Established 1666
The brewery that was once the world’s largest is back.
Comebacks are about a return to basics. For Truman’s, that means making good beer.
Once a heavyweight of British brewing, Truman’s was synonymous with East London. For hundreds of years it was famed for its good beer and the remaining pubs bear witness to the fact that it stood for all that is great about British pub culture.
It survived to be one of London’s last independent brewers, until the 1970’s when it fell to ‘merger mania’. The drive to be bigger and more efficient saw the name and the beer flogged hard. In 1989, it was shut down, the breweries and the pubs sold off.
Until recently, there was nothing but a name. Then in 2010, we started rebuilding.
Re-established 2010
Beer needs a brewery, which is not something we have (yet). So, we went to see our friends at Nethergate Brewery, who are very good brewers. Together, we created Truman’s Runner – our first new beer for 21 years.
Aside from beer, you need basic principles. Truman’s once lost sight of these and paid a high price. We went back the Metropolitan archives to find the principles that once made Truman’s great – they will be centre stage once more.
They are to be professional, to be innovative, to work with our local community and to make the best beer possible. They might not be revolutionary, but they are important.
We’re up and running now and we’ll keep on going until we build Truman’s a new brewery in its real home – East London.
We might never be the largest again, but then biggest has never been best.
