Luke Wattam came up with the idea for a brewery that encapsulated the amazing E1 (it’s a postcode) area of London and he set about making this a reality. However, as anyone who has started a brewery knows there’s a lot of money required and huge risks when it comes to actually creating awesome beer. Brewing itself is easy enough but getting the beer to actually taste good and be reliable is a real challenge.
Taking inspiration from the Brooklyn Brewery who produced their Brooklyn Lager at Matt FX brewery in Upper New York State (not Brooklyn itself) he found a couple of well-established, hugely talented brewing partners to brew E1 beers. Gypsy brewing isn’t anything new and the team at De Proef in Belgium brewed for Omnipollo & Mikkeller when they started out. It’s a great way to get a head-start and concentrate on coming up with the ideas and getting beer into amazing venues.
This is where Luke partnered with one of Shoreditch’s most famous bar groups to get E1 Brew Co beer into some of the E1 area’s most famous venues including Cargo, Casa Blue, Hoxton Pony, Matchbox and the Wenlock & Essex. This then led to E1 being served in the West End at Tiger Tiger, Ruby Blue, Zoo Bar and at Dreamland, Margate, TGI Friday’s and online via Ocado.
From a tiny team, E1 Brew Co has managed to find a home in some amazing places but the journey has only just started. We’ve got huge plans to get our beers into the hands of thirsty drinkers all across the UK and abroad. We’re recruiting a dedicated sales and marketing team and can’t wait to tell everyone about the cool things we’ve got planned (once we’ve baked the ideas a little more).