40ft Taproom, Higham Hill, E17

Official site of 40ft Taproom - 40ftbrewery.com

Official site of 40ft Taproom - 40ftbrewery.com

This is a large outpost for the Hackney Brewery, located at the top end of this industrial estate. It's slightly different to most of these taprooms, inasmuch as the bar is in its own separate room, which looks like the old, front of house office for whatever company previously occupied this building. Meanwhile, the old warehouse out the back is the main brewing space, with a strip set aside for some tables and chairs that customers can make use of. It's a very high ceilinged room with the usual scuffed concrete floor, whitewashed walls and a row of gleaming brewing vessels. There appear to be some patio heater type lamps on the wall opposite these seats, for use during colder months maybe. The taproom is a pretty empty space with the bar along the end wall of a practically empty, rectangular room. A hard bench runs down one side and there's a drinking ledge with high stools along the other, under windows that look into the brewery space. Modern art prints and a 'dog wall of fame' decorate the wall space whilst a TV screen was showing a slideshow of fancy nature photos. The beers are all helpfully listed on boards above the bar with the taps along the bar back. Most seating is out in the garden - formerly a loading bay/car park - in the form of canteen style benches, and there's a table football game out here too. Relaxing background tunes were just about audible when sat inside, but most of the noise was coming from those playing on the football table. Thirteen Hackney beers were listed on tap, plus one guest option and one cider. I tried the Hackney Kapow at £6.20 a pint, which I quite enjoyed, having never quite found a beer I love from this brewery in the past. I liked the unique layout of this place, which still feels very much like a builder's merchants or whatever it used to be, but now filled with beer. I can usually take or leave stuff from this brewery, but this was probably my best experience of them to date and I'd be fine with the idea of a return to sample more of their range. Date of visit - 4th May 2024

After the nearby Renegade Urban Winery, we finished our tour of the Blackhorse Mile brewery bars with High Hill, the home of Hackney Brewery. Indoor seating is in the bar area itself and also in an area within the brewery itself. Service is once again from the bar, where the full list of Hackney and guest beers can be found. All are craft beers, with the selection being Hackney High Hill, Lager, Millions of Peaches, Kapow, Boogie Van, Bump, Mysterious Spectre, Millions of Pink Lemonade, Release The Night & Superbolt, Hackney/Left Hand Spy v Spy, Hackney/Wild East Sitting On The Top Deck, Kernel Simcoe Strata, Brew York Fairytale of Brew York, Mammoth Wax Pale Ale, Turning Point Reverend Green, Donzoko Lil Foam & The Real Al Co. Crafty Rhubarb Cider. Not a bad place, but I preferred some of the other breweries on the estate.