The Mechanic Brewing Co Taproom, Bethnal Green, E1

One of a number of railway arch-based brewery taprooms in Bethnal Green, this one is well tucked away down a series of backstreets making it almost impossible to just stumble across and it perhaps should’ve come as no surprise to find the place empty on a Saturday afternoon. It’s a typical railway conversion with a concrete floor painted in blue, a high vaulted ceiling and white corrugated metal covering all of the walls and ceiling. You enter through a small front courtyard with a few canteen-style benches and tables hidden from street view by a series of wicker screens and some large potted plants. Thick plastic curtains hang over the entrance to the brewery, giving way to the taproom which has a row of canteen tables and benches through the centre and various pallets full of brewing ingredients to either side, plus a few brewing vessels to the right. The bar is in the rear left corner and has quite a high counter plus a few blackboards on the bar back and side wall which list the full draught range. There appears to be some additional brewing kit out the back, but I didn’t bother to explore properly. A nice indie soundtrack played throughout my stay and one other customer popped in just before I left, doubling the number of customers briefly. The bar stocked seven Mechanic beers plus guests from Pipes Brewery and Tenby Brewery, whilst the boards also detailed a few bottled options. I tried the Mechanic Green Diesel – a lime stout which the barman/brewer told me had won an award at the Pig’s Ear Beer Festival. It was priced at £5.40 for a pint and was also available in third and two-thirds measures, all of which were priced up on the blackboards. It certainly lived up to the ‘lime’ part of its name and was too citrusy for my liking, although other flavours did eventually come through as I became more accustomed to it. This place felt very basic and clearly far more focussed on the brewing side than the taproom/hospitality aspect (although I should point out that the barman was very friendly and welcoming), which meant I didn’t feel like staying for more than a cursory pint. I’d be interested to try more of this brewery’s beer, as they seem to have some interesting ideas, but ideally somewhere a bit comfier than this railway arch.

Official site of The Mechanic Brewing Co Taproom - www.mechanicbrewery.co.uk

Official site of The Mechanic Brewing Co Taproom - www.mechanicbrewery.co.uk