The Drop Project Brewing Co

The taproom opens for about two days a month, on dates the brewery posts itself, and the rest of the time the eight lines sit dark on a pedestrian-only industrial estate ten minutes from Mitcham Junction (Drop Project).

Why go

Drop Project started brewing at Missing Link in Sussex and moved onto its own kit in Mitcham in 2021, and it has registered 196 distinct beers since October 2019 (CAMRA, Untappd). That number is the craft argument: this is a brewery that keeps making new things, including what CAMRA calls "regular collaboration brews with other breweries and groups, and a growing range in cask". The taproom opened on 31 July 2021 with six KeyKeg lines shared between the house and guests such as Left Handed Giant, Burnt Mill, Rivington, Brick and Boxcar, and since then it has poured mostly its own (CAMRA). The site runs on solar, spent grain goes to local farms as feed, and the brewery says it plants a tree for every batch. The trade-off is availability. It shut the taproom in February 2025 while it expanded production, and what came back is a session roughly once a month, published a few weeks ahead.

Order this / avoid

• Order: Crush, the 4.2% New England session pale, and Shifty, the double dry-hopped 5.2% on Vermont yeast. They are the two Londonist drank on its visit and the two with the deepest rating history behind them. Then whatever collaboration is on, and a can of the strong end from the fridge, where the imperial stouts and fruited sours live.
• Avoid: arriving unannounced. Check the dates on the taproom page first, since the room is dark most of the month. Book if you are four or more.

What locals & experts say

• Londonist, in its Best Pubs in London microsite, April 2022: "Your well-earned prize is a glass goblet of golden elixir, i.e. some of the finest IPA brewed inside the M25." The same piece puts the brewery in company: "Drop Project ... is not one of the better-known London breweries, but it sure as heck deserves to be; in our opinion the beers it produces aren't far off the dizzying heights of, say, Kernel or Brick." ref
• Londonist, on the journey, which is the honest caveat: "Getting to Drop Project is like a Zelda quest. You must catch the enchanted tram, cross the roaring road, navigate the fly-tipped woods and traverse the eerily empty industrial estate. (Adding to the peril, the brewery's only open once a month. And it's in Mitcham.)" ref
• CAMRA, South West London branch: "Opened 31 July 2021 initially with six beers on KeyKeg from Drop Project and guest breweries such as Left Handed Giant, Burntmill, Rivington, Chainhouse, Brick and Boxcar, plus a wide range of cans." ref
• Untappd, read 30 July 2026, as a rough specialist signal and nothing more: 3.82 across 88,072 ratings, with Shifty at 3.84 from 8,007 and Crush at 3.74 from 7,119. Solid rather than spectacular, and worth naming as such. ref

Good to know

• Timing: published sessions only, roughly one weekend a month, 1pm to 10pm on the dates listed. The taproom page carried 18 July and 1 August 2026 when this entry was written.
• A conflict worth knowing: CAMRA's branch record has listed the taproom as closed long term since 8 February 2025, when it shut "as we're expanding our production space to bring you even more of what you love". The brewery's own page is more recent and has it running sessions. Trust the brewery's dates and check them before traveling.
• Getting there: Mitcham Junction is ten minutes on foot, with National Rail to Victoria and Clapham Junction, Thameslink to Sutton and St Pancras, and the tram to Wimbledon and East Croydon. Footpaths lead into the estate from the tram stop. Pedestrian access only, with free parking out on Willow Lane.
• Booking: tables for four to six can be booked; two people have walked in.
• Food: a van out front on some session days, snacks at the bar otherwise, and the brewery is relaxed about a delivery arriving at your table.
• Family: children and dogs are welcome all day.
• Hygiene: no FSA record exists under the business name or the postcode, which fits a taproom with no kitchen of its own.

Jeff's take (his words)

Jeff has no note on this row. His raw saved-places export lists the venue as "The Drop Project Brewing Company Ltd" with an empty Note, so jeff_note stays empty and nothing is attributed to him.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

could-visit — The beer is better than the postcode suggests and the taproom is the hardest way to drink it. Drop Project has put 196 beers into circulation since October 2019 and holds a 3.82 enthusiast average across 88,000 ratings, which reads as a solid modern London brewery working hard rather than a great one coasting. Londonist called it 'some of the finest IPA brewed inside the M25' in 2022 and put it near Kernel and Brick, and that is the strongest claim anyone has made for it. The catch is access: eight lines of the brewery's own beer, on a pedestrian-only industrial estate ten minutes from Mitcham Junction, open roughly one weekend a month on dates it posts itself. If a session lands while you are in south London, go, take the tram, and expect kids, dogs and a food van. Otherwise look for Crush and Shifty on someone else's taps, which is where most of this beer is drunk anyway.