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London’s Best Breweries
London’s Best Breweries
Londoners are a thirsty lot, especially when it comes to craft beer. Not only is the capital bursting with pubs, the city is also packed with breweries, from the industrial estates of North London to the Bermondsey Beer Mile and lots of places in between.
There’s 40FT, a brewery housed in two repurposed 20ft shipping containers in Dalston, which has also added a dedicated taproom (with both cosy indoor seating inside plus outdoor benches if you’re lucky with the weather) to their container collection. If you’d rather your pint came with a view of the canal, head over to Hackney Wick, where you can grab a pizza and a beer from Crate and sit by the water.
South London also boasts a strong brewery contingent, even if some of the Bermondsey Beer Mile residents have moved out of town (that’s what a pandemic and rising rents will do to you). There’s Brixton Brewery, in Brixton (obvs); Mondo, which has brewery and taproom just a few yards from Battersea Power Station; and Villages, keeping the folks of Deptford well watered. Basically London is overflowing with great beer. CHEERS.
No prizes for guessing where Camden Town Brewery makes its beer. Well, actually, if you want to get technical, it has a larger brewery in Enfield these days… But we digress. The Camden town site offers brewery tours, and it also hosts food pop-ups, complete with a sun-drenched terrace just designed for day drinking all the Camden classics: Helles, Pale, Off-Menu, Week Nite and the juicy Show Off lager. The location is home to Arch 55, too, the brewery’s selection of small batch, new idea beers. Basically, this is where you need to park yourself in summer. Fact.
From the logo all the way through to the names and flavours of the beers, Brixton Brewery is a product of the South London neighbourhood it’s named after. The Electric IPA is named for Electric Avenue, its taste designed to be an assault on the senses – much like a trip to the street itself. Coldharbour Lager takes its name from Coldharbour Lane, a street known for its boho origins – reflected in a lively, easy-drinking lager. And as you’d expect, Brixton Brewery’s taproom sits in the very heart of the area, under the railway arches. Because where else would you put a brewery in London?
40FT is an independent brewery based in Dalston and the lovechild of four East London friends. This neighbourhood fave started brewing back in 2015 from two repurposed 20ft shipping containers, but London was thirsty for their brews and so they added a dedicated taproom (with both cosy indoor seating inside the containers which have been done out with wooden floors and tables, plus outdoor benches if you’re lucky with the weather) to their container collection. Their Hazy Pale Ale was brewed for Dalston Roof Park and this is exactly where we recommend it is drunk, but the Late Night Disco IPA and Deepest 10.5% Stout are also great thirst quenchers.
Back in 2013 these guys were brewing from a back garden in Hackney and now they up in Tottenham producing a whopping 10,000 litres of the good stuff every week. Why Do You Always Do This is the name of their mango coconut sour, a great bev to see in the weekend with. It’s sweet, tropical and brings the sunshine. We also love the Alligator Tugboat, a West Coast-style IPA with a label inspired by the East London streets. Talk about a winning combo. Pressure Drop is making waves in the industry and we’re here for it.
Five Points brews its beer in East London, and has a stable of East London pubs to match. The Pembury Tavern is an absolute classic while the Mare Street Tap Room (in the yard at Five Points’ warehouse) is the ideal spot for summer sipping. Which is lucky, because it isn’t open in winter. The brewery has a two sister pubs in Leeds, too. Leeds! Who care about Leeds? We’re more interested in Five Points’ beers, which are pretty dang good. The Pale and the XPA are the most commonly found in the wild, but the brewery has much more up its sleeve: a Railway Porter, a Best, a JUPA, a Micro Pale and more.
The main thing you need to know about Crate is that it does brilliant beer. But it also has a brilliant canalside location on the River Lea, a vibey space where you can also get absolutely banging pizzas. What’s even better is that you can head on over across Queen’s Yard to Colour Factory for a full-on food market, or for fancy wining and dining, you’ve also got SIlo in the space above the brewery. Basically, Crate is your one-stop shop for a food-forward night out. And now back to the beers: the brewery does all the usual culprits, and pretty well, too. We’re big fans of both the Citra Sour and the Cider. OK, OK, so it’s not a beer, but it’s worth it, OK?
Brick Brewery started out in a garden shed but its beers rapidly became so popular that it had to find a much bigger space, sharpish. Today it has a taproom in Peckham with a whopping 20 lines of both Brick’s own and guest brews. Don’t drink them all at once, kids. Brick’s brews are inspired by beers around the world, whether that’s Czech-style lagers, West Coast pales and much, much more. The brewery has its three staple beers: Pils, Pale, Rye, and then it brews a selection of seasonal and experimental beers that’ll keep just about any hophead happy.
Without The Kernel, the Bermondsey Beer Mile wouldn’t be a thing. This is the OG brewery, the Godfather of London’s craft beer scene, and the maker of single-batch pale ale as well as old school London Porters. Kernel’s super-low-abv Table Beer is one of their most popular and rightly so, but their Pils Pacifica and Foeder Beer slide down nicely too. On top of that, there’s a swanky two-level taproom just a few doors down from the brewery, so if you’re wandering down South, this is where you wanna stop for a bev or two.
Gipsy Hill brewery – based in, erm, Gipsy Hill – have three core principles that thread through everything they do: quality, innovation and community. They’re evident in the top-notch beers and the fact that the brewery still operates out of the space in which it started, choosing to focus on the brews themselves rather than their output. You might know the brewery for Hepcat – their gluggable best seller – but they’ve got heaps of small-batch beers too. From Urbanist, an Imperial fruited sour made with honeyberries (yum), to Propeller, a peppery rye saison, everything they create is painstakingly put together. And this is a brewery that really cares – their on-site taproom is fully accessible, with a lower bar for people in wheelchairs and other touches that make them stand out from the crowd.
Howling Hops opened Hackney’s first brewpub, The Cock Tavern on Mare Street, back in 2011. And that’s a claim to fame if we ever heard one (the pub also went on to win an award for its pickled eggs). Their motto is ‘brew interesting beer’, and this is exactly what they do, with unfiltered, unpasteurised, vegan brews. Howling Hops lists no less than 80 brews on their website, and that’s just the most recent releases. But before you take a deep dive into this almost never-ending list, the brews you need to look out for are the Tropical Deluxe and House IPA, which are the ones you’ll probably find most often around London – and for good reason, as they’re both deeeelicious. For a wider selection, head to Howling Hops’ Tank Bar in Hackney Wick, where you’ll get to try the brewery’s beer fresh from the tank. Thirst quenching.
Two Tribes Brewery was born from a love of celebrating creativity and so they pump up the volume alongside the banging brews. The taproom is equipped with decks and a Funktion One sound system, as well as brewtech, matching a great taste in beer with stellar tunes. After a couple of cans of the full-bodied Electric Circus, you’re ready to throw some shapes. It’s punchy. And did we mention they design their own artwork too? Two Tribes is a beer culture you wanna be a part of.
Beavertown and craft beer are pretty much synonymous – so much so that Beavertown is practically a household name. And with beers that are as distinctive as their branding, it’s no surprise they’re often the beer aficionado’s go-to. Neck Oil is almost as common as tap water these days, and that’s because it’s Tasty with a capital T. The brewery has Tottenham origins, so this is where you’ll have to go to visit the taproom, an essential stop on the Tottenham Beer Mile (which is good enough to rival the Bermondsey Beer Mile, if you’re asking). It’s got lots of indoor seating, an upstairs space with a full view of the brewery, a fully covered outside drinking area, and most importantly, eleven taps of the good stuff.
This East London microbrewery opened up back in 2016, and now they’ve got their own taproom and bottle shop right next to Wanstead Heath. They offer a pretty wide range of beer, including a Milkshake IPA (packed with passionfruit, pineapple and fruity hops), a New England Pale Ale with a hazy finish (especially after your fourth or fifth can) and a Helles Lager that’s made for sipping in the sunshine. And for every pint, keg, can and bottle these guys sell, they donate to charity – so you can literally feel pretty good about being a Pretty Decent drinker.
Villages is two brothers brewing beer, bringing people together to do things that bring people together. Confused? Their words, not ours. Basically, they are two good guys brewing good beer from their brewery in Deptford. They are the makers of sessionable and seasonable crafts; our go-to regular is the WHISTLE lager but the RAFIKI IPA comes in close at second place. Their taproom is where we want to be on a sunny London eve, sipping on fresh beer.
Mondo was founded by two Americans but these guys were thirsty for London, so it’s American-inspired, British-brewed vibes all round. The brewery and taproom is just a few yards from Battersea Power Station and they regularly collab with their transatlantic pals to create beer for all occasions. Their Dennis Hopp’r best seller is light and malty, whilst the Tone Float is a hazy IPA with an adult ABV. There’s plenty of other corkers too with seasonal specials released each month. Get ready for a proper sesh.