In praise of…the Euston Tap

“Hang on…that can’t be it, can it?”

For the final London highlight this week, we follow on the heels of Tuesday’s post and explore another of the capital’s hot new hangouts – the Euston Tap. Located in an old doric arch near the main entrance of Euston station, it’s extremely easy to miss – as you can see from the photo. But inside this Tardis of beer, the cool, quiet interior reveals a fantastic surprise. Eight cask ales and nineteen keg beers, with a huge bottled selection – the choice at the Tap is wonderful.

It must get incredibly busy, being so small, but when I was there everything was very relaxed. It almost felt like a station waiting room, with the silent introspection of the few customers, sitting on leather chairs around the outside of the central bar. Green tiles are everywhere, as are wallcharts about beer, tasting wheels, and old blueprints of the arch. A spiral staircase in the corner heads up to the top room – and there’s also plenty of seating outside.

The Tap feels like a station bar should – a place to grab something hurriedly, or one to relax for a while between connections. Making a beer selection if you were in a hurry could be tricky, however – particularly as when I was there a few of the taps were off, or out of service. Not that it matters, just scanning the fridges would take you half an hour or so – which is how I ended up with the Kernel’s Super Alpha Pacific Jade – a magnificent, sticky, orange IPA. In fact, so orangey it became, it reminded me somewhat of drinking Fanta.

Next up I went for a brown ale – a style I really love, whether it be the sweet hoppy American versions, or the malty, leathery British style. Anchor’s Breckles Brown is firmly in the first of these camps – the malt is there, but so is a glassful of brown sugar and raisins. I was lucky to get some, as it dribbled out of the font like the cocked leg of elderly dog, and was clearly about to go the way of most of the other MIA beers. I’m glad I got to try it, the malts really came through as it warmed.

So two great beers over a quick half-hour visit to the Tap, before wandering off to get my train. Great station bars are making a revival (indeed in Yorkshire and East Lancashire they never went away), with the opening of similar ‘Taps’ in Sheffield, Cambridge and York. There’s no need to resort to a can of John Smith’s Smoothflow with a platform-side selection as remarkable as found in those places. We may even be near the time when drinkers visit the station, but don’t actually go anywhere…

The Euston Tap is found at the west side of Euston Square Gardens, just outside the station – or a five minute walk from King’s Cross for east-coasters such as the BeerCast. Visit their website for details, or you can follow their twitter feed for daily information as to what’s on. That’s it for London week on the BeerCast – until our next visit…

Stand by next week for an important announcement, as the BeerCast take the moral highground for the month of October…