When the London Tasting Panel arrived at Hackney Brewery’s new location, Jon Swain (one half of Hackney’s owners) was up a ladder against the outside front wall. “I’m fixing a hole,” he said. And that probably explains the ethos of Hackney Brewery, for both Jon and his partner, Pete Hills, are definitely a roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-stuck-in pair. This is reflected in the way that their new venture was set up. As Pete explained, “We did most of it ourselves over about six months. With the aid of friends, we demolished the interior of the two story building and we ended up filling five 40ft skips.”
The building had to be rewired and a new floor laid but, as so often happens with brewery floors, that didn’t go smoothly. Pete commented, “We didn’t finish paying until it was all sorted.” The brewery, paid for by crowd funding and loans, opened in May 2021 in time for their tenth birthday. The extra space has allowed for expansion, with capacity increased to ten tanks; two for packaging and eight fermenters. They have also installed a centrifuge, which they use on most of their beers. “It helps us turn our beer over faster. Before the centrifuge, we used to drop the finished beer in the tanks,” explained Jon, “but this change has meant we had to adjust our recipes.”
Centrifuging isn’t the only change; Jon added, “We now do the mashing at a slightly higher temperature and a shorter mash. This means we have more unfermentable sugars in the beer, which improves the mouthfeel.” Two other key innovations have been a small laboratory and the cold store. “Our beer is hop forward,” said Pete, “so keeping the beer cold is important and it’s very much beer in and beer out to keep it all fresh.”
Needless to say, the move was a very busy time. “We had a mad six months, working six days a week and moving between the two premises. And we were terrified as to what the industry was going to look like post COVID. We were trying to guess our future brewing,” Pete elucidated, “but now we have an opportunity to help develop the Black Horse Mile and Waltham Forest Council has been really supportive.”
But it isn’t just Waltham Forest that came in for Pete’s praises, “We have brilliant staff. We believe in supporting everyone. We pay the London Living Wage and fund the Institute of Brewing and Distilling exams. In the future, we are looking at the possibility of participating in the apprentice scheme.” The Hackney team now consists of two drivers, two sales people (Dan and Tom), a marketing person (Cal, ex Five Points), two brewers in addition to Jon (Evan, ex Beavertown and Ross, ex Fourpure) and Pete himself, who looks after the finances!
A separate team, headed by Kelly, looks after the Tap Room. Pete said, “This is the first time we have had space for a tap room. The team have been really flexible and seem to cope with everything, including the move to table service. On the bar, alongside the Hackney beers, we decided to do something different and stock other beers from outside London.”
Although Hackney started as real ale brewers, these beers are now produced only occasionally. Jon said, “Roughly 97% of our beer is draught keg and the rest is cans. We use the mobile canner, Them Who Can. We did try some mini kegs but we had mixed results so we dropped them.” The core range, brewed every week, consists of Boogie Van, an American hopped IPA (5.5% ABV), Kapow (4.4% ABV), an easy drinking fruity golden ale, and a 4% ABV lager, described as a cross between Pils and a Helles. Peaches, a kettle sour at 4% ABV using peach puree, is brewed fortnightly while Mysterious Spectre, a newish 5% ABV beer, is brewed monthly and uses Mosaic hops and TNT (a secret blend of hops from Germany).
Sales are predominantly in central London rather than in the East. With cans, it is bottle shops and independents. “We don’t supply supermarkets,” said Jon.
So what for the future? Jon would like to begin beer ageing again (there are still a couple of wooden barrels that came from the old brewery) and it is clear that the tap room will play an important part in Hackney’s prospects. But, whatever happens, Jon and Peter, who met while working at the Eagle, Farringdon Road, over ten years ago, look set for their partnership to continue for another ten years.
For tasting notes for the beers the Tasting Panel tasted and to see more photos, go to the brewery section of the regional website. For more details on Hackney Brewery and their High Hill Tap Room, go here.
Christine Cryne