Tag: Bullfinch Brewery

London Brewers’ Market at Greenwich Market: Carnival Special!

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We are making the upcoming bank holiday weekend even better by teaming up with Greenwich Market once again for their Street Food Fest this Friday!

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Come and join Hackney Brewery, Signature Brew, Bianca Road Brew Co, Solvay Society, Bullfinch Brewery and London Brewers’ Market organisers The Five Points Brewing Company on Friday, the 25th of August at the world-famous Greenwich Market as part of their Street Food Fest: Carnival Flavours.

There will be a phenomenal selection of food from Mama’s Jerk, Jackalope’s All American, Hot Flavours, Little Leaf Vegan Pizza, Aunty Bunny’s HUT, No 57A, LamJam, The Sandwich, Meru, Munchies, Soul Kitchen, Ducky Beaks, and Pig Dogs & Brisket. Come along and enjoy a world of foodstuffs with plenty of beer from local breweries to enjoy!

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Street Food Fest and London Brewers’ Market at Greenwich Market will be open from 6pm until 10:30pm, with live Steel Pan music as well as reggae music sets from DJs until close. It’s free entry and all are welcome, so come and kick off the bank holiday weekend with us at Greenwich Market!

London Brewers’ Market at Old Spitalfields Market: First Fourteen Announced

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We are pleased to be back at Old Spitalfields Market alongside Independent Label Market on Saturday, the 1st of April!

Here’s the first set of stall holders for this round of London Brewers’ Market, which includes some fresh faces along with some veterans of the London beer world:

  1. The Five Points Brewing Company (organisers), Hackney
  2. Bullfinch Brewery, Herne Hill
  3. Hackney Brewery, Hackney
  4. Brewheadz, Tottenham Hale
  5. Anspach & Hobday, Bermondsey
  6. Solvay Society, Ilford
  7. Beavertown Brewery, Tottenham Hale
  8. One Mile End, Tottenham
  9. Fourpure Brewing Company, Bermondsey
  10. Orbit Beers, Walworth
  11. Canopy Beer Co., Herne Hill
  12. Mondo Brewing Company, Battersea
  13. Affinity Brew Co., Tottenham Hale
  14. UBREW, Bermondsey

We have more breweries to announce soon, so keep your eyes peeled and save the date! We’ve got event pages on both Eventbrite and Facebook for easy planning and for you to share the day with friends.

London Brewers’ Market at Old Spitalfields Market is free entry and we’ll be open from 11am, so come along and taste some of the best this city has to offer in beer!

Guest Post: Beyond Bermondsey: South London Breweries to Visit

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We’ve got Mark Whittaker guiding us around South London breweries in this guest post! Mark is a silver-haired South Londoner and fan of the occasional beer. He writes an infrequent blog about his even less frequent homebrewing over at https://beerfrominthegarage.wordpress.com/. Full disclosure: he also works part-time for London Beer Lab. Find him on Twitter: @Mark__Whittaker

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Bruno at the London Beer Lab taproom

Bored of Bermondsey? Try this alternative South London brewery tour (Warning: it’s a bit longer than a mile so may occasionally involve some transport).

It’s been 2 years now since The Kernel Brewery made the controversial (but some say justified) decision to stop opening its brewery taproom on Saturdays. But, if anything, the famed Bermondsey Beer Mile that it helped start has only grown in popularity. Weekend craft beer pilgrims making the trek between the likes of Brew By Numbers, Fourpure, Southwark, Ansbach & Hobday and Partizan, and also the UBrew and the EeBria taprooms, can regular expect fresh, high quality and often exclusive brews. Opening times have been extended but with success comes crowds. At some taprooms you’ll often have to queue upwards of half an hour to get served on a Saturday afternoon and don’t expect anywhere to sit down. Plus, once you’ve done The Mile a few times, you might want to expand your drinking to some of London’s other 70+ breweries.

Our tour of just some of South London’s finest starts under the shadow of the Crystal Palace Tower. 5 minutes’ walk from Gipsy Hill station (direct trains from London Bridge and Victoria) is the Hamilton Road Industrial Estate, although when you get there the first sign you’ll notice is not for this neighbourhood’s eponymous brewery, but The London Beer Factory.

Founded in early 2014 by brothers Ed and Sim Cotton, The London Beer Factory has always committed to producing beer with character, unique flavours, engaging aromas, brimming with personality and distinctive qualities. With a core range of 5 beers, plus an alternating monthly Pilot Range, they recently launched the UK’s first 360 degree opening cans, and their Beer Cab is a regular feature at many London beer events. Their tap room and bottle shop is open every Saturday, but check the website for current times, plus details of occasional events (including regular live rugby match screenings).

If you walk out of The London Beer Factory and glance left, you will now see the Gipsy Hill Brewing Company, who, in this writer’s opinion, are currently making some of the best beer in London. Going from strength to strength, and with a core range of beers all under 5%, Gipsy Hill focus on beers with big taste that you can still drink by the pint. Their tap room bar is currently closed due to brewery expansion but their bottle shop is open every Saturday, 1pm – 6pm. Check back for details on the reopening in the spring – in the meantime, lots of Gipsy Hill events are happening at their micropub, the Douglas Fir, on the other side of Crystal Palace, but unfortunately, that’s in the wrong direction for this tour.

Next, you’re heading to Herne Hill – either a mile and a half walk, or you can hop on either 3 or 322 bus (check TFL for times and directions) – for Bullfinch Brewery. After originally starting out sharing a Bermondsey railway arch with Mssrs Ansbach & Hobday, the Bullfinch soon flew a few miles south to set up it’s on brewery, with a historic 5 barrel kit originally built by Charles Wells no less. With a tap room in the adjacent arch open Thursday through Friday (4pm – 10pm), Saturday & Sunday (midday – 10pm), there are usually 12 different beers on tap, from the Bullfinch’s core range, some experimental and exclusive brew that you’ll only find here, plus the occasional guest.

Resist the temptation to stay at Bullfinch for the rest of the day and it’s a short hop around the corner to the Canopy Beer Co, tucked in the Bath Factory Estate, one of the most welcoming tap rooms in the city. If it’s sunny, be sure to try the Champion Kolsch or Sunray Pale, otherwise head indoors for a Milkwood Amber or Full Moon Porter. Canopy is open Wednesday through Friday (5-11pm), Saturday (12-11pm) and Sunday (12-10pm).

You have a choice again next for either bus, train or your own two feet to take you the mile to Brixton for, wait for it… Brixton Brewery! Founded in 2013, BB is a family-run, community business with a core range of beers brewed in small batches. The tap room is usually open every Saturday, 12-6pm (but they recommend you check the website or Twitter first), and they also offer tours and tastings (see website for details).

For your final tap room of the day, turn left out of Brixton Brewery and along Brixton Station Road past POP! Brixton and the Brixton branch of the Craft Beer Co. until you hit Brixton Road. Take a left here then right over Brixton Road, through the alley known as Dorrell Place (by the M&S) and onto Nursery Road. Head left and then tucked in behind the railway bridge on your immediate right, you’ll find London Beer Lab at Arch 41.

London Beer Lab has been running beer making workshops and selling homebrew supplies here since 2012. In 2015 they started brewing commercially (under another railway arch off Coldharbour Lane), with plans to expand production in 2017. The Nursery Road taproom is also undergoing something of a revamp, with upwards of 10 beers soon to be on tap from across their range, with a few seasonals and some small batch brews made in the upstairs workshop, plus an extensive bottleshop of beers from around the world. Current opening times are Thursday 5.30pm – 7.30pm, Friday 2pm – 8pm, Saturday 12 – 8pm and Sunday 12 – 7pm.

That concludes our short tour, although the beer doesn’t have to stop there. Within a mile or two of Brixton if you head in a variety of directions there are ever more breweries and taprooms. How about north towards Elephant & Castle for Orbit Beers, or south west to Tooting for By The Horns then Wandsworth Common for Belleville? Or head east to Peckham for Brick Brewery and Bianca Road Brew Co. Or maybe save those for another tour. There are plenty more beer miles in London than just Bermondsey’s!

 

London Brewers’ Market Event Round-up: November 2016

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On the London Brewers’ Market blog, we are featuring a monthly round-up of upcoming and unmissable events for London’s beer drinkers introduced by Rebecca Pate of Brewing East. Here are her picks for what’s happening in Londontown. 

Bring on November, with its cooler nights and shorter days. London is braced for you. In spite of your best efforts, we refuse to loaf around when there’s so much to do and such great beer to conquer.

We welcome this month with another round-up of the best beer events because as the woolly layers go on and daylight disappears, we have to do something to keep our sanity:

FIVE POINTS TAP TAKEOVER: Wednesday, 2 November, 17:00-23:00. Another corker from the good folks at The Rake pub in Borough Market, this tap takeover showcases Hackney’s The Five Points Brewing Co. Expect a range of their beers on cask, keg and in bottle together with chipper representatives on hand to answer any burning questions. Every beer purchased will put you in line to win a mysterious – but undoubtedly fabulous – beery prize. The Rake, 14 Winchester Walk, Borough Market, SE1 9AG London. Free: https://www.facebook.com/events/194997380924055/

ANSPACH & HOBDAY TASTING & TOUR: Thursday, November 3, 18:30-21:30. One of the Bermondsey brewery crew, Anspach & Hobday invite you on a behind-the-scenes tour of their railway arch outfit, to meet the brewer and taste three of their beers (with another beer on arrival). Focused on making London the epicentre of the best beer in the world, this is a brewery with a mission- and they’re well on the way, from what we’ve tasted. Anspach & Hobday, 118 Druid Street, SE1 2 London. Tickets are £15 +bf and available to purchase here. 

BRIXTON BREWERY TASTINGS + TOURS: Friday, 4 November & Friday, 24 November, 18:30- 22:00. Join Brixton Brewery‘s founder, Jez Galaun, on an evening tour. Highlights include an overview of the brewing process and tasters of 4 beers with ample opportunity to find out more about this South London family-run operation. Their bold flavours and vibrant branding are as colourful as the local area, so escape the dreariness of November with some dynamic beer and insight into one of London’s most community-focused breweries. Brixton Brewery, Arch 547, Brixton Station Road, London SW9 8PF. Tickets are £15 and available here.

HOP SWAP V.4 FEATURING MONDO BREWING: Tuesday, 8 November, 20:00-23:00. This month’s Hop Swap brings together a brewery, a baker and a candlestick maker. Well, maybe not the last one, but Battersea’s Mondo Brewing Company will be in attendance for a meet the brewer and tap takeover at The Cock Tavern in Hackney. Thai in a Pie will be dishing out their fusion-filled parcels and competing against marinara masters, Capish?, in a hot sauce showdown. All of this madness will unfold against the backdrop of a good old-fashioned bottle share- so be sure to have something special in tow- and even a mystery trade raffle that will have people talking for days. All types of beer drinkers- from lambic lovers to premium lager swillers- are welcome. The Cock Tavern, 315 Mare Street, London E8 1EJ. Free, but bring some beer along for the bottle share: https://www.facebook.com/events/1768392403426294/

BEAVERTOWN PARTY AT MASON & CO: Wednesday, 9 November, 18:00-23:00. Hackney Wick hotspot Mason & Company are throwing a Beavertown Brewery tap takeover of collosal proportions: 18 taps will see the seven core beers represented alongside 11 specials and limited editions. Expect Phantom Sours, Elder Mother Elderberry Pale and Fresh ‘espresso Stout, with more surprises on the night. The team will be journeying in from Tottenham Hale to talk beer and – for the culture vultures – some of their legendary artwork will be on display. Like an eager beaver, get there early and try everything. Mason & Company, 25 East Bay Lane, Here East, Hackney Wick, Lonon E20 3BS. Free: https://www.facebook.com/events/1774876352781821/

>>new>> LEYTON ORIENT SUPPORTERS CLUB ALE NIGHT: Friday, 11 November, 17:00-23:00. The Leyton Orient Supporters Club are holding a special evening to celebrate being awarded Greater London Club of the Year 2016 by CAMRA in appropriate style, putting on a commendable line-up of cask that showcases a number of local breweries. The Five Points Brewing Co, Hackney Brewery and One Mile End Brewery are on the bill. Signature Brew debuted their Roadie IPA on cask during a recent tap takeover and this will be available on the night. Raise a glass and see the team receive their award during the evening. Leyton Orient Supporters Club, Matchroom Stadium, Brisbane Road, London E10 5NF. Free: https://thehalfpintgentleman.com/2016/11/07/leyton-orient-supporters-club-london-ale-night-camra-greater-london-club-of-the-year-presentation-111016/

THE BREWERY KITCHEN SUNDAY LUNCH: Sunday, 13 November, 13:00-17:00. Here’s one for the foodies- Fourepure Brewing Co has teamed up with The Brewery Kitchen to showcase how beer and brewing ingredients can be incorporated into cooking. A cornucopia across three courses is promised, with each dish matched with beer to bring out the complexities in both the food and libations. The Brewery Kitchen’s head chef will be on hand alongside a sommelier to act as guides and canapes and a welcome drink are also included. Your Sunday roast will pale in comparison to this feast. Fourpure Brewery, 22 Bermondsey Trading Estate, Rotherhithe New Road, London SE16 3LE. Tickets are £50 and can be purchased here. 

>>new>> BOOZERS WITHOUT BORDERS: Monday, 14 November, 19:00-23:00. Boozers without Borders present Craft for Calais, an event fundraising for refugees in Calais. Drink for a charitable cause – you philanthropist you – and you won’t be going parched or be awash in bland beer. Great London breweries such as 40FT Brewery, The Five Points Brewing Co, Fourpure Brewing Co, Pressure Drop Brewing and Hackney Brewery have donated beer for the occasion. A ticket guarantees you a generous tasting menu of beers. Giving never tasted so good.Draft House Hammersmith, 238 Shepherds Bush Road, W6 7NL London. Tickets are limited and only Generous tickets remain (£32 + bf), which can be purchased here.

BULLFINCH TAP TAKEOVER: Thursday, 17 November, 17:00-23:00. Yet another event at The Rake, this tap takeover sees Herne Hill’s Bullfinch Brewery take the reigns. Expect a selection of their beer and a chance to chat with the Bullfinch team about their adventurous, flavoursome beer. There’s a raffle involved, so grab a pint to ensure that you’re in it to win it. The Rake, 14 Winchester Walk, Borough Market, SE1 9AG London. Free: https://www.facebook.com/events/1735800023405140/

FOURPURE MEET THE BREWER AND TASTING: Friday, 18 November, 18:00-20:00. Friday night is best spent with friends, so why not head over to The Taproom in Woolwich Arsenal for a tasting and chinwag with Fourpure Brewing Co? They’ll be sampling five of their freshest seasonal beers and offering 10% off pizzas in the taproom on the night to keep drinkers sustained. Free registration includes a half pint too. Couldn’t we use more friends like this in all of our lives? The Hop Stuff Taproom, 15 Major Draper Street, London SE18. Free, but register here.

>>new>> 40FT CEILI OUTSIDE A CONTAINER PARTY: Friday, 18 November, 18:00- Saturday, 19 November, 02:00. Just in time for the plummeting temperatures, the guys at 40FT Brewery are relaunching Deep, their rich and malty stout. This will be an authentic Irish affair, where Hugh Cooney will be leading a ceili with the help from traditional in-house Irish band from The Auld Shillelagh pub. A friendly crowd, food and a roaring campfire will complete the experience with touches of Irish hospitality (an abundance of beer). 40FT Brewery, Bootyard, Abbott Street, E8 3DP London. Free: https://www.facebook.com/events/160469961085435/

REDEMPTION & WEIRD BEARD DUAL TAP TAKEOVER: Saturday, 19 November, 12:00-23:00. Head down to The Craft Beer Co Clerkenwell for this tantalising dual tap takeover. Not one but TWO great breweries, Redemption Brewing and Weird Bread Brew Co, will join forces to bring drinkers a range of their core and special beers. Naturally, there will also be an exclusive collaboration available on the night and the opportunity to snap up some merchandise, mini kegs and other delights. The Craft Beer Co. Clerkenwell, 82 Leather Lane, London EC1N 7TR. Free: https://www.facebook.com/events/1157616057642598/

ANSPACH & HOBDAY BEER AND CAKE DAY: Sunday, 20 November, 12:30-17:30. Professed to be the biggest event of the year- Anspach & Hobday Brewery are marrying two of life’s greatest pleasures: beer and cake. They’ll provide the beer and invite guests to come to the brewery bearing cakes. Only 15 cakes can be accommodated and contributing bakers will each get a pint courtesy of A&H. Cakes will be judged and one will emerge victorious- there’s a prize of a case of beer and a brewery tour on the line. But really, everyone wins here. Somebody has to eat all of those cakes. Anspach & Hobday, 118 Druid Street, SE1 2 London. Free, but bakers must register their intent to bring cake in advance here.

>>new>> HOP STUFF & DRURY TEA & COFFEE BEER LAUNCH: Thursday, 24 November, 18:00-22:30. Woolwich’s Hop Stuff Brewery put their heads together with Drury Tea & Coffee to create three coffee-themed beers in 2015. This year, they’re upping the ante and hosting a party in their taproom to promote their three 2016 collaboration beers: Early Grey Pale Ale, Spiced Chai Red Ale and Coffee Infused Gunners Porter. There will be tasting flights and other coffee-related goodies available, including food inspired by java. It goes without saying: there will be a huge buzz surrounding this event. The Taproom, 15 Major Draper Street, London SE18. Free: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hop-stuff-drury-tea-coffee-beer-launch-tickets-29070549797

LONDON BREWERS’ MARKET CHRISTMAS EDITION: Saturday, 26 November, 11:00-18:30. Jingle beers, jingle beers…What’s better than turkey dinner and Eastenders? A Christmas beer festival, of course! Taking place at Old Spitalfields Market, the Christmas edition of the London Brewers’ Market is going to be a jolly affair with 26 London breweries already confirmed. Beer will be available on keg and to purchase and a stellar soundtrack will be provided by the event’s co-hosts, the Independent Label Market. You can expect some old favourites and new faces in attendance, so this is a great way to familiarise yourself with London’s brewing scene all while stocking up for Crimbo. Old Spitalfields Market, Brushfield Street, London E1 6AA. Free: https://www.facebook.com/events/572388376285536/

>>new>> 33RD PIG’S EAR BEER & CIDER FESTIVAL: Tuesday, 29 November, 12:00- Saturday, 3 December, 22:30. Pig’s ear is Cockney rhyming slang for beer, and that’s exactly what is promised at this year’s East London & City’s CAMRA event. Over 230 real ales will be on offer, plus a huge range of bottles, perries and ciders to boot. Keep an eye on their website for announcements, but it’s assured that there will be some special beers on cask from local East London breweries alongside a range of other foreign and domestic beers. No porky pies here – this is going to be a real knees-up. Round Chapel, 1D Glenarm Road, E5 0LY London. Entry is £3 for CAMRA members and £5 for non-CAMRA members. https://www.facebook.com/events/1819532508333476/

Have we missed something? We’re not perfect, so feel free to post any upcoming events featuring London breweries in London in the comments below. This post will be edited as the month progresses to include new events, so watch this space!