Crate Brewery

this is a really cool spot, sort of out in the olympic park area, where a lot of cool little businesses appear to have settled in. this space is insanely cool, down along a little canal or river, with some boats tied up, a small and mellow patio out front, and then a larger converted warehouse looking space inside with a big bar in the middle, tons of cask offerings and guest cans and bottles, and a view to the tanks in the back. bustling energy in here, hip and modern and cool, great vibe overall. we sat on the patio, took in the passersby and the graffiti, and drank through a fair portion of their lineup of in house beers. i have to confess i was a little disappointed in the beers overall, many were quite similar, english at core, light in alcohol and body, cask drinkers that kind of all had the same thing going on, a golden ale, a pale, and a session ipa were all awfully close to one another. i liked the stout best, and was impressed with the quality of the cask conditioning and the achieved texture on all the beers more than i was on their flavor. they have a ton of english craft beer in package too, so something for everyone here i imagine. the vibe was the best part, so cool to be sitting outside and taking it all in with good friends, unremarkable service but not bad in any way. their food looked wicked, artisan pizza and the like, but we didnt eat, i wish we did! next time for sure. i didnt love the beer on the whole, but i wouldnt let that stop you from checking out this very cool brewery!

 

 

CRATE had a good selection of beer that ran the gamut of hops to dark malts to sours. There was something for everyone as well as some pretty good pizza. It's also adjacent to Howling Hops. Both are worth a visit.

Unlike the standard brewery tasting room, Crate's pizzeria eschews the gentle flavors of German sausages or fried vegetables and instead delivers robust, attention-grabbing flatbreads. Also distinguishing Crate from its brothers and sisters is the availability of a wide variety of non-Crate beers available in the bottle and on tap. In choosing this format, the Crate team has created a brilliant restaurant worthy of the long Overground ride out to Hackney Wick.

On the day of our visit, we enjoyed a couple tap offerings (one from Crate and one from a "guest" brewer) and a bottle of Dark Sister from Brussels Beer Project, but we expect the turnover in offerings to be quite rapid. We also note that it would be easy to stumble into unpalatable beer–pizza pairings, so the novice beer drinker may wish to consult the staff or a more experienced companion.