# Equilibrium Hotel - Sydney



## Doc (19/12/05)

Hearing rumours of the new(ish) Equilibrium Hotel at World Square. 
Apparently they have 52 beers on tap.
Anyone been, and got any details ?

Beers,
Doc


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## Malnourished (19/12/05)

I'm gonna be out on it in Sydney tomorrow night, so might check it out. From what I could Google it looks pretty nightclubby though. I've got a mate who works in that kind of industry in Sydney so maybe he'll have more info...


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## Malnourished (22/12/05)

I checked this place out briefly yesterday, and I'd say it looks like they do have that many taps. It's a rather corporate kinda place, so not necessarily my thing, but they had quite a few interesting beers amongst the masses of megalager. 
They had all three Little Creatures beers on tap (I've never seen Rogers on tap on the east coast before), a Grimbergen beer and Chimay White! I've definitely never seen that on tap in Aus before...
I'd say it's worth checking out.


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## Gough (22/12/05)

Any easy directions for out of towners?? Gough's annual beer tasting trip to Sydney is coming up again soon and I might add this place to the list. Is it just a pub/bar or do you need a secret handshake/suit to get in??

Thanks in advance for any tips,

Shawn.


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## RichLum (22/12/05)

World Square is a couple of blocks from Town Hall station.
Walk down George St and it's just past the cinemas on the left hand side of the road as you walk toward Central/China Town.

I might try and check it out some time next week during my week off work.

Do they have a website? (Did a google and couldn't find one... just a lot of pub review type sites and a lot of slalsa ones as apparently they host slasa nights there...)

Rich


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## warrenlw63 (22/12/05)

Gough said:


> Is it just a pub/bar or do you need a secret handshake/suit to get in??
> 
> Thanks in advance for any tips,
> 
> ...




LOL! Reminds me of the Marx Bros. film "Horse Feathers". Who can forget Chico's famous line... :beerbang: 

BARAVELLI: Hey, what'sa matter? You no understand English? You can't come in here unless you say "swordfish". Now, I give you one more guess.

Classic!  

Warren -


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## Gough (22/12/05)

Thanks Rich, I'll find it nice and easily now  I did some googling without much luck, so any tips on the place still more than welcome.

Shawn.


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## redbeard (22/12/05)

its basically opposite scruffy murphys and upstairs. its half way between town hall & central, closest to goulburn & george st corner. from memory it was about $5 or 6 for a schooner like glass of lcpa. definitely a suit bar, thou may change over time. its interesting in that the (main) bar is L shaped, around 2 sides of the coolroom, and you can see the kegs thru a window at about head height. all the taps are on the 2 walls. i tried the lcpa but missed the Chimay White on tap


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## Darren (22/12/05)

Never been there I imagime it would be an interseting place to visit


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## mikem108 (27/1/06)

Beers Range there is :

Entire St Arnou range
All the James Squire Range
All the Bluetounge beers
Crakenback Ale
Chimay Cinq Cent
Gambrinas
All the Little Creatures Beers
Boddingtons Pub Ale
Stella Artois
Coopers Sparkling and Pale
Kirin Ichiban Ale !
All the usual suspects-Tooheys etc


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## Ross (27/1/06)

mikem108 said:


> Beers Range there is :
> 
> Entire St Arnou range
> All the James Squire Range
> ...



All on draught?...


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## mikem108 (27/1/06)

Yes I should have qualified, these are the draught beers only!


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## KoNG (27/1/06)

YUM......

now, where's my suit.?


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## Gough (27/1/06)

Yep, time to get with the suits I reckon with a beer listlike that :beerbang: Thanks for that Mike.

Shawn.


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## mikem108 (27/1/06)

I just wore jeans a scruffy shirt and trainers weren't too many suits there on Australia Day.


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## Screwtop (27/1/06)

Any volunteer to be nominated driver for a trip from QLD. Wish we had something similar here - minus the suits in QLD of course.


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## PostModern (4/2/06)

Went there today (yesterday?) has 65 beers on tap now.

I was disappointed with Boddington's Pub Draught. Grimbergen Pale Ale was OK. From everyone's raving here, I thought the LC Pilsner would be great but I was underwhelmed. I had it right on the tail of St Arnou Pilsner and actually prefered the St Arnou! The LC had a huge diacetyl aroma.

The St Arnou Kildara that a friend bought was a dark brown, almost robust porter colour and was almost flat. I recommended it believing it to be an irish red... somthing changed at St Arnou recently?

The Crackenback Pale was nice. A good thick bitterness and the aroma of American hops. I was pleasantly surprised.

It was a great venue to roll into after lunch when we had the place almost to ourselves but I think the cellarman needs to get into his suppliers about consistency.


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## WillM (4/2/06)

You can go there for Salsa dancing on a Sunday night! How many beers does it take to get you moving?

Haven't checked it out yet, but plan to.


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## THE DRUNK ARAB (5/2/06)

PostModern said:


> Went there today (yesterday?) has 65 beers on tap now.
> 
> I was disappointed with Boddington's Pub Draught. Grimbergen Pale Ale was OK. From everyone's raving here, I thought the LC Pilsner would be great but I was underwhelmed. I had it right on the tail of St Arnou Pilsner and actually prefered the St Arnou! The LC had a huge diacetyl aroma.
> 
> ...



PoMo, agree there on the St Arnou pils, bloody top drop on tap from my experience at the Daniel O'Connell in North Adelaide.
LC pils has a way to go to match that beer IMHO.

C&B
TDA


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## Josh (6/2/06)

I'll go along with those sentiments. Had the St Arnou Pils at The Orient where we all met before our Christmas Party at the BBC Heritage. 

Top drop IMO too.


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## Malnourished (6/2/06)

PostModern said:


> It was a great venue to roll into after lunch when we had the place almost to ourselves but I think the cellarman needs to get into his suppliers about consistency.


I reckon it'd be more a function of having too many beers on tap. The less popular must sit in the keg for months, and I don't even want to think about how long the least popular ones sit in the lines for. Apparently this is an issue with a lot of the American taphouses with 100+ taps.


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## mikem108 (7/2/06)

I'm sure some kegs will go stale with time but as its a pretty new place I got in early before this could happen.


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## Malnourished (7/2/06)

mikem108 said:


> I'm sure some kegs will go stale with time but as its a pretty new place I got in early before this could happen.


Ah, yeah. Didn't think of that. 
It could still have spoiled in the lines I suppose, but they should be real clean too if the place is brand new.


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## Doc (29/9/06)

Finally got down there today. Will be easier to get to now that I'm working across the road for a few months.
Had the LCPA, Grimbergen Blonde and Chimay and all were great. LCPA doesn't taste anywhere near as hoppy as it used to that proves that I've definitely gone through a Lupulin Threshold Shift 

Doc


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## beersom (29/9/06)

I went there last week... very dissappointed! 65 taps or which at least 60 were crap. The beer gets a very brief mention after everything else in the menu. Staff also seem very disintersested in the beer. I ordered a Hunter Kolsch ( a beer I like and am familiar with)... it was infected. I walked out. I have been told that they have very long beer lines, which is never a good thing. Perhaps they should look at halving their selection and thinking it through a little better.


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## Doc (29/9/06)

beersom said:


> I have been told that they have very long beer lines, which is never a good thing. Perhaps they should look at halving their selection and thinking it through a little better.



I wouldn't think their beer lines would be all that long as you can see the coolroom and kegs behind the bar, so the run to the taps is rather short.
Great to see the full Malt Shovel range, Little Creatures, Snowy Mountains (Crackenback) range, and a couple of belgians on tap. The full selection from Tooheys and Lion Nathan is a bit much. Would be great to see Mountain Goat, Gulf Brewery, and other select micros on tap.

Doc


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## beersom (30/9/06)

Doc said:


> beersom said:
> 
> 
> > I have been told that they have very long beer lines, which is never a good thing. Perhaps they should look at halving their selection and thinking it through a little better.
> ...




I may be wrong but, from what I am led to believe that coolroom only serves a few of the taps. The others come from a coolroom down below. 
This is second-hand info but came to me from two different industry sources, one of whom held major concerns about the set-up.

But ..... like I said in the first line...


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## DJR (2/12/06)

Such a good chance to make a decent bar, but like most bars in sydney, this one fell way off the mark. When i ordered 4 beers i could have sworn the guy asked me for $46!!! :angry: Only paid $26 (probably just a big misunderstanding, or is that the price they can get away with nowadays?) but i'd rather make and drink 2 batches of nice homebrew than put up with stuffy attitudes and, to be honest, crap beer selection. 52 taps of which about 20 are the same beers just on different sides of the wall. Seeing stuff like Grimbergen and the St Arnou range is good, but not worth the hassle. I love the wind tunnel courtyard too, great fun!

Not something i'd put myself through again, if you made it your regular haunt you would in no time have spent enough money to buy your own keg system...


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## KoNG (2/12/06)

Funnily enough i dropped in there last night when walking past (had just been to see Borat), only stayed for 2. My mate grabbed us a Roger's... then i went to grab 2 LCPA, but the yound lass obviously didnt know what i was talking about, as she walked around the corner, she came back and said its out. Pretty sure she just couldnt find it. Grabbed 2 Boddingtons. 
The glasses are quite different, they have a weird ridge halfway down which gives your beer this funny look, like it is two differing densities.

Think i payed about $6.50 each, for the boddington's.


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## mikem108 (22/10/07)

:angry: The beer selection here has gone seroiusly downhill, only about half the taps have beer flowing through them, many of the best ones are gone. Slipped out of the Metro ($6.50/can of VB) to down a couple of decent beers on fridaY night only to be disappointed, had to look really hard but found Crakenback amoungst the swill.


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## Muggus (22/10/07)

mikem108 said:


> :angry: The beer selection here has gone seroiusly downhill, only about half the taps have beer flowing through them, many of the best ones are gone. Slipped out of the Metro ($6.50/can of VB) to down a couple of decent beers on fridaY night only to be disappointed, had to look really hard but found Crakenback amoungst the swill.


I'd have to agree with you there. Last time I was there, about a month ago, they had the best part of a dozen taps blanked out, some of which i'm pretty sure were the Little Creatures taps, which is also disappointing cause I do love a LCPA if theres nothing else on offer.


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## Kingy (22/10/07)

thats because they were going bust and and gone into recievership ( ithink thats what they call it) they reckon the little creatures will be back on soon.


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## capretta (22/10/07)

oh.. thats sad.. if only because it looks to people that you cant have a diverse selection of beers and be financialy successful. when i went there last year with a group i had more than a few chimays on a very quiet afternoon and i quizzed a few staff about their range of beers and apart from the usual.. "lcpa pilsener? tastes like watered down carlton draught etc" comments i only discovered a profound lack of interest.
i later had the misfortune to swing past with my mrs one night and it was salsa night! the place was packed out with tools trying to outdo each other in open shirt fashion stakes and how many twirls they could do. my mrs loved it but NONE of the people there were even the slightest bit interested in drinking. it would have ruined their perfectly planned coordination.
very strange marketing and to be honest im not too surprised that they have come into cash flow probs. i will have a drink to mourn their passing!!  :beer:


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## petesbrew (9/1/09)

I went to Eq. on Christmas Eve, first time in a long time, and was shocked.
Half the taps were missing!!! The only imported stuff was the usual Euroswill, and Guinness/Kilkenny.
I mean, there was the Leffe Blonde label in front of me, but with no tap attached... aaargh!!!

The local range were missing a few as well. Including LCPA!
There were still a few Crackenbacks & Barons, and if you're after megaswill, you'll be fine.

The bargirl was missing her smile as well... nooo. When I asked where the hell are the beers, she just said something about having more in the new year.... bit of a dumb time to run out of prime beers though.

Me thinks it's going downhill.


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## kabooby (12/1/09)

Maybe we should all pitch in and buy it. We could all have a tap each for our finest homebrew

Kabooby


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## petesbrew (17/3/09)

Haven't been here for a while, but walked past it at lunch. It's changed it's name to World Square Pub. 
Half the taps are still empty. What's still there is Monteiths, Barons, Bluetongue, maybe a couple of others and the usual mega/euroswill.

A shadow of it's former self.


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## PostModern (17/3/09)

petesbrew said:


> Haven't been here for a while, but walked past it at lunch. It's changed it's name to World Square Pub.
> Half the taps are still empty. What's still there is Monteiths, Barons, Bluetongue, maybe a couple of others and the usual mega/euroswill.
> 
> A shadow of it's former self.



And as one passes a new one rises to take it's place.....

http://www.thelocal.com.au/theLocalSydney.html


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## petesbrew (17/3/09)

PostModern said:


> And as one passes a new one rises to take it's place.....
> 
> http://www.thelocal.com.au/theLocalSydney.html



Yes, definitely a trade up!


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## matti (17/3/09)

Must be slow going at the EQ or World trade place.
6 months ago they had sweet FA to drink and the offering while PP was here only 1/2 was ok.
The second half i drank tghat is LOL
16 beer later.....


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## Doc (17/3/09)

I spotted the name change this week too.
Must be a sign, try and rebrand and win back some customers 

Doc


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## Pollux (17/3/09)

I know they won't be happy....

I know the guy they bought their liquor/pokie licence from, and the sum they paid..........It wasn't little....


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## Sentry459 (19/3/09)

Had no idea they changed name. I was there about a month ago and had a LCBA during my lunch break. It was quite dead, with about three people there in total (including myself). Might swing by again, but with the macqurire hotel only 2mins away it's probably not worth the effort.


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## petesbrew (19/3/09)

Sentry459 said:


> Had no idea they changed name. I was there about a month ago and had a LCBA during my lunch break. It was quite dead, with about three people there in total (including myself). Might swing by again, but with the macqurire hotel only 2mins away it's probably not worth the effort.


I think it's time for another lunchbreak at the Macquarie. Sadly I won't be in tomorrow... next week?


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## eric8 (19/3/09)

petesbrew said:


> I think it's time for another lunchbreak at the Macquarie. Sadly I won't be in tomorrow... next week?



Geez you city workers do it tough :lol:


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## petesbrew (19/3/09)

eric8 said:


> Geez you city workers do it tough :lol:


Yeah it's a bit of a walk :icon_chickcheers:


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## PostModern (19/3/09)

I'd be up for a Macca lunch sometime next week. <teaser> I have to catch up with Sam about a little project anyway... </teaser>

Fire up a new thread next week so we don't derail this one.


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## petesbrew (24/9/10)

Had work drinks here last night.
What was originally a great wall of imported beers on tap, is now basically VB, New, Draught, VB, New, Draught, VB, New, Draught, etc.
A few different ones thrown in like JSGA, Crackenback PA, LCPA, CPA. Barons Pale & lager.
The cost is horrendous, and these are schooner prices.
VB = $5 ish 
LCPA = $7.50 
CPA = $7.90.... wtf?
From what I heard, Sapporo was close to $10.

Definitely worth scrubbing off the list, with the Pumphouse and Macquarie 10min walk away.


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## HarryB (24/9/10)

What a disgrace. This place used to be awesome


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## jakester (25/9/10)

Ha, i was reading this topic from the start and didnt notice the date and hearing everyone rave about the great selection on tap there. I went there in May for a quick beer as we stayed upstairs for the weekend. I walked in and thought i was in heaven, a wall full of taps of different beer. Then on closer inspection they had about 6 blue tongue lagers, same with tooheys just to fill the taps and the most 'different' beer was LCPA, which i went for. It was a massive dissapointment to see all those taps wasted. 
Anyway, about halfway through the posts i read that someone went there after watching Borat, which made me look at the dates and i realized that the bar hasnt gotten better, its actuall gone downhill. Anyway as i live out west any place with LCPA on tap is like heaven to me.


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