There Will Be Beer :: Young Henry's (Sydney Craft Beer Week)

There Will Be Beer :: Young Henry’s (Sydney Craft Beer Week)

October 17th 2013

A guide to Sydney’s Pub’s and Bars for Cheapskates and Drunkards

In case the title of these reviews are too vague, let me explain something.

I love beer.

Beer is not a drink to me, it’s something else entirely.

It is the great equaliser. No matter who you are, what you do, what you believe, how much you earn, or which side of the political fence you’re on, the one thing that unites this country of ours is our collective enjoyment of beer.

For the longest time, our choice of beer has been limited to the rather dull tastes of the big breweries, which have almost all been bought up by foreign companies, resulting in the lowering of both prices and quality (that’s globalisation for you).

But in recent years, there has been a huge rise in home and micro brewing. These small, unique beers have changed the face of drinking in Sydney; providing variety and flavour to an otherwise tasteless palette.

In honour of Sydney Craft Beer Week (which really should expand to an entire month), it is time to begin shining some light and love on these young upstarts behind this rev-ale-ution (just so you know, that isn’t going to be the only pun in this article).

And you can’t get younger than Young Henrys Brewery.

With a solid range of core brews and regular collaborations with bands and organisations – such as You Am I (Brew Am I), Front End Loader (Fresh Six), Big Village (Big Village Brew), as well as a one-off, impossibly tasty FBi Radio Red – Young Henrys have quickly established a strong presence in the pub and bar scene, and received the love and loyalty of the Inner-west.

Tucked down a back street off the bustling Enmore Rd, you could easily walk past if you didn’t know what you were looking for (and if the smell of yeast wasn’t so prevalent).

The brewery itself has the feel of a homebrew set-up that’s been taken to obsessive levels; it is a warehouse occupied mostly by mechanical beasts of brewden, these beautiful contraptions swell like pregnant mothers ready to release their bundles of joy to the world.

A small bar sits like a cozy bird’s nest in the middle of the warehouse and is manned by some of the friendliest and most easy going staff I have yet to meet. Whenever you go in, you’re more than likely to end up having a chin-wag with the bar staff and one too many beers with the brewers themselves, who are regularly perched on a nearby stool, sampling their product with the same satisfied look Giuseppe had when he realised he had created a real boy.

As for the beer itself? Well, words fail me.

Young Henrys use the standard ingredients of hops, yeast and malt, but simply find the best kind of hops, yeast and malt they can get their hands on. With that simplicity at their core, they then start getting experimental and create some very interesting creations, such as their short run but very popular Brew Tang Clam; a tasty clam stout they made while listening to Wu Tang Clan, and which they would only give you if you said “Brew Tang Clam ain’t nothin to shuck wit!” when asking for a glass.

Real Ale, Hop Ale, Natural Lager, Newtowner and Cloudy Cider are the general drinks on tap, and can usually be found in long necks in bottle shops around the Inner-west, but the limited edition brews they create are something else. Should you walk into the brewery and find a beer not in the five listed above, then for the love of god you must drink; these are usually one-off brews, so when the keg runs dry, the tears will flow and you’ll be haunted by the thought, “What did I miss out on?” for the rest of your life.

Every beer at Young Henrys is $5 and Growlers (which are two litre takeaway bottles) are between $25-$35. You can, however, bring back the bottle for refills, which will save you $7 and bring the prices down to $18-$28 (talk about stoutstainable! …okay, that one was low.)

It is impossible to have a bad drink at Young Henrys. Even if you find one that isn’t to your liking, their range is so varied that you’re sure to find something to take up the position of ‘Favourite Drink’.

If you’re a craft beer connoisseur, an amateur homebrewer looking to gain a bit of knowledge, or just a lover of quality beer; then the gang at Young Henrys are ready to serve.