When was the last time there was a brewery in Muswell Hill? There doesn’t seem to be any record of commercial brewing in the area in the last 500 years until the Muswell Hillbilly brewery arrived.
The history of the Muswell Hillbilly brewery echoes many others in that it was set up by four home brewers but it is possibly unique in that it is the only brewery in a London mews! At the back of Muswell Hill, this small brewery is certainly hidden away and occupies not one, but two properties in the mews.
Martin, a former deputy head teacher, explained the brewery’s history to the London Tasting Panel and how they acquired their buildings. “The four of us have known each other for a number of years and we were brewing at the end of Pete’s garden. We also spent some time brewing at UBrew, where we learnt from our mistakes. Then Pete’s wife told us of a property in the mews and we started brewing on a 100 litre kit which we had purchased from Oddly Brewery. As we were brewing upstairs, it wasn’t ideal” said Martin. He continued, “Then we moved into these premises in 2018 and we were lucky to get space at the end of the mews and moved in a 500 litre brewery, purchased from Affinity in 2020.”
But Martin isn’t totally happy, “We are seeking bigger and better kit now and we are looking for investment. The current brewery is now quite old and inconsistent. We’d like to do a lager but can’t with the current kit and we’d would like to do canning but it’s expensive, so we hand bottle.”
All of the owners are still working, with Martin doing cover at a school in north London. Pete, who works for UPS, handles the distribution while Bob, a graphic designer, does the design work, including the bottle labels, and Steve, who is a social media entrepreneur, looks after the finances. Steve set up Friends Reunited before selling it some time ago.
Muswell Hillbilly recently set up a pop up pub in Hornsey. “We think pop ups are a way forward for us” said Martin. “The Archway Tavern, Woodmans and the off licence at the end of the road regularly take our beer. However, we need more people to have heard of us.”
Keg conditioned beer – and they don’t force carbonate – accounts for 60% of their sales and cask about 5%, with the rest bottled. Martin commented, “We have tried our bottled beer with a few restaurants but they often say it isn’t fizzy enough.” It is bottle-conditioned.
Although most of the hops used in their beers are fairly well known (including some of the newer English varieties), some of the beers use a hop named N10, which is grown in local gardens. The core beer range is Tetherdown Wheat Beer, which uses a Saison yeast and has notes of lemons and bergamot; Muswell Hillbilly IPA, with the addition of crystal rye (4.8% ABV); Palace Sunset Red Ale with blood orange; Down the Colney Hatch Porter, infused with wood from whisky barrels, and Fortis Green Breakfast Stout (4.8% ABV) with ground coffee. They also regularly do specials. Martin sums up Muswell Hillbilly at the moment, “We are located off the beaten track but the locals like it because we are a bit of a secret.” To taste their beers, the tiny ‘secret’ tap room opens Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. Get there early for a seat! The address is 14 Avenue Mews N10 3NP. See www.muswellhillbillybrewers.co.uk for more infor- mation and, for tasting notes of the beers tasted, go to the brewery section of the regional website www.london.camra.org.uk.
Christine Cryne