On Thursday the 12th of October I visited the Wayward Brewing Co. in Camperdown, New South Wales. This brewery was officially opened almost two years ago, although, Peter, the owner and brewer had been contract brewing for a few years prior to that. They will be celebrating their second anniversary around the 30th of October which coincides with the end of the Sydney Craft Beer Week. It will be a very busy and boozy time around Wayward as they have eight different events planned in eight days at the brewery, as well as being involved in quite a few other events off site during Sydney Beer Week. They then plan to follow it up with a three day weekend celebration for their own anniversary.
The brewery runs four 20 hectolitre brew vessels into quite a few fermentation tanks, the largest being 40 hectolitres in size. They also have a small pilot system that is used for special single batch beers, individual collaboration brews and experimental brews of 300 litres.
The brewery and bar are in a building with an alcohol history as it was the premises of a winery about one hundred years ago and part of the taproom is the old barrel rooms from that era. It is a great, spacious venue with room for expansion in the future, if they decide to open more of the underground barrel rooms.
They hold brewery tours on Saturday at both 2pm and 4pm that run for about an hour. They complete the whole brewing process on site including using their own bottling line that has the ability to handle various sizes of bottles. This is fed from two feeders that run straight from the bright tanks. The bar has seventeen beer taps, of which twelve are usually their own beers, and one for cider. The core range is between four and six different varieties, with the rest being seasonal or specialty brews.
The brewery caters food wise by having food trucks come in, ordering in pizza and supplying fresh free popcorn.
The beers that I sampled were:
Elderflower Pilsner, 4.3% abv, this is a collaboration brew with Acre. It has a golden straw colour and a subtle malt aroma. The flavour is one of malt before a gentle bitter dry finish.
Camperdown One, 4.6% abv, this was the original Pale Ale brewed to pay the rent when the brewery first opened. It has a golden colour and a citrus fruit aroma. The taste is of sweet malt that transitions into a fruity, mild bitter finish.
Sour Puss, 3.8% abv, this is a raspberry sour Berliner Weiss with a hazy pink colour and a raspberry aroma. It has an initial taste of raspberries before a pleasant sour finish.
Chimera, 5.1% abv, this is an orange Hefeweizen that is a collaboration with Netherworld. It has a hazy straw colour and a yeast and wheat aroma. Th flavour is of wheat with nice orange hints.
Flava Frais, 6.1% this is a Saison with a golden colour and a spicy yeast aroma. It has a good spicy Saison taste on a mild bitter crisp finish.
Patersbier, 4.3% abv, this is a Belgian style Amber Ale with a malt aroma. It has a nice malty palate of caramel and toffee flavours.
FUSAMI Victory, 6.1% abv, this is an India Pale Lager with a golden colour and a strong tropical fruit aroma. It has a lovely sweet tropical fruit flavour and a good bitterness on the finish.
Oatis, 6.1% abv, this is an oatmeal IPA that has a golden straw colour and a fruity citrus and tropical aroma. It has a sweet malt initial taste and then a fruitiness of tropical fruit before a nice hop bitter finish.
Charmer, 5.0% abv, this is an India Red Ale with an amber colour and a sweet floral hop aroma. It has a great sweet caramel malt taste and then moves into a mild fruity bitterness on the finish.
Midnight Barley Cowboy, 6.0% abv, this nitro hopped Porter that is black in colour with a dark creamy head and a subtle roasted malt aroma. It has a nice smooth mouth feel and a lovely complex malt flavour with hints of caramel and coffee before a mild bitter finish.
BIG Richard, 9.7% abv, this is an oak aged dopplebock with a dark amber colour and a smoky aroma of malt and fruit. It has a rich fruity flavour of Christmas cake. Very nice indeed!
The Wayward Brewing Co. have a wonderful selection of beers that are all very enjoyable. Their venue is fantastic and well worth visiting.
I would like to thank Jason for his hospitality when I was there.
Take the beer less travelled!!
