A short walk from Angel tube and off the madness of the high street,this bar has an airy and tranquil feel. There is a decent looking beer garden. I think I could spend some hours here. The selection of bottles and taps is pretty decent if not quite at the standard of somewhere like the Craft chain. Hope the new brewpub element goes well, it will give me plenty of excuses to come back!

A good inclusion to the craft beer pubs in London offering a solid and diverse range with a lot of care and attention into good choices Some great bottle options and some good prices. I’ve been very impressed with the cellaring here and keg beers haven’t been too overpressurized. The customer experience isn’t as complete as at the Craft Beer Co chain or other more established pubs, quite a get on with it without much discussion, I found that quite icy. However the beer is what makes this place shine. I can pop in and get several new ticks; at least two new breweries and that’s only from a quick glance at their board. They now have a website with a live picture of their tap board which is an excellent idea. Wi-fi is free and I really like the way the pub is designed. It’s not a big pub but for the space they have done very well. I think their staff need to be trained to engage more with customers but once they fix that it’ll be a fantastic pub. A rather frustrating negative aspect on an otherwise excellent pub.

A beer mecca - probably one of the best places in London. It’s taken me a long time to get round to visiting the Earl of Essex but, now I’ve experienced its delights, I’ll be back soon! It’s an old pub with a modern twist and a recently installed brewery (Earls) behind the bar. There’s a nice patio area out at the back and every part of the pub is clean and well kept. The beer selection is superb, with 18 taps listed on a board (the pumps all look the same, with twiggy handles and no pump clips) and a good selection of bottles. The food’s a bit pricey but it’s good quality modern fare and our club sandwiches were very tasty. (Visited 3 June 2013).

Nice neat pub, selection wasn’t too amazing however but it was sunday just after the weekend so I understand. Had some interesting beers on tap, good place to visit if you’re in the area.

I love the place. Great beer selection. Always rotating round. Good service and a great feeling in the bar. The only bad thing is that more people know about it now so it’s getting busier. Still you would struggle to not enjoy a night out here. There is a little of everything for everyone and now their own beer too. The beers are what they concentrate on and they do it very well. You can eat the decent pub food to make your stay longer. They get the balance right and the beer board is clear and concise. As said before a real improver as the year has gone on.

Update: This place has really improved since opening (not that it was ever bad, mind). They are getting in a lot of beers not seen elsewhere in London, and their in-house brewery is now up and running. Quickly becoming one of my regular stops. (Original rating: 78. Revised up to 86.)

A very attractive pub with a solid range of beers. Something like six to eight casks and about 12 kegs. A few interesting things on tap (Camden, Sierra Nevada, Cotswold, Moor, Left Hand, Nogne O) though nothing that really blew me away. The bottle range has some rarities, including Sam Adams Infinium and stuff from Anchorage Brewing. Prices are decent, and you can order a 1/3 if you want, which is nice. They also have a very nicely laid out menu for all the beers, both draft and bottled, with prices. The pub itself is beautiful with plenty of indoor seating in addition to a few tables out front on the sidewalk and room out back in the garden. The food menu looked good but I didn’t eat on my visit. Apparently this place will have its own beers in the coming months, so I will look forward to checking back for that.

Now brewing on site, under the banner of Earl’s. Pale ale is available and they plan to brew a brown next. I have changed the Ratebeer status to a brewpub. They still do 6 cask and 14 keg beers, many imported.

We visited here early lunchtime on Saturday 30th March 2013, just me & Loz. The place was surprisingly empty and remained that way apart from a surreal moment when a well behaved and good natured Stag Crowd of about 25 people came in all had a shot of Vodka or Sambuca and left again within about 10 mins, quite strange. The place is easy enough to find and sits quite close to the canal and not so far from Craft Islington and also the Narrowboat and Charles Lamb pubs, however this was probably my favourite of the day. The place is very tidy, with wooden tables, benches and flooring, when you enter the pub, the bar (which is a large oblong island bar) is straight in front of you, the rear of this bar is taken up by brewing equipment and when we arrived they were brewing a Brown Ale, interesting choice and in the style of Newcastle Brown we were told so I doubt it will be my thing but if you are interested they said it would be available if all goes well in about 8-10 days. When you enter the beer choice is to your left on two large wooden display boards which reminded me of the sort of thing that would get used at the ’races’ to list all of the finishing places following a horse race, Loz disagreed with me and believes that they were custom made but I am still insistent that they were antique and had a use such as I have described, details are slotted in i.e. brewery, beer name, abv, cost etc on large squares of old fashioned looking paper, I liked the idea, it looks good. A more detailed description could be found in a very detailed paper format on the bar, which also interestingly paired certain beers with food, there is no denting this place is trendy and stylish but in a good way, it is also in a very nice looking neighbourhood with some swanky cars and houses around this area. We had Toccalmatto Tabular Rosa, Bexar County and a Weird Beer and something else that I forget. Really liked this place and would happily seek out again if in the area.

Visited for the first time on Thursday 21st Feb ’13 between 5.15 - 6pm. Sinlge room with a central bar, seating area runs around either side of the bar. Wooden floors and benches. A big board to the left of the bar, as you face it, displays all the beers. Good concept - large tpye and easy to read. The rear beer garden looked nice but didn’t venture out due to it being a little cold. To the business end - good choice of cask and keg, mixture of local London brewers, UK regional micro’s and overseas offerings. Decent enough bottle list but not overly exciting. When we arrived at 5.15pm we were the only people there, another 6 or 7 had arrived by 6pm, so I was a little surprised it was this quiet for a Thursday despite it being a little on the early side. A little too dimly lit for miy liking, difficult to see the colour of your beer at times! Service was fine but couldn’t really fail bearing in mind we were the only punters on arrival! Ambiance defaults to 3 - I’ll give it another go on a busier night. CAMRA discount 50p / pint. Overall I liked this place, looks good, good range - just surprised how dead it was !

Nicely placed pub just over the canal in Islington, there is a good and comfortable feel to this. A decent range of beers, well kept, London prices. Looks to be a good relaunch and apparently soon to start up their own Brewery. Another well worth visiting.