Sustainable Wines, E17

Visited 23/04/26 No cask. A couple of Exale (next door) lagers on tap but the venue mainly offers wine on tap from their own kegs that make for a more sustainable solution to wine in glass bottles. There is some seating at the front, but ostensibly a small industrial unit, concrete flooring with the bar counter in the rear left-hand corner, with some tall stool seating at the bar counter. Mish mash of tables around the space. Note that the venue only open Friday evenings and at the weekend, I got a look inside and chatted with the head of wine as I turned up during their normal business hours and got a quick tour of the premises. If you are in for Exale next door at the weekend suggest you give them a look in and try for something a bit different.

This is a pretty good sized brewery tap and the only place across this industrial estate to serve cask ale. The unit is somewhat hidden away and perhaps the least taken care of, looking very ramshackle and unappealing on approach, with plastic strips hung in the doorway not exactly the most enticing proposition. You pass through a small outdoor space with tables and chairs, some upturned barrels to stand around and two massive tyres stacked on top of one another, with a table top in their centre. A ramp takes you down into the bar and brewery, passing a load of brew kit to your left, before opening out into the main bar area at the bottom. A good amount of tables and benches are available here, with the servery over to the left, and a temperature controlled taproom in the bar back for the cask ales - taps for keg beers can be found beneath helpful chalk boards listing the full beer range. There's a pool table to the rear, under an impressive but rather weird mural and a big aerial photograph of what I assume was this industrial estate. Elsewhere, a massive collection of board games can be found on a dresser to the right, along with a few books and other bits. The cask options were Beerblefish Edmonton Best Bitter, Pan Galactic, 1820 Porter and SMASH, with four more of their brews on keg dispense. The lone barman was very friendly and the SMASH was a decent pint that I enjoyed in the last bit of sun afforded to the front seating area. This seemed like an interesting old building that could admittedly do with a bit of a tidy up, but was fun to explore nonetheless. It was a nice relief to find some cask ale amidst a day of keg only venues and the friendly service topped things off nicely, making this the highlight of my crawl. Date of visit - 4th May 2024

The Beerblefish Brewing Taproom was the reason we ended up on the Uplands Business Park. When heading here, I had no idea that it would become the first of 5 brewery bars (and 1 winery) we would visit. As with all of these places, they are simple warehouse conversions with basic furniture, a bar and all of the brewing equipment. Beers on here were Hoppy Pale No. 20, Pan Galactic Pale, Viking Ale & 1820 Porter.

At the time of our visit, Beerblefish were the new kids on the Blackhorse Mile having moved here into bigger premises from their small unit in Edmonton, some eight weeks ago. We didn’t know they were here and were lucky to spot their sign pointing into the industrial estate from Black Horse Lane. But their unit is virtually behind the Exale Brewing tap room and it is a very short walk between the two as long as you find the interconnecting road between the two estates. A fairly standard one room set up with seating, a pool table and a small serving bar next to the brewing kit which is now double the size of the kit they could fit into the Edmonton location. This one scored on the day because it was the only tap room where real ale was available and four Beerblefish ales ( visible in a small chilled room behind the bar ) were available alongside a couple of craft options. I went for the Hoppy Pale which was a decent beer. The main brewer was working the bar on our visit and I hope I didn’t upset her too much when I told her that I consider their bitter, Edmonton Best, to be the biggest oxymoron in beer naming. Presently this one opens at 4pm on a Thursday and Friday and 12 noon at the weekend.