Signature Brew Blackhorse Road
The beer is brewed next to the bar and the bands play in the brewhouse, over a sound system the brewery had built for it.1
Why go
Sam McGregor and Tom Bott started Signature Brew in 2011 out of music and drinks backgrounds, and after a crowdfunded move they built this Walthamstow brewery on the Blackhorse Beer Mile.2 The taproom runs a full calendar of musicians, comedians and live acts playing inside the brewery, and when nobody is on, the staff put their own playlists over a custom D&B Audiotecknik rig. Wine, cocktails and spirits sit alongside the beer, and Sireli cooks Armenian wraps and mezze as the resident pop-up kitchen.1
The brewery says it is the only one to have won SIBA's Brewery of the Year twice, in 2018 and 2021. CAMRA records a 2018 SIBA win under the name Brewery Business of the Year. Both accounts are here and neither has been checked against SIBA itself.
Order this / avoid
- Order: whatever is freshest off the tanks, and a ticket for whoever is on, since the calendar is what this room is for.
- Avoid: cask. CAMRA records real ale as not regularly available here.2
Good to know
- Where: Unit 15, Uplands Business Park, Blackhorse Lane E17 5QJ, on the Blackhorse Beer Mile.
- Hours: not published on the pages read this pass. The events calendar runs on a separate site.
- Food: Sireli, a pop-up resident, not a house kitchen.
- Booking: worth it on a gig night.
Verdict
could-visit — Sam McGregor and Tom Bott came out of touring and drinks in 2011 and built a brewery with a booking calendar bolted to it, so the beer is poured beside the tanks and the live acts play in the brewhouse over a custom sound system. Sireli cooks Armenian wraps and mezze as the resident pop-up. The brewery says it is the only one to have won SIBA's Brewery of the Year twice, in 2018 and 2021, though CAMRA records the 2018 win under a different award name and neither was checked against SIBA. Do not come for cask, which CAMRA says is not regularly available. It sits mid-ladder because no beer is named in anything read this pass and the award claim is the brewery's own.