Despite a few visits to the railway arch that contained Kernel when it was very new, I never did do the Bermondsey beer mile. In a blink of an eye it was suddenly hip and trendy and stupidly busy. So having recently read about the Blackhorse Beer Mile I figured I'd make a Saturday trip to the capital and do this one early.
WARNING: Contains more pictures of shiny brewing equipment than anyone really needs to see.
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| Brewery taps on industrial estates, with big closed shutters in the winter, tend not to make for the best pictures |
Hopping off the Victoria Line at Blackhorse Road station, we walked just over 5 minutes up the road before turning left into the industrial estate and encountering our first big shutter and tap room sign.
Truman's Social Club (1 Priestley Way, London E17 6AL - web)
Wow!
It didn't look much from outside - in fact we feared it was closed - but inside it's something else.
The sheer scale of this place is spectacular - the UK's biggest beer hall, I believe.
There's pool and table tennis, a kitchen space dishing out burgers, big Truman's murals on the wall, islands of greenery and various different seating areas.
A second adjoining hall has a stage and big screen offering cinema evenings.
Truman's Social Club (1 Priestley Way, London E17 6AL - web)
Wow!
It didn't look much from outside - in fact we feared it was closed - but inside it's something else.
The sheer scale of this place is spectacular - the UK's biggest beer hall, I believe.
There's pool and table tennis, a kitchen space dishing out burgers, big Truman's murals on the wall, islands of greenery and various different seating areas.
A second adjoining hall has a stage and big screen offering cinema evenings.
guest offerings came from the likes of Hammerton and Mammoth.
I felt I should stick with the Truman's whilst in their club, so started with a very quaffable 4% 'Social Porter', before returning to the bar for a Marzen.
🕜 Leaving at the end of the first half (we can see you sneaking out!) we walked the couple of minutes round the corner to Brewery No.2: Signature Brew...
Signature Brew (Unit 15, Uplands Business Park, London E17 5QJ - web)
It seems there are a couple of bars here, as well as the seating alongside the brewing kit, but early doors only the grey square box Yard Bar was in operation.
We won't mention the fact that we looked like complete numpties unable to find the way in, walking past the door twice before the staff came and pointed us in the right direction.
Signature Brew (Unit 15, Uplands Business Park, London E17 5QJ - web)
It seems there are a couple of bars here, as well as the seating alongside the brewing kit, but early doors only the grey square box Yard Bar was in operation.
We won't mention the fact that we looked like complete numpties unable to find the way in, walking past the door twice before the staff came and pointed us in the right direction.
As well as having another couple of venues across London, they opened their site here in 2019, making them one of the first breweries on Blackhorse Road.
This is the one brewery of the day that I'd not previously heard of. They started life out of a shipping container under the moniker Hale Brewery, before relaunching with a new name and this Walthamstowe venue, converted from an old furniture factory in 2020.
Eight beers in total, 7 of our their own plus a Lervig guest. This was probably the most adventurous beer list of the day, with sours, black IPAs and imperial stouts on offer.
Time to scrap the sensible choices then, and pick the cracking tasty 'Deep Dark' 8.6% stout.
🕒 Just up the road and around a corner from Exale is an additional brewery which isn't yet showing on the Blackhorse Beer Mile website.
Beerblefish Brewing Tap Room (Unit 2A, Uplands Business Park, London, E17 5QJ - web)
Ahhh...cask ale.
I have nothing against keg (this would have been a bad day out if I did) but it was a joy to grab the cask bitter at Beerblefish. On a chilly day in January the keg had been viciously cold - Mrs PropUptheBar was coveting a microwave to warm her beer in Exale.
On our visit they were serving three beers on cask, poured from the barrel in a small room behind the bar, as well as a couple of keg brews and a fridge full of cans and bottles.
🕞 We had a little bit further to walk between venues, the route taking us back onto Blackhorse Road itself and a short way up to Lockwood Way where we'd find Breweries No.5 and 6...
Wild Card Brewery Tap Room (Unit 2, Lockwood Way, London E17 5RB - web)
🕟 And finally there's just one more to do. Our usual pub crawl exercise to walk off the calories is lacking today, with Hackney Brewery's tap being directly across the road from Wild Card...
High Hill Tap (Unit X, Lockwood Way, London E17 5RB - web)
Hackney Brewery were one of the first of the new wave of London brewers when they started ten years ago in a railway arch. This new tap room, opening its doors in 2021, is their latest venture and expansion.
Beerblefish Brewing Tap Room (Unit 2A, Uplands Business Park, London, E17 5QJ - web)
Ahhh...cask ale.
I have nothing against keg (this would have been a bad day out if I did) but it was a joy to grab the cask bitter at Beerblefish. On a chilly day in January the keg had been viciously cold - Mrs PropUptheBar was coveting a microwave to warm her beer in Exale.
On our visit they were serving three beers on cask, poured from the barrel in a small room behind the bar, as well as a couple of keg brews and a fridge full of cans and bottles.
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| Edmonton best bitter - happy with my cask |
The bar and indoor seating were at the back of the room beyond all the brewing paraphernalia.
Nice space mural on one wall and kudos for having a free pool table and bar games. Even though I couldn't make use of them because they'd been commandeered by a group of young hipster lads in tight jeans quaffing the pale ale at a rate of knots.
PropUptheBar is sadly neither hip nor young, sat at the back of the room nursing his best bitter.
Nice space mural on one wall and kudos for having a free pool table and bar games. Even though I couldn't make use of them because they'd been commandeered by a group of young hipster lads in tight jeans quaffing the pale ale at a rate of knots.
PropUptheBar is sadly neither hip nor young, sat at the back of the room nursing his best bitter.
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| The couple at the next table were half a glass of beer ahead of us all afternoon and probably completely fed up of seeing us walk in to everywhere they went |
Wild Card was surprisingly quiet when we visited. The bar is downstairs beneath the seating, serving up around 10 beers from which I went with the 6.1% 'Capricorn New England IPA'. Can't go a whole afternoon in crafty breweries and not have an IPA.
The seating inside the brewery is up a flight of stairs on the first floor above the brewing kit.
Wahey! Prime opportunity to snap more pictures of shiny brewing kit!
The seating inside the brewery is up a flight of stairs on the first floor above the brewing kit.
Wahey! Prime opportunity to snap more pictures of shiny brewing kit!
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| Nice lettering |
Hackney Brewery were one of the first of the new wave of London brewers when they started ten years ago in a railway arch. This new tap room, opening its doors in 2021, is their latest venture and expansion.
Just inside the door is a busy bar room, moodily lit with a low ceiling and windows along one side looking out onto the beer hall. Perhaps opting to sit out on the benches alongside the brew kit is more characterful, but it was bloomin' cold out there.
Hackney Brewery offered up the biggest beer choice of the day with around 18 beer lines serving a selection of their own beers and guests from various local breweries.
Maybe due to this being the sixth venue of the day, 18 seemed far too many to choose from and I just opted for the first stout I saw.
Hackney Brewery offered up the biggest beer choice of the day with around 18 beer lines serving a selection of their own beers and guests from various local breweries.
Maybe due to this being the sixth venue of the day, 18 seemed far too many to choose from and I just opted for the first stout I saw.
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| Hackney Brewery beer hall - chilly |
We had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon of brewery tap ticking.
Of course you can do the whole thing in the evening when you'd find DJs, entertainment and general liveliness.
You could also do the whole thing in your shorts in the summer, when the cold keg beers would be more appealing and all the venues expand into outdoor spaces.
But PropUptheBar likes 12 o'clock starts and doesn't look good in shorts.
Enjoyable as they'd been, six brewery taps was enough for us - we were off to find a proper pub!
Of course you can do the whole thing in the evening when you'd find DJs, entertainment and general liveliness.
You could also do the whole thing in your shorts in the summer, when the cold keg beers would be more appealing and all the venues expand into outdoor spaces.
But PropUptheBar likes 12 o'clock starts and doesn't look good in shorts.
Enjoyable as they'd been, six brewery taps was enough for us - we were off to find a proper pub!
Well you've won the jackpot with those little clocks, Nick. Did you invent them and how do I steal them ?
ReplyDeleteOnly Wild Card in E17 has made the Beer Guide, I think, but I really ought to make a day out in Walthamstow a priority. What chance of getting the Mudgies along ?
I suspect no chance at all!
DeleteIf any of this lot make it to the Guide it'll be Beerblefish, which seemed dedicated to the cask, with a loyal following.
I don't think enough time elapses in the average RM blog post for you to need the clocks!