Brewers and Beers

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London brewers

This page aims to list all the existing and planned London breweries, with updates to the ones already listed in my book where appropriate. Currently, to my knowledge there are 22 commercial breweries operating in London, including seven brewpubs, plus two beer firms and one significant private brewery. At least 13 breweries are under development, including four brewpubs, and one plant that will be shared between two different companies. If all the current plans come to fruition and there are no closures of existing breweries, there may shortly be 30 London breweries, an astonishing increase over the seven that remained when Young’s left in 2006 and a remarkable growth too from 13 when my book went to press in March 2011 (17/05/12).

• Antic SE5 (Planned pubco microbrewery). Not a brewpub but a freestanding brewery in a Camberwell industrial estate, this will initially at least supply exclusively to the Antic pubco’s pubs. Former Firkin brewer Stephen Lawson, who was appointed head brewer in Summer 2011, has already brewed some Antic branded beer using the facilities at Brentwood and Twickenham breweries. The brewhouse was installed in March 2012 and own-brewed beers should be on sale in April. (30/03/12)
• Beavertown N1 (Operating brewpub, www.dukesjoint.com but see also Beavertown Brewery on facebook). Logan Plant opened a new US-style brewpub and barbecue restaurant, Duke’s Brew and Que, in De Beauvoir Town on 15 February 2012, initially with a relatively low key launch. The brewery has been overwhelmed with the demand for the beers which rapidly sell out when they go on sale. Beers include Neck Oil Best Bitter, a US-style IPA called Eightball and Smog Rocket, a distinctive smoked porter. Read pub review. (08/04/12)
• Botanist TW9 (Operating brewpub, www.thebotanistkew.com). This popular pub on Kew Green, owned by the small Convivial pubco and run by Mark Wainwright, had a 4hl (2.5 barrel) brewery installed in late August 2011, and beer has been on sale since a launch event on 15 September. Alex and Mat of the Blueball brewery in Runcorn helped get things running, and Mark is now regularly brewing a hoppy pale ale, a bitter, and specialities including a Kölsch-style beer, organic wheat and fruit beers and a porter. Brewery tours and tastings are also available and bespoke beers can be commissioned. The own-brewed beer has proved very popular and there is a possibility Convivial may extend brewing to another site. See also pub review. (22/10/11)
• BrewDog Camden NW1 (Planned/occasional brewpub, www.brewdog.com). This specialist beer bar, part of the chain owned by Aberdeenshire-based brewery BrewDog, occasionally hosts a peripatetic 0.5hl pilot brew kit on which customers are invited to assist in brewing short run specials. The first brew was on 15 April 2012. There is a possibility a permanent brew kit might be installed. See also pub review. (30/04/12)
• Brew Wharf SE1 (Operating brewpub, p266, www.brewwharf.com). (07/11)
• Brodie’s E10 (Operating brewpub/microbrewery, p267, www.brodiesbeers.co.uk). Read tasting notes. (07/11)
• By the Horns SW17 (Operating microbrewery, www.bythehorns.co.uk). The very youthful Alex Bull and Chris Mills, only three years out of university, had a 9hl (5.5 barrel) brewhouse, built to their specification by John Trew of Oban Ales, delivered to their building near Wimbledon greyhound stadium  at the beginning of August 2011. Installation was completed in September and the first cask beers, a pale ale and a wheat beer, were delivered to retailers by 7 October. They’ve since been joined by a red ale (4.9%). So far the beers have been cask but bottled and possibly keg beers are planned. (22/10/11).
• Camden Town NW5 (Operating microbrewery, p268, www.camdentownbrewery.com). Continues to grow, expanding its fermentation capacity in summer 2011. In December 2011 the brewery announced its production for the forseeable future would be limited to craft keg and bottled beer. There is now a brewery bar which has been open on a regular basis every Friday evening since the beginning of April 2012. Read tasting notes. (14/04/12)
• Clarence & Fredericks CR0 (Planned microbrewery, www.facebook.com/brewingcf). A 20hl (12 barrel) kit for this brewery between Selhurst and Croydon was ordered at the beginning of May 2012 and it’s hoped beers will be available in August or September. (17/05/12)
• Crate E9 (Planned brewpub, http://cratebrewery.com). A planned artisanal brewpub and pizzeria in the interesting surrounds of Hackney Wick, a former industrial area that now has a flourishing artists’ community right on the western edge of the Olympic Park. (17/05/12)
• Cronx (The) CR0 (Planned microbrewery, www.facebook.com/TheCronxBrewery). Drinks wholesaler Mark Russell and city worker turned brewer Simon Dale are shortly to launch Croydon’s first brewery since Page and Overton closed in 1954. Beers from a 20hl plant in an industrial estate in New Addington should be on sale sometime in August 2012. More here. (17/05/12)
• Duchess of Cambridge W6 (Planned brewpub, www.theduchessofcambridgepub.com). Craig Douglas of the Bree Louise reopened the Queen of England/Brook pub in Goldhawk Road as the Duchess of Cambridge on Tuesday 25 October 2011 with the intention that it would eventually become a brewpub. A 10hl (6 barrel) brewhouse has been supplied by Dave Porter of PBC, but the installation has been delayed due to building, electrical and plumbing work taking longer than expected. There is as yet no expected opening date but the first beer should be sold later in 2012. See also pub review. (31/03/12)
• East London E10 (Operating microbrewery, www.eastlondonbrewing.com). Former research and development chemist Stu Lascelles sold his first beer in mid-September 2011. Currently two cask beers, Pale Ale (4%) and Foundation Bitter (4.2%) are being brewed on a 10 barrel (16hl) plant installed by Dave Porter of PBC at the brewery in Leyton not far from Lee Valley Park. A darker 6% beer is planned, and outlets are listed on the website. (22/09/11)
• Ellenberg’s W7 (Planned joint microbrewery). Two separate companies, Ellenberg’s and Weird Beard (see below), both set up by award winning homebrewers and London Amateur Brewers members, plan to share a brewhouse. The original plan was to operate in Harrow but due to difficulties with accommodation, it is now more likely to be Hanwell. Mike Ellenberg’s intention for the kit is to produce specialist bottle conditioned beers  such as Altbier, smoked wheat beer, black ale and stout. (14/04/12)
• Florence SE24 (Operating brewpub, p270, www.florencehernehill.com). Peter Haydon continues to brew, and beers also available in some other Capital pubco pubs. In July 2011 Greene King announced it had taken over Capital, but I’m hopeful the pubs will keep their distinctiveness.  When it was suggested on Twitter that GK might supplant the microbrewery with its own beers, the management responded “They would have to pry it from our cold dead hands…!”. (07/11)
• Fuller’s W4 (Operating independent, p270, www.fullers.co.uk). Still flourishing: the second Past Masters is a Double Stout* (7.4%) and the latest Brewer’s Reserve**, aged in a whisky cask, is the best yet, certainly in cask form. Read tasting notes. (08/11)
• Hackney E8 (Planned microbrewery, www.hackneybrewery.co.uk). Home brewers Peter Hills and Jon Swain, both connected to excellent Islington gastropub the Charles Lamb N1 (p86), have been working on this project since 2011, with some test brews produced early in 2012. The 9hl (5.5 barrel) brewhouse is now installed under an arch of the Kingsland viaduct and should be brewing by the end of Apri 2012, so the first commercial beers, likely to be a best bitter, a golden ale and a US-style pale ale, are expected to be on sale in late May or early June. (10/04/12).
• Ha’penny IG2 (Operating microbrewery, p272, www.hapenny-brewing.co.uk). (07/11)
• Kernel SE1 (Operating microbrewery, p273, thekernelbrewery.com). Kernel’s growing reputation as an outstanding craft brewery has seen demand rocketing, and the operation has now outgrown its current premises. It moved on 31 March 2012 to 11 Dockley Road Industrial Estate SE16 3SF — also in railway arches less than 1km east along the same line and close to Bermondsey station. Saturday openings continue at the new site: see website for details. The London 1890 Export Stout was Supreme Champion at the International Beer Challenge in July 2011, and Evin O’Riordan was named as Brewer of the Year by the British Guild of Beer Writers in December. Read tasting notes. (08/04/12)
• Little Brew NW1 (Planned microbrewery, www.littlebrew.co.uk). Brewer Stu installed this tiny1.5hl (1 barrel) brewery in a Camden Town backstreet late in 2011, with plans to supply on a very local scale, working in as sustainable a way as possible and even delivering on foot with a trolley when required. He is currently test brewing a pale ale which should be on sale sometime in May 2012, to be followed by a porter, a wheat beer and a lager. Most output is expected to be bottled. (08/04/12)
• London Brewing N6 (Operating brewpub, www.londonbrewing.com). Based at the reopened Bull at Highgate (see review) with Steve Grey as head brewer, this brewery sold its first beer on 6 September 2011. Regular beers are distinctive bitter Beer Street and an American pale ale, and there are numerous specials. (29/12/11)
• London Fields E8 (Operating microbrewery, www.londonfieldsbrewery.co.uk). Originally opened by Jules Whiteway in partnership with Ian Burgess of Climpsons, an independent coffee roaster on Broadway Market, this became the first commercial brewery in Hackney since the 19th century when it launched on 26 August 2011 with a sellout open bank holiday weekend at the brewery site under the railway arches of the West Anglia line. Brewing began with a small 4hl (2.5 barrel) kit.  Following some teething problems, Ian Burgess pulled out in January 2012 and in April the brewery moved to bigger premises just around the corner, with a bigger kit sourced from the former Ventnor brewery on the Isle of Wight. Open days and events remain an important part of the business plan and will restart from May 2012 in another space by the old site. London Fields produces hoppy pale ales and real lagers, bottled and draught. (12/04/12)
• Lost SW11 (Operating beer firm/planned pubco microbrewery, www.lostbrewing.co.uk). The company behind a cluster of successful bars in southwest London such as Lost Angel, Lost Society and Powder Keg Diplomacy is currently commissioning own label beers, both cask and keg, from breweries in Belgium and the UK, with the ambition to open its own brewing facilities sometime in 2012-13. (30/03/12).
  
• Meantime SE10 (Operating microbrewery, p275, www.meantimebrewing.com). The brewery’s ambition for serious commercial growth was further underlined in September 2011 with the appointment of a new Chief Executive, Nick Miller, who previously worked for multinational SAB-Miller as the managing director of its Miller Brands UK subsidiary. Meantime’s founder Alastair Hook acknowledged the change in approach with the adoption of c0nventional marketing techniques and commented: “There is no point in brewing great beer if you don’t have the distribution and marketing in place to get your product and your message to the consumer.” Note that currently the cask but not the keg or bottled version of London Pale Ale is contract brewed at Adnams in Southwold, Suffolk, while further capacity is installed in Greenwich. The arrangement should last no later than May 2012. Read tasting notes. (20/11/11)
• Moncada W10 (Operating microbrewery, p276). The brewery should have started trading by June 2011 but the launch was delayed due to copyright, electricity supply and other issues. The brewery launched to the public at the London Brewers Alliance showcase on 22 October 2011 with a trio of beers in both cask and bottle conditioned form: Blonde (4.2%), Bitter (4.3%) and Amber (a strong bitter, 4.9%). It will shortly be supplying a number of pub outlets. Read tasting notes. (22/10/11).
• Putney Bridge Brewing SW15 (Planned microbrewery). Becky Newman, landlady of the renowned Bricklayers Arms specialist beer pub (see p217), is planning to equip the pub with its own brewery. Plans have been delayed slightly but the brewery is expected to be online sometime in autumn 2012 (24/04/12)
• Ram SW18 (Private brewery, p277). Brewing continues on site on an occasional basis, as far as I’m aware. See also note on Wells & Young’s below. (09/08/11)
• Redchurch E2 (Operating microbrewery, theredchurchbrewery.com). I spoke to the founders of this Bethnal Green-based brewery back in August 2011 at the launch of a pilot brew: read more here. Since then the production brewhouse from PBC has been successfully installed and the first commercial brew, Bethnal Pale Ale (5.5%), made with US and New Zealand hops, was launched to the trade in mid-September. Hackney Gold (5.5%), Shoreditch Blonde (6%) and Hoxton Stout (6.5%) have since followed: see website for details. (22/10/11)
• Redemption N17 (Operating microbrewery, p278, www.redemptionbrewing.co.uk). Read tasting notes. (07/11)
• Rye Lane SE15 (Planned microbrewery). Tom Reaney is the man behind plans to establish a brewery in Peckham. A pilot brew, Keep Your Peckham Up, appeared at the Peckham Rye Fête on 3 September 2011 and has since popped up at a couple of local beer festivals, though this is being brewed “at a friend’s microbrewery not too far away” (in fact, outside London in the Home Counties). Tom’s plans were set back when a potential site fell through, and he is currently considering further contract brewing.  (29/12/11)
• Sambrook’s SW11 (Operating microbrewery, p279, www.sambrooksbrewery.co.uk). The 2011 summer seasonal turned out to be the tasty Pale Ale (4.2%), which is being repeated in 2012. The brewery is expanding into a neighbouring unit during April 2012, and there are plans to develop the brewery shop as an improved visitor centre as well as add a separate pilot 5hl (3 barrel) brewery. Read tasting notes. (08/04/12)
• Stag SW14 (Operating subsidiary of AB InBev, p280). Owners AB InBev announced in May 2011 that “given the very strong performance of Budweiser in the UK,” the planned closure of the plant has been postponed at least until the end of 2014. More news here. (07/11)
• Tap East E20 (Operating brewpub, more details on Westfield website). This craft beer pub in the new Westfield Shopping Centre right by Stratford International Station, a sister business to the Rake and Utobeer in Borough Market, opened on 13 September 2011. Its own 4hl (2.5 barrel) brewery was installed in mid-October and the first beer was sold on 10 November. The original head brewer was Eddie Baines who had long worked for Utobeer and was previously a brewer in Firkin pubs, but in March 2012 he was replaced by former Brentwood brewer Jim Wilson. The beer is currently sold exclusively in the pub but other outlets may be added. See pub review. (31/03/12)
• Truman’s E1 (Planned microbrewery / operating beer firm, p281, www.trumansbeer.co.uk). Following excellent results with its contract brewed beers, the company has announced that 2012 is the year it intends to return Truman’s beers to east London, and has announced a competition to help it find a site, with a year’s supply of bottled Runner as a prize.  To mark the launch of the search, a seasonal 3.5% beer called Seek and Search has been brewed, this time available alongside the standard Runner (in summer 2011, that beer was temporarily replaced with a lighter, hoppier version). Truman’s beer has been brewed since October 2011 at Everards in Leicester, replacing previous contract brewer Nethergate. (08/04/12)
• Twickenham TW2 (Operating microbrewery, p283, www.twickenham-fine-ales.co.uk). (07/11)
• Weird Beard W7 (Planned microbrewery, www.weirdbeardbrewco.com). Home brewers Gregg Irwin and Bryan Spooner aim to work in eclectic styles in cask, bottle and maybe keg, with an emphasis on beer and food matches, using a plant in Hanwell shared with Ellenberg’s, a separate company (see above). (14/o4/12)
• Zerodegrees SE3 (Operating brewpub, p284, www.zerodegrees.co.uk). Brewer Simon Siemsglüss moved on in July 2011 but has been replaced and the core range continues to be brewed. (22/10/11)

News stories commenting on the resurgence of craft brewing in London and elsewhere appeared around the Great British Beer Festival in early August 2011, among other things quoting me. Read coverage in the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph and the London Evening Standard. A good piece by Tom Whipple appeared in The Times 28 July 2011, featuring visits to five London breweries: Camden Town, Kernel, Fuller’s, Meantime and Sambrook’s. Read it here.

Other updates

• Two more Trappist breweries are currently planned, Mont des Cats in northern France and Zundert in the Netherlands. Chimay is currently brewing beer for Mont des Cats. (07/11)
• O’Hanlon’s brewery (p304), latterly in Devon but founded in London, went into administration in March 2011, but has been reconstituted under slightly different ownership arrangements and is brewing as normal. (23/09/11)
• Red Squirrel (p307) moved from Hertford to a new site on the outskirts of Hemel Hempstead, 46km/29 miles from London, in May 2011 after merging with a wine wholesaler, CellarMaster. Gary Hayward continues as head brewer and the brewery retains its London LocAle status (01/01/12).
• Wells & Young’s (p316) was originally jointly owned 60:40 by the parent companies Charles Wells and Young’s, who also maintained their own separate pub estates. On 9 August 2011 Young’s announced it was selling its shareholding to Wells to concentrate on its pubs, though the current supply agreements will continue for at least two years. More news here. In 2011 the brewery revived the historic Courage Imperial Russian Stout **(10%) as a limited edition, and also now also owns the rights to veteran Scottish brands McEwan’s and Younger’s (29/12/11)