Forest Road Brewery plan for second ‘pint mobile’, delivering fresh keg beer to London
With Londoners badly missing the pub, and pubs themselves facing uncertain an uncertain future, perhaps it’s little surprise a new delivery service offering freshly poured pints has found itself booked up more than a month in advance.
Last Wednesday, Dalston’s Forest Road Brewery Co. began offering delivery slots for pints of beer and by Friday were booked until June – but have plans to launch a second van to keep up with demand.
Forest Road founder Pete Brown told the Standard he launched the service, dubbed the Forest Road Tactical Beer Response Unit, as he was determined to do something about the kegs of beer sitting untouched in the company warehouse – beer that would normally go to pubs, bars and restaurants.
“Knowing that there was just beautiful beer trapped in their steel containers just wasn’t right,” Brown said, “I had to do something and something quick, so I reverse engineered the thought: if people couldn’t go to the kegs, let’s bring the kegs to the people.
“So I found an old beater van on Gumtree, got my local printers, the Stokey Print Shop, to do some vinyl lettering and used the old dispense equipment laying around the warehouse.
“I bored holes through the side, installed faucets and shanks, got a power inverter for the remote chiller, and harnessed a gas container to a holster.”
The van arrived on Monday, was equipped by Tuesday and Brown and his team released their delivery slots live on the website on Wednesday, offering three different beers – a lager, an IPA and a Pale Ale – for £5 each, which includes a pint glass. Despite only delivering within a three mile radius of the E8 based brewery, the service has struggled to keep up with demand.
“We are getting daily texts, emails and messages on all platforms asking us if and when we will deliver to different postcodes, and if they can squeeze in extra drops – and after the first week, I realised when I saw the looks on happy Londoner’s faces when they got to hold an ice-cold pint of lager for the first time in six weeks, that it’s not just about the beer, it’s delivering happiness – for just one moment, they get to feel normal again.”
Though details are far from being confirmed, Brown also confirmed plans to try and keep up with demand. “We are trying hard to get to everyone,” he said, “and hopefully we can get a new van going soon – and to different postcodes!!”
The news comes not long after a man paid £800 for a pint of Camden Hells to be delivered to his door.
For more information, or to order a pint, visit forestroad.co.uk or WhatsApp the Forest Road Tactical Beer Response Unit on 07507096874
