On Saturday, Philter Brewing opened the doors to the third venue space at its Sydenham Road HQ, welcoming a new Sports Bar to the site.
Taking inspiration from classic Australian sports clubs of the 1980s, the new Sports Bar joins the existing Public Bar & Restaurant and the Rooftop Bar, accessed by a custom-built staircase which offers a birds eye view of the working brewery.
The focal point of the main room is the gold mirrored bar set at one end of the space, with the rest of the room clad in exposed brick and blonde wood. Aussie sporting memorabilia lines the walls, eventually leading to a pool room complete with photographs of iconic sporting moments.
Like all good sports bars, the venue provides a new home for some of Australia’s favourite sports, including League, AFL, Union, football, cricket and event fights. Patrons can also expect to see live music and DJs as part of the entertainment offering.
According to Philter Co-Founder Stef Constantoulas, the brewery is especially proud of the synergy between the brand’s existing identity and the new Sports Bar.
“Support of grass-roots sport and for our local clubs is integral to who we are. Sponsorship of our beloved Newtown Jets is something we are incredibly proud of, and the club have generously loaned us some really awesome vintage memorabilia for the new bar, as have the Shammies.
“Philter is for the love of the clubs, tinnies on the hill on game day, a kickaround at the park, driveway cricket and, now, loudly cheering on your team in front of a really big tv in a really great Marrickville brewery,” he stated.
Along with the new entertainment lineup, Philter has refreshed its food and beverage offering with new menu items, all to be enjoyed alongside Philter’s core range of beers.
The new venue space also has the addition of insulation, which Constantoulas says “is great for keeping out the plane noise (to reduce that Marrickville Pause) and for keeping in the sound of passionate celebrations or commiserations.”
In October last year, Philter began an equity crowd-funding campaign in a fight to stay Australian-owned, netting more than $3m from over 1200 investors.
In its business objectives, the brewery committed to expanding the Philter hospitality footprint, and Co-Founder Mick Neil says the unveiling of the venue should make the new shareholders proud.
“This new space is all about tangibly delivering on our promises to all the people who heard what we had to say last year and believed in us. We said we’d open a sports bar in 2024, thereby bringing another income stream into the business, and here it is.
“We couldn’t have done it without the support of all our new investors. The addition maximises our capacity, particularly for events, and a happy side effect of that is that we’ll no longer need to turn away big groups on busy nights.”
The Life Members board, which lists top level capital-raise investors, takes pride of place on the wall beside the bar.