Eden Brewery

I live in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales and am beyond fortunate to be able to count as my local brewery one of my favourites I’ve been lucky enough to come across in my travels: Eden Brewery in Mittagong.

Even before we moved to the highlands, we’ve had family in the area so I’ve been coming to Eden since literally 2 days after they opened.  And even though it is effectively my local and there’s every opportunity for bias, I can honestly and objectively say, they’ve only been getting better and better.

The brewery itself is in a row of industrial-looking units (as many breweries these days seem to be) just off of Bowral Road in Mittagong.  Immediately when you walk in the door, the first thing you notice is a friendly face behind the bar to greet you.  Quite often that face belongs to Jacob, the owner and head brewer.  The next thing you notice is the space he’s created in the unit that expertly walks the line between welcoming and comfortable tasting room and functional brewery.

After you have a seat (presumably with your first tasting paddle) and have a closer look around at the brewery and the menu and tasting notes, you start to notice the level of thought and detail that Jacob has put into not just the beer itself, but to the entire idea and ethos of the place.

The beers all have tree-themed names that are related through detailed tasting notes, the taps are all operated by tree-branch handles, and the tree (and Garden of Eden) theme runs through the whole place.  And it’s not just that various tree names have been slapped on a beer just to fit the theme.  The names are all well thought out and directly related to the beers.  For instance, the annual ANZAC Day beer (brewed with real ANZAC biscuits, by the way) is called Lone Pine.  The Kottbusser, a semi-extinct style of beer revived from an old manuscript and only commercially brewed at a handful of breweries around the world, is named after a previously extinct species of tree revived from seeds found in an archaeological dig.  The level of thought and attention to detail is really impressive.

Of course, all of this is just pleasant window dressing if the beer isn’t very good.  Happily, though, that’s not the case at all.  The core range is fantastic and Jacob always has 2 or 3 interesting additional beers on the go as well.  The core range of beers includes the Palm Pale Ale, Sherwood ESB, Birch Wit, Ebony Porter, and the aforementioned Phoenix D Kottbusser.  I won’t do a full on beer by beer rundown, but for me personally, I can’t go past the Palm Pale for a good hoppy hit.  The Kottbusser is not quite like anything I’ve had before, but I think it’s fantastic and worth a try if for no other reason than that you’re highly unlikely to ever see another one anywhere else (although for mine, it being delicious is a pretty good reason).  The best place to start is with a core range tasting paddle.  I actually can’t recommend that highly enough.  Between the diversity and quality of the core range, you really can’t go wrong.

But as good as the core beers are, my personal favourites are the seasonal and special beers that Eden produces.  My all-time favourite is the Giant Redwood IPA.  In the years I’ve been coming to Eden Brewery, they’ve only produced this beer twice, so if you find it on tap, consider yourself extremely lucky.  I love a red IPA and I drink a lot of them.  My ‘favourite beers’ list is heavily populated with red IPA’s and IPA’s in general.  And the Giant Redwood ranks very highly among all of those.  It is absolutely one of my favourite beers. 

Other standout beers that pop up periodically on the Eden menu are the Prickly Pear Sour, Russian Imperial Stout, and Argania Bock.  I’ve personally taken home growlers of each of them and will snap them up anytime I’m lucky enough to find any of them in the current rotation.

But the real reason to visit is for the place itself. If you want to have a chat about the intricate details and techniques of beer brewing and throw around terms like ‘wet hopping’ and ‘dry hopping’ (terms I have only the vaguest understanding of, but will sip my beer and nod knowingly about if they come up in conversation), there will be someone there who is happy to have that chat with you.  If you want to sit in a friendly relaxed atmosphere and enjoy some delicious beer, that’s definitely sorted.  And if you go on a weekend, the range of food trucks they generally have lined up are absolutely top notch.

As I mentioned at the start, I may be a bit biased because I have been coming to Eden Brewery for a few years now.  But if I keep coming back because of the awesome beer and awesome people, I don’t really think that’s a bias at all.  More of an accurate recognition of awesomeness and fully justified long term patronage.

So if you happen to find yourself in New South Wales’ Southern Highlands and like beer at all, you would be extremely foolish to pass up on a visit to Eden Brewery.