We don’t go to Hackney often, as it’s not the easiest journey for us on public transport, but we were invited by Justina, founder of The Craft Beer Social Club to attend one of her beer and food pairing events at new brewpub, Duke’s Brew & Cue and were keen to give both the social club and the brewpub a try.
Founded by Byron Knight and Logan Plant (fab names, no?), the brewery is called Beavertown (after an nickname for the area, honest!) and it supplies both the pub itself and a handful of other outlets with an interesting mix of mainly American-inspired craft beers. Like our local favourite, The Bull in Highgate, the brewery is squeezed into a corner of the kitchen – you can see it if you peer in.
The setting is rough and ready, what I’m starting to think of as dive bar chic, so prevalent has it become lately. But it looks good, and the place was absolutely buzzing on the Tuesday night of our visit.
Although we had a nice chat with Byron, his partner Logan, who looks after the brewery, wasn’t around. However, cellar master Hannah did an amazing job of introducing the beers and telling us all about them. In fact, her knowledge and huge personality was a big part of the attraction of the place, for me.
Food wise, it was a mixed bag. The chef had laid on a special menu for the tasting.
Garlic bruschetta, and two goat’s cheese nibbles were mediocre. They were bland rather than offensive but I was disappointed.
The next dish, Sweet Spicy Miso Cod turned things around. Fantastically flavoured, succulent and simply presented with pak choi, this was just delightful and I could have eaten three plates of it in a row! The only sad news is that’s not a normal menu item, so it’s unlikely I (or you) would be able to order it on a future visit.
Next came absolutely enormous Succulent Smoked Beef Ribs. These were great, served with coleslaw and pickled gherkin though I’d have liked a portion of chips along side. These definitely brought out the cave man in everyone, and were good a match for the feel of the place and the wide range of beers on offer.
Dessert was another let down, with a dry and overly sweet chocolate brownie served with candied espresso beans and caramel ice cream. The espresso beans were good and the caramel ice cream pleasant enough, but the brownie was a crime against chocolate.
The normal menu is short and sweet, with pulled pork sliders, pork ribs and beef ribs, a range of steaks, a couple of American salads and a lone veggie burger. Sides include fried pickles and okra with ranch dressing, pit smoked baked beans and pork, seasoned fries, creamed spinach and macaroni cheese. Solidly American and popular with the local crowd.
I’d like to go back and try more of this, as those beef ribs were tasty!
Read more about the beer in Pete’s review.
The Craft Beer Social Club runs beer tasting and brewer events around London. Kavey Eats and Pete Drinks were their guests for the evening.
Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!4 Comments to "Duke’s Brew & Cue, Hackney"
I went to Duke’s the other month and really enjoyed it. Thought the beef ribs were particularly good too. We went to Pitt Cue shortly after and thought they were better but I’d happily go back to either.
To my shame, not been to Pitt Cue yet. Last time I tried, got there within minutes of their lunch opening but all seats were taken and it would have been 30-50 minutes wait.
Finally a good place to get ribs in London?! And bonus points, it’s one of the stops on the overground on my usual route home from work. . .I can sense an impromptu rib night in my nearish future.
Thanks for the heads up!
I’d say the ribs here were great but not the best I’ve had and I don’t know that I’d make a journey just for them, though as I know you’re into beer too, I’d say do go visit and see what you think. From all I hear, Pitt Cue really are the place for the best ribs in London, though I’ve not been yet.