Tap East, Stratford

Tucked away in a quiet little corner at the Stratford International end of Westfield shopping centre is the brew pub called Tap East. People who I have taken to this pub are initially surprised by the fact there is a pub with decent beer within the shopping centre. I then show them the brewery area (situated behind floor to ceiling windows) and that really blows their mind! 

There are normally at least four beers brewed by Tap East available, three on cask and one on keg. The beers rotate with reasonable frequency and their stock range is high quality. I'll normally stick to the Tap East beer when I'm there or have at least one of theirs if more than one pint is on the cards. I must admit that I normally stick to either Tap East's Tonic Ale, or IPA if they are on and as such have only really had tasters of the others. I have not been disappointed with any of the Tap East brewed beers. Both the Tonic Ale and IPA are highly recommended. Tonic ale is my favourite. It's light straw in colour, with a fresh and light flavour profile. The slight citrus zing at the end cleanses the palate leaving you ready for the next sip.

Recently, Tap East brewed a Dry Hopped lager which blew me away! It was one of the finest balanced dry hopped lagers I've tasted. Adnams Jack Brand was previously my favourite, but I was blown away by the flavour profile of the Tap's one. I cannot wait for them to brew more! Unfortunately this may not happen for a while (according to their head brewer) as lagering ties up one of their tanks for a lot longer than when brewing the other beers. But if it does come on, I'll be first in line for a pint! 

I realise I've talked extensively on Tap East's own brand beer. Obviously  that's not all they sell. There is a fine range of beers on keg an cask. The throughput is high enough that the range changes quite often. There are two lagers which stay on all the time. Both are brilliant. The first is Frontier Lager by Fullers. It's a decent, albeit a bit commercial, craft lager. The second is Berliner Pilsner by Berliner-Kindl-Schultheiss-Brauerei. It's an excellent German Pilsner. It's my main recommendation to people who don't fancy any of the craft beers on offer. 

Food-wise, the pub does serve food most weekdays. It's a simple menu of sandwiches, chilli (meat and vegetarian), and nachos. Don't let the simplicity of the menu fool you, the one time I've eaten there was to have a sausage sandwich. It was delicious!

In conclusion, I highly recommend Tap East. Their beer selection is excellent. The staff are knowledgeable, and you can see beer being brewed right there in front of you! What more could you want?!


P.S. I also have a Facebook page to go with this blog. It in its infancy, but is a place I want to engage with readers and beer fans. Please feel free to join me there. 

Cains Brewery Tour

The more I blog, and read beer/pub blogs, the more I want to know about beer. So, last weekend, while on a trip to Liverpool, I went on the Cains brewery tour.  I have had quite a few pints of Cains beer in the past as it is one of the sponsors of the Liverpool Irish Festival of which Mrs. Mouse is the director. I am particularly fond of their Raisin Beer which has a sweet, and savoury taste to it which makes it go down a treat.
Cains has had quite a history. It is the only brewery left in Liverpool, and even then nearly didn't make it. The Dusanj brothers took Cains over in 2002 at a point where production had all but stopped. Since then they have worked tirelessly on bringing the company into profit, and growing year on year.  I don't want to go too much into the history here as the full story can be seen in the history section of the website.

 

 

 

I am not a brewery tour aficionado, the only other tour I have been on being the De Koninck brewery in  Antwerp. I think the Cains tour was better than the one in Antwerp mainly for the accessibility and openness of the tour. We got to see quite a lot of the Terracotta Palace moving our way from the entrance with the Super Lamb Banana, through the canning area, up past the fermenting area, into their craft beer lab, and culminating in the old Hops storeroom just below the big chimney on the top of the building. I think my favourite place on the tour was the beer lab. It was interesting to see some of the different ingredients which go into their craft beers. It was also interesting to hear that Cains is going to be brewing Cobra, formerly brewed somewhere in Poland. Cobra is made using maize and rice instead of hops and barley, which makes it a very delicate beer to brew. Cains have been busy trying to nail down the brewing process in preparation for full scale production.

After the tour, we went to The Brewery Tap, the Cains brewery pub for our buffet and two complimentary beers (not bad for £7.99). The pub is a clean, well kept, bar which has all the Cains beers currently on sale (some are seasonal beers only, and so weren't available). So what to choose? The 14 taps contained a whopping 11 beers to choose from, Finest Lager,  Liverpool Lager, Organic Wheat Beer (the seasonal choice for July), Finest Bitter, Raisin Beer, 2008 Culture Beer, FA, IPA, and Mild. Or should I choose one of their bottles (Dragonheart, or Double Bock)?
Since Mrs. Mouse wasn't drinking I had a choice of four. With so much choice I found it hard to get my mind around what I wanted. In the end I opted for a pint of Finest Lager, a pint of 2008, a bottle of FA, and Dragonheart.   

 

First the Finest Lager, which was properly 'lagered' for three months. This was one of the finest pints of beer I have ever had. Crisp, clean, with a grapefruit-style citrus aftertaste. The fullness of flavour was amazing. I firmly believe if I ever see this in a pub down London way, I would start drinking it as a matter of preference. You really realise what you are missing by drinking the commercial lagers.
My second pint was of the 2008 Culture beer. Now I am mainly a lager drinker, but am attempting to broaden my palate. I am very pleased for this attitude of mine as I got to try '08 (as everyone else called it). This bitter was light, not too sweet, and had a dry citrus taste to it which made the pint a pleasure to drink.
Since we had to leg it to the Klimt exhibition at the Tate Liverpool we took the two bottles with us. I have since had these and they were yummy.
The Dragon Heart Brown Ale is "brewed to a 19th century recipe". I quite enjoyed this. It had a sort of smokey toffee taste which made the beer go down smoothly and hides it's 5% ABV.  I think I would quickly get through a few of these and then fall over. I did look down at my pint glass and wonder where my beer had gone.
My final beer was chosen by the landlord and was the Cains FA. Quite honestly, this is the reason I prefer lager to ales/bitters. It was flat. It tasted warm even though it had spent two days in the fridge. Even though I drank it last night, I can't remember what it tasted like (sort of watery and smokey, I think), even though it supposedly the cask conditioning produces a 'fuller flavour'. I will avoid this one in the future.

 

  So there you have it. I had an excellent time on the tour, and learnt quite a bit about Cains, and beer in general. I think Cains is an excellent brand which you will probably see more and more over the next few years. Their Seasonal Craft Beer initiative is a stroke of genius which will keep drinkers coming back all year round. The light buffet and two pints included in the tour makes the £7.99 more than worth the price.

Finally, I would be interested to hear of any London pubs which are serving the Finest Lager on tap. I  can't wait to try it again... and again... and again....

 

Cains brewery tours take place Monday through to Friday and begin at 6.30pm - Saturday & Sundays at 1.00PM . Tours must be pre-booked. Tours Cost £7.99 per person (not suitable for the less agile due to being a Victorian Brewery and the number of stairs). Please Telephone Cains Sales office Mon - Fri 0151 709 8734 - or email:tours@cains.co.uk. All tours must be pre-booked.