterness from the American hops, which also contribute the familiar tart citrus aromas and flavours of grapefruit that are the hallmark of varieties grown in Washington State and Oregon. There is a rich hint of toffee on the aroma from the generous use of crystal malt, while the palate and finish burst with bitter hops, tangy fruit and rich malt.

Dark lager is enjoying a revival in fortune in both Bavaria and Bohemia, as was seen in the clamour to get the new Budvar Dark at GBBF in August. Norman's 4.8% version is based on the Czech style and has a robust and intense aroma and palate reminiscent of liquorice, molasses, chocolate, dates and figs. Roasted malt and chocolate dominate the finish but there is a gentle but solid hop presence from Cascade and Hersbrucker.

The 4.2% Wheat Ale makes a deep bow in the direction of the classic Bavarian style, its yeast strain delivering warm aromas and tastes of banana and clove, with a delicious creamy note from the wheat malt and a gentle but persistent hop bitterness from the Hersbrucker variety. The finish is creamy and fruity with a light hop tingle.

The food at Zerodegrees is excellent - pizzas cooked in a wood-fired oven, a wide range of pasta dishes, and bangers and mash. I was pleased to see on my visit that just about everyone eating there was drinking the house beers rather than wine.

The beers, which are unfiltered to retain maximum flavour, are served cold in the American fashion and you will need to let them warm in the glass to enjoy their complex character to the full.

Zerodegrees 29-31 Montpelier Vale Blackheath London SE3 0TJ

Zerodegrees 53 Colston Street Bristol BS1 5BA