Hunter Valley Brewery's

[Hopsta]

I eat there once and the food was really pretty lame. Maybe they were just having a bad night? But i just can't recommend it. To eat i'd recommend going to Harrigans Pub which is about 10 mins into the vineyeards near the Hunter valley gardens. The food there was really nice.
Hopsta is right its about 25 mins east of potters. There food there also looked pretty good btu i didn't try it. If your after a good feed though and your going to BT go to the Mill restaurant. The food there is 10 out of 10. A tad rich for just a casual bite but really really nice. Its only about 100m from BT.

[post="79463"][/post]​

Yeh we stayed at the BT and ate at their restaurant the "san martino" the first night and then went across the road the second night to "the mill" restaurant and the mill is deffinately alot better and also a bit more expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

 

[shmick]

I was primarily going to Potters for the beer but convinced the missus the food was ok as well.
Will give Potters a try first up then maybe BT next time.
Thanks for the suggestions. :chug:

 

[n00ch]

Let me know what you think of the food. If hopsta liked it and if you like it then maybe i have too high standards!

 

[shmick]

Visited Potter's last night

Food was good for the price. Decent menu - not top of the range but definitely edible.
Could have gone another plate of chilli squid, it was my pick of the night.
The minister for war & finance had the Brewery Chicken (spicy stir-fry looking deal) and reckoned it was top notch.
I had the steak whick was ok but they overdid the char grill thing a bit and it was hard to tell where the meat finished and the ashtray started. h34r:

The place had a friendly atmosphere and service was good. Seemed popular with families and they have a monkey cage (fenced playground) outside to lock the kids in. Might have to keep this mind for next time.

Brewery was in darkness so i didn't get to see much of that.
Maybe a future day trip next time.

Tried the kolsch, lager and bock.

The kolsch was definitely the winner and the only one I went back for seconds. Not really my preferred style but well worth a taste if only for the novelty value.
Pale, subtle and well balanced. Surprising complex for something so pale.

The Lager was rather flavourless. After reading the blurb on the menu which mentioned German and Czec hops my expectations might have been a little high.
It lacked a balanced bitterness and the flavour actually reminded me of a warm flat Fosters lager of all things - minus the hops. It appears this one is for the uneducated masses although I'd suspect nearly anyone would get bored with it pretty quickly.

The bock was very nice but so close to a Black Old (which they also had on tap for less$) it made me wonder why they would bother offering it.
It had a creamy smooth mouthfeel, decent malty taste and a great roasted finish. Subtle hops as expected. However, being a long entrenched Black Old drinker it didn't quite do it for me.

I'd definitely agree there are better places to eat around the area but all up it was a pretty good package. I would visit again.

 

[n00ch]

Well looks like i have been out voted on the food aspect! They must have just been having a ordinary night when they made my gf and i's food.

Did you end up going to BT?

 

[T.D.]

I had very high hopes for this place. Idragged the whole family out there (my folks live up that way) to try the new beers. I must say I was disappointed. Not because the beers were "bad", but just because they had so much potential to be something quite good, but as is often the case with these things, in order to appeal to as many people as possible, they end up making the beers totally unoffensive and consequently extremely boring. None of the beers were out of style, or badly made, they were just boring. Certainly didn't have me wanting to rush back any time soon.

I went and had a chat to the assistant brewer. The brewery looked good. He said they bought it second hand from Canada (I think) and it cost $600,000!!! That sounds a little bit much to me (although not entirely impossible!) - I have seen similarly sized full brewery setups for sale on a US website for under $100,000. Anyway, if that's what they paid then you can understand them taking a tentative dab into the market - they certainly don't want to scare people away by producing wild beers! And also, that pub is reasonably popular with the locals so they wouldn't have wanted to scare them away either.

I am hoping they do some seasonals or something and go for something a bit more extravagant in the future.

My food was ok though - not bad for pub food.

 

[Gough]

Good reviews fellas. I think the Potter's Kolsch is quite well made myself and enjoyed it. The thing you need to bear in mind with Kolsch is that it isn't the world's most 'exciting', out there style to begin with. The versions I tried in Koln were nice, subtle, flavourome beers that you could drink a few of. I think the fact that they are hard to come by in Australia sees expectations raised to levels where only an extravagent hop monster will meet them. This a Kolsch aint...

Their lager seemed OK to me, but very much in the 'generic' category. I didn't find too much fault in it, but like you blokes found it is made in the vein of other Aussie 'premium' lagers. He has done a Bohemian Pilsner there in the past which I thought was excellent, but unfortunately it wasn't on when I was up there in May.

I actually didn't rate the Bock much at all. It just didn't taste like a Bock of any variety to me - it lacked body and mouthfeel and the bitterness was coming through too strongly for what I would consider to be the style. I got the impression talking to the brewer that he felt the same way, but was constrained by the need to keep the ABV down. Having said that not many others were drinking it when I was there and I only tried a middy so maybe my taster wasn't the freshest.

I reckon the Kolsch was a winner, the Lager was OK and the Bock a disappointment, so there you go. Three reviews and three different views. Ah the joys of subjectivity... He has done some excellent seasonal brews in the past and hopefully will again, so worth a repeat visit for these and the Kolsch. Good place for my kids as well which is a bonus...

Shawn.

 

[warrenlw63]

Good place for my kids as well which is a bonus...

Shawn.

[post="79918"][/post]​

Somebody's gotta drive home whilst dad drinks. :beer:

Warren -

 

[Gough]

I guess I should have re-read that before posting :lol: The playground on the grounds of the pub is good fun for the kids...

Shawn.

 

[T.D.]

Yeah, the bock certainly wasn't a high alcohol malt-monster, that's for sure! And yeah, the Kolsch was fine, and you are right, it isn't exactly the kind of style that will knock your block off!

I think what I was disappointed about mostly was that they seem to be holding back a touch. I understand it has to be commercially feasible, but I think the Australian brewing industry is way too concerned about not offending consumers that they miss some serious opportunities to make some great beers! I must say though, my ideal beer is something in the vein of a excessively hopped APA, so I guess its no wonder I came away a bit flat.

I think I am just a bit bitter because every time a new micro pops up I get my hopes up that they are going to break a few rules and produce some really interesting brews. And then I invariably try the beers and it always seems like they are just trying to replicate beers that are already out there. Blue Tongue is a PERFECT example of this! If I ever started a microbrewery (fingers crossed it will happen one day!!) I would produce a sessional brew that will satisfy the masses and then one or two others that are a little bit more daring.

Has anybody tried the seasonal Blue Tongue ale that is on tap at Harrigans Irish Pub? Its not a bad drop and proves that BT can actually produce a decent brew when they want to!

 

[n00ch]

I think you are talking about the Amber Ale? Its not bad on the BT standards. I tried the Pilsner they were supposedly brewing up at the vineyards brewery and it wasn't a bad drop. However i tried at a local drinking hole around here and it was really ordinary i thought, nothing like i had at the actual vineayrd "brewery". My only thought was the one i had was made at the vineyards and the other i had was at their cameron park brewery, if so they have some serious consistancy issues.

Has anyone had their new seasonal?

 

[Tony]

all these brewers catching up and having fun.........

visiting breweries..............

I hate living in the bush sometimes........ no good AG brewers to hang out with...... no micro breweries........... no money to start one my self..............

Oh well the water is wonderfull for brewing so i cant complain

cheers