THE secret’s out. Marrickville is a craft beer mecca.
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Yep, Marrickville. The home of “the Marrickville Mauler” Jeff Fenech was once a gritty working-class suburb in Sydney’s inner-west that no sane person would consider a tourist destination.
However, these days the suburb is punching above its weight in the culinary world.
For decades the large Greek and Vietnamese communities have assured an intoxicating mix of multicultural cuisine.
The Marrickville Vietnamese pork roll is legendary among Sydney foodies searching for a cheap and authentic option, long before banh mi was sprinkled with hipster dust.
People don’t line up around the corner regularly for the $5 pork roll, with a generous helping of herbs and chilli, without good reason. It’s damn good.
Craft beer has taken take centre stage in Marrickville’s cultural identity. The suburb boasts seven micro breweries producing a vast array of styles that range from hop-driven India pale ales to Belgian sour ales to chocolate stouts.
It’s the highest concentration of craft beer breweries in Australia, and best of all, they’re all within easy walking distance of each other. Little wonder it’s become a hub for beer-snobs, much like the Hunter Valley has long attracted wine lovers.
It’s enough to convince this ale-loving Novocastrian that braving a three-hour train ride to Sydney is a perfect way to spend a sunny spring Saturday.
Any seasoned drinker knows the secret of a successful pub crawl is preparation. Food preparation. You don’t want to be stumbling up the gutter after two stops, which is easily done when you’re sampling IPAs nudging up around seven per cent.
So after smashing one of those aforementioned pork rolls it was time to soothe my chilli-scorched mouth.
Our launch pad is Batch Brewing Company, undoubtedly the best known of Marrickville’s alehouses. Newcastle venues Grain Store, Carrington Bowling Club and The Happy Wombat stock Batch, whose American owners Chris Sidwa and Andrew Fineran kick-started Marrickville’s micro-brewery transformation in 2013.
It’s classic hipster territory. One bartender possesses a curled imperial-style moustache, while another is unmissable in the crowd, due to his purple mohawk.
The heaving crowd is a mix of professional types on bucks parties and inner-city hipsters, lounging around the dimly-lit bar and lounges, which is situated inside a large brick industrial warehouse.
Batch’s beer is US-inspired featuring Pash The Magic Dragon fruited sour ale and a nitrogenated stout with lactose called Elsie the Milk Stout. I open the batting with Just Beer, an unimaginative lager by craft standards, before checking out the tasty Hay-Z New England Sour.
We’ve barely broken a sweat when we arrive at the newest kid on Marrickville’s brewery block – Stockade Brew Co, which moved into the area from south-west Sydney in June. It’s the most slick and polished of the warehouse breweries and far more spacious.
This place is so hipster they offer beer’n’yoga sessions.
The beers are intriguing too. I try the Reef Coconut 'Suntan' Ale, which tastes like Malibu rum crossed with a golden ale. It actually works, but doesn’t lend itself to more than one. Another pearler was the Chop Shop pale ale – the best I sampled of that popular style.
Our next stop is Sauce Brewing Co, which is hidden up an old back alley framed by old brick factories. It’s obviously not too hidden because the place is heaving with mostly 25 to 40-somethings and even a few dogs.
Sauce boasts a grassed outdoor area, which makes it the most family and dog-friendly of the breweries.
Sauce specialises in fruity hop-driven beers like it’s 8.3 per cent Mega Hop Sauce double IPA or Son Of A Peach Berliner weisse, but my favourite is the Saucy Pils, made in the classic German style with a floral Motueka hop.
A long queue for Wildflower Brewing & Blending causes a change in itinerary and we continue to our final destination, The Grifter Brewing Co. I first visited Grifter last December and it was half-full.
On this occasion there’s a bouncer and a line 10 deep. Eventually we're in and we walk down the sloped entry into the basement-style bar.
If you enjoy your maltier beers then the Horse’s Head American red ale is an absolute must, while the Serpent’s Kiss watermelon pilsner was the perfect accompaniment on this unseasonably-hot spring afternoon.
Unfortunately time (and our livers) prevented visits to BlackFont, Willie The Boatman and Wildflower to complete the Marrickville septet of breweries, but there’s always next time.
