The London Beer Mile
I’ll start by saying, if you’ve landed on this page, congratulations! You are going to embark on one of the best craft beer pilgrimages in Europe! The Bermondsey Beer Mile, although closer to 2 miles, is quite easily the perfect day out for any craft beer fan! It took me and the beering team a couple attempts to complete the trip and these “research” trips were difficult to stay focused on. Like a child in a sweet shop, there is just too much choice, too many beers you must try and too many “shiny objects” to distract you. Realistically, sticking to a few places on the day is the ideal choice. But if you’re like us, doing the whole London beer mile in one day felt like an achievement we just needed to do. Sadly, one place was closed on the day we completed the beer mile, however, we discovered another place which isn’t found on any other list!
So whether you are looking to complete the London Beer Mile, or just looking for a couple good places to visit, we can proudly say this is the best guide to the Bermondsey Beer Mile!
If you’ve read other guides online, most will suggest Southwark Brewing is the starting point however, we disagree. In our opinion, staring at Four Pure would be a much better option, however the early closing time of Southwark (6pm) makes the timing incredibly difficult to achieve.
So, until Southwark opens later, it will remain the official starting point! (If you wanted to start even earlier than 12pm, The Barrel Project next door opens at 11am) Here’s the beer mile route in order:
#1 Southwark Brewing
A small but great place to start, the staff were friendly, and there’s a lot of great light beers on offer. And I’d definitely recommend starting light, it’ll be a long day. Southwark offers tasting options with 3 thirds for £6, something I feel every place on the beer mile should offer. They have 2 beer fridges so you can purchase beers to go. You won’t be stuck for options either, it offers 13 taps of all types of beer!
#2 The Barrel Project
Next up, is an absolute treat. A whole afternoon could easily be spent in this one place with its incredible range of beers and beautiful interior. Owned by the London Beer Factory, its very stylish and one of the best places on the beer mile. They have 24 taps and serve thirds in smart looking stubby glasses which look great in pictures! The barrels along the wall also help create an amazing atmosphere.
#3 Billy Frank’s Craft Beer & Snack Shack
Whilst not specifically a taproom, this little place is a fantastic stop along the beer mile. It has 4 taps serving a range of beers and although they only served halves, the beer was great! The best part however is the hundreds of cans and bottles for sale. I noticed a very small markup on the beers which makes it exceptionally good value for money and they also serve incredible beef jerky and other snacks to help you along the mile! Definitely worth a stop!
#4 Hiver Tap
One of the most popular places on the beer mile, hiver has some exceptionally themed beers, all of which use honey. The rich sweet and malty flavours really stand out in the hiver beers! They have 5 taps and lots of bottles of other beers for tasting pallets! A set of 3 halves cost £9! Nice outdoor seating and located on the sunny side of the arches and right next the incredible Maltby Market
#5 Anspach & Hobday
A fantastic place with fantastic staff members, we received a warm welcome words of encouragement when we explained our beer mile venture! They gave us lots of small tasters of the stronger beers to help us stick to the lighter ones. They have a total of 12 taps with a range of creative beers, interestingly one of our favourites was their chilli stout which we sampled! The bar itself is stylish and reasonably priced.
#6 Moor Beer
I’m not sure if it was just the incredible welcome we received from Anspach & Hobday or just an off day, but Moor Beer felt the most unfriendly place on the whole mile. Staff seemed uninterested and when we asked for a third, we were informed rather bluntly about their being no profit in selling thirds. We mentioned we were doing the beer mile but decided not to mention our blog, not very chatty. Thankfully this was the only place on the entire beer mile that had this atmosphere (and the only brewery that wouldn’t sell thirds) Moor Beer is average at best compared to its neighbours so they could use more upbeat staff to stand out. We’ll update this on our next visit, wouldn’t want to judge based on a bad experience. 15 taps!
#7 CloudWater
A very popular brewery, originally based in Manchester but has now expanded into the London Beer Mile! Cloudwater have 20 taps of incredible beer and some guest beers too. This was one of the hardest places to leave after only sampling a couple of their beers so would definitely be a great place to return to for an afternoon. Great staff and always quite busy so they have their own security to keep everything in order.
#8 Brew By Numbers
A personal favourite, BBNO seem to consistently produce great beer. They used to have two places on the beer mile with a taproom and a tasting room but now they are back to just one place, with the brewery now in Greenwich. I couldn’t quite see how many taps they have as they were hidden under the counter but I believe their was 8! I like the creativity of BBNO and their interesting collaborations. One of the guys gave us their new CBD Mocha Porter to try and review which was truly outstanding.
#9 Bianca Road
Bianca road is definitely on of the more obscure places on the beer mile. We found several other groups working their way along the beer mile missed out Bianca Road. And in our opinion, they really did miss out a lot! Even though they only had 6 taps, what they had on offer was fantastic beer. There’s an abundance of incredible pale ales and lagers to enjoy along with friendly easy going staff! What’s better, if your name is Bianca (or roads/rhodes) and can prove with ID, they’ll give you a discount!!
#10 Craft Beer Junction
This place does what it says on the tin, it’s a place where lots of different craft beer meet. They stock a variety of American craft beers on 10 rotating taps so you can come back week after week and taste something new. They also stock a great variety of beers to buy as cans and bottles! This place on the beer mile is one of the newer places which opened in Spring 2021!
#11 The Kernel
A favourite on the beer mile for easy drinking craft beer, The Kernel are known for their variety of interesting hoppy ipas and pale ales. The bottles are decorated in a similar style labeling each of the different hops used in each beer. The taproom seems to have 13 taps showcasing their core range as well as other new releases! This place will likely be on of the busiest places on the beer mile!
#12 Pitcher & Craft
This was truly exciting, finding a new place on the beer mile that currently hasn’t been on any other beer mile guide we’ve seen online. This place could easily be walked past as it doubles up as a shop, however as you go inside, you’ll see a very large section of craft beer in the fridges and 6 taps showcasing some great London beers! It’s not a brewery or located in the arches, however it’s definitely a member of the beer mile. The owner is another reason this place is a great stop and we would highly recommend visiting and supporting this place!
#13 Outpost – Three Hills Brewing
As the beering team are big stout fans, Outpost was an unexpected treat! Not only did they have a host of sours, ipas and new England’s, they also had the best stouts on the beer mile! We tried their hazelnut cap, Coconut chocolate donut and peanut brittle sticky stout and we were blown away! This place has 20 taps which includes 5 guest beers which makes it incredibly difficult to want to leave! Definitely will be returning!
#14 Spartan
Ah Spartan, the small road bump in our beer mile conquest. After being closed for some time due to covid, Spartan reopened on Sunday 17th of April… the day after this research trip had been completed. Sadly, Saturday is the only day of the week all taprooms are open on the beer mile but that doesn’t stop covid and other factors affecting the opening times now and again. From what we’ve seen, they host 8 taps and are now fully open on Saturdays! Our next research trip is due for Dec 2022, so we’ll be updating it with more info about Spartan then!
#15 Eebria
A great small taprooms that’s mostly made out of pallets giving it a great rustic feel. Eebria was quite quiet compared to other places along the beer mile and definitely deserves more attention as their range or beers is very good. They have 8 taps and it’s located very close to Outpost & Spartan making these three places easy to spend a while afternoon (That is if the whole beer mile a little too much)
#16 Partizan
With its 8 quirky taps and tables and chairs made from plywood, this place just feels like a real craft beer taproom. It’s quite large with a lot of seating inside and out and very popular. They mostly serve fruity and hoppy easy drinking beers but they don’t seem to have any cans for sale… so you’ll just have to work your way through all the taps instead!
#17 FourPure
The last place on the beer mile!! If you’ve made it this far still conscious after starting at Southwark, then you are beastly to say the least. FourPure is by far the very largest place and in some ways, a good place to finish! They have weekly rotating food vendors outside so you can get dinner and an insane total of 40 taps to choose from! Don’t get too excited however because most of the time, there’s only 12 different beers on the lines, so many are the same on each side of the bar!
Bonus Places To Visit
Even tho its commonly referred to as the London Beer Mile or Bermondsey Beer Mile, there are loads of other great places to visit! In the near future, we plan to expand this section and create a whole post about all the other non-beer related places on the beer mile. Until then, here are a few other new places to discover on the beer mile!
# Hawkes Cidery
Located right next to the London Barrel Project, you notice this amazing cider taproom as you walk past, perhaps even go inside thinking its a beer taproom. It’s a fantastic place and now owned by brewdog so you maybe notice some very interesting flavours and possibly the odd beer on tap in the future. Although we wouldn’t reccomend the lethal mix of cider and beer, this is a great stop for those looking to sample a variety of drinks!
# Bon Vino
Located next to Hiver, Bon Vino is a local wine establishment inside the arches! It has a similar feel to craft beer taprooms with its rustic feel and seems to compliment the beer mile nicely (my wife will definitely be tempted by this addition) Just outside are many different food vendors and your able to grab some food and bring it into Bon Vino to enjoy with some of their wine! This marks one end of the Maltby Ropewalk.
Other Places to Check Out
#Maltby Ropewalk
#Mash Paddle Brewery
#Sushi Circle Bermondsey
# Bone Daddies Bermondsey
#Flor Bakery Spa Terminus
#The London Honey Company
#The Ice-cream Union Spa Terminus
#Neil Yard Dairy
We really hope you have enjoyed this guide to the London Beer Mile! We would love to hear about your experiences so don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!
Have your own Beer Mile in your town or city? As we build our community, we are searching for guest bloggers to help us build amazing guides! If you would like to be a guest blogger, check out our article called “Guest Blogger Post Ideas”.
