Microbreweries are curious things, amybe 10 years ago they were relatively hard to find in Australia - I could certainly name most of them and you were certainly not like to stumble across one unexpectedly.
But this is what happened on the Weekend. I was having a few days away 'down the coast' the coast being the Surf Coast outside on Melbourne, Australia. Specifically Torquay. Now if you are a surfer you'll understand Torquay place in the surf world - home of Bells Beach and the surf brands Rip Curl and Quicksilver.
Now it would turn out there are (at least) three microbreweries in Torquay. Blackmans which I've been to before. Bell Beach Brewery, which was where we were heading - but alas it was dinner time and there didn't appear to do food, but luckily when we had parked the car next to a giant carpark and when we looked across the car park we say this - a Brewery called Sou'West which I have never heard of.
Now there are two types of microbreweries, the smaller, ramshackle, have a food truck out the front and make 14 different types of IPAs, some successfully, some not. and then there is the rarer kind, the well funded, well thought out, huge craft breweries built to serve a lot of people.
And there is room for both, and if you are in a tourist hotspot like Torquay there is certinaly room for the later. This place was it, it was in a big old shed, and in fact it turns out it used to be the global headquarters of Quicksilver- but it had been fitted out nicely, albeit it a sort of 1980's beach aesthetic that I'm not sure will age well.
It had three areas, one for families with kids, which had a playground, the main area in the middle and then where we were the side area. All up maybe it seated 500 people, it was as I mentioned huge, in the middle of all of this, behind glass was a lot of expensive stainless steel.
But what of the beer - well this is the interesting thing - 8 beers of tap - 7 regulars and one seasonal, but not an IPA amongst them - We had a Lager, a golden ale, a mid strength, a herefeweizen and a the two we have - It is a beer selection absolutely designed for what Torquay has become, or at least what the tourists want - which are people looking for laid back, easy to drink drinks but in a gentrified way.
So we selected what I considered to be the most interesting a XPA and a seasonal - which was a summer ale.
And I have to say, although they are not really styles I carve they were both amazingly well made beers, exactly what you would expect, the XPA was probably the better of the two with a hint more body and malt but they were both light, very very drinable, and really enjoyable
oh and we ordered up some pizzas as well and I can confirm that they were also a) exactely what you would expect from a fancy but approachable venue and b)Really really good.
And just to prove that there were actually people there - in fact there were probably 100 or so but it still felt a little empty - here is a shot of the main bar
