Back of the Ferry started off as a beer blog in November of 2009. Drinking on the back of the Manly Ferry has been a week day past time for commuters since the 80s and illiards and I joined pommy_ch and lambo in the early 2000s out the back.
We started writing stories about beer and inducting our friends into the traditions of having a couple of beers on the aback of the Ferry after work. The blogging and inductions (157 and counting) continue to this day – albeit less consistently in the halcyon days of the early 2010s. In January 2011, we discovered an app called Untappd. The premise of Untappd is simple. You check-in a beer and where you are drinking it and the app starts to build a database of what you’ve drank. Originally illiards and I started checking in what we drank on the Baclose of the Ferry, but soon it extended beyond that.
Untappd introduced the ability to add a photograph of the beer, which we enthusiastically embraced. The more ridiculous the photo the better. Over the years milestones of unique beers were reached and these were celebrated with friends and family.
At the start of the year, we twigged that 10,000 uniques was in reach and given how much amusement the whole of the Back of the Ferry Untappd thing had given us – we thought let’s check in the 10,000th with our friends and family. And what if we could check in a beer especially made for the event.
We approached Dad and Dave’s and they agreed to brew us a beer and hold an event at their brewery in Brookvale. And so 4 August 2024, clad in Back of the Ferry merch, we checked in our 10,000th unique – “Back of the Ferry 10K XPA”. Our amused and bemused friends and family cheered as 9999 ticked over to 10000 on the big screen. Dave spoke about the XPA brewed to be our 10000th.
Upon reflection, it has been a remarkable journey to the 10000th unique. Over 13 years of diligently checking in beers has revealed that we’ve checked in beers brewed in 80 countries (Greenland to Guatemala, Namibia to New Zealand). We’ve been fortunate to check in beers in 27 different countries. As good as it is to check in a unique, it is also good to check in a unique in a unique venue.
So – that’s it. We’ve checked in the 10000th and are onto the next 10000. Who knows how long that’ll take. But if you see someone in pub or a brewery or on the Back of the Ferry taking a photo of their beer – you now know what is going on. For those of you that have shared in the journey – thanks very much.
back of the ferry 