Neckstamper Brewing came out of Adam Jefferies’s dream of independence. Adam was an engineer by training who then went into banking but after about nine years he longed to be his own boss. But what to do? Adam liked beer and was a home brewer so why not capitalise on that by setting up a brewery? His engineering background would prove quite helpful too.
Adam made the leap in 2016, setting up Neckstamper Brewing a few minutes’ walk from Lea Bridge railway station. He explained, “I financed the venture myself and I did everything on my own, although I did get some support from my dad and brother. I was doing the brewing, selling, financing etc all on my own.”
Six years later, Adam realised that he would do better with some help. He recruited Jo Llewellyn-Jones as the brewer and, at the end of last year, Oliver came on board to do sales on a part time basis. “This allowed me to concentrate on running the business properly. If I was to do it again, I would get more help early on but it’s now clear how fortunate I was to find good premises from the start. I live in north London and the Kings Cross development pushed people out. This site became available. The location was good and the area had the right demographics, so I took it.”
Next, in 2018, Adam opened a taproom. “It wasn’t difficult to get a licence and we opened on a Saturday but not all Saturdays. I soon realised that I needed to open every week as people didn’t know when the taproom opened. It was rubbish.” These days, the tap room opens Saturdays from 2pm until 7pm and Fridays from 4pm to 8pm, from spring to autumn. Fridays are now becoming more popular, attracting an after-work crowd. It’s a smallish space inside, surrounded by the brewery equipment but there is also an outside area. Adam said, “The taproom tends to be more popular in summer and it accounts for almost 20% of our turnover. Cans account for 10% and the rest is sold through outlets in East London.”
Neckstamper produces the occasional cask beer, such as the special brewed for the Pig’s Ear Beer Festival in 2023. That will however not be their only venture into cask. They are planning a commercial beer in collaboration with Jon Stringer of Farams, the hop merchants, using a new experimental hop. Some of the brewery’s regular outlets have already agreed to take it.
Neckstamper have a tiny canning line, which can be seen if you visit the tap room. It was paid for by grants from Waltham Forest Council as part of the pandemic initiatives to support small businesses. Like every brewery, lockdown had a major impact on Neckstamper; they did do takeaways and, as Adam said, “It gave me time to take stock.”
There are six core beers, including a lager, Gold Dropper. Jo said, “It’s lagered for six weeks. I lagered one batch for four months; it was great but we couldn’t afford it.” Other beers include Elbow Crocker, Little Mizzle, Squencher, Moon Curser and a porter called Bonebox Cooler. They also have an easy drinking 2.8% ABV beer called Swanky Swipes. If you think that the beer names are a little odd, you are right! All the names can be linked to odd slang and archaic words, usually with beer and drinking associations. This is true even of the brewery’s name, Neckstamper. That dates from the 1600s and refers to a potboy (or girl): someone who collects drinking vessels in a pub. Elbow Crocker refers to a drinker, as in to crook one’s elbow and Mizzle, of course, is a cross between mist and drizzle, a term still used in Devon and Cornwall.
Currently, the brewery has a ten barrel length with six fermenters (four ten barrel and two six barrel). Currently they brew once a week but Adam has plans. “Our sales are up year on year and I’d like to grow it further. We can speed things up by squeezing in another tank but eventually I’ll be looking for a bigger space with a dedicated tap room.”
The full address is Unit 3 Cromwell Industrial Estate, Staffa Road. You can find out more about Neckstamper Brewing, their eclectic names, tap room and beers, at www.neckstamper.com. For the London Tasting Panel’s tasting notes and more details on the Neckstamper beers tasted, go here.
Christine Cryne