Closed brewery
Original site: Bethnal Green Working Mens Club, 42 Pollard Row E2 6NB (Tower Hamlets)
Final site: 339 Mentmore Terrace E8 3PH (Hackney)
threesodsbrewery.com
First sold beer: January 2015 (at original site)
Brewing ceased: August 2022
Three business partners created this small but interesting brewery late in 2014, adopting its apparently self-deprecatory name from the old Irish practice of displaying a sod of peat on houses selling illegal poitín. It began with a basic 6 hl kit in a cramped and steamy space in the cellar of the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. Two of the original founders then became less involved, but the business continued to expand under brewer Rich Ekins, formerly at Canopy and London Beer Factory, and his colleague Wilson Digby.
The original location overlooking the small green space of Pollard Square is one of very few surviving working men’s clubs in London, purpose-built in 1895,. It almost closed due to a dwindling membership in the early 2000s before it was rescued by a promoter who operates it mainly as an events venue. But the brewery had only a tiny corner and eventually needed more space.
During the Covid-19 lockdown in June 2020, it relocated to a railway arch beneath London Fields station, expanding to a 10 hl kit formerly at Wild Card. The new site also had room for a dedicated taproom, though this was rarely open as, following the departure of Rich in late 2021, one of the founders returned as interim head brewer but was only available to work at weekends.
80% of the beer was produced in cask, with some keg and canning.
Sadly, in July 2022, partly as a legacy of the lockdowns, the owners concluded that continued operations were unsustainable and the company was due to be placed into liquidation in early August.
Updated 3 August 2022.
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