The mystery of the two Brooklyn India Ale bottles in an alley near our house has been solved.

It seems that Paul’s Wines — an ancient and tatty off-license on Orford Road in Walthamstow, East London — has upped its game on the beer front. It’s been decent for a while (lots of bottled ale, the occasional sighting of Brooklyn Lager) but now it’s probably one of the best specialist beer shops in London. The manager says it’s a permanent arrangement as long as they can keep hold of the supplier.

Don’t get over-excited: there isn’t that much competition when it comes to beer shops in London, and it’s no Utobeer. But it’s better than the Army and Navy beer section these days, and really, really convenient for us!

In stock now, on top of the usual suspects from Young’s, Shepherd Neame, Badger and Fuller’s (partial list):

• Anchor Steam
• Goose Island Honkers Ale
• Flying Dog Hefe Weizen
• Brooklyn Brown Ale; East India Ale; and Lager
• Bernard Dark
• RCH Pitchfork
• Morrissey Fox
• some ales from breweries I didn’t recognise
• some weird looking beers from Russia, Mongolia, Corsica…
• And the full range of Sam Smith’s.

I got a 10 per cent discount for buying (ahem) a few bottles.