Redoak

Redoak's Boutique Beer Cafe in Sydney is one of the world's great drinking experiences. David and Janet Hollyoak, brother and sister (pictured, right), have built their cafe with a burning passion for beer styles. David has toured the world to see how the finest beers are made in such leading brewing nations as Belgium, Britain and the United States - and he has converted Janet to the joys of barley and hops.

"I was a Champagne drinker," Janet says. "Now I love beer. I was sceptical about opening the cafe and told David he was mad. Now we're both mad!"

For madness read success. The cafe and its beers have won an array of awards, on show in a display cabinet. Alongside the cool, spacious bar there's an elegant restaurant where diners are encouraged to match beer with food. The message is stressed throughout the small complex: beer is great, beer is diverse, beer is a brilliant companion for food.

David is a builder by trade, which has come in handy in designing the cafe, with table tops fashioned with timber from shipyards in Fremantle. He was also a keen home brewer from the age of 14 and eventually went the extra mile and decided to make beer commercially. It helped that his wife is Belgian and passed on some of that country's love of beer and its astonishing array of styles.

The cafe opened in 2004 after a two-year battle to get a licence. David brews off-site in the Camden district. "The council wouldn't let us brew in central Sydney," he says. The cafe is in a street of office blocks and restaurants and close to smart hotels. The small vessels inside the entrance (left), panelled in English oak, are used to store the cafe's one cask-conditioned beer, which is served straight from the tanks. In fact, David produces 50 different beer styles every year. He uses 12 different yeast cultures sourced from Belgium, England, Germany, Ireland and the U.S.

David is not content to just put beer on tap as fast as possible and is heavily engaged in ageing beer. A Berliner Weisse (4.6%) is aged for three years and uses a lactobacillus yeast culture to produce the required sour Berlin character. A stunning 12% Special Reserve English-style barley wine is matured for three to four years, with a long, slow, year-long primary fermentation followed by three years in oak vessels. It won the Grand Championship in the 2006 Australian International Beer Awards and, given its strength, is sold in the cafe from small glasses.

I sampled a 9% Baltic Porter that was bottled in 2006. The astonishing nose had powerful notes of liquorice, molasses, fresh tobacco, honey, coffee and chocolate, with sweet grain in the mouth balanced by liquorice and gentle hops. The long finish offered tobacco, espresso, sweet dark grain and light hop resins. David also makes a wood-aged version of the beer.

He brews a Scottish-style Wee Heavy (8%), with annual vintages in 2006, 07 and 08 and an amazing Saint Nick (9.5%), a Belgian-style Tripel that's matured in wood then conditioned in bottle for four years before release. The aroma offers candy fruits, blood oranges and spicy hops, with rich sultana fruit in the mouth, balanced by spicy hops and a rich, sweet, fruity finish that finally becomes dry with good hop notes.

Janet, who worked in business management in the food industry before deciding to become as mad as her brother, took me through a tasting of Australian cheeses matched by beer. The cheese board was prepared by chef Chris Beard and began with Pyengana cloth Cheddar with almond raisin compote, matched with Organic Pale Ale, brewed with malt from three Australian organic barley farms, and hopped with Cascades, East Kent Goldings, and Styrians. The beer has a big punch of citrus fruit and beautifully balanced the sweet, creamy cheese. Woodside Cherve with candied citrus zest came with Irish Red Ale, a beer with roasted grain and tangy hops on the nose, followed by gentle bitterness and a hint of herbs in the mouth and finish that cut the creamy cheese. Barossa Valley washed rind with quince paste came with Honey Ale. The cheese has a tart and bitter flavour and was cut well by a beer with a massive honey note on aroma and palate yet with a dry finish. Finally, Tarago River Blue Orchid drizzled with honey is a blue cheese matched by an English-style Special Strong Bitter, hopped with Fuggles, Goldings and New Zealand Hallertau. This was the outstanding match, the spicy, earthy, floral hops blending well with a tangy and tart blue cheese.

The restaurant offers four tasting boards. As well as the cheese board, there's a Seafood Board with Bière Blanche, Honey Ale, Organic Pale and Irish Red, Meat Board with Bitter, Organic Pale, Irish Red and Special Strong Bitter, and Vegetarian Board with Summer Weiss, Honey Ale, Organic Pale and Irish Red.

Main courses include Barbequed Vegetable Stack with Irish Red Ale; Limestone Coast Lamb Sausages with Bitter; Lemon Thyme Marinated Chicken Breast with Kölsch; Pan-seared Jew Fish with Hefeweizen,; Pappadelle with baby clams, chorizo, shaved fennel and a saffron with Honey Ale; Chargilled Baltic Porter Marinated Scotch fillet with a potato and sweet potato gallete with Special Strong Bitter; and Crispy Skinned Ocean Trout with vegetable stack, salsa verde and a drizzle of smoked tomato and Oatmeal Stout jus with Irish Red Ale.

Desserts include Framboise Froment infused Peach Bavarois with Blackberry Wheat; Homemade Ice Cream and Sorbet with Bi�re Blanche; Porter and Truffle Platter with Porter and two cheese boards.

If this is madness, I want to join the asylum. And I'm not alone. An autographed photo on the wall of Ricky Ponting sends Redoak his best wishes. It's good to know the Australian cricket captain recognises there's more to beer than Victoria Bitter.

Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe
201 Clarence Street
Sydney, NSW
02 9262 3303

The Lord Nelson

The Lord Nelson is a famous Sydney brewpub in 'the Rocks', an area of attractive colonial buildings and the Harbour Bridge rearing up like a giant Meccano set. The pub dates from the 1830s, in a large and imposing hotel - a listed building - bestrides a street corner. The cavernous downstairs bar is like a medieval baronial hall with thick sandstone walls, wood floors, a raftered ceiling and flags of many nations. Artefacts on the walls include a report from the London Times on the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Nelson.

The small brewery at the rear of the bar is behind a glass wall and is run by Blair Hayden, who makes six regular beers and many seasonal and one-off brews. The beers include Trafalgar Pale Ale (4.2%), with a pale, hazy colour, juicy malt and hop resins on the nose. Hops build in the mouth with sappy malt and citrus fruit, and the dry finish has hops, tart fruit and lightly toasted malt. Nelson's Blood (5.1%) has a fittingly ruby red colour with a roasted grain aroma and hints of chocolate, bitter fruit and caramel. Hops make an appearance in the bittersweet finish with roast, chocolate and caramel.

Three Sheets (5%) is a golden ale with a hint of bronze in the colour. The orange/citrus nose has herbal and grassy hop notes and the palate and finish are intensely fruity with juicy malt and tangy hops.

Quayle Ale (4.5%) is a pale gold beer with a spicy and herbal aroma, biscuity malt, tangy fruit and tart hops in the mouth and a bittersweet, quenching finish well balanced between malt, fruit and hops. I was told the beer is named after Dan Quayle, the hapless U.S. vice-president who famously failed to spell "potatoes" correctly. Perhaps he has visited the pub.

Other regular beers include Victory Bitter (5%) and Old Admiral (6.1%), which had both run out on the day of my visit. On a Sunday lunchtime, the Lord Nelson was packed to the listed rafters. There's pub grub in the bar and a separate restaurant on the first floor. The Lord Nelson also offers accommodation and would be a fine place to stay to tour the Rocks area and the nearby ferries.

Lord Nelson
19 Kent Street
Sydney, NSW
Tel: 02 9251 4044

GO TO PART I - THE MALT SHOVEL AND JAMES SQUIRE'S.

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