SUMMER OF LAGER

The Mash
The ART OF BEER
TRUMANS
.. I have long felt the brewing business to be
particularly adapted to Mr Micawber. Look at
Barclay and Perkins! Look at Truman, Hanbury,
and Buxton! It is on that extensive footing that
Mr Micawber, I know from my own knowledge of
him, is calculated to shine; and the profits, I am
told, are e-NOR—mous! – Mrs Micawber
Truman’s beer was so ingrained in the culture of
London’s East End, that Charles Dickens namechecks
the brewery in David Copperfield. By
the time the most autobiographical of Dickens’
novels was published in 1850, Truman, Hanbury,
Buxton & Co was the biggest brewery in the
world, fumbling over six-acres at the well-known
Brick Lane site. It was supplying the East India
Company, and its Export Imperial Stout was sent
to the Russian Court. By the mid 1800s it was a
force not only in brewing, especially with the rise
of porter, but also in politics and the abolitionist
cause. In 1831, it hosted the Cabinet Dinner
of Charles Grey’s government. The steaks were
purportedly cooked in the furnace of the brewery
boiler house.
By the 1970s however, it was victim to the
snapping up of brewers and the name was
changed. Despite a last gasp effort to bring back
the Truman’s Eagle, it closed in 1989. That is
until James Morgan and team brought it back
to East London in 2013, even discovering the
original Truman’s yeast from the National
Collection of Yeast Cultures.
Almost under the shadow of the Olympic Stadium,
Original Gravity% meets Jack Hibberd of Truman’s
and illustrator James Brown at the brewery in
Hackney Wick to examine some pump clips.
“Truman’s is about taking the best of our history
and making it relevant to East London today,”
explains Jack. “When co-founder James Morgan
saw James Brown’s prints in an art gallery, he knew
he wanted him to illustrate the seasonal beers. His
style and screen prints combined the tradition and
modernity that we’re all about. It also reflected the
creative industries in East London.”
Truman’s has a loose policy of having an ‘artistin-residence’,
usually with local artists, who’ll
redesign the regular seasonals and any new beers,
James’s pump clip design for Attaboy a ‘hoppy
pale ale’, and featuring a racing greyhound, is
perhaps the most evocative of East London. The
famous Hackney Wick Stadium was opened
in 1932 and used for greyhound racing and
speedway. It was demolished in 2003 after
standing derelict for years and replaced by the
London Olympics Media Centre just a couple
of minutes walk from the brewery. “I remember
the stadium from when I lived in Hackney
around 1999,” says Leyton resident James
Brown. “Probably from being lost!
“Within all my work I look to the past for
inspiration,” James continues. “I collect useless
bits of printed paraphernalia from junk shops
and charity shops, and I’m fascinated by precomputer
typography. But it’s about taking the
best of the past and making it relevant – that’s
where I dovetail with Truman’s.”
James’s background is as a textile design
making patters “until I realised people wanted
illustrations more”. It’s served him well, working
on book jackets and for newspapers including the
Guardian. His amazing prints are wildly popular.
Attaboy was the first design he did and it
captures wonderfully the spirited creativity of
East London and also the beer itself. “It’s a fast,
hoppy and dynamic beer and we wanted to get
that across,” Jack adds.
Next up was Blindside, a rugby themed label for
a beer that comes out around the Six Nations,
but it’s Lazarus that perhaps is most symbolic.
“This is the beer that was brewed to celebrate
Truman’s return to London,” says Jack. “It’s a
lovely refreshing beer and with a special place
in our hearts.” At which point we retire to
Truman’s de facto tap room, The Plough@Swan
Wharf for a pint of the zesty Lazarus. It’s been
quite a resurrection.
/ trumansbeer.co.uk / jamesbrown.info
/ hackneyplough.co.uk
WIN IT
a limited edition print of Lazarus or
Attaboy by answering a very easy
question at originalgravitymag.com
0 4