Union Hotel

Ask any beer nerd where they like to drink, and you’re likely to get a short, well-researched list of possible responses. We’d lay London to a brick that the Union Hotel on south King Street sits somewhere towards the top.

This Newtown local has 22 taps and even more bottles of both Australia’s finest and oddest, as well as some innovations from overseas. The pub regularly hosts tap takeovers by cult producers such as Mountain Culture, and its annual Dark Nights series – which sees the tap list dominated by stouts, porters and brown ales for one night only – is a highlight in the Sydney craft beer calendar.

While you’d be wise to spring for a tasting paddle and try the wares, your night doesn’t have to be all about beer – the bar stocks around 24 gins (mainly Australian) and around 30 whisky options.

Despite the impressive range of brews this doesn’t feel like a beer pub. Families fill up the bistro, scraggy-bearded Newtownians queue for pool games, football fans gather to watch A League and AFL for the away games, and local bands fill the front bar with their friends and followers every other weekend.