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Sydney craft beer guide

Everything you need to know about craft beer: where to get it, who's brewing the best and what you should be drinking at any occasion
Written by Emily Lloyd-Tait
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Thanks to the boutique brewing boom, local watering holes are boasting seasonal brews on tap, craft breweries are opening up all over Sydney, and we have two annual festivals dedicated to all things craft beer. Here's where to get in on the sudsy fun.

The best craft beer Sydney has to offer

The best brewery bars in Sydney
Bars

The best brewery bars in Sydney

We're spoiled for choice when it comes to venues serving craft beer in this city, but there's something extra special about drinking a beer in the place it was...
Craft beer subscriptions
Shopping

Craft beer subscriptions

You know what's a great present idea? A drinkable subscription. But wine is a tricky thing to pick for other people – beer is an entirely different beast. If...

Brewery Bars pouring crazy fresh beers

Where to get the good stuff

Where to buy a growler
Bars

Where to buy a growler

Some things in bulk are disgusting, like margarine or any kind of dairy product. But beer in big serves is a thing a beauty, which is why the 1.89L growler...
Where to get a tasting paddle
Bars

Where to get a tasting paddle

Being faced with a huge selection of craft beers is a nice problem to have. But what if you order that Belgian sour and it turns out it's not for you? What is...

Best craft beer pubs

Bitter Phew
Bars

Bitter Phew

  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • price 1 of 4
There’s something pretty wonderful about a bar stripped back to the bare essentials. Turns out that if you can get your hands on a cold room, kegs, basic...
Botany View Hotel
Bars

Botany View Hotel

A Newtown pub with a kids play area is a rare and wonderful thing. The Darly Street Bistro is conveniently upstairs, which is a very good thing indeed.
Dove and Olive
Bars

Dove and Olive

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 1 of 4
A lot of Sydney’s pubs play a single trump – tender steak, good times trivia, clean beer, golden schnitzel – but it’s a truly special boozer that can show a...
Book online
East Village Hotel, Balmain
Bars

East Village Hotel, Balmain

  • 3 out of 5 stars
This old neighbourhood watering hole went through something of an awkward adolescence, going from a crusty local joint to a Belgian Beer Café for a five-year...
The Empire Hotel
Bars

The Empire Hotel

  • 3 out of 5 stars
Once, not so long ago, the Empire Hotel on the corner of Parramatta Road was the sort of place you’d hurry past in case trouble came stumbling out of one of...
Forest Lodge Hotel
Bars

Forest Lodge Hotel

  • 4 out of 5 stars
The Forest Lodge is a diamond in the rough. From the outside this brown brick local doesn’t look like much, but inside there’s a decent feed, plenty of space,...
Harts Pub
Bars

Harts Pub

  • 3 out of 5 stars
It’s a steep hike up Essex Street to Harts Pub but if craft beer is your poison then we suggest you don those walking shoes. There are 12 taps here and what...
Keg and Brew
Bars

Keg and Brew

  • 3 out of 5 stars
There’s not much we like more at Time Out than a well-worn boozer that still remembers the frenzy of the six o’clock swill. But sometimes the smell is so...
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Kirribilli Hotel
Bars

Kirribilli Hotel

  • 3 out of 5 stars
The Kirribilli Hotel is not an ostentatious pub. Its rounded, Art Deco, red-brick façade tucks neatly in among the shopfronts lining Broughton Street without...
The Local Taphouse
Bars

The Local Taphouse

  • 5 out of 5 stars
The timber floors of the Local Taphouse have been worn smooth by the continuous foot traffic of the parched and the curious over the last five years. The...
Public House Petersham
Bars

Public House Petersham

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 1 of 4
This old Petersham boozer has undergone yet another round of upgrades, but we’re pretty sure these ones are going to stick. The former Newington Inn is now the...
Book online
Royal Albert Hotel
Bars

Royal Albert Hotel

  • 4 out of 5 stars
When a hot dog and a craft brew is all your heart desires then it’s time to cannonball down the slopes of Surry Hills to the Royal Albert Hotel. You will not...
The Lord Raglan
Bars

The Lord Raglan

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 1 of 4
It’s almost a shame beer gets you drunk. We consider this while poring over the beer list at the this freshly renovated pub in Alexandria, reckoning that if it...
Quarrymans Hotel
Bars

Quarrymans Hotel

  • 4 out of 5 stars
In spite of its proximity to the CBD, Pyrmont has never boasted the same expansive boozing scene that you’ll find in other areas of inner Sydney. There are...
The Union Hotel - Newtown
Bars

The Union Hotel - Newtown

  • 4 out of 5 stars
Down on South King Street the Union goes hard on craft beer. Way before it was the cool, or even fiscally sensible thing to do to have over twenty taps...
The Welcome Hotel
Bars

The Welcome Hotel

  • 5 out of 5 stars
It’s a truly great pub that manages to strike an easy balance between being a familiar, cosy watering hole and raising the bar where it counts – the food and...
Book online

Support the little guys

Independent bottle shops in Sydney
Shopping

Independent bottle shops in Sydney

We're not talking mega liquor barns here, but rather the best independent places to buy booze in Sydney - whether it's Penfolds Grange you're after, a craft...
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