Wa Brewery Tour Suggestions

[gjhansford]

The wife and I will be in Perth and surrounding areas for a week in early November - staying on after a conference. Arriving Wednesday Nov 3 and staying in Perth until Saturday ... then off to where ever until we fly back east the following Saturday.

Any thoughts and suggestions ... breweries, restaurants, places to visit etc ...

ghhb

 

[Jez]

The wife and I will be in Perth and surrounding areas for a week in early November - staying on after a conference. Arriving Wednesday Nov 3 and staying in Perth until Saturday ... then off to where ever until we fly back east the following Saturday.

Any thoughts and suggestions ... breweries, restaurants, places to visit etc ...

ghhb

I enjoyed my visit to Feral Brewing which is just outside Perth - http://www.feralbrewing.com.au/home.html

If you can get down to Little Creatures in Fremantle you should do so. Great venue & great beers which taste even better from the source.

Jez

 

[thanme]

Fremantle and the Swan Valley would be your best bets for sure.

 

[Lecterfan]

I'm not sure what "surrounding areas" constitutes, but if you have a week....the Bootleg Brewery in Margaret River was the final nail in the coffin of my bourbon drinking career (I haven't been there for 5 years so am not sure of it's quality etc now). It had a good atmosphere, decent food, and great beer. There was another smaller one near there as well...I preferred the overall setup of the smaller one, but preferred the beer from Bootleg.

 

[whitegoose]

The Swan Valley has Feral, Mash, Duckstein, Elmars and Ironbark all close enough to the city to be a day trip, or you could stay out there. I'd definitely recommend it out there.

In the city you're best off looking to Freo which has Little Creatures (a Perth institution), Black Salt, the Monk...

But if you want to get out of the city, try the Margaret River area - about 3.5 hours south. It has more breweries than you can poke a stick at (including some of our best) and is definitely recommended.

 

[matr]

Definitely Swan Valley. There's Elmars, Duckstein, Feral & Mash. You could do this tour.. Link I rekon you could get the numbers together by asking on here.

There is also a multitude of micros down south (within 3.5hrs drive) Colonial, Bootleg, Cowaramup, Bush Shack, etc etc

Swan (Before Lion Nathan took over) did tours but not sure if they do any more. You would have to ring and ask.

Cheers, Mat.

Edit: Yeah what he said ^

 

[eamonnfoley]

Definitely Swan Valley. There's Elmars, Duckstein, Feral & Mash. You could do this tour.. Link I rekon you could get the numbers together by asking on here.

There is also a multitude of micros down south (within 3.5hrs drive) Colonial, Bootleg, Cowaramup, Bush Shack, etc etc

Swan (Before Lion Nathan took over) did tours but not sure if they do any more. You would have to ring and ask.

Cheers, Mat.

Edit: Yeah what he said ^

Speaking of Swan - are there any old recipes around for their pale ales and stouts?

 

[outbreak]

Swan did a pale ale?! I would also like to have a recipe! For nostalgic reasons.

 

[dogs01]

If you do the Swan Valley you MUST visit Ironbark. Best of the 5. Their woodfired pizza's are fantastic as well as great beers.
MATR forgot to mention them previously

 

[eamonnfoley]

Swan did a pale ale?! I would also like to have a recipe! For nostalgic reasons.

I've seen historical pictures of pubs etc advertising the different beers. There is even a picture in Michael Jackson's World Guide to Beer (1977 Version).

I reckon the brewery should still have their archives.

 

[kocken42]

I've always thought a 2 day brewery tour from Perth to Margs would be top notch.

Start off in the Swan Valley and do 2 or 3 of the breweries, then head down south.

- Old Coast Road Brewery - near Harvey
- Occy's Brewery - Busselton
- Bush Shack - Dunsborough area

Stay in the area over-night.

Next day:

- Colonial, Bootleg, Cowaramup, Duckstein - North Margs area
- Head back up to Perth
- Get the breweries you missed in the Swan Valley or head to Freo.

 

[outbreak]

The Sail and Anchor is worth a visit.

 

[matr]

If you do the Swan Valley you MUST visit Ironbark. Best of the 5. Their woodfired pizza's are fantastic as well as great beers.
MATR forgot to mention them previously

Didn't know they existed!! Woops how bad is that!!

 

[sinkas]

bush shack, are you stoned?

 

[kocken42]

bush shack, are you stoned?

hahaha, I've actually never been, and refuse to go on what I've heard about their 'beer'.

 

[rude]

Please do tell what are their beers like whats wrong witth them I have never tried them

 

[kocken42]

I think it's the fact that they make their money by claiming to be a 'unique' brewery because they sell 'beers' (flavoured alcoholic drinks) which are infused with certain flavours.

I've been given a bottle of their 'red-creamy soda beer' and their 'passion-fruit beer' which were more like alcopops than beer.

They do make actual beer according to their website, but I don't think they pride themselves on the production of it.

I think it's great marketing...how do you get more people to drink beer? make it taste as little like beer as possible.

Sure, it's a little gimmicky, but it's different (for the region) and probably get's a lot of interest from a different target market (females in particular).

Sorry for the drag off-topic.

 

[gjhansford]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions ... will start planning the trip over the weekend! Will definately be staying out of Perth for a few days ... Margaret River area for sure ... has anyone done the Beer Nuts tour recently? Looks interesting but does it include a closer look at the breweries and chats with the brewers ... or is it just a try and buy tour?

ghhb

 

[mfeighan]

yeah bushshack is fail, i went there and it tasted like REAL BAD homebrew,
colonial, bootleg, duckstein are decent though

bush shack, are you stoned?

 

[gjhansford]

Well ... we're back from our WA trip and visits to almost all breweries and a couple of decent pubs. The pick on the lot was as follows:

Sail and Anchor - Fremantle. Spend the best part of a whole day there on a Sunday during the Freo Festival with all these buskers outside for atmosphere. Great range of beers due to their Novembeer promotion.

Duckstein - Margaret River. Swish is the word ... with the best Germal lagers and pils to wash down great German food. Had my first real Alt Beer ... now I know what the rave is all about! Also had a chat here to the brewer.

Feral - Swan Valley. Last afternoon spent here. After a few days down Margaret River in the cold and damp it was great sitting on the terrace in the warmth of the afternoon and being cooled down with ... dare I say it ... undomesticated yet sophisticated ... brews and the Freo Doctor after about 2:30pm. What a range of unusual yet tasty brews. The pick for me was Fantapants - a 7.4% Belgian Ale, described as "offensively bitter (like most redheads!) but begins slightly sweet, with an aroma of passionfruit and pineapple. The finish is full-bodied with a hint of biscuity malt." The Boris - a Russian Imperial Stout at 11.5% was also an experience!

The disapointment of the trip was Little Creatures. Forget it ... just a lousy and expensive restaurant now.

Now it's back to the micro setup with a few ideas to try over the next few brew days. What have I learnt? Experiment with the hops and move to fermenting in stainless steel!

:icon_cheers:
ghhb