Category: Travel in Oceania

The eve of Christmas Eve was the last serious day of beer travel on our Australian trip. We had three breweries to visit and then we were done. Almost as important, we had been putting off Christmas shopping (“Let’s just do it in Sydney…”) so we still had a number of Christmas presents to purchase. We hadn’t seen much of Sydney besides Circular Quay plus what we saw outside the taxi window. Thus, we decided a walking tour was in order.

The starting point of our day-long walk was our hotel, the Lord Nelson. Unfortunately, we left before the pub opened so we couldn’t fortify ourselves with a few pints of liquid bread. Crossing over to George St., we headed up towards the city center. Merideth popped in and out of a few stores while I dreamt about that first beer of the day. At Market St., we took a left and headed towards Hyde Park.

For those who started the walking tour with a few refreshments at the Lordie and now need to pee, there are plenty of pay toilets in Hyde Park. The cost is 50 cents.

To prove we are not complete beer heathens, I did plan our route to the first brewery so we could visit a couple of normal tourist spots. First stop was Hyde Park Barracks on the northern end of Hyde Park. The building was designed by Francis Greenway, the same gentleman who designed the complex that houses the Goulburn Brewery we visited on our second day of the trip [see “CanBEERa“]. Today, this 1819 building houses an excellent museum documenting the convict/transportation era of Australia’s history.

Walking to the southern end of Hyde Park brought us to the ANZAC Memorial. Built in 1934, the memorial is dedicated to the 120,000 men and women who served in the Australian New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) in the First World War. War memorials and cemeteries are one of the my favorite things to visit when traveling. With a degree in History, I find such monuments not only interesting but also powerful and moving. And I have to say, the ANZAC memorial was all three.

Strolling out the end of Hyde Park, the educational portion of the walk was over. And only blocks away was our first brewery of the day.

Located in the Macquarie Hotel, we only learned about the Schwartz Brewery from the beermen.tv guys the night before. Somewhat an embarrassing revelation for the master planner (There is a brewery in Sydney I don’t know about?), I guess Schwartz Brewery likes to fly under the radar.

There were five beers to try at Macquarie Hotel including  a never heard of before Bavarian Red Lager. It was an interesting beer. But my highlight at Schwartz was the Pale Ale, made with cascade hops. Maybe I was entering the ‘ready to go home’ phase of the trip, but what reminds a California beer geek of home more than cascade hops?

Walking back towards George St., we were at Red Oak Boutique Beer Cafe, our second brewery of the day, in 20 minutes. As always, Merideth found us a seat outside, while I went inside to get our sample tray. But, there was a hitch in the plan, the brewer at Red Oak doesn’t believe in sample trays. Hmmmm… interesting… For beer travelers, this was somewhat unwelcome news as Red Oak had almost a dozen beers on draft. Perplexed, I ordered a Hefeweizen for myself and a Honey Ale for Merideth.

In place of a sample tray, Red Oak did have food and beer Tasting Boards. Costing 20 AUD, there were five to choose from: cheese, meat, vegetarian, seafood and dessert. Each board had a nibble of food paired with a beer. Merideth first ordered the cheese and followed it with the dessert. The dessert board was delicious. A nice concept but with one slight flaw; there were overlapping beers on the boards that Merideth ordered.

Red Oak was another brewery with a holiday beer. Christmas Cheer, available in 250ml bottles, had a light body perfect for summer combined with a nice amount of holiday spice. Well done.

A short walk from Red Oak had us at the bustling King Street Wharf. James Squire Brewhouse is a chain of brewpubs with locations in Sydney and Melbourne. I had received conflicting information whether they actually brewed at each location or the beer came from their production brewery.

As everyone knows by heart now, for it to count on “the List” the beer must be brewed on-site. So, it was with a great sense of relief that when we walked into the pub, we not only saw a brewer at work but also a list of the beers that were brewed there.

Ordering two of the on-site brews, Sundown Lager for Merideth and The Craic for myself, we joined the post work crowd on the patio who were just starting to get their holiday groove on. The Craic, an Irish Stout, was a really nice version of the style. Dry and roasty, the best part was the Craic wasn’t served on nitrogen.

We returned to a very crowded Lord Nelson pub. As Christmas Eve is a time to spend with family, it looked like Christmas Eve² was the evening everyone was going to gather with friends at their favorite pub and celebrate. The Lordie appeared to be the pub of choice for many Sydney-ites. We joined the festive crowd.

It was time to rest on our laurels, relax over a few pints, and play some scrabble. We didn’t get much shopping done on Christmas Eve Eve, but we did visit three new breweries and see some cool Australian history. On Christmas Eve, we finished up our shopping and drank at the Lordie. We deserved a break after all the miles we drove and breweries we visited on our first ever trip to Australia. Christmas Day we jumped on a plane and arrived home in time to spend our second Christmas Day with the family.

Happy holidays to you and yours!

Our fifth day’s drive on the Princes Highway brought us back to Sydney for the final portion of our Australian adventure. We enjoyed our time along the coast but, as they say, all good things must come to an end. We also needed to get back to Sydney to record the holiday episode of beermen.tv.

After a four day drought, we had a brewery to visit in the city of Wollongong, about an hour and a half south of Sydney. Wollongong is the third largest city in New South Wales. After four days of driving on the almost deserted Princes Highway, the busy streets of Wollongong were a bit nerve wracking. After one or two wrong turns, we found Five Islands Brewing Company down by the ocean.

Another gorgeous day in Australia, Merideth found a seat outside while I ordered a sample tray of beers. Of the six brews, we had a first for the trip: a fruit beer. Not my style, I have to admit South Peach was subtly flavored, something not all brewers manage.

The Parkyn’s Shark Oil was a nice effort at an American-style IPA but the star for me was Bulli Black. FIBC describes it as a Dark Ale, but the roasty and chocolate flavors reminded me of a Stout. A favorite dark beer of the trip…

No time to savor the beers or walk the beach, we were quickly back on the road continuing our journey to Sydney.

While no relation to it’s namesake, I proudly share my surname with the Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel in Sydney. Conveniently located in the Rocks, the Lordie is one of mankind’s great inventions, the brewery-hotel. It would be our home for the final three nights of out trip. After embarrassingly dragging our three big bags through the crowded pub in search of the reception desk, we returned after checking in to grab a couple pints to bring up to our room.

After checking email and getting settled, we still had a couple of hours before we had to head down to Circular Quay for our beermen.tv gig. Finishing our first pints, we headed downstairs to the pub, grabbed another pint and a seat outside.

The Lordie was very British, being the first place since Wig and Pen in Canberra to serve their beer in imperial pints. Unlike Wig and Pen, Lord Nelson had no cask versions. Their beers were served on draught from the frost encrusted tap housing typical of Australia. Despite no cask, I think I liked Lord Nelson’s brews better than Wig and Pen. Maybe it was the name.

The names of the beers all referred to Lord Nelson or a nautical theme. The exception was Quayle Ale, their Summer Ale, named after former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle. Before we headed down the Circular Quay, we managed to try three of the six brews: the aforementioned Quayle Ale, Trafalgar Pale Ale, an English Bitter, and Victory Bitter, an Extra Special Bitter. All were nice beers especially for the hot and humid summer weather.

We recorded the beermen.tv episode at the Ice Bar Sydney, a short walk from the Lord Nelson. It was somewhat strange to leave the 85 degree temperature outside and enter a world that was 23 degrees; especially while wearing shirts and a t-shirt. I’ll admit I wore a parka during the setup but only wore gloves during filming.

We were in an Ice Bar because the episode was about holiday beers. Since it was summer in Australia, holiday beers were few and far between. We happily provided three California examples: Anchor Christmas, Sierra Nevada Celebration and Alesmith Yulesmith. Watch the episode at beermen.tv.

After filming the episode, we walked up Circular Quay towards the Opera House to a Chinese restaurant where the beermen.tv guys (they do have names… Damien, Mark and Todd) treated us to dinner. Thanks guys!

The choice was fortuitous as the restaurant had Foster’s in the bottle. We didn’t expect to find Foster’s in Australia but I guess you need to go to a Chinese restaurant that caters to tourists. Still on my macrobrew research project, I dutifully ordered one. I’ll say of the macrobrews I tried, Foster’s was the best.

After dinner, it was back to the Lordie for a nightcap. What a day!