Five Barrel Brewing has officially opened in Wollongong, NSW, with owner and brewer Phillip O’Shea taking his love of homebrewing to the next level.
“I’ve been homebrewing for a few years, and treated it like a job,” O’Shea told Beer & Brewer.
“I brewed batches weekly and refined a few recipes and experimented a lot with different techniques. I love all sorts of beer, from clean ales to stouts and sours, and that’s what I love brewing.”
After six months searching for the right location and about nine months tackling the paperwork, regulations and fit-out, Five Barrel Brewing is now open for business.
“I started thinking about a brewery a few years ago after travelling around Europe and seeing just how awesome the beer culture was. I wanted to bring that back to Wollongong and share an experience that is still developing here,” O’Shea explained.
The core range covers a good spectrum of styles with a Golden Ale, Pale Ale, ESB (Extra Special Bitter) and a Hoppy Amber.
“I’ll aim to keep these on year-round and have a few single keg batches that will only be available in our taproom at the brewery,” O’Shea said.
“My favourite session beer is the ESB, but if I’m having one or two, it’ll be the Hoppy Amber.
“The Golden and the Hoppy Amber are definitely the most popular of the core range. I’ve done a small batch of IPA and Oyster Stout, which have proved to be really popular as well.”
O’Shea plans to keep pushing his knowledge and experience with different styles and ingredients, with the Oyster Stout a good example of a fun and unique style that he’ll tackle.
“I’ve acquired my first 2x 500L barrels (ex-shiraz from the Hunter) and I’m sure I’ll add to the collection over time,” he said.
“The first is for an Imperial Stout and the second is for a Flemish Red, both of which I hope to extract a bit of that rich fruit flavour from the barrel.”
The brewery is restricted from preparing food onsite but they have plenty of snacks like jerky to help soak up the brews and for special events they will get food trucks in to feed the masses.
“I recently had a launch weekend and got The Nighthawk Diner to set-up shop out front for some hamburgers. I’ll look to do that sort of thing regularly,” O’Shea said.
Five Barrel Brewing is open Monday to Friday 12-6pm and Saturday to Sunday 12-4pm. Growler fills are welcomed in the taproom.
Five Barrel Brewing
318 Keira Street, Wollongong NSW