The Bull Brewpub in Highgate

The never-ending mission to uncover and visit all-things-beer  led us to The Bull in north London this past Sunday afternoon. Having thought that we’d mapped all breweries (and micros) in town, we were pleasantly surprised to find that The Bull has a small 2bbl brewery embedded within their kitchen, brewing under the name of London Brewing Company.

Where:  In north London. See map.  Take the Underground Northern Line and walk about 10 minutes from the Highgate tube station. The neighborhood is situated on a hill just north of central London with great vistas from the High street in all directions.

Why you should visit:  As an American who’s been to my fair share of breweries and brew pubs, I realized that I spend most of the excursions sampling and tasting with less contemplation and critique on the atmosphere and the food.  After my experience at The Bull on Sunday, I have to get more focused on appreciating the atmosphere and food side as well! Dried Hops, bespoke beer memorabilia, and chalkboards outlining the brewing process thoughtfully adorned the walls and added an extra touch to the skillfully crafted interior.

I arrived planning to order a bowl of soup and ended up indulging on the Sunday roast, a perfect choice. From our table next to the open kitchen staging area, we easily saw a half-dozen other entrees that looked equally delicious.

Overall Experience:   Two of the four regular LBC beers were on tap as well as a selection of approximately 7 other draft beers including both local and foreign beers.  The carefully-selected bottle menu was even more impressive with an eclectic variety of small American and European labels. After sampling the Bitter (Beer Street, 4%ABV) and the American style pale ale (Skyline, 5%ABV), we traded up to a big bottle of Pond Hopper Double Extra Pale Ale, a collaboration beer between Odell Brewing Company in Colorado and Thornbridge Brewing company in the UK.  Wow!! The Assistant Manager, Mark, presented us with the Pond Hopper bottle in the same way a wine sommelier might present a fine bottle of Bordeaux in a two-star Michelin restaurant. That’s when it dawned on us that we may have just ordered one of the more expensive bottled beers from their supply. 🙂    Mark was extremely helpful and knowledgeable about the product, and Jim and I appreciated the time he spent to talk to us about the beer.

Prior to leaving, Mark offered to show us some of the brewing equipment and he led us back into the kitchen to check it out. 

If you’re still not sold on whether we had a great experience at The Bull brewpub, all you have to do is notice the difference between the first and last picture in my post. (We entered in the daylight and exited in the dark!)

I would recommend a visit to the Bull if you’re in the Highgate/Hampstead Heath neighborhood, and I can imagine them successfully expanding beyond one pub with their emphasis on a great beer selection, great food, and friendly service. It’s obvious they are working hard to achieve a pleasant, enjoyable experience for the guests and that showed during our visit to The Bull last weekend.