After foolishly missing the chance to have a sneak peek around Beer Merchants Tap in Hackney Wick before it opened, I somehow then managed to go another eight months or so before finally making it over to their beer-mecca on Wallis Road. However, since I found them in recovery mode from Zwanze Day with Cantillon Nath still on tap amongst other sour delights, I’d say I timed my first visit rather well!
Beer Merchants have long been a name in the industry as an outstanding online beer retailer with access to some pretty wonderful breweries, so the news that they were opening a bar with 20 keg lines, 2 cask lines, and tonnes of hard-to-find bottles on site was met with plenty of beer geek glee. On top of that, they announced that they were also launching the “Good Company Blendery”, a lambic-inspired blendery using naturally inoculated wort from their partners Wild Beer Co, Burning Sky and Duration. We’ll have to wait a while until we see of the results as they aim to blend the liquid in their own barrels for up to three years before blending it – exciting times ahead!
Their spacious warehouse bar isn’t a bad place to hang out in the meantime. The beer selection is fantastic, though don’t expect Cantillon, Tilquin and Garage sours to always be there – I just got lucky! If nothing on the 22 taps is doing it for you, A) stop being so picky and B) the hundreds of bottles filling the fridges all round the room will surely suffice. There are also regular events from beer tastings to supper clubs so keep an eye on their social media! Food is limited to meat and cheese plates – hopefully a full kitchen will materialise in the future. Anyway, I digress – BEER!
Beer Merchants Tap – beermerchantstap.com
99 Wallis Road, E9 5LN
