Brewery
Bootyard, Abbot Street E8 3DP (Hackney)
40ftbrewery.com
First sold beer: 5 July 2015
The brainchild of German-born former London Fields and Truman’s head brewer Ben Ott and three homebrewing business partners, brothers Fredrik and Andreas Pettersson and current chief executive Steve Ryan, this outfit was named after its home in a converted 40 foot (12.2 m) shipping container. It’s located in a former car park managed by the Bootstrap economic development charity behind Dalston’s Arcola Theatre, where several other small and lively businesses flourish, including a bakery and restaurant. Other containers have since been added, including two converted into a taproom in 2019, which deservedly won a regional SIBA award in 2020. The site is ultimately due for redevelopment but that’s several years away.
The brewery uses a 10 hl kit from Oban Ales, old-fashioned open fermenters and, unusually for a UK brewery, several horizontal lagering tanks: most beers on sale in the taproom are dispensed direct from these. There’s also a pilot kit for small runs. Unpasteurised and unfiltered beers are brewed for tank and keg, with canning using a mobile line.
Updated 24 November 2021
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