Brisbane Pubs

[RustyD]

Hi all,
Have just come back from a holiday in England where I was amazed at the variety of locally brewed beers on tap in every pub. So now I'm back in Brisbane and eager for a similar experience with Aussie beers. After a quick read through of this forum, I've discovered the Grand Central seems to have a great variety of Australian beers. But are there any other pubs around the area that have QLD microbrewed stuff on tap?

Cheers,
RustyD

 

[lczaban]

Hey Rusty,

Welcome to the forum and I am glad you enjoyed your trip to the UK! There are a HUGE selection of beers to get stuck into over there and I am glad that you want to try and experience the same thing back home.

Apart from the Platform Bar at the Grand Central Hotel (which would have to have by far and away the best range of beers available in Brisbane), other worthy places worth trying are:

• The Full Moon Hotel in Sandgate - owned by the same crowd who own the GCH, and while they don't have quite the range that the GC has it still is hugely superior to the vast majority of pubs in Brisbane
• The German Club in Woolloongabba - for the best range of German beers at some pretty reasonable prices try here

After these, the standard drops off somewhat AFAIK. I'd try The Fox in South Brisbane, and The Melbourne and Lock 'n' Load in West End for their range of beers that while aren't microbrewed, they aren't "run of the mill megaswill" either. I have heard that The Belvedere Hotel has a good range of beers from SE Qld as well, but I haven't been there and can't say for sure whether this is true or not. Perhaps try using the forum search function in the top RHS of the screen to find out more!

Cheers! :beerbang:

 

[Snowdog]

Being somewhere else can really spoil you when being here. I thought the same thing after doing time in Seattle where even the mega-swill dives have at least two decent craft brews on tap.

There doesn't seem to be a pub that has a good regular line of microbrews like the Local Taphouses in Melbourne & Sydney. The Grand Central Platform does give it a fair go, but I'm happy if they have two or three beers on tap I can't find elsewhere. Right now they have Duke Pale & Burleigh Hefe on tap with the Stone & Wood. The International Hotel on Spring Hill has a respectable brews, which I seem to like the Red. Anyway, I've come to find where decent beer is and stop at those places. Milanos on Queen Street has Little Creatures Pale on tap, and the other places have Fat Yak. Pig & Whistle usually has the Stone & Wood, and Mick O' Malleys has Cooper's, Toohey's Old, Guinness, etc. Not remarkable, but they do.

I look forward to finding Mt Tamborine brew on tap somewhere in the city, the return of the Brisbane Brewhouse, and if someone could turn Union Jack's into a craft brew pub, that would be wonderful!

 

[Scruffy]

****, I typed loads here! and I've just deleted most, I was wobbling on about the relatively short Aussie history, with the prohibition bit in the middle, the rather pleasant surprise (for me) to find a couple of nice 'bar/pubs' in Melbourne (forgive my rather naive and ignorant assumptions!). Brisbane hasn't got any (English) pubs. Australia is different to other countries. Now if you embrace and appreciate that, cool. But if you're missing some aspect of your culture here (and let's face it, the vast majority posting here have some immigrant connection... ), or you like what you see elsewhere, then you might feel somewhat hard done by. I think things are changing. I've only been here ten minutes and I can see progress (beer wise at least). Sure you could go to the Elephant and Wheelbarrow, after work, and sit in a 'beer garden' and watch some sport (pubs in England do this too, if a little colder), but you're drinking with Australians in Australia. Now if good beer is your thing, there stuff coming (you can even get Fat Yak on draught in Brissie airport now...), you could get to the local Micros - Mount Tambourine www.mtbeer.com , The Brewhouse www.thebrewhouse.com.au and the International Hotel http://www.internationalhotel.com.au/... ( i think they're still going). But if you want an authentic English pub with fat easy slags, drunk losers, social outcasts, people with bad teeth, and that shitty pommie attitude you all take the piss out of, flat caps and whippets, 'don't sit there, that's Jack's chair' (jacks been dead twenty years) - book your holiday now before they're all replaced by accountants and barristers in wine bars.
There's a bar on brunswick, the beers are in bottles out the fridge, but the atmosphere is similar to a 'young persons' gathering area...?

Vive la difference...!

 

[Westoz]

Good luck Scuffy.there are but fools lest they know it !

 

[bhummel]

Being somewhere else can really spoil you when being here. I thought the same thing after doing time in Seattle where even the mega-swill dives have at least two decent craft brews on tap.

One of the reasons I'm looking forward to my visit back to Seattle come October

 

[Bribie G]

One of the reasons I'm looking forward to my next trip to Sydney FFS
:angry:
Brisbane the beer desert.

 

[Aaron]

Speaking of beers in Brisbane. I'm in town from Monday for Cisco Networkers. Anyone else going to be there? Anyone want to catch up for a beer one night? Probably free on Tuesday night if anyone wants to have a beer.

 

[Snowdog]

Damn, being this is Wednesday, got this too late I did...

 

[Ross]

Speaking of beers in Brisbane. I'm in town from Monday for Cisco Networkers. Anyone else going to be there? Anyone want to catch up for a beer one night? Probably free on Tuesday night if anyone wants to have a beer.

How long are you up for Aaron?

Cheers Ross

 

[MarkBastard]

There's this place in Vancouver called Dix which is a brewpub that serves southern style bbq food as well.

It is the best pub I've ever been to and I'm having withdrawal symptoms.

I basically rocked up there with the missus in the mid-arvo and tried a pint of each of their beers as a sort of sampling process, and then picked the one I liked (the IPA) and went from there. Stayed until closing and then after closing the guys locked up but let a few people stay in there, and they shouted us beers from the taps and they drank themselves. Then they invited us to the casino for after drinks.

It really opened my eyes to how bullshit the Aussie drinking myth is. I've never experienced anything like that in Australia.

North America has it all over Australia in every way when it comes to beer I reckon, and the bad part is we are getting worse. Too much nanny state bullshit. It really gets me angry to be honest.

Anyway I really wish there was a brewpub in Brisbane.

ROSS! You are the solution mate. Hahaha. Open one up, you know you want to.

 

[Ross]

ROSS! You are the solution mate. Hahaha. Open one up, you know you want to.

B)

 

[MarkBastard]

Hmmm... If you were to do this please make it north of the river

 

[Snowdog]

... or south of it ...

Either way, on a busline...

 

[tallie]

Hi all,
Have just come back from a holiday in England where I was amazed at the variety of locally brewed beers on tap in every pub. So now I'm back in Brisbane and eager for a similar experience with Aussie beers. After a quick read through of this forum, I've discovered the Grand Central seems to have a great variety of Australian beers. But are there any other pubs around the area that have QLD microbrewed stuff on tap?

Cheers,
RustyD

Thirsty Critters seems to have a good write-up of the current South-East Queensland options here.

Whilst I've never been to a "real" English pub (just German, Irish and Belgian), I've really enjoyed going to the Penny Farthing Inn up at Montville. Last time I was there (about a year ago) they had Newcastle Brown on tap along with a few other British brews whose names escape me, and their view over the Sunshine Coast is fantastic. A great place to spend an afternoon drinking pints! (Though not exactly in Brisbane).

Cheers,
Kris.

 

[thirstycritter]

Thirsty Critters seems to have a good write-up of the current South-East Queensland options here.

Thanks for the plug Kris! It's nice to know somebody is reading my blog

I've done my best to round up all the best Brisbane has to offer in my beer guide - do let me know if there's anything missing!

While I'm here... a) hi everyone, glad to have finally joined this great forum, looking forward to much more great beer conversation & B ) shameless plug - come on a Thirsty Critters tour GravityGuru! Then you'll get to try some of the wonderful varieties that are just down the road but unavailable in Brisbane from MT & Eagle Heights, and also drink your fill of the fantastic Burleigh range (and have a chat with master brewer Brennan).

Cheers!

PS Can I ask on honest question of the forum regulars here - would it be too shameless to start a new thread and give my tour a plug? Or is that kind of commercial spamming heavily frowned upon here?

 

[Bribie G]

Thanks for the plug Kris! It's nice to know somebody is reading my blog

I've done my best to round up all the best Brisbane has to offer in my beer guide - do let me know if there's anything missing!

While I'm here... a) hi everyone, glad to have finally joined this great forum, looking forward to much more great beer conversation & B ) shameless plug - come on a Thirsty Critters tour GravityGuru! Then you'll get to try some of the wonderful varieties that are just down the road but unavailable in Brisbane from MT & Eagle Heights, and also drink your fill of the fantastic Burleigh range (and have a chat with master brewer Brennan).

Cheers!

PS Can I ask on honest question of the forum regulars here - would it be too shameless to start a new thread and give my tour a plug? Or is that kind of commercial spamming heavily frowned upon here?

Don't see why you shouldn't post it in the 'retailers' sub forum - as long as it's beer related - the subforum is not just for ingredients and equipment sales and I believe there is a guy offering brewing courses who will be posting there regularly.
:icon_cheers:

 

[thirstycritter]

Don't see why you shouldn't post it in the 'retailers' sub forum - as long as it's beer related - the subforum is not just for ingredients and equipment sales and I believe there is a guy offering brewing courses who will be posting there regularly.
:icon_cheers:

Thanks for the tip Bribie, much appreciated

Righto, back to nursing my Oktoberfest hangover...

 

[Snowdog]

The blog on Southeast Queensland is quite good really. There are a few on here I haven't visited yet, like 5th Element.

Still hoping for a brewpub to open in Brizzy again. . . .

 

[Will88]

I received a book for christmas called The Australian Beer Companion: Your guide to Australia's top breweries and microbreweries by Willie Simpson.

The section on the Malt Shovel brewery said there are plans to establish a James Squire Brewhouse in Brissie. No info on when/where but it does shine a little light on our beer barren city.