Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel, Sydney, Australia
16 Kent St.
Close to 150 breweries with pubs have sprang up Down Under. About a dozen have surfaced in Sydney where people flock to landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. Though some new breweries in Melbourne appear to be hotels—at least that’s what you might expect of The Portland Hotel or Bell’s Hotel— you’ll visit these brewpubs to discover you’re wrong. Call it an Aussie quirk. Fortuitously, Sydney offers truth in advertising.
The Lord Nelson in Sydney dates back to 1841.
The Lord Nelson Hotel was founded in 1841 and openedAustralia’s first modern brewpub in 1985. Housed in a heritage-listed sandstone building, there are always six house beers served alongside classic English pub grub. All but one of their ales weighs in at 5 percent alcohol or less Their flagship, Old Admiral dark ale, is the one to order first while Three Sheets, dubbed an Australian Pale Ale, is regarded as a house favorite. Note that rooms start at $130 AUS (with an exchange rate that’s almost one-to-one per US dollar but less so in Americans’ favor), or if you’d like your own private bathroom, those suites run $190.
Amble over to the Australian Heritage Hotel, referred to as The Australian, or simply the Aussie, which is another true B, B, & B (bed, breakfast, and beer). Their ambitious beer program features 10 draught offerings and more than 120 bottles, 47 from Sydney. Scharer’s Lager is a house beer named after Geoffrey Scharer who used to own and run the pub and brew his own beer. Rooms start at $99 and the hotel is central to soaking up the local flavor–literally. The main attractions on the pub’s menu are the gourmet pizzas topped with local fauna: kangaroo, crocodile, emu, and barramundi. The meat on the ‘roo pizza is marinated in roasted native capsicum and cranberries, and the recommended beer pairing is Boag’s Premium. If you order the pie with salt-water croc (marinated in spicy coconut cream and Thai herbs), pair it with Gulf Brewery’s Humpback Pale Ale.
