A pub I mentioned
before and one from an older post, 'The KB Hotel', used to be
terrible. With the usual piss poor excuses for beer on tap, full of
horrific locals and dirty prostitutes, now boasted more beers than
you can count on your hands and feet. Too many beers to mention and
changing so frequently it is impossible to keep up. Owned by the same
people as another fine establishment, 'The Dove and Olive'.
An unassuming and quite
traditional looking Irish pub, 'The Trinity Bar' looked plain and a
bit poo from the outside. Inside was wall resembling a fake library
and all in all looking rather tacky. It actually ended up being a
really good pub, again with many beers on tap and some particularly
fine examples like 'Fredericks Hop Cannon' from 'New England Brewing
Co'. More craft beers and some of the older regular examples that the
locals love so much. It is pubs like this that really make the beer
scene in Australia different to that in England.
A corner pub that I
remember visiting a fair amount when I lived in Australia was 'TheLocal Taphouse'. A beer pub through and through. So many beers or tap
they actually have a daily menu so that staff and customers can keep
track. I went in on an abnormally rainy day. The weather was so shit
outside yet I didn't let it get me down so I cracked on and ordered a
tasting paddle of beers from all over the world. A point that has to
be mentioned is that this pub had a beer from world renowned Danish
brewery 'To Øl'. A beer with a wonderful name, 'Mine Is Bigger Than
Yours'. Having that beer itself is enough to consider this to be one
of the great pubs in the whole craft beer scene and made better by
the fact this place was doing the same thing three years ago. A place
that truly has done everything in the world to showcase craft beer
and they've done an excellent job at that. I tried a 'Peated Pale'
for the first time, from a Melbourne based brewery, 'Killer
Sprocket'. A Lambic style fruit beer from a New South Wales brewery,
'Bacchus Brewing Co'. And a Brown Ale from 'Six String Brewing
Company'. It wasn't the best Brown Ale I've ever tried but still
bloody good, I can only imagine their other beers are as good if not
better.
The Local or Local
Taphouse is one of those special places that no matter how expensive
it is, you'll always find yourself going back for more. Unusually
catering for large groups of Stags/Bucks or even Hens and serving up
some delicious food, all with one of the greatest assortments of beer
across all of Australia.
Similar to the Trinity
Bar and KB Hotel, somewhere in North Sydney that from the outside
looks like a traditional pub and taking the briefest of moments to
look on in astonishment at the clientèle and how drop dead gorgeous
every female member of staff is, you begin to notice the craft beers
on tap. Then your eyes wonder off and follow someone, then back to
the bar, then off again as you notice in the corner of your eye some
bar legs and a handful of dirty glasses. When you finally examine the
beers on tap you are taken aback. Astonished, how and why would a
place like this have so many decent craft beers on tap. Along with
serving some of the best top crust pies I've had, actually, I'd go as
far to say that the Beef and Guinness Pie was the best top crust pie
I have ever had. So meaty, juicy and yum. A beer like 'Hangmans Pale'
from the 'Rocks Brewing Company' isn't going to blow your socks off
but with it being so easy to drink and packed full of hoppy goodness,
it is delight to have in a glass.
Drawing closer to the
time I had to leave, a few places of significance and importance had
to be visited and deserve a mention. A German/Alpine restaurant,
'Una's' in Darlinghurt had the BEST schnitzel I have ever tried. No
word of a lie they are beyond amazing and great value considering the
higher than normal price tag. It is BYO so you can bring your own
wine or after a quick look at the drinks menu, chose a beer from the
list. Strangely most of the beers on the list were from a brewery '2
Metre Tall' in Tasmania. All in the natural style and most having a
slight sour tang. We had the 'Derwent' as it was the only one left.
All the ones we'd asked for were out and the waitress just brought
this one over and opened it. Optimistically I might say as we hadn't
asked for it and could have turned it down. A good thing we didn't as
it was possibly the best beer I'd had in Australia. After forcing
myself to drink sour beers over the last few months, I had built up
an appreciation and longing for them. I cannot have a session without
one now. That is how much I admire them. I can't quite handle the
full blown sugar free Lambics. I did have the fruit Lambic the other
day but the sourness was mellowed by the addition of fruit. Derwent
was something else. Not a true sour but a beer made using spelt and
spelt having a slight sour tang to begin with. Their production
method must be so natural that they almost taste like wildly
fermented beers and are spectacular beyond belief. I really do want
to see them in the UK. Even with them costing over $10 for a 500ml
bottle, maybe after shipping and tax and all that they might reach a
hefty price tag of maybe £15, they are more than worth it. If only
you could get them here.
So, one of the special
events that takes place once a month or however frequent it is at the
'Dove and Olive', is a thing called a 'Craft Beer Fight Club'. An
event where two brewers or breweries enter two beers each into a face
to face challenge. I went to one of these and to be honest left
feeling cheated, disappointed. The beers were good apart from one
example that was worse than any home brew I've had or made. The
others were really good though so they kind of made up for the bad
ones inadequacy. The night was poorly organised and full of drunken
plums. A noisy bunch of idiots seated directly behind where I was
sitting and other the course of the evening, getting louder and more
annoying almost forcing me to ram an empty glass down one or more of
their throats. A 'Hefe' and 'Pale' from 'Moo Brew', Tasmania stood
out as great beers. Along with the 'Redhopulous Maximus' from 'Hop
Dog Beer Works' from New South Wales. It was an eventful night but
not one I think I'll ever attend again. I'd rather drink each of the
beers in peace and make up my own mind about them.
Another unassuming
bistro pub, 'The Shakespeare Hotel' in Surry Hills looks bad and a
place to avoid from outside and downstairs but upstairs is different.
A rather cool and quirky bistro serving famous $12.50 mains and craft
beers on tap.
I tried this beer
called 'Norman' from a brewery 'Yullis'. I happened upon the Yullis
restaurant on Crown St in Surry Hills one evening. The beers there
were good, really good. Norman, a great Aussie Ale and the Vanilla
Porter. The Porter snuck its way into my top list of Porters. I don't
know the name but it had a silly caricature of an office worker or
something like that on the label. All Yullis beers are good and the
place itself looks great, smells great and is almost enough to turn a
meat eater like myself into a vegan.
The last place I
visited was the little tucked away craft beer bar. Secretly nestled
in an upstairs room on a horribly dirty patch of Oxford St in Surry
Hills. The amount of times I missed the sign trying to find it as I
walked past. Me and my bro finally went in one night after a big
session of drinking. It was amazing. More closely resembling a craft
beer pub or bar that you might see in some London back street. It was
cool, hip, trendy, however you want to describe it. Very welcoming
and with a beer selection similar in greatness and diversity to that
at the Local. 'Bitter Phew' is one of those places that will soon be
massive but I feel will retain its cool its character and do wonders
in further increasing Australia's love for craft beer. They even have
a selection of beers on their way from a brewery regarded as being
the finest in the world, 'Hills Farmstead' form Vermont, USA. I mean,
you don't even see many if any of their beers here and their doing a
takeover kind of thing at a small craft beer bar in Sydney. That
explains a lot about what is actually happening in the craft beer
scene in Australia.
Overhearing a
conversation about Guinness in Australia doesn't really say much
about craft beer or the beer scene in general, it was just an
interesting thing I overhead. How this group of men had taken such a
love to Guinness that they were willing to seek out every single
Guinness that was available for sale in the greater Sydney area. They
had even created a spreadsheet to evaluate the Guinness' they had. It
is something like that that shows at what lengths Australians are
taken to spread the word of beer and their individual and group
appreciation for craft beer and beer in general.
I think there is
something we can learn about the craft beer scene in Australia. Even
if in my opinion, the beers coming out of England are better, what is
happening down under is something that I think we should take note
of.
A few links to breweries to name a few
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