Thirsty Crow Brewing Co.
This week’s entry comes from a bit further afield. On the main street of the town of Wagga Wagga in country New South Wales you’ll find the gem that is Thirsty Crow Brewing Co.
The name of the brewery comes from the town of Wagga Wagga itself which means ‘place of many crows’ in the local Wiradjuri dialect. Which in turn leads to one of my favourite brewery slogans I’ve come across: ‘Thirsty Crow Brewing Co – Murdering Thirst’. I don’t care who you are that’s some A+ word play right there.
As soon as you walk in, you’re greeted with large shiny silver brewing equipment and a rich malty smell that let’s you know immediately that you’re in the right place. Continuing inside, it only gets better a giant drinking/dining area with giant windows looking out onto Fitzmaurice Street. And even if the front bar area is full, there’s additional seating (and even more massive brewing equipment) around the back. Both are really just genuinely nice spaces to sit and have a beer.
And seeing as how I’m now on the 4th paragraph of this brewery post, it’s probably past time that I start talking about the beer. At the time I visited there were a total of seven beers from Thirsty Crow on tap, plus a couple of guest beers, ciders, and an alcoholic ginger beer from nearby Tumut Valley Brewing (that one will feature in a separate post somewhere down the line, I’m sure). There wasn’t a bad beer on the menu, with the Murder Pils and River Float being very solid ‘honourable mentions’. But for me, there were two clear standouts: the Vanilla Milk Stout and the 26Fifty Summer Ale.
Before arriving in Wagga, the milk stout is the one my mates had told me that I definitely needed to try. And boy were they right. It’s such a good beer. You definitely know there’s vanilla involved, but it’s not overpowering by any means. It’s just a great comfort beer to sip in a warm place looking out the window on a cold and rainy night (which it happened to be when I was in Wagga).
The 26Fifty has a nice hoppy hit, nice reddish colour, and a stronger body than I’d usually expect from a summer ale. I could easily drink that beer all evening. And after my initial tasting tray(s), that was the one that I went back for a full schooner of with dinner.
Speaking of dinner, I am lucky enough to visit a fair few breweries in my travels, and if Thirsty Crow doesn’t have the best menu, it would be damn close. It took me an agonsising age to tear myself away from the pizza menu and finally settle on the pork ribs. If I lived in Wagga I think I would most likely literally be at the Thirsty Crow every night until I worked my way through that awesome menu. I think what tipped me over the edge was that unlike the typical half-rack or full-rack options for the ribs, Thirsty Crow only offers the options of rack or rack-and-a-half. It’s as if they’re saying ‘we know our ribs are damn good, and you’re gonna want a ton. You want a half rack, get a friend and share!’. And jeez those were good ribs.
If you find yourself anywhere near Wagga, it’s very much worth the detour for a beer, a feed, and a crowler (can-growler) to take away. I’ll definitely be there every time I find myself in Wagga for the foreseeable future.