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Since then, Tap East has won awards in CAMRA\u2019s Champion Beer of London competition for both Coffee in the Morning (a 5.5% ABV stout) and East End Mild (3.5% ABV). Tap East is one of only a small number of London brewers that still regularly produce a mild. Also, unlike many breweries that came into being around ten years ago, they remain committed to cask beer. However, that does not mean to say that there isn\u2019t any interest by other brewers in cask. Terry Kinsella, Tap East\u2019s head brewer commented, \u201cWhat\u2019s been interesting is the number of keg only breweries who want to come and do a collaboration with us and produce a cask beer<\/em>.\u201d Currently, Tap East\u2019s biggest seller is lager but Terry said, \u201cWe get through a lot of cask on match days<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Terry started as a home brewer. Josh Walker, the head brewer at the time, was looking for an assistant so Terry joined Tap East in 2019 for what was his first \u2018proper\u2019 brewing job. Before then, he worked on the Clipper riverboats but he didn\u2019t fancy becoming a captain and so was looking for another role. When Josh left, Terry thought that Rich and Mike would recruit another head brewer but, as Terry recalls, \u201cThey said \u2018Get on with it\u2019, so I did. They allowed me to do my IBD training. Rich and Mike have a good pedigree of nurturing craft brewers, employing young brewers with a genuine interest in beer. Rich said I could brew as many different beer styles as I liked \u2013 as long as they sold!<\/em>\u201d Other previous brewers include James Wilson (now at Fermentis, the yeast and fermentation specialists), Asa James (now at Wild Card) and Josh (now at Exale).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The beer is usually sold in firkins or pins but with the occasional kilderkin (18 gallons) on request. Terry commented, \u201cThe 18 we did for Pig\u2019s Ear Beer Festival was the first one we have done since before Covid. Pre Covid we used to do a few just to keep up with sales on match days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n Being a small brewery in a pub converted from a shop unit has its problems, not least of which is space. The storage of hops is particularly difficult. Terry said, \u201cI tend to use the same hops as once I open a bag, I need to use it all<\/em>.\u201d This also means that they don\u2019t do much small pack (cans and bottles). \u201cWhen we do, we need all hands and it is very labour intensive. I now have an assistant and that should make it easier<\/em>,\u201d Terry added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As with many small breweries, collaborations prove a useful way to try something new and learn from others. These have included Wallop ESB (5.5% ABV) with Deviant and Dandy (who closed in 2023) and Emmets, a 6% IPA, with Neckstamper. Emmets is an old English term for ants but it is also Cornish slang for tourists. This beer got its name because Jo Llewellyn-Jones, the lead brewer of Neckstamper, doesn\u2019t like ants!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tap East celebrated their 12th birthday just before Christmas. Included in the beers available at their birthday weekend was Built Stronger, a well balanced brown ale (5.6% ABV). Although the birthday celebrations are over, Tap East is still worth taking a look at because the bar features beers not just from Tap East but from other independents as well. You can find the pub directly opposite Stratford International railway station. For more information on the brewery and tap room see www.tapeast.co.uk<\/a>. For tasting notes on Tap East\u2019s beers, as compiled by the London Tasting Panel, go here<\/a>. Tap East\u2019s full address is, 7 International Square, Westfield Stratford City, Montfichet Road. Some breweries punch above their weight and Tap East certainly falls into this category. The company was founded in 2011 by Richard Dinwoodie and Mike Hill, the owners of Utobeer… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brewery-visit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4148,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4145\/revisions\/4148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-10.png\")
Christine Cryne<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"