Sydney bus tour — part two

By Sam Highley, Editor

After a quick stop at the hotel, strategically located right in the heart of Sydney beer-country, we took off for the Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe. Between all of us we sampled most of the beers on the menu, and I don't recall a single bad word about any of them. Standouts at Redoak include their signature beer, the Framboise Froment, the various rich lagers like Vienna and Bock, and their sour lagers and ales.

Time was getting away from us, so we took off on foot for the Schwartz Brewery located within the Macquarie Hotel. What can I say? Many of the brewers were excited to see White Rabbit Dark on tap. And then Paul kicked Dicko's arse in pool. And then we left.

 
The Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe in Sydney
 

Craig (left), Roel (middle) and Matt (right) at Redoak
 

 
Schwartz Brewery at the Macquarie Hotel, Sydney
 

 
Paul cleans up on the pool table at the Schwartz Brewery, while Dicko chases a
unicorn off to the left of frame
  

The next stop was the Local Taphouse in Darlinghurst. This place has some serious atmosphere, and the list of beer on tap is mind-blowing. Did I count twenty beers on tap? I started out with a Mikkeller Amarillo IPA, which was probably not a wise move. Wow, that beer has some serious hop bitterness happening! Next up was the Feral Hop Hog from WA, which was a bloody tasty beer. Wow, so much hop character, and very deserving of Gold at the 2010 Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA) just announced. Another standout was the Flying Dog Horn Dog Barley Wine on-tap, which is a great beer in the bottle, and truly spectacular from the keg.

 
Martin (left), Chris (middle) and Martin (right) at the Local Taphouse, Darlinghurst
 

Our pre-arranged dinner plans took us upstairs to the Local Taphouse dining room, which is a cosy little wood-paneled room with seating for thirty people or so, and lots of birdcages hanging from the ceiling. Not too sure what all that is about, but it sure makes for an interesting experience. I didn't get a stack of feedback on the food as we were separated over three tables, but my rib eye was fantastic, and paired with the aforementioned barley wine, it was an experience to savour.

 
Craig (left) and Gareth enjoying the food and beer at the Local Taphouse
 

A few people partook in the food and beer matched banquet, and apparently the albóndigas (meatballs) were extremely hot. The general consensus was that the suggested beer pairing of a pilsner (Trumer I think?) was a bit off the mark. Interestingly, in the menu they recommend a Dark Ale or an ESB, which was more along the lines of what others were thinking. 

 
Paul (left) and Richard sampling beer in the upstairs dining room at the Local Taphouse
 

Following dinner we departed the Local Taphouse and headed off to the Lord Nelson, though the departure was somewhat staged, as those on the banquet were still waiting for their final course. It took all of about ten seconds to hail a cab outside the Local Taphouse, and though Flinders Street is admittedly a very busy street, try doing that in Canberra on a Saturday night. On arrival at the Lord Nelson we were greeted by a bunch of what must've been university students, decked out in golfing gear and being somewhat pretentious. Who would've thought?

 
The bar at the Lord Nelson, featuring the odd choice of glass tipjars
 

Our time at the Lord Nelson was somewhat short-lived, but the Three Sheets, Trafalgar Pale and Nelson's Blood were drinking well as always. Dan provided a generous though destructive tip, and we headed out the door into the lovely surrounds of Millers Point. A walk down Argyle Street under the Sydney Harbour Bridge approach took us past the Löwenbräu Keller, which was pumping as usual for a Saturday night. We continued on, searching for the elusive and somewhat out-of-the-way Harts Pub, which we had heard good things about. After much searching, a couple of double-backs, and some dodgy iPhone map directions, we finally stumbled across Harts Pub. It was pretty quiet for a Saturday night, but the ambience was nice and the surroundings very pleasant. Beer on-tap included Rocks, Stone & Wood and Bridge Road Brewers, and given we'd all been drinking for a solid 14 hours or so, most opted for an easy-drinking (and familiar) Stone & Wood Draught Ale, a brewery with solid Canberra Brewers connections.

 
Enjoying a beer at the end of a long day, at Harts Pub, The Rocks, Sydney
 

 
The very pleasant surrounds of Harts Pub
 

Scott Morgan from Rocks Brewing Company, another brewer with a Canberra Brewers heritage, stopped by and generously shouted a round of his 1809 Pale Ale. With that, we were approaching our 16th hour of drinking (and traveling) and I was feeling knackered. In fact, I was feeling knackered at Redoak about seven hours earlier, but it's amazing what a bit of quality beer and food will do for your energy levels. Most of the contingent (myself included) headed back to the nearby hotel and called it a night, with just a few dedicated souls heading off to a few more pubs. It's possible there was a correlation between those that kicked on and those that had killer headaches the next morning, but that theory hasn't been scientifically tested.

It was a great weekend away and a tribute to the organisational skills of Tom (Dicko), and the whole thing would never have happened had Craig (Stagger) not generously donated his time to drive us there and back. Three cheers for Dicko and Stagger!

Comments

[Sammy]

You are quite correct! The dangers of tapping a beer-affected mind for 2-week-old information. The historical record has been updated.

[David Gilks]

As I recall it was White Rabbit that we found at Schwartz. The only Stone & Wood we found was at Hart's.