Foghorn Brewhouse

Rating:

15871741_626572067526942_4476969119529289076_n 15873617_626572054193610_7368505501446056523_n 15895019_626572037526945_8802686382728964373_nAs avid long time fans of Murray’s we would have to admit we were a little saddened to hear that Shawn (ex head brewer of Murray’s and now head brewer and owner of Foghorn) was leaving. The heavy heart was lifted once we heard that Shawn was establishing his own brew house in Newcastle, in the Lower Hunter region of NSW.  For many years Newcastle was bereft of any kind of craft beer – cue the cheesy horror film scream. But there was to be life injected in to the industrial city in the form of funky little cafe’s and craft beer bars like The Grain Store and The Hop Factory but it still couldn’t lay claim to its own brewery. Enter Shawn Sherlock who jumped in and flung open the doors to Foghorn Brew house in 2014. Upon walking in to the place you can’t help but be impressed by the sheer size of the interior – immediately the eyes are drawn to the bar but as they dart around the room we see an over-sized chess board to the immediate left, a stage off to the right, obviously for live music and the tanks off in the far left corner. At this moment we’re like kids in a candy store. But there was no time for playing around. 16 taps were calling our names so we started with one of the lighter paddles that included the Ideas Beer, Summer Ale, Pumpkin Beer and the Boganaire IPA. All of which were crisp and light, perfect for the warm weather outside but we’re after the big stuff so we stepped it up and picked 4 of our own. We went the Czech Pils, Young Americans IPA, the 12:03 BIPA and the big daddy Edmund Fitzgerald IIPA which were all brilliant beers. We finished on the big Belgians (Tripel and Quadrupel) which were true to style and enjoyable but not fully up to scratch in our opinion. As this was a quick pit stop before our NYE celebrations in Cave’s Beach we had to cut this visit short, but we’ll certainly be back for a longer session next time. And that over-sized chess board will be squarely in our sights!