Boris Says Beer

London Mayor, Boris Johnson, officially opened the new Discover Greenwich centre yesterday and with it Meantime's new bar-brewery, the Old Brewery.

In an uplifting and characteristically Borisian speech, he proclaimed Greenwich his favourite place to take his family in all London. He went on to conclude that the lesson that he had learned from looking around the exhibition space was that Britain owed its maritime prowess, not to the discovery of the sextant, not to Henry VIII's foundation of the navy, not even to Greenwich's lucky situation on the Prime Meridian. It was, he said, entirely down to beer. Consequently it was hugely fortuitous that a brewery had been laid on as part of Disvover Greenwich to enable visitors to celebrate this incredible fact.

So saying he then departed to pour an official mayoral pint of London Pale Ale in the Old Brewery bar, before being shown the new brewing plant by Meantime founder and brewmaster, Alastair Hook.

The culmination of a 15 months gestation, the Old Brewery, is Meantime's flagship venue, expressly designed to remind Londoners and tourists alike that London was once the 'brewing capital of the world', and that London's beers not only travelled around the globe but shaped the face of brewing the world over.

This is made plain in the very fabric of the building, with the three story brewery against the north wall being flanked by a timeline detailing the history of brewing in London.

In addition to its regular houise beers - Hospital Porter and Kellerbier - the The Old Brewery will be home to the College Beer Club, a fixed membership connoisseurs' club dedicated to 'forensic brewing' in order to resurrect extinct beer styles, rediscover lost brewing techniques and recreate beers made with long forgotten ingredients.

If you would like to register your interest in becoming a member of the College Beer Club please email info@collegebeerclub.com.

Countdown to Old Brewery Live

Check out the link for latest OLD BREWERY pics

Old Brewery Fires Up After 140 years

Meantime Brewmaster Alastair Hook (right) and Old Brewery brewer, Rod Jones have had a busy few days of late firing up the copper in our new brewhouse at the Old Brewery, Greenwich, to make sure we have beer for our grand opening on March 22nd.

It's been a fun but fraught time as they familiarise themselves with the brand new equipment, which is literally bristling with valves which (if left in the wrong position) can easily leave the unwary brewer wondering why the copper is empying while his wellies are filling up.


First beer brewed on February 27th was our Old Brewery 'house beer' Meantime Kellerbier. At 4.6% ABV this traditional Franconian style is completes its maturastion in the cellar from the vessel from which it is served. The same would have been true of the original brews produced on the site between 1717 and 1860 when the site was occupied by the brewhouse of the Royal Hospital for Sailors.


The first brew was a low key affair as there was a rather greater need to concentrate on getting it right than there was on celebrating the return of brewing to this historic London setting after a break of 140 years. Fear not, however. There will be celebrating aplenty once the new brew is declared ready to drink.

Meantime Informs the Financial Markets

Financial guru's  looking  for the hottest industry analysis got words of wisdom from Meantime last week when Bloomberg sent their cameras down to Greenwich for a news feature on the strength of the micro sector.

Follow this link to hear the thoughts of the Brewmaster and some of our regular customers too.

Meantime Masterclasses

Training is a big part of what we do at Meantime. It's all part of our mission to communicate beer knowledge to as wide an audience as possible.

Our new Old Brewery premises at the Royal Naval College provide us with an ideal opportunity to broaden our beer education activities to as wide an audience as possible.

Consequently we are launching a new 'Beer Appreciation Masterclass' in association with Greenwich Community College.

This one day course is designed to give you a broad understanding of the methodology of brewing and the major beer styles of the world, as well as in depth background into the historical, social and culinary context of beer in the UK.
The course will include a tour of our new brewery as well as a special beer and food matching lunch, all under the direction of one of our qualified brewers.

The first course is set to run on April 16th 2010, and full details of fees and enrolment can be found on the Greenwich Community College website.

Awning Spawning

One of Meantime's favourite customers, the Beehive off Baker St, London W1, got a bit of a make over yesterday, with the fitting of the first ever Meantime branded awning.

The Beehive, owned by legendary restrateur, Claudio Pulze, sells astonishing quantities of Meantime beers, so it was only fitting that the Crawford St fine dining pub was the recipient of the first example of a new direction in Meantime's marketing support.

Our handsome new awning will prevent Meantime beer waming too rapidly when it's sunny, or becoming diluted when it's wet.

Piping Hot Piping

Work is proceeding apace at the Old Brewery. Two weeks ago our brewing plant was delivered. Last week it was hoist into place on its supporting gantry. This week the stainless steel welders are connecting it all together, and the plan is that by Friday if you put water in the tank at the top, you won't get water on the floor at the bottom.

Slowly but surely the brewery space is starting to take shape, but the pressure is still on the retail team. The invites for the big opening have been sent out and the RSVPs are coming back, and there is still a lot of work to be done. The hare, in other words, is running.

It's not just a question of what you can see either. There is a lot of pieces of kit that are out of sight. Key amongst these are the cellar tanks which will dispense our draught beers up to the bar. These operate on a compressed air system allowing beer to be dispensed without the use of extraneous CO2.