"What's the best IPA in London?" is a question we get asked most weeks on the Beer Mile tour, usually somewhere around the third taproom. There isn't one correct answer — that's rather the point of IPA in 2026, when the style covers everything from sharp, bone-dry West Coast pours to soft, juice-forward hazies. What we can offer instead is an honest, taproom-fresh rundown of the IPAs we keep pouring, keep recommending, and keep drinking ourselves, plus where to find them and how to taste your way through a few in one afternoon.
Why London, and why Bermondsey specifically
London has one of the richest independent brewing scenes in the world, and nowhere concentrates it quite like the railway arches of Bermondsey. Within a short walk of each other sit breweries that between them have shaped modern British IPA — some leaning classic and bittersweet, others chasing the newest hop varieties out of the Pacific Northwest. We've been guiding people through this stretch since 2014, and it remains the best place we know to actually understand IPA, because you can compare five or six interpretations of the same style in a single afternoon rather than guessing from a single can at home.
Taproom-fresh IPA picks right now
These are the pours currently getting the most attention on the Mile and beyond — not a definitive top ten, just the ones we'd point a curious drinker towards this month.
The Kernel — the benchmark IPA
The Kernel's IPA is about as close to a modern British reference point as the style has. It's bittersweet, full-bodied and unapologetically old-school in construction, built on rotating hop combinations rather than a single fixed recipe — so the exact beer you drink changes from batch to batch, but the house character stays recognisable. Find it at their Spa Terminus taproom on Dockley Road, a stop on the southern half of the Beer Mile. Note it keeps earlier Saturday hours than the arches further north, so plan accordingly.
Brew By Numbers (BBNo) — precise and numbered
Brew By Numbers names its beers by recipe number rather than clever wordplay, which tells you a lot about the brewery's approach: technical, consistent and unafraid of bold hop combinations. Its IPA range moves between crisp West Coast-leaning pours and juicier modern styles, often within the same visit, making its Enid Street taproom a good stop for comparing styles without moving arches.
Anspach & Hobday — approachable and well-balanced
One of the friendlier, more approachable taprooms on Druid Street, Anspach & Hobday's IPAs tend to sit in the juicy-but-balanced middle ground — a sensible starting point if you're new to the style and want something that won't overwhelm on the first sip. It's also one of the first arches you'll reach on a north-to-south walk, which makes it a natural opener.
Southwark Brewing Co — the Beer Mile's front door
Southwark Brewing Co's taproom at 46 Druid St is where our own guided tour meets at noon, and its IPAs are a solid, easy-drinking introduction before the Mile gets more adventurous further south. A good place to set a baseline for what "hoppy" means to you before the styles start diverging.
Partizan Brewing — worth the extra walk
A ten-minute walk south of the main cluster, Partizan rewards the effort with some of the most inventive small-batch IPAs on the route, often built around a single showcase hop variety. The labels are gorgeous too, if that sways you.
West Coast, hazy, or session — which style should you try first?
If you're not sure where to start, it helps to know roughly what you're ordering. A West Coast IPA is clear, dry and assertively bitter — built to bite. A hazy or New England IPA (NEIPA) is cloudy, softer on the palate and leans into juicy, tropical hop flavour rather than sharp bitterness; it's usually the easier entry point if you think you "don't like IPA". A session IPA keeps plenty of hop character at a lower ABV, around 3.5–4.5%, so you can try several across an afternoon without it getting the better of you. We cover all of this — plus the full history of the style — in our guide to what IPA actually stands for, which is worth a read before you commit to a taproom order.
How to taste IPA properly
Hop aroma fades faster than almost any other beer character, so an IPA is genuinely a different drink a few weeks after packaging than it is straight from the tap. That's the main reason taproom pours consistently taste better than the same beer from a shop shelf — freshness matters more with IPA than with most styles. A proper glass helps too: a tulip or wide-bowled glass concentrates aroma far better than drinking straight from the can. And don't judge the whole category on one harsh pint — if a sharp West Coast IPA put you off, a softer hazy from a different brewery might change your mind completely.
Plan a proper IPA afternoon
Reading about hop varieties only gets you so far — IPA is a style best understood by tasting several back to back. Our guided Bermondsey Beer Tasting Tour runs for 2–3.5 hours, visits four independent taprooms with a beer included at every stop, and meets at Southwark Brewing Co, 46 Druid St. Walking a bittersweet Kernel IPA into a juicy Anspach & Hobday hazy two arches down is exactly the kind of side-by-side comparison that makes the style click, and our guide is on hand the whole way to explain what's different in each glass. For the full rundown of every brewery on the route, see the Ultimate Bermondsey Beer Mile Guide, and if you want a wider view of the capital's brewing scene beyond Bermondsey, our area-by-area guide to London's best breweries is a good next stop.
New to tasting? Start here
If you've never done a proper tasting session before, it's worth a few minutes' prep so you get more out of the afternoon — how to taste methodically, what to look for in a glass, and how to pace yourself. Our beginner's guide to beer tasting in London covers exactly that, and pairs well with any of the IPAs above.
Good to know before you go
- Saturday is the classic day — every taproom on the Mile is open, though some Spa Terminus venues, including The Kernel, keep earlier hours.
- Eat as you go — Maltby Street Market sits roughly mid-route and is the smartest food stop on the Mile.
- Pace yourself — standard IPAs run 5.5–7.5% ABV, noticeably stronger than a session lager, so drink in thirds and halves if you're doing several stops.
- Card, not cash — every taproom on the route is card-friendly, and several are card-only.
Bring a group, or gift the afternoon
An IPA-focused afternoon on the Beer Mile is a genuinely good group day out — we host private tours for groups of 6 to 60+, from birthdays to work socials. If you know someone who'd love it, our gift vouchers are delivered instantly by email and never expire, so they can pick their own date.