Hottest Places to Grab a Cold One in the Valley
With winter behind us and the weather warming up, The Valley is the perfect place to find a cold brew on a hot afternoon. Whether you prefer a sour or a Saison, a pale ale or a porter, the Valley’s best craft beer exponents have just what you need to quench your thirst. Here’s cheers to the Valley’s craft breweries, pubs and bars, now open for walk-ins and bookings:
Pull up a window seat at the Bloodhound Corner Bar & Kitchen and watch Brunswick Street go by or hide from the world out the back of this unique pub. Housed in a two-storey heritage building, this craft beer bar has a rotating selection of local, national and international craft beer styles across 10 taps plus a cracking range of tinnies and bottles. Whether you’re into ciders or sours, IPAs or RIS (Russian imperial stout), you’ll find plenty of good stuff on tap and behind the bar here. Goes down nicely with the delish menu of tacos, wings and burgers.
Netherworld craft beer bar at the junction of Brunswick Street and St Paul’s Terrace does things a little differently. The retro-themed games and arcade bar has 15 pinball machines, 25 arcade machines, classic consoles and countless board games, a mostly vegan menu and 24 draft taps of local and interstate beer, cider and mixed elixirs as well as handmade sodas. Choose from IPA, red ale, hazy pale ale, mandarin IPA, blackberry sour, mid larger, pale ale, larger, ginger lime & lemon myrtle pale lager, mosaic oat cream IPA, stout, extra special bitter and imperial strawberry rhubarb sour. Local labels to sample include Felons, Aether Brewing, Ballistic and Slipstream.
Tucked away on Bridge Street is the Byron Bay-based Stone & Wood Brisbane Brewery, located in a sprawling heritage building right next to the rail line. The operational brewery has an eight-hectolitre brewhouse and five fermenters to craft a range of limited-release beers – a rotating series of weird and wonderful small-batch brews exclusive to Stone & Wood Brisbane. You can also choose from their extensive All Year Beer range including Jasper Ale, Garden Ale, East Point and Cloud Catcher – as well, of course, their ever-popular Pacific Ale.
If you walk past The Prince Consort’s ground floor parlour, you’ll find the open-air oasis of the Garden Bar brimming with botanicals for sun-soaked afternoons. The Heritage-listed old English-style pub has a wide range of beers on taps including lagers, Guinness, IPAs and a rotating tap of sours. On a Wednesday you can pair your pint with a $15 200g steak.
You will know you’ve reached The Sound Garden when you see the hanging gardens and the seven-metre tree growing inside the venue. There are two bars to choose from in this two-storey space and both serve a good selection of local beers, imported options and a regular rotation of small and independent brewery beers on tap. There’s always a local musician playing on Friday nights and live music on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons.
There’s plenty of local, imported and craft beers to enjoy in one of Hotel Carrington’s two new secret garden areas, joined by a cool exposed brick alleyway. This pub mixes old-world charm with a modern makeover and serves pub classics like salads, pizza, burgers and modern Australian cuisine. It also has live sports playing on the Valley’s biggest screens and live music every weekend.
– October 2022
