The new kit – valued at about £1.5m of the total £2.1m revamp cost – will be on full display to customers at the revamped taproom in railway arches on Warburton Street, and will be joined by a permanent food residency, offering a range of barbecued foods from ribs right through to vegan and veggie meals.
And also housed in the taproom area will be a 12-metre long mural, which is yet to be painted by East End artist Luke McLean – who designs all the art for London Fields Brewery from its can designs to its merchandise.
Currently, production of the core beer range, which comprises Hackney Hopster, 3 Weiss Monkeys and Broadway Boss, is outsourced but the new brewing units will be head brewer Talfryn Provis-Evans’s playground.
Provis-Evans explained: “We're going to do a variety of styles to test the kit. It’s all about the versatility of it. We could do anything with it. We could even make a sake or a kombucha if we wanted.”
He explained the company hopes to have eight very different beer varieties available for the grand opening.
Provis-Evans exclusively revealed three of the beers he hopes to have ready, which are a 3.5% ABV sour titled Grapefruit Dead, a cloudy lager by the name of Keller Lagerfield at 5% ABV and a New England IPA amusingly called Gluten Tag (6.5% ABV) that, as the name suggests, will use a host of glutens.
The head brewer added revealed there will also be low and no-alcohol beverages available in the second production run but they will not simply be beers that have little or no alcohol.
Provis-Evans revealed: “We don't want to mimic beer. There’s people doing that and that’s cool. We want to make a fermented beverage that you feel satisfied drinking anywhere. It's not a soft drink but will be fermented and we will employ our souring tank to make it.”
The company, which is owned by Carlsberg in a joint venture with Brooklyn Brewery, has possession of other nearby railway arches that have been converted into two indoor spaces that can be host a multitude of events, such as weddings and live music gigs.
The space will play host to Craft Beer Cares on 19-21 July, where more than 30 breweries will provide beer in aid of Hackney Winter Night Shelter. Last year, the event raised £10,000 for anti-violence charity Art Against Knives.
