The 2010s were a fantastic time for London beer drinkers, with a number of new, independent breweries setting up and producing a wide range of different beers. 2021 should have seen the 10th birthday celebrations for a number of these breweries but their plans were thwarted by the pandemic. One of these birthday breweries is the East London Brewing Company (ELB) which was set up by Stu Lascelles and Claire Ashbridge-Thomlinson on 24 August 2011. The London Tasting Panel went along to find out more.
They started with one unit on the Fairways Business Park (near Lea Bridge Station) with a ten barrel brewery and only Stu (a chemist by training) working there, with Claire continuing to work in health care. “Our goal was to have a nice job, work for ourselves and immerse ourselves in the local community. We weren’t interested in building a business to sell on” said Claire. Before they started, they did some research. Claire explained, “We went around pubs in the area to ask if they might be interested in taking a beer that was brewed nearby. They were very supportive so we thought the idea of setting the brewery up was sound. Some of the original customers are still with us!”
The plan was to grow gently but, after three years, the market was changing. Claire said, “It was becoming more aggressive with increased marketing and we feared that it was becoming a race to the bottom on price. Every penny we made we were ploughing back into the brewery. We decided that we needed to expand in order to compete but we almost left it too late.” The brewery increased from ten to twenty five barrel length which involved a move into a second unit next door. Also, ELB began to experiment with new recipes and Adrian Morales Maillo was brought in to brew. Adrian, who is Spanish, had worked for Naparbier, the biggest craft brewer in Spain, whose output was all keg. His partner, Alice, comes from Wales. Originally they decided to move to Cardiff where Adrian brewed at Crafty Devil before moving to ELB two years ago. Adrian explained, “I was a cask drinker and I wanted to broaden my experience to brew both cask and keg. Every brewer wants to do something new and at ELB there are four or five core beers with a range of specials. Naparbier was a bit crazy, continuously brewing specials.”
One of Adrian’s brews was a lager called Beyond the Tower. “It made the top ten German style lagers with Untappd,” said Claire proudly. “We were able to take advantage when the big brewers were unable to supply lager after lockdown and we managed to get into pubs that hadn’t taken our beer before. We had to stop delivering to most because of the ageing the beer needed.” Adrian explained, “The beer is lagered for six weeks. With our kegs, we don’t add CO2. We use a closed system, so the CO2 from the fermentation is contained. We then use it to push the beer into the keg and to dispense the beer.”
So, how has ELB fared during the last eighteen months? Because of the way the grants were set up, the brewery could not access the hardship fund but they were able to apply for growth fund support. Claire said, “Waltham Forest Council have been supportive. We were successful in getting funding for our own canning line and to employ another person. This brings us to nine people including two trainees and we are intending to hire out the canning line to other brewers in due course.”
ELB has also refreshed its image. Their cans now display photos taken locally by local photographers, found through one of the staff. However, the timing wasn’t perfect. Claire elucidated, “We were just about to launch the new range when the pandemic hit. We also had to take some hard decisions on what to produce and what to purchase. There was a can and cardboard shortage and we ended up having to order 2,500 boxes at a time. We supplied beer with free delivery to all ‘E’ postcodes and ten litre ‘bags in boxes’ were popular; we are still doing quite a lot. It has also been helpful that Marks & Spencer take our beer and have been doing so since 2015.” ELB’s packaged beer can also be obtained in local Co-ops and Budgens.
But it hasn’t only been the pandemic that has created challenges for ELB; Brexit has too. “Getting samples sent to potential customers has been a nightmare. With exporting pallets of beer there is a clear system but the process for a few bottles doesn’t seem to exist. At one stage, we got advised to declare the contents as children’s toys to get around it.”
Looking forward, ELB are experimenting with vegan beers; they are not totally happy with the current trials but are convinced they will get there. September will be an interesting time for ELB. They will be running their green hop day once again (on 12 September) when locals, who are part of a hop growing group, bring their hops to the brewery to be used in producing a green hop beer. Also, ELB are still committed to making their tenth birthday special. They are producing a sherry cask matured celebration beer that will be available from September.
So, this was clearly the time to have another look at ELB, a blend of the traditional and the new; a brewery that is not afraid to move with the times and is clearly continuing to enjoy brewing!
For tasting notes, see here.
Christine Cryne