Celebrating 6 Years of Brick Brewery: Our Taproom
Celebrating 6 Years of Brick Brewery: Our Taproom
Continuing our celebration of 6 years of Brick Brewery in the lead up to our birthday party on Saturday 7th December, this week we are looking back on the many chapters that have made up our beloved Taproom (and of course original brewing site) in Peckham.
Transforming the small arch way under Peckham Rye station into a commercial brewery in 2013 soon also turned into the perfect site for Ian to test out his latest brews on the public and get immediate feedback. The spare space in the brewery was filled with a small bar, benches and malt sacks for seating and the original Taproom was born!
However, by April 2015 the brewery had expanded to fit in 3 more 30HL tanks (followed by 4 x 16HL in July 2016) and there was no more room for the bar so it went the only place it could… outside! Ian took delivery of a bright red shipping container and built an outside seating area from pallets… and of course who can forget (as much as we try!) the urinals made from old kegs. A surprising amount of you regularly reminisce fondly to us about those keg urinals, by the way… you strange bunch! It was all a bit rough around the edges, but it was cosy and busier than ever.
Fast forward to the beginning of 2017 we were at full brewing capacity with no space left unused in the brewery. By October 2017 we had begun our transition over to our new, much bigger, production site in Deptford.
Taking most of the equipment with us left us with all the space for a new bar space, indoor seating, sheltered outside space, improved accessibility and proper toilets! A month long renovation at the start of 2018 transformed the arch into the Taproom it is now…
We now have 22 lines, allowing us to have a great range of our Foundation Range permanently pouring, all of our latest specials and putting on beers from our favourite breweries. Our dedicated exhibition wall invites different local artists and creatives to display their work for 2-3 months on a rotating residency. We love having the freedom and opportunity to use the Taproom to test our small-batch and experiemential brews (anyone remember Rhubarb and Custard Sour?!), as well as hosting free and open tasting sessions for every new beer on our Friday launch nights.
Of course, we can’t reminisce about the Taproom’s various changes in the past 6 years without mentioning Slow Richie’s. We first met brothers Alex and Richie in summer 2015 when they took on the outside kitchen residency, serving up their infamous beef burgers topped with their homemade hot sauces, and they’ve been with us ever since! Taking over our red shipping container when we renovated meant they could make themselves more at home and in March 2019 transitioned to juicy pulled pork buns and given their hot sauces a fresh rebrand.
The Taproom has seen a lot of changes over the past 6 years but one thing that remains is our amazing customers. This celebration is dedicated to every single one of our customers; the loyal ones who have been around since Day 1 and continued to enjoy our beer as we have grown, the ones who come in for that much-needed pint of Peckham Pils on the commute home, the ones who come in for Slow Richie’s and get a beer simply to wash it down with, and the ones who come in thinking we are Peckham Springs/Bar Story and can’t be bothered to walk across 20 feet quite yet. And everyone else in between… you’re all fantastic! Thanks to all and hope you continue to enjoy the Taproom way into the future as much as we do.
Our 6th birthday party is on Saturday 7th December at our Taproom in Peckham so keep your eyes peeled on our social media for more details on that soon…
