“Relaxed Backyard Meets Beachside Bliss” at Freshwater Brewing Company’s New Brookvale Warehouse Taproom

Freshwater Brewing Company has opened a taproom and restaurant in a warehouse in industrial Brookvale – joining a raft of other breweries in the area, including Bucketty’s, 4 Pines and Nomad Brewing Co. The space is splashed in pastels, and inside you’ll find easy-drinking drops, and dishes that are the perfect foil for a crisp beer.

“We wanted to have a home where we could welcome our community,” Jonny Bucknall, who co-owns the brewery with Brett Phillips (who’s also head brewer), Tom Bruce, Chloe Morgan-Webster and Marv Slocombe, tells Broadsheet. “Being the sixth brewery in the area, we had to do things a little differently to complement our neighbours.”

To that end, they went for a “light, bright, optimistic” and decidedly beachy feel, in collaboration with design studio Heliconia. Potted palms are dotted throughout, and colourful chairs of various heights sit around white-wood and pink-tiled tables and a giant, pink, horseshoe-shaped bar. DJs add to the good vibes on weekend afternoons.

On the taps is Freshwater Brewing Company’s six-strong range of beers, which they started brewing in 2021. “Our beers fit the [Northern] Beaches lifestyle,” says Bucknall.

An easy place to start is the Freshie Pils, which is German-style and features European hops. For fans of Corona, there’s the Wedge Cerveza, a Mexican-style corn lager “with a salty-citrus zing, brewed for hot days on the beach”. Then there’s the Secrets Hazy Pale, which is big on tropical flavours.

If beer’s not your thing, you’ll be well served by the spritz on tap, as well as the nicely curated wine list. It features some interesting pét-nats and natural wines, including the big, chocolatey, fruity Montepulciano-Shiraz from Ari’s.

The food menu is similarly approachable. Created by executive chef Daniel Wilson (Dandy, London), Bucknall describes it as “Aussie nostalgia – relaxed backyard meets beachside bliss”.

After a morning in the surf you’ll be ready to tackle the giant fish finger sanga: two super-thick slices of white loaf bread holding crumbed sustainably sourced Australian fish, dill-pickle tartare, tomato and cos lettuce. The ploughman's is ideal for tackling a long afternoon of beer (or wine) tasting. It’s a plate laden with locally baked baguette, just-sliced mortadella, cheese from Kiama’s The Pines Farm, and honeycomb made with Australian bush honey by Wilson’s brother, as well as house-made piccalilli and date relish. Sausage rolls and barbeque prawn skewers also lean into the Aussie nostalgia factor.

Freshwater Brewing Company
4 Powells Road, Brookvale

Hours:
Wed & Thu 4pm–11pm
Fri 4pm–late
Sat midday–late
Sun midday–10pm

freshwaterbrewing.com.au
@freshwater_brewing