Partying the night away (or part of it at least), at Five Points Brewing

In the previous post, I wrote a brief piece mentioning the British Guild of Beer Writers summer party, that I attended last Wednesday evening. The event was held at Hackney-based Five Points Brewing, and I have to say the company were perfect hosts, providing plentiful beer and pizza in the setting of impressive their light and airy taproom that adjoins their Mare Street brewery. I’d been aware of the company and its beers for some time, although apart from liking the beers that Five Points were turning out, I didn’t know that much about them. I later discovered the company began brewing in 2013 on a 16hL brew-house in a railway arch beneath Hackney Downs station, before moving to their current site, in Mare Street – just a short distant down the road. The same elevated railway, that housed Five Points original brewery in one of its brick arches, runs along the rear of the current brew-house and taproom.

Brewing capacity was doubled in 2015, with a new 32hL brew house that has enabled the company to meet the high demand for Five Points beer. Although the new brewery is all shiny, stainless steel, it operates along traditional lines with mash tun, wort kettle, and whirlpool. Fermenting vessels range in size from 20hL, 40hL and 120hL, along with a number of bright beer tanks where the finished beer is store, prior to filling into cask, keg or bottle. a centrifuge on site, which is used prior to packaging the beer. Keg accounts for 75% of Five Points output, with cask making up 20%. The remaining 5% is bottled beer.

Along with a number of other guests, I was given a tour around the brewery by a pleasant and very knowledgeable north American lady (I wasn’t sure if she was from the US or Canada), who was happy to answer our questions. She was obviously passionate about Five Points and its beers, and from the other employees we met (pouring the beer, and sorting out the pizza), this enthusiasm seems to extend across the whole company. Five Points select the very best UK suppliers for use in their beers including Simpsons Malt from Norfolk, and Hukins Hops from Kent. Keen readers will remember my report of a visit made to Hukins, a couple of years ago, which was specially arranged for Guild members.

Available from the bar, at the far end of the taproom, were five tank beers brewed on site, and drawn from a number of horizontal s/s tanks stacked behind the bar. Four guest beers, from other breweries were also available. In addition, although I didn’t notice them until towards the end of the evening, were a couple of Five Points cask beers, dispensed by hand-pump. We were each given a token, entitling us to three pints, courtesy of the brewery and, for those wishing to have more, the Guild were running a tab behind the bar.

Solid nourishment came in the form of pizza – surely everyone’s favourite accompaniment to beer, courtesy of Yard Sale Pizza – slogan “Handmade & Hand-Delivered”. Like the beer, the pizza was plentiful, meaning no one went away hungry. As if that wasn’t enough, there was a range of bottled and canned beers available, for party guests to either drink there, or take away with them. These were kindly donated by brewers such as Greene King, Shepherd Neame, Davenports and Rooster’s, amongst others. Guests had been encouraged beforehand, to bring a bag with them, in order to take some of these samples home with them. I managed to stash 10 of these in my rucksack, although any more would have been too heavy to carry.

So, with the brewery, beer, pizza and take-home goodies sorted, what about the party itself? Well, it is best described as a relatively low-key, informal get together, with the only real input from the Guild being a short address by BGBW chairman, Jonny Garrett. Jonny is the author of “A Year in Beer”, an excellent book which attempts, in a non-forceful way, to inject a little seasonality into beer drinking, something which was far more common back when we all lives in a far more agrarian society than we do today.

Later on in the evening, I managed a few quick words with Jonny, saying how much I enjoyed his book. I also explained that despite my best intentions in trying to follow the seasonal guidance outlined in “A Year in Beer” I fail miserably, by forgetting the book’s underlying philosophy, until the advent of summer. He seemed pleased that I had enjoyed his book, along with the principles behind it. In a game of “Pin the next author down,” I next had a brief chat with Laura Hadland, author of “50 Years of CAMRA” - a book billed as the definitive history to the Campaign’s first half century. I explained that whilst I wasn’t there right from the start, I did start playing an active roll in CAMRA from the mid 1970’s onwards. “I trust I got the story right,” was Laura’s reply, which of course, by and large she had.

Final writer of the evening was David Jesudason, author of the award winning “Desi Pubs- A guide to British-Indian Pubs, Food & Culture.”  I met David on the aforementioned hop-picking visit to Hukins Hops, which sadly was the last time I saw Bryan Betts, who passed away in February this year. I haven't purchased a copy of David's book yet, purely becasue there aren't any Desi pubs in this neck of the woods, but for future trips to cities such as Manchester, Birmingham as well as London, I'm sure it will prove invaluable. On last year's visit to Brum, we visited the excellent Hen & Chickens, a thriving Desi pub on the edge of the city's Jewellery Quarter, as recommended by LAF. The pub was packed, and the curries looked, and smelled amazing. Definitely a pub for next time!

The bar closed at 9pm, although by then, I’d enjoyed four excellent pints of Five Points beers - Pale, Lager, XPA and Best. The latter was a cask ale, and a rather good quaffing bitter, whilst the others were keg, but both the Lager and the XPA were top notch. In common with the remaining guests, I made my way back to Cambridge Fields station. An invitation had been extended for partygoers to visit the Pembury Tavern, situated between Hackney Downs and Hackney Central stations, but I thought I’d leave a visit to this legendary pub, for another occasion. 

I mention this because Five Points own the Pembury, alongside the National Inventory-listed Whitelock’s in Leeds – the oldest public house in the city, and another unspoiled, heritage pub that is high on my list to visit. Our guide had told us earlier that the company had plans to expand into other areas of the country, although Leeds seemed a surprise move, at first, like many other UK cities, it has a thriving beer culture.

Well that’s it from the Big Smoke for the time being, although I’m sure it won’t be long before I’m heading up that way again.