Brodie’s Beers, London E10
Includes information for Sweet William Brewery.
Beer firm, former brewpub
Original site: William IV, 816A High Road E10 6AE
First sold beer: November 2000 (as Sweet William), 20 August 2008 (as Brodie’s)
Ceased brewing: July 2016
The story of this major early contributor to the revival of London brewing in the early 21st century begins at the Brodie family’s Leyton pub the King William IV in November 2000. An 8 hl kit designed by Pitfield’s and Dark Star founder Rob Jones started producing beer under the name Sweet William in a former stable building at the back. Although the Brodies owned the kit, the brewery was operated by a separate business, which failed in 2005. The brewhouse was mothballed, only to be restored and relaunched under the family name in August 2008 by siblings James and Lizzie Brodie, originally as a point of interest to attract more customers to this very large pub.
The initiative turned out to be one of the earliest shoots of a vigorous crop of London craft brewers, and Brodie’s became the true maverick of the new community, creating many hundreds of unusual and innovative beers in cask, keg and bottle in a vast range of styles, sometimes with over 50 different beers on sale at the William’s annual Bunny Basher easter beer festivals. The beers found their way into the family’s two central London pubs, the Old Coffee House in Soho and the Crosse Keys in Covent Garden, as well as other pubs and bars in the UK and abroad, and the brewery collaborated with such luminaries as Mikkeler and Three Floyds. By 2015 there were plans to expand to a new production brewery on a separate site and even talk of opening a bar in Cardiff.
In the restless creativity of the brewery’s heyday, the beers varied from the sublime to the ill-advised, but at their best they were exceptional. Brodie’s was instrumental in popularising light single hop pale ales in the capital, became an early adopter of New Zealand hops, experimented with sour Flemish reds, helped revive the brewing of big porters, including some using smoked malt, and gamely priced 10%+ Imperial stouts at the Bunny Basher events at the same level as session ales.
Unfortunately Brodie’s faced a difficult year in 2016, due to technical problems at the brewery as well as personal and financial issues. The brewhouse was closed, initially for refurbishment, with brewing transferred outside London, but by October 2016 the brewing business had been wound up completely. The William was sold in 2017 and reopened in January 2018 under new ownership.
Since then, Brodie’s beers in cask and keg have been on sale intermittently in the central London pubs, cuckoo-brewed at various locations including Wobbly in Hereford; Rhymney in Blaenavon, Torfaen, Wales; and most recently at Battersea, where former Brodie’s head brewer Tom Barlow now works. Tom currently owns the brand and recipes, and although production has dwindled due to time and capacity constraints, he’s keen to revive them should the opportunity arise. Let’s hope it does, as London deserves to continue enjoying these “fabulous beers”.
Updated 25 November 2021
It’s a shame to see Brodies go – their ales were always very good, but (as you hint at above) their range was too broad; one rarely saw the same brew twice, even in their own pubs. If they’d concentrated on a core range of two or three stand-out beers, and maybe modernised the branding a bit, perhaps they’d’ve made more of an impact. It was great that they invested in traditional pubs, though, esp. in the West End: this is what more of London’s new breweries should be doing.
Brewed in Blaenavon, the World Heritage site, not Pontypool!
Agree with all you say AP.
Arfur — thanks for correction, have now changed the text, though Pontypool is the post town according to the Royal Mail.
So sad..to lose many excellent beers- and a little bit of recent brewing history.
[…] We made for the next pub. It was the Old Coffee House in Covent Garden. I can’t remember who served us, all I remember is the beer which was good: Brodies Olde Ardour. […]