Brewery
Original site: 98 Druid Street SE1 2HQ (Southwark)
Current site: 11 Dockley Road Industrial Estate (taproom at Arch 7) SE16 3SF (Southwark)
thekernelbrewery.com
First sold beer: 1 December 2009
Evin O’Riordan, originally from Waterford, Ireland, worked in the mid-2000s for specialist cheesemongers Neal’s Yard Dairy. His job took him to New York City, where he encountered brewers with a similar sense of artisanship and passion as the small-scale cheesemakers he already knew. Returning to London, he became a homebrewer and London Amateur Brewers member, then turned professional as the Kernel, originally with a 6.5 hl brewhouse in a Druid Street arch shared with a cheesemaker and a cheese and charcuterie importer.
Evin thus became the inadvertent founder not only of the Bermondsey ‘beer mile’ but also of the capital’s taproom scene by selling to the public from the rear of the arch on Saturdays alongside several neighbouring businesses. He also helped set up the London Brewers Alliance in May 2010 which in turn contributed to the growth of many other breweries.
In March 2012, the Kernel relocated with several of its neighbours to a run of arches further east at Spa Terminus, with the original kit given to Partizan. The original arch is now occupied by baker and patissier Comptoir Gourmand.
The Kernel’s new home at Arch 11 Dockley Road was equipped with a 32 hl brewhouse, and additional fermenters and a bottling line have since been installed, and in late 2014 the Kernel became the first to restore the practice of ageing in oak tuns to London brewing by buying several Belgian-style foeders. Production is currently around 10,000 hl a year.
Following problems with overcrowding, the brewery closed its taproom in 2017 while retaining a takeaway shop, but in late 2019, in a much-welcomed move, it opened a new purpose-built taproom in Arch 7 a few doors away. Saturday morning bottle sales continued from Arch 11 for a while but in 2021 the bottle shop was relocated to the taproom: the brewery arch itself is no longer open to the public.
Beers are in keg and 330 ml, 500 ml and 750 ml bottles, often variants on several basic recipes, notably the various pale ales and saisons which frequently rotate through hop varieties and, in the case of saisons, additional fruit.
Updated 13 December 2021.
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