Bryon Bay Brewery

So when you think of Byron Bay breweries, you naturally think of Stone & Wood but to our pleasant surprise, we found the Byron Bay Brewery on the way to our hotel (the wife and I had a weekend up in Bryon; great spot!).  

This place was an arts factory, then a rock and roll venue and now a cinema and brewery bar - it is one massive bar! It is slightly outside of town with a free shuttle bus to cart you from the town to the place and there is plenty of parking outside. 

The band were playing outside (if the weather is bad they move inside) in the beer garden with a steady flow of people coming through the back as this is drop off point for the shuttle bus.

Yes thats a ukulele, amazing... 

The size of the place gives it quite an American feel to it and when it's quiet, this place will really struggle with an atmosphere and it's an area the Brewery can improve on [in my opinion] - when you go to places like Bentspoke in Canberra or other brew houses in Sydney or the Hunter Valley the thing that really jumps out at you is "we love making beer" and, to be honest, the Byron Brewery Bar didn't really give that vibe off. It felt sort of felt fake and a bit "generic formula for a large brew house" if that makes sense?  

as you walk in you see the brewing process

it's a big place!

As for the beers, they have five on tap and a special beer. The special when we were there was the Special Longtime IPA which sounded awesome but it had run out by the time we made it to the brewery unfortunately. 

I started with the pale ale and it was a beer anyone could happily drink, very easy and smooth.

The pale ale

The dark lager is a bit like vegemite - you will love it or hate it - you get a dark coloured lager, with toffee English ale flavours and smells upfront but it finishes slightly sweet like a pilsner lager. For me, it is was hot and sweaty when I drank it and it was the wrong type of beer to drink in the heat - come winter, I would give it another go. 

I finished with the "Premium Ale" - such a unique beer! It tastes like a full flavoured lager with more natural carbonation and a creamy finish - quite unique and really quite enjoyable! I think the place deserves a lot of credit for coming up with a few unique tasting beers, so well done!

If they could only make the place smaller, or split it up into different rooms etc, this would be a great place to hangout and enjoy a few beers, never-the-less, sitting in the beer garden in the back, listening to the band play here is an enjoyable night out...