Peter Jackson joined the brewing industry after he left university, for, he says, ‘a bit of a laugh’. Over the years he has worked for a number of breweries including Whitbread and eventually becoming sales and marketing director for Marston’s. It was then that he decided that he wanted to set up his own brewery. With the help of a friend, Andy Nicol, he started to turn the idea into a reality. Peter had however never brewed and so he turned to another friend, Sean Franklin, founder of Roosters Brewery. Sean was one of the pioneers in this country of pale, hoppy beers and he helped Peter to experiment in a brew kit in his garage. The result was London Pale Ale, a smooth, 4% ABV golden ale made with a mix of British and American hops. It is still in Southwark Brewery’s core range today.
Peter wanted his brewery to be in Southwark. He is passionate about the history of brewing in the area, which was once home to breweries such as Courage and Barclay Perkins. This idea proved trickier than he thought but premises were eventually found and the brewery opened in 2014 in Druid Street, at the top of the Bermondsey Beer Mile.
The brew length remains at 10 barrels but another couple of fermenters have been squeezed in since the brewery started, bringing the total to five. The head brewer, Leo, has an interesting pedigree. He studied Fine Arts at Newcastle University. He then became involved with Stu Brew, a small brewery supported by the university where students brewed and sold their beer. Leo ended up working there and lecturing the students. Eventually, he returned to London and started to contact breweries looking for a job. This coincided with Southwark’s previous brewer deciding to leave and Leo took his place. He has just been involved in recruiting a trainee brewer to assist him and, with Leo’s background, Louis is likely to have a positive experience.
Unlike the beer names, which all have a local connection, the logo of an elephant has no connection with Southwark at all. Peter explained, “We needed a logo and the designer suggested an elephant. They told us that everyone likes elephants so we went with it.”
Southwark’s beer production is biased towards cask, with sales mainly within the M25. They tend to only brew keg for the tap room, often to satisfy the ‘Bermondsey Milers’. There are three core keg beers plus Bermondsey Black and a Pilsner. Peter said, “We get the Pilsner brewed elsewhere for us as we don’t have the space to lager it properly.”
There are seven core cask beers: Bankside Blond, London Pale Ale, Mayflower, Routemaster Red, Bermondsey Best, Harvard and Potters Fields Porter. With the exception of Harvard (5.5% ABV) all of the other beers are below 4.5% ABV. Harvard is named after John Harvard, who was born locally above his father’s pub. After losing a lot of his family, he emigrated to America and amassed a substantial book collection, which he donated on his death to Cambridge College. The college subsequently changed its name to Harvard.
Like all brewers, Southwark has seen costs increase, including rent, but it is clear that Peter is committed to the brewery. “Financially, it was the worst decision I have ever done and I have never worked so hard in my life but it’s good fun,” said Peter. And his commitment to cask beer, remains as strong as ever, “Cask ale always has been, and always will be, the best beer in the world.”
The tap room can be found at 46 Druid Street, Bermondsey-West, SE1 2EZ. There can be up to six beers on handpump. For more information, go to www.southwarkbrewing.co.uk.
Christine Cryne