Cory’s Top 20 – #7 Wayward Brewing
Rank: #7
Location: Camperdown, NSW (Sydney)
Favourite Beers: Red IPA, El Capitan Hazy IIPA, Beach Yeti Sour
Previous Blog Appearances: Wayward Brewing
Our next brewery on the countdown comes from Sydney’s thriving Inner West brewing scene. Cory’s Top 20 – #7 Wayward Brewing.
Honest upfront disclosure: I do have family that owns a stake in Wayward. Equally honest, equally upfront disclosure: that doesn’t change the fact they make seriously delicious beer.
After an origin as a home-brew and then gypsy brewer for a number of years, Wayward has found itself one of the best taproom/brewery venues I’ve been to. It’s a legit beer cave down a little laneway in Sydney’s Inner West. It seriously ticks all of the hipster boxes.
But the most important box it ticks is making really really good beer. Wayward does seem to trend a bit towards the hoppy side of the spectrum (much to my delight). My personal favourites on that front are the core range Red IPA and the special release El Capitan Hazy IIPA. Both pack massive wallops of hops and are brilliant. The Appalachian Mist was another noteworthy inclusion in that category.
The Beach Yeti Sour also deserves a special mention (and not just for the excellent name). It’s billed as a coconut lime sour. But it hits your tastebuds in the opposite order, in an unexpected, unique, and strictly sequential way. First sip is ‘Ok that’s a pretty good sour beer’ then as you swallow ‘oh that’s a good hit of lime’ and when the aftertaste hits ‘wow my mouth is full of coconuts’. The discrete nature of each phase of the beer is something I don’t think I’ve experienced before. It reminded me a bit of the chewing gum that turned Violet Beauregard into a giant blueberry in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
But I digress (significantly). Wayward is constantly trying out new styles and putting out a myriad of different brews. The vast majority of them are awesome. But when it comes right down to it, Wayward serves great beer in a cave. What more do you want?