Brewery crawling in Northern Hobart

An all too infrequent visit to Hobart, but at least this visit is on a Friday and I stayed the night. So a great opportunity to venture further a field and discover some new breweries. Gees, Uber makes this easy.

First stop was Spotty Dog Brewery & Taproom in Derwent Park. What a simply stunning spot. There are too many breweries and/or taprooms with a better position. What a sensational fitout and they’ve made the most of the setting with a two story floor to ceiling window and a great deck that looks over the yachts and across to the peaks of Wellington Park. The beers are excellent. An early contender for BotD was the “You Want It All” double IPA. A superb Sipper™. A hefty start to the late afternoon – thank heavens for middies. Great to see plenty of punters there as well.

Whilst only 2.8 kilometres separated the Albert Brewery from Spotty Dog, the locations could not be more different. The Albert Brewery is in a light industrial area opposite weatherboard houses. I sat outside to enjoy the weather, but they’ve done a great job on the inside as well. The food menu looked great. After trying currywurst in Frankfurt, I find it tough to go past when I see it, but I was stuffed from the corporate trough. Next time.

They’ve gone long on lagers at the Albert Brewery. Of the 14 beers they’ve brewed according to Untappd, 10 have been lagers, and seven of the twelve taps were serving lagers. So I went long on the lagers on my tasting paddle. And the colour wasn’t the only think that differentiated them. The stand-out for mine was the Black Lager. Great toasty roasty flavours. The Amber Lager was also very good.

A local gave a big wrap on Overland Brewers & Distillers. As my visit to the Salamanca Markets revealed the next day, there’s a ton of distillers in Tasmania. I stuck with beer and that was a good choice. The draught is a fine beer in a Kölsch style. The Farmhouse was a little underwhelming, but I’m looking very forward to the Double IPA which I bought as takeaway.

Another brewery in this neck of the woods is Captain Bligh’s, who proudly describe themselves as “very small”. Whilst they are open on a Friday – it is only the third Friday of the month. Fortunately they have a stall at the Salamanca Markets, and I was able to pick up a four pack to try later.