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Chat about:
Disappointment of the week with Mobyduck
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
Craft Beer Co, Aldgate, EC3
EC3
EC3A 5BZ
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Danny O'Revey left this review about Craft Beer Co
Nicely laid out inside, looks like there is room downstairs, but quiet enough at street level & nice raised tables on the roadside window. Good choice and quality of beers and not too pricey. All round a good pub
On 18th March 2024
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Komakino . left this review about Craft Beer Co
Located in the lee of a gherkin-shaped building which looms over the street this bar is located in, little has changed from previous, pre-Covid reviews. Still with 18 x keg taps and 9 x cask pumps, my visit saw five of the latter in action offering Abbeydale Pilgrim (a pumpkin-spiced ale), Monday Phantasm of the Hopera (an NEIPA), Siren Memento (a best bitter) and Vocation Naughty & Nice (a caramel cookie & chocolate stout). A place that slowly filled up with City types, the cask range wowed me, but eventually disappointed; each beer deteriorating towards the bottom half of each pint (I didn't try the Siren). Maybe most were on the keg, but my initial 'kid-in-a-sweet-shop' energy deflated to a 'cask-in-case-anyone-asks-for-it' feeling.
On 7th March 2023
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1074 recommendations about 1074 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Craft Beer Co
Craft Beer Co outlet, tucked away in the lee of the Gherkin as mentioned below, so few guesses as to who makes up a slab of the clientele and it was rammed on a weekday post-work. Relatively small inside, a single room with nice parquet flooring and a squared brass effect ceiling, alongside exposed brick and light painted wood panelling walls. Apparently there’s some extra seating downstairs but in the battery hen space I had for myself I didn’t have the ability to note it. Nine pumps with six on skewed towards Heavy Industry. My HI Red wasn't a particularly brilliant brew and wasn’t overly inspiring in the glass either (NBSS 2.5). A good barman serving who was massively overworked but correctly acknowledged when I was next. I’d be willing to give it another go, maybe on a weekend or mid-afternoon instead as I suspect I’d be a bit more effusive. 6.5
On 1st April 2019
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5072 recommendations about 5055 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about Craft Beer Co
Tucked away ,in the lee of The Gherkin this is quite an intimate and modest sized place with some pleasing features.There is a copper coloured patterned ceiling echoing the Leather Lane branch,there is some exposed brickwork,lots of parquet flooring,a series of high tables and stools with those by the windows offering good views of the street life.Downstairs there is a decent sized lounge with leather bound banquettes and booths and a calm atmosphere.The muzak wasn't too loud,the bar staff friendly and helpful and along the bar back was an impressive whisky selection with drew very positive comments from a Scots drinking companion.
At the bar there were 18 keg options from some respected craft beer purveyors,while not all 9 handpumps were operational,but the choice of Park Gallows Gold,Gun Brewery Scaramanga,Kent Dark Horse,a real cider and Kent brewed house Craft Bitter was decent enough.The condition of the ale sampled widely by the crew drew compliments in an area not noted for ale excellence,so that alone would justify future visits to this pleasant spot.
On 30th September 2017
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about Craft Beer Co
A single roomed Pub with a further seating room downstairs. The main street level room boasts Nine hand pumps and 18 craft taps, on cask aside from the house beer of Kent Pale it was a Thornbridge Takeover and my choice of Kipling was nice enough.Another good addition to the steadily growing Craft Pub Co.
On 15th July 2016
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1871 recommendations about 1844 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Craft Beer Co
This is the latest tin his chain's regularly growing stable of real ale pubs and bars. There's little to add the the previous reviewer's comprehensive review - except to say that lined oversize glasses seem to be the order of the day here, so be wary of asking for a top-up, and food seemed to be fairly limited. A chalkboard to the side of the servery advertised pies, scotch eggs and pork scratchings.
When we were in early on Thursday lunchtime it was quite comfortable with the four of us bagging a table on the ground floor, but by 1.0 PM it was very busy with it becoming necessary to barge through groups of vertical drinkers to get to the gents. They were showcasing Salopian Brewery beers, with the Darwin's Origin being in particularly good nick. As stated by others, this pub is a very welcome addition to the City's meagre stock of fine ale houses.
On 21st February 2016
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Craft Beer Co
This is the latest venture from the popular Craft Beer Co chain and their first foray into the City of London – a potentially bold step in an area where bland modern bars vastly outnumber more traditional watering holes. Part of this chain’s success though, comes from their ability to straddle the contemporary/traditional divide – something that is perhaps most notable in the equality of importance placed on both ‘craft’ keg beers and hand pulled real ales. Visiting a day or two after their opening night, I found a good row of hand pumps dispensing four beers from Fyne Ales, two from Burning Sky, one from Acorn and a house Pale Ale. Further along the bar, a long row of keg taps advertised a wide range of interesting small batch brews and each table had a Beer Menu, within which you could find all sorts of bottled goodies, albeit at somewhat inhibiting prices. I bought a pint of the Burning Sky Plateau for £3.95 and thought it was in very good shape. Both the staff and customers seemed very excited about the whole new enterprise and there was a good post-work crowd in without the place feeling desperately crowded.
The pub has a fairly straightforward two-floor layout, with the main bar at ground floor level and stairs down to a basement lounge. The servery is on the rear wall of the main room, which has an interesting look that also takes on both the traditional (dark wood ceiling panels, enamel brewery signs) and contemporary (bare brick walls, undressed concrete pillars). A reasonable amount of mixed seating has been positioned around the room, but a cosier space can be found down the stairs on the left hand side. These lead you into a parquet floored lounge with more bare brick walls and some white wood panelling. The ceiling is very similar to the one upstairs, creating good continuity between the two floors, whilst the seating is mainly a mix of standard chairs and low stools with some button backed banquettes along the walls, split in places by glass partitioning screens. A few brewery mirrors have been arranged around the room in sparing fashion and there is a small nook in the rear corner with enough space for a single table, creating a nice private booth feel. Music played quietly throughout my stay but it was, for the most part, drowned out by the general chatter within.
This is another very good pub from a chain that I have always found to be very reliable. With craft beer and real ale still seemingly not as popular in the Square Mile as foreign lagers and wines, one would hope that this place might kick-start a change in drinking habits and see more interesting venues open in the area over time. For now though, this might very well be the best the City has to offer for the discerning beer drinker.
On 22nd December 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Craft Beer Co
The former Trident has reopened as the latest Craft Beer Co outlet, with the usual great beer selection but customers initially appear to be rather crammed into a small amount of bar space in which to enjoy them. However, it operates on at least on two levels, with the basement seating area not being overcrowded on a Tuesday evening. Little room for furniture in the street-level bar, so many people standing and quite difficult to reach the counter. Nine real ales on handpump, including the Tyne Bank Mocha Milk Stout (£4.45), plus 15 craft keg offerings.
On 28th November 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 8086 recommendations about 8086 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about Craft Beer Co
Latest Craft beer co pub and its very good.Ground floor bar and quite bright basement area.Lots of wood and exposed brick but nicely done.Dull coloured pressed metal ceiling.As usual its the beer that impresses 9 cask and 15 keg.Couple of superb beer drank on the night.
On 21st November 2015
- rating: 9
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Trident
The Trident consists of a basement restaurant, which was closed during my visit two days before Christmas, and a street level bar. Unsurprisingly I wasn’t concerned about the closure of the restaurant, but I was surprised to see an abundance of used cask ale pump clips stuck to the wall at the top of the stairs that leads down to the restaurant and the toilets. The bar is located through a door immediately to the right and upon entry the décor gave me the feeling of a private members club. The handful of punters in situ all seemed to know each other which led me to believe that they were locals, which is not a common site in this neck of the woods. Thankfully this is not a private club and I was given a polite welcome by the lone woman manning the bar which was supporting some usual keg products alongside two jacketed gravity feed casks. Ashamedly I did not note the contents of the casks, but the presence of the aforementioned clips did indicate that the Trident has worked its way through a few beers.
I did not note the presence of any televisions, gaming machines or live sport advertisements, but there was some low background music playing.
I found this place a little sedate, but I know that there are a lot of people out there who enjoy a quiet beer so maybe this place is worth a look if passing.
On 1st January 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5228 recommendations about 5196 pubs]