Doctor’s Orders Brewing, Night Nurse and Zephyr all at Murray’s at Manly

So, after a quick swim at Manly I popped into Murray’s with one of the bambinos for a quick spot of lunch. Now, whilst I love a good Murray’s, I also like how Murray’s has a couple of guest taps on the go, and it is almost always interesting stuff – Australian Brewery, Pinchgut Brewing or in today’s case Doctor’s Orders Brewing. In fact, the Doctor had done well, because he had two of his offerings on the go – the Zephyr Double White Ale and Night Nurse Stout White Stout. (There’s nothing straightforward about a Doctor’s Orders Brewing beer).

So I opt for a Zephyr to accompany my calamari, and whilst sipping away on what is a cracking beer I enter it into Untappd. My daughter’s eyes roll, but we settle into enjoying the view and the beer (or in her case a pink lemonade). Zephyr is an Australian take on a “White Ale morphing into a Belgian Witbier”. As well as coriander, it uses Australian botanicals like lemon myrtle in the mix. It is very, very refreshing and so well made you wouldn’t know that it was a 7.5%’er. I was debating whether to order the Night Nurse, when a guy at the next table starts grinning at me. “Happy chappy – I thought”. As I summon the waitress another bloke from the table comes over and says “Are you Back of the Ferry because I’m the Doctor”. Turns out that the Doctor aka @DrsOrdersBrewin was on a little brewers day out with a couple of lads from Australian Brewery and saw my check-in. My daughter tried to find somewhere to hide and the Doctor and I got chatting. Turns out that the Doctor is a old mate of Shawn Sherlock, who is the head brewer of Murray’s. The Doctor is a self confessed “cuckoo brewer”, brewing his concoctions at other people’s breweries. He is currently brewing out of Australian Brewery at Rouse Hill and Young Henrys at Newtown.

And so to my second beer – Night Nurse Stout White Stout, which is a collaboration that the Doctor has made with Young Henrys. One of the good things about a Doctor’s Orders Brewing beer is its name. This is a fellow whose seasonal beers have been called “Defibrillator”, “Synapse”, “Iron Lung” and Plasma” in the past, so of course the name is unusual. Another good thing about a Doctor’s Orders Brewing beer is that they challenge you. When you order a stout – you expect black. As the Doctor told me, stout in this instance means strong, when stout was an adjective and not a beer style. He said think “Imperial English Summer Ale”. It’s another cracker – definitely strong and complex, but again refreshing. Loved it. It isn’t often you get to try a beer with a brewer in another brewer’s pub. Thanks for saying gidday Doc, and I’m looking forward to your next prescription.