Euston Tap
Euston Tap - from the bus station
Last week saw the opening of the Euston Tap. By Wednesday I’d found an excuse to check it out, meeting a friend arriving from the north for the LCD Soundsystem gig! The Euston tap is ideally placed so I can see it become a regular rendezvous point. Built into one of the former ‘gatehouses’ of the earlier Euston station, largely demolished in the early 1960s, it’s a neat setting for a craft beer house.
Euston tap - alongside a list of places formerly served by rail from Euston
Moving inside, the bar is a fairly small affair with the fridges containing most of the beer to the side. It’s deceptively small – via a spiral staircase you can access a mezzanine floor with more tables and chairs (though I never made it upstairs, my friend did) providing plenty of space.
The bar
So onto the beer… The main attraction is, of course, the beer wall – 7 cask taps and many keg taps offering a selection from English ales through continental lagers via the fruit laden lambics of the lowlands. It is certainly the first place I have seen to have draught Peche (peach lambic) on offer.
Mirror and beer wall
Adjacent to the beer wall are two fridges expanding the range even further. Sadly I had time for just a half pint (Bath ales – Ginger Hare – lovely beer well served!) so I haven’t had chance to check out anything but the cask. Price wise I was impressed – two half pints came to around £3.30, which given the nature of the products available is pretty reasonable – I’d expect to pay around £3 /pint in Euston anyway.
A fridge full of cool joy
Apparently next week they get a coffee machine – but I think, personally, I’d save my next trip for the evening ready to take in some more of the beer. I’m already looking for another excuse to pop in…
Yes, this is definatley a place I’ll be using when in the area. I visited last Monday and was equally impressed. You do need to be very aware of the prices though – one beer will apparently always be a very reasonable £2:70 a pint. Others (rarer or stronger ones) can be as much as £8:50 a pint. There is just the one toilet cubicle upstairs, which will be fun on busy nights.
Yes you do have to be careful to read what is on offer and the prices – I think on my last visit they were selling Brewdog Paradox – at c. 10% ABV it came in around £8 per pint! But… would you really want a pint through?
Also… I’m not convinced the fridges are properly located for ‘revenue protection’, if you know what I mean!
Brewdog Paradox was £2.80 a half when I was there last night. I think the priciest was one of the US imports – either Dogfish Head 90-minute IPA at £3.30 or the one written up on the other blackboard that I can’t quite remember (I just remember scanning the list and thinking it was pricey…_
That was the only problem for me – I could only see half the menu properly and when the place got busier I had no chance of moving round the bar – maybe they could do with printed A4 price-lists as well?
Or maybe do something along the lines of The Wellington whicn has a massive screen in the bar, but also has the beer list fed live to the internet. Beers on BlackBerry appeal?