Category: Waltham Forest (Borough of)

Fourth and final on my list of bars I visited on the Blackhorse Beer Mile, because I needed to get back for my train, was Signature Brew. I only had time for one beer here and it was also the busiest of the venues that I visited on my Thursday evening peregrination.

The outside of the large complex that they’ve got going on here. It had started to rain but the outside area looks decent for when the weather is more agreeable. I write things like this, but I’m very much an indoor person, I don’t like sitting outside with cigarette smoke and bees.

The menu board.

I went for the Black Vinyl Stout from the brewery, a reliable dry stout along with my suitably paired crisps. I put a lot of thought into selecting the most appropriate crisps, although ideally they would have had Hula Hoops or Wotsits here.

The set-up here felt more commercial than the other taprooms, but I’m not sure that’s a negative, it’s a bigger venue and a larger outfit.

My friend Nathan, who is like a peripatetic and travel obsessed Alan Whicker, has been here and recommended this lunch deal. I had already eaten and was too late anyway, but this seems very acceptable to me for anyone who is around the area at the appropriate time.

My visit here was relatively brief due to timing issues, relating to a late arriving train in London caused by the theft of cabling in London, but I’ll come back and spend longer here. The environment was inviting, the staff were friendly and the choice of beers looked intriguing. I feel the need to come for the lunch deal, perhaps next time I’ll go from south to north on the beer route, rather than the north to south option I took. It all meant that I didn’t have time to have a drink in Big Penny Social, but next time!

Exale Brewing’s taproom was the third location that I visited on my little tour of the Blackhorse Beer Mile. Open on Thursdays to Sundays, this was one of the breweries that I was looking forwards to visiting as I’ve numerous of their beers over recent years. They brew the Krankie Iron Brew Sour which I liked the sound of, but it wasn’t quite as rich and innovative as I had hoped.

Customers walk through this area to get to the taproom, I think it’s quite exciting to feel part of the whole brewery process. I very much enjoy the Bermondsey Beer Mile, but it no longer feels quite as authentic as it once did, whereas the Blackhorse Beer Mile really was surprising and delighting me.

There’s the beer menu and it looked suitably tempting to me.

The taproom area with its mezzanine level and my bag on the left enjoying its latest trip out. How that hasn’t fallen apart I don’t quite know.

I asked if they served in thirds and the helpful team member explained that they didn’t, but she then suggested that I could have a flight and this was seemed a perfect solution and was reasonably priced. When serving flights, I’m always pleased when they make clear which beer is which and they were written clearly on the little card. The Monster Munch was so delicious that I went back for another pack, I was very pleased with those.

The Bossa was my favourite of the four, a blueberry sour which was rich and smooth. It apparently also had lychees in its, but I couldn’t remember what they tasted like, and I was already content with the blueberry sour and it reminded me of the free blueberry juices handed out on Finnair flights. But nicer of course because it had an alcoholic edge to it.

The Oona was also though also delightful, a hazy and hoppy NEIPA.

Some of the brewing equipment.

It does add somewhat to the drinking experience when sitting in front of the brewery’s tanks.

There is a food option available and it’s supplied by the nearby Lacy Nook restaurant.

This was the third delightful visit in a row, an inevitably on-trend, authentic and exciting taproom where the service was friendly, the beers were suitably decadent and I had a rather lovely time if truth be told. I imagine I’ll be back to all of the bars along here and this is certainly no exception to that plan.

There’s an element of this looking like something that I’ve arranged, a paper sign and a couple of tables outside with a variety of different looking chairs. But, it feels more authentic like this, I don’t need polished, I like seeing breweries just trying to make customers feel welcome in their taproom. This was the second venue that I visited on the Blackhorse Beer Mile, after having gone to the Hackney Brewery taproom.

A pleasant taproom with numerous benched seating and not that busy on the early Thursday evening that I visited, so plenty of space.

I was going to have half of each of the keg options, but their melon lager wasn’t behaving so I switched that out for half of the 1820 Heritage Porter.

There’s the Organic Hazy Pale which was OK, some citrus taste coming through but not much more exotic than that. The crisps are from Two Farmers, I went for the Hereford Bullshot and I decided that these complemented the beer nicely. To be fair, I rarely find that crisps don’t complement the beer I’ve ordered, they’re a very reliable foodstuff.

The 1820 Porter which had a traditional feel to it, nice roasted taste to it with flavours of chocolate and coffee, very drinkable.

I haven’t heard of the Toilet Twinning project before, but it certainly seems to be a worthwhile concept.

Some venues perhaps overthink toilet accessibility, this sort of arrangement seems to be a practical one.

I liked the whole arrangement here, although it was quite rustic in its set-up. The taproom is open from Thursdays to Sundays and although they don’t do food, they do have an agreement with Yard Sale Pizza who deliver here for free. There’s a community feel to the taproom and it’s smaller scale than some of the other venues on the Blackhorse Beer Mile. I’d merrily come back here again, very decent, with the service being friendly and efficient.

I feel that I’ve mostly completed the Bermondsey Beer Mile, so it seemed an appropriate time to start work on the Blackhorse Beer Mile in North London. I arrived at the northern end of the run just as the Hackney Brewery & High Hill Taproom was opening and I was suitably surprised and delighted to see that they have some very generous prices on Thursdays of £3.50 per pint.

There was a friendly welcome and the helpful server told me that the first seven beers on this menu were part of the core range which were £3.50. So I started on some of those as that seemed the most polite thing to do.

Here’s the full beer list and I noted the Lervig Original Sin, I had a version of that (the Quebecois Maple Barrel) in Oslo and it was quite beautiful. But today was a day for concentrating on the Hackney Brewery beers and there were no shortage of tempting options here.

The brewery set-up.

The Millions of Peaches which had a whole load of peach taste in this beer as the name suggests, but there’s a complementing aftertaste of basil which works well. This was my favourite of the several beers that I tried here.

Although this Billions of Cherries wasn’t far behind it, a very decent sour which didn’t disappoint on the cherry flavours. They were just setting out the tables in the brewery area when I arrived, but there’s a large enclosed area in which I was sitting where the main bar was located. I noticed, but didn’t acquire, plenty of crisps as well for those who fancied some food. On Fridays and Saturdays they have Oli Babas serving Middle Eastern food, it’s quite a small food menu, but wraps, fries and olives with a beer sounds pleasant to me.

This is a genuinely agreeable set-up, the service was personable, the atmosphere was laid-back and comfortable, with the surroundings being informal. The servers had a strong knowledge of the beers, which isn’t surprising but it’s always a relief, with the helpful staff member ensuring there was a power point I could charge my depleting phone battery at. I felt welcome, the prices on Thursdays are remarkably cheap for the quality and I shall be coming here again and I am unanimous in that.