Beers Of London Series
1. Fuller's - Black Cab Stout 4.5%
No review of London's beers and breweries, however much one wanted to dive straight into the new and the trendy, can really not begin without one of Fuller's beers. Fuller, Smith and Turner PLC to give the company it's proper name, was founded in Chiswick in 1845 on a site where beer had been continuously brewed for over 350 years. It's acknowledged throughout the world as a brewery of the highest order, so I'll launch straight into the beer. 
It pours as black ... well, as black as a black London taxi, with a frothy, fluffy tan head. The aroma has huge amounts of milk chocolate and espresso, and I mean huge amounts, it's quite heady. Slick, silky and creamy flowing over the tongue like a river of chocolate and bitter coffee, this oozes down the throat leaving you all smiley and warm, you know you're drinking a well 'crafted' beer. The finish is delicious frothy coffee, bitter sweet and wonderfully satisfying.
I've used this as my first beer for 'Beers Of London Month' on purpose. It's not the most adventurous or ground-breaking of beers but that's precisely the point. It's extremely well made and it knows exactly what it is, happy that it's the best it can be. This beer is tradition in a glass, superb.