Australia is a land that has everything it needs to make world-class beer with hop farms in Tasmania, barley fields in Western Australia and a brewing history heavily influenced by British immigrants in the 19th century. While I’ve previously traveled to Tasmania, Melbourne and Sydney, this past December (2019) I made my first trip to Western Australia - home of the Margaret River wine region, a beautiful coastline, and other agriculture that has made it ripe to support an emerging craft beer scene.
In this post I’ll touch on a few breweries I was able to visit in Margaret River, Fremantle, and the coast in-between. I’ll give you my general impression as well as a relative “grade” of the venue and the beer, and some justification for each. In terms of the grading scale, here’s my intention:
Venue
A - Don’t Miss: spacious, beautiful, fun, quirky, great vibe, excellent food
B - Worth a Stop if You Have Time: clean, decent size, good food
C - Don’t Go Out of Your Way
D - Don’t Waste Your Time
Beer
A - I’m Having Withdrawal: excellent variety and overall quality
B - Would Definitely Drink Again
C - Forgettable
D - Wish I Hadn’t
Little Creatures Brewery - view from restaurant entrance
Margaret River
The synonymous town of the well-known wine region has a quaint little strip with some mom-and-pop shops and restaurants that’s worth a stay. We were there over Christmas so it was extra quiet, but similar to other wine regions, you need a car (or book a Margaret River tour) to explore all there is to see, including vineyards, breweries, chocolate, nougat, dairy and soap factories, and to take in the scenery. The following three breweries that we visited were all within 30-minutes of the downtown area.
Beer Farm - Metricup, WA
Easily the best beer that we tried on our entire trip. They’ve got a respectable range of beer styles, from classic pale ales, to balanced IPAs, to refreshing gose and berliner weiss, and silky smooth milk stout. We visited on Christmas Eve so they were closing up shop early, but it’s literally a barn with lots of space, a small stage, comfortable seating, and a nice view of their property. I’d be ok drinking their beer in a port-o-potty (it was that good), but the scenery made it that much better.
Beer: A
Loved the Berliner Weiss with Chardonnay grapes, Milk Stout, and Pale Ale. Tasting flights and takeaway available in cans (“tinnies”).
Venue: A
Nice, spacious farmhouse brewery with large bar area and food available at an outdoor kiosk. Only wish that the brewing kit could be seen, but it was in an adjacent building.
Colonial Brewing Co. - Bramley, WA
We stopped here for lunch, just outside of downtown Margaret River and off the road a ways. It was very spacious and family friendly with picnic tables set up on a lawn under umbrellas and even water dishes for pups. The food was marginal and I had a tasting flight as well as their pale ale. Honestly the beers were “meh” with nothing that memorable. I think the place is rated fairly well on travel sites but you’re pretty much just going for the atmosphere. Totally fine to meet up with friends, share some snacks and have a couple of pints.
Beer: C
Most were forgettable. Not necessarily seriously flawed, but just nothing special either.
Venue: A
Spacious outdoor spot. Family and dog friendly. Picnic tables with shade. Table service menu as well as self-service bbq kiosk.
Wild Hop Brewing Co. - Yallingup, WA
This place is fairly new (opened in 2019) and was crazy busy when we visited for lunch. It was around Christmas, but the parking lot was completely full and they were turning people away at the door that didn’t have reservations. Kind of a weird thing because there was plenty of room, but it had something to do with their liquor license and how many heads could be on the premise at a given time. That was kind of a turn-off in terms of the vibe because the actual space was beautiful, with heaps of space - just seemed like there was more than enough room for people to pop in, grab a beer and stand in the bar area. Anyways, the beers were pretty good and I’d definitely make the trip again.
Beer: B
Nice range of beers. We had two tasting flights that basically covered their “core” and their “specialty” beers. Really nice Pilsner and Saison. Only one that was undrinkable - Honey IPA (absolute diacetyl bomb).
Venue: A
Immaculate. Roomy open air bar and kitchen area with a viewing window into the brewery (fairly small kit with plenty of opportunity for fun small batch brews). Outdoor seating with shade and a nicely built playground.
The Coast
Western Australia has some absolutely stunning coastline between Fremantle and Margaret River. The beaches are pristine with turquoise water that reminds me of the Caribbean and some ridiculous waves that attract world-class surfers and kite-boarders. It’s certainly a pleasant drive and luckily there are a few breweries to break up the trip.
Eagle Bay Brewing Co. - Eagle Bay, WA
One of the most beautiful beaches that we laid eyes on was at Eagle Bay, further down the coast from Busselton. Situated on a huge piece of land on the way out to the beach is Eagle Bay Brewing Co. which has the look of a modern art museum with a concrete bunker outside look and swanky eatery inside. There’s a nice lawn on a hill out back where guests can enjoy a pint while overlooking the property. The place was very busy when we dropped in for a late lunch and had to wait 30-40 minutes for a table. Again, not really a possibility to just grab a beer by the bar as you wait as it seemed that most of the revenue was coming from the restaurant.
Beer: C
Flights and pints were available with fairly straightforward offerings (pale, amber, ipa, kolsch) that were pretty marginal. There were a few more interesting bottles for sale as takeaway with a little more risky ingredients, but unfortunately we didn’t have room for any more bottles at that point.
Venue: A
The venue is what makes this place worth a stop. It’s got a cool, modern, concrete design (not industrial) with an incredible view of the property (common theme for breweries in WA it seems). There was also some viewing windows into the brewery which had a decently-sized kit although it seems that the restaurant is more of a money-maker than the beers at this point.
Rocky Ridge Brewing Co. (Busselton, WA)
Rocky Ridge has a brewing facility, which I didn’t get a chance to visit, as well as a tasting room just down from the pier in Busselton. I would definitely recommend hanging at the nearby park, especially if you have children since there’s a huge pirate ship playground built into the sand by the water. It’s a bonus to have the tasting room a stone’s throw away.
Beer: B
Huge variety of brews ranging from IPAs to lagers to sours and stouts. There were a few experimental pale ales and IPAs that I enjoyed and it was nice to see an effort towards pulling off other styles such as gose and pastry stout. With so many options it was difficult to choose, so I went with two different tasting trays to cover about 12 different beers. The only trouble is that if you spread yourself so thin in taking on so many different beer styles, you’re bound to have some that aren’t so great. I’d say it was probably a balance of a few that were great, a few that were not, and the rest were decent. Takeaway cans available to take down to the park.
Venue: B
Clean and quaint little house with some outdoor and indoor seating and a legible tap list. Nice a quiet, but different from the other places that we visited in terms of size and the surrounding property. Plenty of parking available nearby.
Freo Social/Otherside Brewing Co. - Fremantle, WA
Freo Social is an interesting venue that hosts live music, serves food, and is an outlet for experimental brews from Otherside Brewing Co. It’s in an old artillery drill hall near the prison and the market which makes it interesting enough to check out anyways.
Beer: B
They have a couple of sampling trays, including a core range and an experimental range that rotates. I had the experimental one and they had some decent brews that are worth a gander. I also grabbed some takeaway tinnies of lager that was decent. Nothing really blew me away, but nothing that turned me a way either.
Venue: B
The place is unique with the adjacent live music hall. Inside seating is limited in comparison to other venues in this post, but there is a small outdoor area with food trucks. Laid back vibe.
Little Creatures Brewing - Fremantle, WA
Once I knew that we were coming to WA I knew that I had to make the trip to Little Creatures. We had previously been to the Geelong location near Melbourne, and of course the brewpub in Hong Kong, but I’d always wanted to see the original location on the waterfront in Fremantle. The facilities are amazing and we learned a bit about the history in that the founders previously had success with Matilda Bay Brewery before launching Little Creatures, and even more interesting - that they initially wanted to use the space to launch Starbucks in Australia before having cold feet and rethinking their plan (talk about good intuition). It’s a must see venue in Fremantle for the fresh brews, tasty food, and relaxed atmosphere.
Beer: A
Guinness always tastes better in Dublin and Little Creatures Pale and IPA definitely taste better at the source as well. Everything tasted great and there were a few beers that you can only get there - Freo Lager, which has become one of their best sellers (basically a Helles) and some one-off, seasonal IPAs. Flights, pints and takeaways all possible.
Venue: A
Beautiful location on the water in what was once a marina warehouse, then a crocodile farm, before becoming a massive brewing facility which has since been expanded to have grain silos, brewhouse with tasting room, restaurant, and cellar. They are the largest restaurant in Australia with an open kitchen and table service and the food was pretty darn good.
