Redemption Brewery has brewhouse it deserves

Redemption Brewery was one of the early London craft brewers that helped kick-start the renaissance in the capital’s brewing scene, which had lain largely dormant for far too many years.

In a sign that it has really grown up the brewery has just moved from it’s old site to a new unit in Tottenham (on the same industrial estate) that gives it the ability to increase annual production from a present capacity of 5,000 hectolitres per year to as much as 23,000 hectolitres.

Redemption founder Andy Moffat has just pushed through the first brews on the new kit and has quickly realised some efficiencies. For starters he has found he now needs 10% less malt as the new vessels extract more flavour from fewer raw materials.

And he reckons that with his new Moeschle brew kit he will be able to brew three-times as much beer per week with the same amount of people. The new capacity will not necessarily fuel a revolution at Redemption with Moffat suggestIng that session beers will remain the focus. Is there really a better session beer than Trinity?

“We’re focused on session beer and we’ll be doing the same on our new kit. Our strength is here and there’s no hiding place with these beers. We’re not going to be doing high ABV beers,” he says.

But he is contemplating producing keg for the first time and highlights Trinity and Big Chief as likely beers to produce for this dispense. The fact Redemption has managed to hold its place as a craft brewer in London without touching keg so far is testament to the respect there is for its beers and for the fact it was a pioneer in the capital.

Moffat says the company has managed to successfully straddle the world of those brewers that focus on the more esoteric beers and those from the old school of sessionable cask beers. He cites Acorn, Fyne Ales, Hawkshead and Roosters as inspiration.

As well as now being able to produce sufficient amounts of beer to distribute beyond the brewery’s heartland of within the M25 there is also the opportunity to increase exports, which have involved very small volumes to date. The other change the new site will bring is a tap room that will incorporate a balcony that overlooks the brewery.

Spurs match days are predicted to be key drivers of trade to the tap room when it opens in May but Moffat says he is also looking at holding events in the space as he receives many requests from local organisations.

Although the tap room’s popularity will be limited somewhat by the poor transport links around it there will be another potential draw to the site because the old Redemption site and its brew kit is being taken over by One Mild End Brewery that has been brewing at The White Hart pub in East London’s Whitechapel but is looking to expand production.

Maybe something of a community is being built in this part of north London and Redemption is again playing a pioneering part. Either way it’s an exciting new chapter for Moffat and his well respected brewery.

Glynn Davis, editor, Beer Insider