We’ve lived near the New River on and off, since the mid 1990’s and have always enjoyed walking along its pathways.  In early 2014, when we were thinking about starting a brewery, the New River had just celebrated its 400th anniversary and was, uncharacteristically, getting a fair bit of local attention.  We saw an interesting parallel between the fresh water supplied by the New River and the fresh beer we would be brewing!  As below, we also saw how vulnerable the New River had been in the past and how it would benefit from more local support.  New River Brewery was incorporated in July 2014.  The New River was saved from extinction in the 1980’s by a local campaign (similar to the way in which CAMRA saved Real Ale from the stranglehold of the Big Six breweries*).  In 1985 Thames Water Authority was proposing to close the New River and...

We often talk to people about the New River and, whilst some are very knowledgeable, most will say that they’ve noticed it but have wondered what it is. If you are one of the latter, here are our answers to some FAQ’s: What is the New River? it’s an artificial watercourse built by human hand to bring water from the Chadwell and Amwell Springs (“Twin Springs”), near Ware in Hertfordshire, to Central London. When was it built? The New River was built between 1602 and 1613. It has flowed non-stop (and thus, been “London’s Tap”) ever since.  Except momentarily when it was hit by a German parachute mine in WWII near Dame Alice Owen’s School.  What’s so special about it? Even after 400 years plus, the New River is still the source of some 8% of London’s fresh water supply! It also provides an important habitat for a lot of...

Numerous people have fallen into the New River by mistake along the years (although swimming in it is prohibited). On 9 January 1622 King James I rode from Theobalds Park after his dinner to witness the ice on the New River. He fell off his horse and went in head-first – he was rescued but apparently you could only see his boots. (This story probably made a good royal ice breaker for quite some time!) In the early 1800’s George Dyer, a friend of Charles Lamb, got equally wet (and also survived) when leaving Lamb’s house in Islington. Dyer was a poet who had just edited a 143-volume set of Latin works – and consequently lost his eyesight. Charles Lamb was pretty angry about this mishap and, being well ahead of his time, pinned the blame squarely on the New River: “Waters of Sir Hugh Middleton—what a spark you were like to have extinguished for ever!...

The beautifully crisp, petillant pale ales from the North of England have been our inspiration for the London Tap recipe. I was “weaned on” the old style cask Boddingtons brewed at Strangeways brewery in Manchester (i.e. before it was sold to Whitbread in 1989).  Bizarrely my O’ Level Maths teacher, first introduced me to the delights of Boddingtons cask ale (he’d probably locked away nowadays for such a misdemeanour!). The original Boddies (3.8% abv) on cask was an unusually light colour, and was bedecked by a smooth white mousse generated by the twin effects of bags of natural condition, and a spray nozzle known as a sparklet.   On the palate, it had a nice tight bitterness and for some reason, went down even better accompanied by a bag of dry roasted peanuts (followed by a short meander to the Wing Wah).   Several pints of bitter, some peanuts, and a bag...