Umbrella Brewing who makes Ginger Beer is a collaboration between The Umbrella Project (Alistair Tatton, Andy Kerr and Stephen Thompson), whom are the trio behind acclaimed East End bars Discount Suit Company and The Sun Tavern, and cocktail-expert / Master Brewer Matthew Armitage.
Umbrella Brewing
Umbrella Brewing opened up back in May 2016 in Holloway Road with their first trail batch of Ginger Beer.
However before Umbrella Brewing could make their batch of Ginger Beer Matt Armitage and his co-workers had to restore an old fire-damaged Victorian wreck back to life and into a working brewery. It was truly a labour of love for them, from self-funding and restoring the brewery.
Why did they set up Umbrella Brewing to make Ginger Beer?. We learn’t it was because they personally don’t think any other ginger beer out in the market quite ticked all the boxes so this is how Umbrella Brewing Ginger Beer came about. They believe ginger beer should be super fiery and not too sweet and alcoholic.
Their Ginger Beer contains all very natural ingredients:
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- fresh pressed ginger,
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- hand squeezed lemon,
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- cane sugar,
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- malted barley,
- yeast and
- water
Natural ingredients create natural sediment in every bottle. This is why they recommend turning the bottle over before serving to “wake up the ginger”.
Umbrella Brewing Ginger Beer tour
Monthly tours for sellers at the Umbrella Brewery are held. In which stories are told whilst groups are shown around about the Victorian industrial building and the Ginger Beer in which they produce.
On all tours Matt firstly explains how the drink is made, and gives a run through of each step by step of the brewing process and how they get the most out of the natural ingredients. He also teach’s bartenders in how to make several bespoke ginger beer based cocktails, so that they can be served in the bars.
After the tour visitors will be able to enjoy some BBQ food in the yard, whilst enjoy some sunshine (hopefully!) and chat more about the Ginger Beer.
Love Pop Ups London tour experience
Last year Love Pop Ups London community had the privalege to sample their first batch of Ginger Beer. Nearly a year on some of us have now had the pleasure of attending a tour of their brewery to help promote.
Ginger Beer the tour
Like all tours he gives we was told the story of how they started out. We learnt about the process of the ginger in how it gets grated down in a special cutter, then strained along with lemons through an industrial sieve and finally into large tanks to ferment.
We learnt that during the fermenting process flies love to hover around because of the sweet smell straining out from the cylinders. Each container holds 3,800 litres of liquid and is kept at a temperature of 70 degrees. According to Matt one litre makes just over 3 bottles of Ginger Beer.
After fermenting the Ginger Beer is then sieved through very fine paper filters which are vegan and vegetarian friendly to remove the yeast before being shipped out to be bottled and labelled at a factory in Tunbridge Wells.
At the end of the tour we all got to try the Ginger Beer. It is a fiery 5% alcoholic ginger beer with a perfect balance of ginger, sharp lemon citrus with a subtle hint of malt which is all gently carbonated.
Since tasting it last year when it was in it’s early stages it has vastly improved making it a pleasure to drink and making this the best Ginger Beer on the market to buy. Very refreshing.
Labels
All the labels are based on old style album sleeves of the 60’s and 70’s. Mainly based on the original series of ‘Decca Records’ inspired labels and the ‘Too Bad’ series (both of which are based on the vinyl sleeves to the owners’ favourite tunes) to collaborations with luxury umbrella crafters Studio Ruuger. They see the labels as a chance to showcase artwork that can be held in your hands, artwork that is tangible and not lost in the digital world. Even though the Ginger Beer bottles are labelled with various different style labels the Ginger Beer is all the same. Click here to see all the different artwork labels they have currently and past designs.
Cider
We also had the privilege of being the first people to try out their very first batch of cider which is not even been released yet as it is still in it’s fermenting process. Within their cider they use Rusip apples as it has a better taste. The Cider was sweet tasting and smooth on the tongue. It will be great to try it when it has finally been processed to its final stage.
BBQ
After the tour we got to eat some BBQ food consisting of sausages, halumi and grilled vegetables all looked and tasted great.
Also we got to try a gin and Ginger Beer cocktail which Matt made for us all that wanted one. It was amazing.
Dart competition
After eating Matt set up a darts competition in which we all competed to win 12 bottles of Ginger Beer. Closest to the bulls-eye wins. Some of us could not hit the board with our dart and landed either on the door or floor. Was so much fun but there could only be one winner and as Laura was the nearest to the bulls-eye she won the beer. She was highly delighted.
There mission was to create the best alcoholic Ginger Beer on the market and they certainly have achieved that with it being sold in a number of niche independent bars and Oddbins.
Where to buy the Ginger Beer
If after reading this and you are now wanting to try one of their fiery Ginger Beers you can order directly from their website, but their Ginger Beer can also be bought via a number of stockists which can be found here.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bff9JE6gmv7/?taken-by=umbrellabrewing
Thanks to Matt Armitage of Umbrella Brewing for letting me and others from Love Pop Ups London community come down for a very interesting on the process of Ginger Beer. The tour was complimentary but all views are my own honest opinion.
Click below to read the blogs and / or reviews from the community members which joint me on the night. All their views are of their own honest opinion.
“I love going out discovering new and existing restaurants, theatres, immersive experiences and so much more but I also love staying in and discovering new gadgets, gaming and cooking.
