We all know the Inner West has a pretty wicked brewery scene, but Sydney breweries can be found well beyond Marrickville and its neighbours. From Brookvale to Bondi, Alexandria and Botany, Sydney is now gilded with a host of breweries perfect to neck a few tasting paddles in—and loads are dog-friendly, too.
We’ve searched high and low for the best breweries across Sydney for you to kick back in, including loads of new breweries worth pulling yourself away from your reliable favourite to try. From the sustainably minded to the nomadic and locally inspired, Sydney’s brewery lineup is as stacked as festival lineup, all of them are waiting patiently for you to walk through the doors and give them a taste.
Here are the best breweries in Sydney.
Freshwater Brewing Company
4 Powells Road, Brookvale
Image credit: Freshwater Brewing Company | Instagram
Freshwater Brewing is not one of those places that follows the rule books on how to create a good brewery. With gelato colours, natural wine, a Michelin-trained chef, and easy-drinking "chill, not craft" beers, Freshwater is different to the rest.
Complete with an open-plan taproom with space for 120, a horseshoe-shaped bar and 14 taps, Freshwater is a bright and summery space. On tap there is hazy pale ale, floral pilsner and crisp lager. If you fancy something a bit different the brewery also has fizzy pet nat, spritz, and alcohol-free options. This Sydney brewery also has a fully-fledged restaurant doing Sydney Rock oysters with finger lime vinaigrette, BBQ prawn skewers, Swallow Rock pork sausage rolls, and fish finger sandwiches.
Young Henrys Brewery
76 Wilford Street, Newtown
Possibly one of Sydney’s most iconic homegrown heroes, you’ll find Young Henrys HQ in the heart of Newtown. Young Henrys specialises in craft beers and ales brewed on-site, with a cellar door-style tasting space in the middle of the brewery.
Though Young Henrys' impact surpasses more than just beer these days, it’s still independent. The Newtown brewery has upgraded to a high-efficiency brewing system and kegs, cans, and bottles are sent out to watering holes across Australia. The core range oozes well-balanced and easy-drinking beers and no matter what collab these guys are able to come up with (be it a lager for The Foo Fighters or a session hemp IPA that uses a world-first water-soluble hemp oil with Byron brand Afends), Young Henrys' transcendent Newtowner—a pale ale and homage to the place it first called home—is an ever-giving classic.
Curly Lewis
102-106 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach
Image credit: Curly Lewis | Instagram
The first brewery to open in the Bondi area, Curly Lewis is the place you want to spend summer weekends. Founded by a group of mates—Adam Richards, Oliver dos Remedios, Gareth Morton, Loren Morton, and Scotty Morgan—this staple Sydney brewery opened in August 2022.
"We felt there was a gap in the market for beer lovers in the Eastern Suburbs. You had to go to the Inner West or Northern Beaches for a brewery experience," said Curly Lewis Co-Founder and Head of Brand Oli dos Remedios.
The 120-person Sydney brewery features an outdoor space overlooking Bondi Beach, a dining area and the bar, with a whopping 20 taps pouring the brand's two core brews plus a rotating list of "wildcard" beers like a salty gose, a coffee stout, and a red IPA. As for the food, much-loved Waverley local Frank's Deli is heading up the kitchen—so think European-style snacks like meatballs and deli platters, plus the famous Reuben sanga.
Bob Hawke Beer & Leisure Centre
8-12 Sydney Street, Marrickville
Image credit: Bob Hawke Beer & Leisure Centre | Website
Walking into the Bob Hawke Beer & Leisure Centre is like stepping foot into the '80s. With dining tables featuring lazy Susans, mismatched furniture, pool tables and arcade games, this Sydney brewery is a tribute to the beer brand's namesake and all things nostalgic about Aussie beer culture and Australia in the '80s.
Expect Old Parliament House-style wood panelling, an Australian-Chinese bistro called The Lucky Prawn (with must-order prawn toast), and an actual pool room modelled on Bob Hawke's own pool room and stacked with memorabilia and photos of the former PM. As for the beers, the full-service bar features 10 taps, showcasing Hawke's core range, as well as a special tap on rotation reserved for One Hit Wonder limited-release styles. You beauty.
Mixtape Brewing & Bar
142a Victoria Road, Marrickville
From the name alone, you can probably tell that stepping into Mixtape Brewing will be an experience that will send you back to simpler times. Featuring an old arcade machine, a 1960s Nick Scali lounge, a tiled bar and a neon cassette sign out the front, a trip to Mixtape is something you will definitely be telling your friends about.
Closing the gap between the Grifter and Sauce breweries whilst on the ale tour, this Sydney brewery houses 18 taps containing beers brewed both in-house, down the road and overseas. Also, with its 50-strong wine list focussing mainly on natural bottles, it won’t be difficult to find something that suits your needs. Plus, if you fancy some grazing whilst you down your booze, the on-site kitchen also serves a rotating menu of hits including fries, pizzas, kimchi dumplings and even vanilla ice cream with Milo.
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Village: Wildflower And Mountain Culture
11-13 Brompton Street, Marrickville
Image credit: Village | Supplied
Inner West brewery Wildflower is all about the wild ale, and the crew has a big focus on fermenting beer with a diverse culture of brewers yeast, wild yeast and bacteria (also known as mixed fermentation). One of the differentiating factors between Wildflower and other Sydney breweries is the old-world process of mixed fermentation, with yeast and bacteria foraged from around New South Wales. And the brews here are mighty tasty because of it.
Wildflower shares a Marrickville taproom with Blue Mountains brewery Mountain Culture, who run a further 10 taps—including five specially imported, Czech-made side-pull taps to properly showcase the texture of their signature lagers. Village offers a regularly rotating, satisfying menu of nibbles like koshihikari arancini, fried Goldstreet Dairy Jersey cheese (a must), and a platter of pickles, nuts and cheese—beer food.
Yulli’s Brews
75A Burrows Road, Alexandria
After dropping their first batch of beer in 2014, James Harvey and Karl Cooney were eager to go large and brew beer that could stand alone in your everyday pub, and also ramp up any meal in a fine dining feast. And so, Yulli’s Brews came into being. Located in a large industrial warehouse space in Alexandria, this Sydney brewery is dog-friendly and, with its large, repurposed tables and bar stools, Yulli’s feels like your classic brewery with a few home touches.
Serving up Yulli’s core range including the flagship, Norman Australian Ale, the brewery also stocks a host of others such as Maple Pecan Brown Ale and the Amanda Out Mandarin IPA. If you don’t fancy a beer, the bar is also fully stocked with a large selection of vegan wines from all over NSW. If you’re feeling a little peckish, Yulli’s also has a worldly, plant-based food menu with delicacies such as gyros with home-made flatbread, handmade dumplings and more.
Batch Brewing Co.
44 Sydenham Road, Marrickville; 292 Stanmore Road, Petersham; 1 Little Pier Street, Haymarket
Batch Brewing Company (BBC) is the most traditional yet trendy place you get every visit. Handcrafting beer, batch by batch, the boys here brew with the TLC that this beer-loving nation needs. Marrickville is home to BBC’s original brewery and tasting room and you can wet your whistle at the bar or take away anything from a couple of tinnies to a bomber (640ml), or treat yourself to a growler (1.9L). You can also school yourself on all things brewing by booking one of the weekly tours.
Its Petersham location is hidden inside the epic Public House Petersham pub and this small-batch brewery is where the team (much like Wonka) produce experimental flavours, test, refine processes and work to create some stellar collaborative brews.
Modus Operandi Brewing Co.
14 Harkeith Street, Mona Vale
Image credit: Modus Operandi | Instagram
Modus Operandi Brewing Co. is like Sydney’s instant portal to the US craft brewery scene. The beer here is always brewed with fresh, live yeast flown in from the US and speciality malts and hops sourced from all over the world. Plus, it recently opened a brewery in Newcastle (did someone say weekend getaway?).
As for this Sydney brewery's core range, there’s a Modus XPA (which is basically Hawaii in a tinnie),a crisp cult classic Modus PA, the Silent Knight Porter sporting nine malts and blends of chocolate and caramel, the Former Tenant Red IPA (another cult classic), a Sonic Prayer IPA, which is the best example of a heavy-hitting American IPA and, finally, a Wippa Snippa Session Pale—big on flavour and light-bodied. And yep, all of these beers are available on tap, and it's a dog-friendly joint, and there's crowd-pleasing pub-style feeds.
Sauce Brewing Co.
1a Mitchell Street, Marrickville
You could very well get your beer and tan on in Sauce Brewing’s completely open beer garden. This Sydney microbrewery creates a solid range of craft beers, so whether you’re a hop head, sour freak, or an ale fan, you’ll be well looked after.
This independent craft brewery is all about creating flavoursome beers and the Marrickville brewery is the home of all its beer production. You’ll find it tucked away at the end of a small laneway and it sports a taproom and the aforementioned sun-drenched beer garden (open to the public from Fridays through to Sundays), which is the ideal place to be on a lazy afternoon with a tasting paddle or pint by your side—especially when their friends with food trucks pull up.
Dad & Dave’s Brewing
45 Mitchell Road, Brookvale
Brewing on the Northern Beaches for over a decade, Dad & Dave’s is, as the name suggests, a family affair. Their brewery and taproom in Brookvale are spacious with plenty of tables both inside and out, and it’s dog-friendly.
As if to pre-empt the hunger pangs that come from immersing yourself in their delicious hoppy creations, there’s a Dad & Dave’s branded food truck permanently ensconced out front serving up moreish burgers, loaded fries, and popcorn chicken. As well as the range of brews you’d expect, you can also sample nips from Wildspirit: a distillery run by the Dad & Dave’s extended family.
Philter Brewing
92-98 Sydenham Road, Marrickville
Image credit: Philter Brewing | Website
Situated in a once abandoned yoghurt factory, Philter Brewing is one of the many places you have to stop at whilst on the Marrickville ale tour. Housing a state-of-the-art Premier Stainless 4 vessel 25-hectoliter brewhouse with a maximum capacity of 2.5 million litres per year, the venue churns out some of Sydney’s most unique brews. Having won awards for its tropical session ale, crisp lager, and hop- heavy IPA, the beers are waiting on the tap practically begging you to try them.
If you don’t fancy a beer under the Philter’s vintage glass lights, you can always try upstairs at Marrickville Springs. Located on the rooftop of the building, the pastel bar will add a touch of Palm Springs-esque summer vibes to your boozy ale tour.
One Drop Brewing Co.
5 Erith Street, Botany
Image credit: One Drop Brewing Co. | Instagram
Next stop: South Sydney's first microbrewery. The name One Drop Brewing Co. is inspired by the same founding ideas behind reggae music (with its signature “one drop” beat) and the concept of bringing people together to connect over all the good stuff. The Sydney microbrewery unravels itself in a mammoth warehouse space, with high ceilings, a central bar area, suspended lights, high tables, DJs on the weekends, and all the lush plants and murals.
If you head all the way to the back of the brewery, there’s a colourful beer garden that sees a rotation of local food trucks churn out some big feeds, and a big ol’ fire pit you can warm up to in the cooler months. One Drop is the kind of place where you can throw caution to the wind and try that one weird beer you’ve always been to nervous to. From fruity sours to milkshake IPAs, it’s effectively Willy Wonka's chocolate factory for beers—including a rotating beer slushie that's always on the menu.
7th Day
14/9 Powells Road, Brookvale
The motto of 7th Day is "Drink Good, Do Good", and they combine running a taphouse with supporting causes in the local community and beyond. Not that you need an extra excuse to hand over your hard-earned to them because their beer is so damn good in the first place.
From starting out as a crowd-funded operation back in 2016 to where they are today, 7th Day has continued to expand its range which you can enjoy in the northern Sydney brewery's spacious surroundings. There are over a dozen of their creations on tap and, if you’re really a fan, you can buy kegs to take home with you.
Kicks Brewing Company
31 Shepherd Street, Marrickville
Image credit: Kicks Brewing Company | Instagram
Beyond the grey roller doors of Kick’s Brewing lies a sleek Sydney brewery that will make you feel like you’re at a fancy five-star restaurant. Opened in 2023, Kicks Brewing is one of the newer breweries on the gilded streets of Marrickville, and is known for its punchy American IPAs.
Transforming a once empty warehouse into a 40-seat venue with art deco lighting, cacti and black and white tiles, a trip to Kicks is a polite pause from the rambunctious surrounding arra. With 10 beers on tap and a series of rotating beers on tap, it is the perfect place to experiment with something new. At Kicks you can also sample four beers on a tasting paddle or order by the glass. Plus, if you fancy taking a few home with you, Kicks' beers are also available as tinnies; a little goody bag if you will.
The Grifter Brewing Co.
1/391-397 Enmore Road, Marrickville
Image credit: The Grifter Brewing Co. | Instagram
The Grifter is the brainchild of Matt King, Glenn Wignall and Trent Evans—a couple of mates who are all about making good and honest beer. At this Sydney brewery in a funky Marrickville warehouse, you’ll find everything from the far-out and fruit-driven to classic styles and new-world spin—with every Grifter beer boasting the best-quality hops, malts and sheer drinkability.
The Grifter PA is a big classic and a golden pale ale with a light malt body and a zesty hop-forward finish. Coming in at a close second, and for anyone with a keen palate for the fruity stuff, is the ever-iconic Pink Galah Pink Lemonade Sour. This mix is inspired by a sour that’s secondary fermented with fresh raspberries and blended with 100% Australian lemon juice.
The real fun, though? The Grifter Brewing Co. lets you customise your own beer case to take home, so you can pick 'n’ mix from the likes of Grifter’s Acid Drop Hoppy Sour, C-Boogie Cucumber Kolsch, Grifter Pilsner, Horses Head American Red, Serpents Kiss, and The Omen Oatmeal Stout.
Wayward Brewing Co.
1 Gehrig Lane, Camperdown
Wayward Brewing Company is like one of those hidden treasures that those ‘in the know’ seem to know about. From the outside it doesn’t look like much, but venture beyond the roller doors and you will discover one of the Inner West’s greatest breweries.
Featuring walls adorned in wax, cascading barrels, motorbikes and beer taps, going for a beer at Wayward sort of feels like you’ve entered another world. Bearing the ethos of taking the road less travelled, the team have created a distinctly unique Wayward experience. Inspired by owner Peter Phillip’s love of both travel and home-brewing, Wayward is clearly a labour of love for all those involved.
Operating a modern 20-hectoliter, four-vessel brew house, the brewery has 24 taps which pour barrel-aged beer, kettle sours, smoked porters and five flavours of Wayward Seltzer. You bring the mates; they’ll pour the pints.
4 Pines Brewery
29/43-45 E Esplanade, Manly; 4F/9-13 Winbourne Road, Brookvale; 313 Barrenjoey Road, Newport
Image credit: 4 Pines | Instagram
This Northern Beaches-born brewery churns out seven kinds of beery goodness and a classic summer tinnie, which looks like a number of ales, Kolsch, hefeweizen, and a nitro stout that’ll knock your socks off.
On top of this, 4 Pines also throws down a pretty huge commitment to working towards reducing the impact it has on the environment. 4 Pines is always reducing its water usage, eliminating plastics where possible from its supply chain, sorting waste, combining electricity and natural gas to power these breweries and in 2018, a 100kW solar system was installed to power its Brookvale venue. While we love the balcony at the OG Manly location, the 20-tap, dog-friendly Truck Bar in Brookvale is our pick for watching sports or catching live music on the weekend.
Atomic Beer Project
158 Regent Street, Redfern
Image credit: Atomic Beer Project | Instagram
Nestled in the bustling heart of Redfern, the Atomic Beer Project has to be one of the most exciting breweries in Sydney right now. Through mixing urban grit, Asian fusion and '80s sci-fi, walking into Atomic feels like something very unique. Featuring a micro-brewery and tanks on site, the brewery plays host to numerous classics including the must-try Atomic Pale Ale, the Atomic Hazy and the Mando Sour (a literal beer that tastes like mandarin).
Priding itself as both a taproom, restaurant and working space, the brewery also has a scintillating food menu. There you’ll find a selection of classics such as fried chicken, chips and burgers, but with an Asian twist. For those looking to add a bit of entertainment into their brewery tour, the brewery also features a Monday night trivia competition and a Thursday night game ‘Wheel of Pourtune’.
Bucketty’s Brewing Co.
26 Orchard Road, Brookvale
Before visiting Bucketty’s, it’s worth checking out their blog for the story of how they went from purchasing a plot of land in the Hunter Valley to being a great success in Brookvale, and the myriad problems they’ve encountered in between. Now, though, the Sydney brewery and bar is enjoying its moment, with queues to get in to the warehouse on some evenings.
There are burgers, tacos, wings, and more on the menu to go along with their extensive selection of signature brews, which includes a habanero ale and a Mexican lager alongside classics like IPAs, stouts, and hazy ales. If that wasn’t enough, there’s a packed schedule of live music, ranging from local acts to ARIA-nominated national names.
Willie The Boatman
Precinct 75 Suite 601, 75 Mary Street, St Peters
Image credit: Willie The Boatman | Instagram
This laidback Sydney brewery offers a range of beers ready for the taking and gourmet food truck bites like bacon-wrapped hotdogs to satisfy every belly. Aside from the opus magnum of craft beer, Willie The Boatman boasts some serious interior game. There are a whole lot of suspending green plants, long beer hall-style tables, wooden booths, and a sweet lounge area too. In other words, it’s a great place to hang out—dogs included.
Though Willie micro-brews, there’s always more than enough locally-brewed beer to go around. Standout beers with tonnes of character include the Albo Corn Ale, Old Salty Melon Gose, and the iconic Tempe Tim pale ale. Every Thursday, Willie’s also does $5 core range beers and Wednesday calls for $5 schooners across the board. Keep an eye out for their epic car park parties, too.
Basement Brewhouse
8 Greenfield Parade, Bankstown
Basement Brewhouse is one of Sydney’s true hidden gems. Located inside Bankstown Sports, the brewery makes more than 13 of its own beers on-site with four 1000-litre microbrewery tanks and multiple small-batch offerings too, which are all exclusive to the brewery.
Sample the best of the lot with the social brewing experience, which includes a brewhouse paddle, checking out how Basement’s brew is made, and chatting to brewers. If you’re keen to amp things up a notch, a private tour will see you join one of the brewers to sample their core and limited-release beers.
While the beer is most definitely why you need to visit, Basement Brewhouse also rocks some sick feeds. Think a big range of burgers (with options for veggos too) and Reuben sandwiches with corned Wagyu silverside and sauerkraut.
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Main image credit: Freshwater Brewing | Instagram
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