Includes information for Bull and Finch and So What Brewing Co.
Brewery
Original site: 118 Druid Street SE1 2HH (Southwark)
Current site: 886 Rosendale Road SE24 9EH (Lambeth)
thebullfinchbrewery.co.uk
First sold beer: 1 February 2014
Brewpub
Bull and Finch, 126 Gipsy Hill SE19 1PL (Southwark)
First sold beer: April 2022
Ryan McLean, originally from Ballymena, discovered international craft beer while travelling extensively for work as a live sound engineer. He began brewing commercially as a cuckoo at Anspach & Hobday in Bermondsey in February 2014, but this arrangement was soon outgrown thanks to the quality of the beers.
Cuckoo brewing ceased in April 2015, and in December, following a lengthy search for premises, Ryan and his wife and business partner Carly resumed business in two smallish railway arches just a few steps from Brockwell Park and a short walk from Canopy. One of the arches just about packs in an 8 hl brewhouse that began its life as a pilot kit at Charles Wells in Bedford, alongside numerous fermenters, some of them added after a 2016 crowdfunding round. The other houses a taproom.
Since May 2019 there’s been a second outlet, the Bull and Finch opposite Gipsy Hill station, previously one of Late Knights’ Beer Rebellion bars (see Southey). A 1.5 hl nanobrewery was installed here early in 2022 under the supervision of lead brewer and bar manager Jon Griffiths, with trial brewing starting in February 2022 and beers expected on sale in April.
From 2021, longer runs of Bullfinch beers have been cuckoo-brewed outside London, though some brewing continues at the Herne Hill site.
Bullfinch core beers, usually named with astronomical references, are in keg, cask and minicask, though bottling may be restored. Beers from the nanobrewery will be either in traditional styles branded Bull and Finch, including revivals of old Bullfinch recipes in cask and keg, or small batch wild and mixed fermentation specialities under Jon’s own So What brand. Each batch of these will be divided between several small fermenters and treated with different yeasts and mixed cultures.
Updated 25 March 2022.
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