4 Pines is an iconic Australian beer brand. Founded as a tiny brewpub in Manly in 2008, the brewery was never able to keep up with demand for their product. An additional site, multiple brewery expansions followed before they shocked the industry in 2017 by announcing their sale to AB InBev.
Now I know many of you are wondering why you’re reading about a pioneering NSW brand in a segment to documenting the Victorian brewing industry. Well; in 2019 4 Pines teamed up with 100 Burgers Group to open a hospitality venue, complete with 10hL brewery capable of an annual output of about 130,000L; which is certainly nothing to sneeze at.
Brewery Type
Physical
Region
Northern Suburbs
Tasting Room
1 Frith Street, Brunswick
The kit I mentioned above takes pride of place in the inside part of the taproom. And so it should; who doesn’t love walking into a room of stainless! It’s a really nice kit, which has a whole heap of special features including water & steam recovery additions to help minimize it’s environmental footprint. The 8fermenters line the entire length of the bar, with the brewhouse taking pride of place up front. Inside has quite an industrial feel, concrete floors with wooden tables, stools & exposed scaffolding
But you don’t really come to Welcome to Brunswick to sit inside, outside is the main attraction! First off, it’s enormous with seating for up to 450 people! There’s loads of long wooden picnic tables in the beer garden, most setup under a large roof to provide some respite from any adverse weather. There’s greenery all around, colourful murals painted on every wall & plenty of dogs – they’re not only welcome, they’re encouraged!
Alongside the sustainability measures built into the brewhouse, the venue also composts all of their organic waste – including the plates from the food vendors, which are made from sugarcane. In keeping with this theme, they have the most bike racks I’ve seen at any brewery in Australia (I’m sure one of the Danish ones I visited had more – but I can’t remember which for the life of me!)
The initial plan was for a rotating array of rotating food trucks to feed the masses, although COVID put paid to that. Brunswick Smokers have setup residence at the time of writing and are putting out an array of deliciously smoked meat & veg (genuinely some of the juiciest chicken I’ve ever eaten), whilst there is also room for a Mr Burger food truck – one of the 100 Burgers Group original business venture.
As soon as I saw German Pilsner on the taplist when I walked into the venue, I knew what I would be writing about! This, like all beers brewed at Welcome To Brunswick, falls into the 4 Pines “Keller Door” Series; their limited releases if you will. I was really impressed with the beer! It’s got a nice clean malt profile, plenty of grassy/herbal bitterness & no obvious fermentation faults. The highest praise I can give it, is that if not for time constraints I would’ve had another!
Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!
