Humans of 2010 – Nick Shaw
How long have you been with Sydney Brewery?
I have worked closely with the Sydney Brewery team for about 6 years now. I was the manager at Sydney Brewery in Surry Hills up until the start of this year, when I began my new role as Brewery Representative.
What are people's reactions when they realise everything is brewed in house?
Our brewery in Surry Hills is, unfortunately, too small to be able to brew everything on site. Our core range is brewed at our larger production brewery in the Hunter Valley. The Surry Hills’ brewery is where you will find the brewers experimenting with new and exciting recipes and pushing out limited-releases that you can only find in Surry Hills.
Usually the response is one of excitement and surprise; not many people expect to find an operating brewery within Surry Hills and it’s always fun going through the current releases and what is brewing or will be available in the future.
Sydney Brewery have won a litany of awards, what have been the stand-outs for you?
I think the culmination of our success was the 2021 Royal Qld Beer Show where our Pilsner won two trophies, including Grand Champion Beer!
We also received 3 Gold medals (Pilsner, East Coast IPA & Blue Swimmer Summer Ale) and were named Champion Small/Medium Brewery. It really accentuated what we already knew: our brewers are super stars! This was followed up by a strong showing at the recent AIBA down in Melbourne. My personal favourites at the moment are the Speakeasy Black IPA brewed by Jarred (aka Bossy) or the Toasted Marshmallow Raspberry & Strawberry Sour by Tom (aka Big Sassy).
What is the best night for locals to come down to Sydney Brewery to sample the goods?
Saturday nights would be my recommendation, we have live music pumping on both Fridays and Saturdays however Fridays are usually pretty packed with the after-work crowd. Saturdays are a bit more chilled, which gives you a better chance to sample some beers, chat to the guys behind the bar and enjoy the music.
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