{"id":6735,"date":"2014-01-04T18:04:53","date_gmt":"2014-01-04T05:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/?p=6735"},"modified":"2014-01-04T18:13:33","modified_gmt":"2014-01-04T05:13:33","slug":"young-henrys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2014\/01\/04\/young-henrys\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Henrys"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Young<\/a>
Logo artwork on the container-fridge in Young Henrys’ bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There’s probably some neat-and-vaguely-plausible theory to be elaborated about the psychogeography of a suburb called “Newtown”. I can only speak from experience about the two closest ones \u2014 in Wellington<\/a> and Sydney<\/a> \u2014 but they’re similar-enough in sufficiently-numerous ways to make me wonder if their history as the first-established alternate center of a city is enough to stamp them forever as a wonderful home to\u00a0the non-dominant demographic and\/or freshly migrated and\/or just somewhat\u00a0odd<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/a>
Young Henrys ‘Newtowner’, non-local at its local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Anyway, the New-South-Welsh one is lovely, and I’ve had several enjoyable days wandering through it. It’s also blessed with its own brewery \u2014 the unaccountably unapostrophe’d<\/a>1<\/sup><\/a> Young Henrys<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0beers from which I first sampled at The Courthouse, a charming back-street bar to which I’ll happily return, despite their minor sins of a) bringing out the dodgy polycarb non-glass-glassware on the weekends (as if we were all going to start a riot and start shanking each other) and b) using “local beer” as a euphemism for “mainstream crap” in their Happy Hour rules such that the Y.H. stuff (though still a bargain) wasn’t eligible despite being from within rock-throwing distance, while Carlton Draught counted even though it’s from a whole\u00a0\u2019nother fucking\u00a0state<\/em>.<\/a>2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Young<\/a>
A universalizable rule for all bars worth visiting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There’s a little cellar-door-and-bar attached to the brewery, and I made damn sure to pay them a visit these holidays having missed them \u2014 and their rather-restrictive opening hours<\/a>3<\/sup><\/a> \u2014 on a previous stop. And I’m glad I did; it’s a gorgeous little spot, a damn-near-perfect little in-house bar. If only they could stay open a\u00a0little<\/em> later, especially in the summer. You’re basically\u00a0right there<\/em> in the brewery, with nothing to separate you from the reality of the place as somewhere were work is done and it brings a lovely laid-back sense of open welcome which the staff nicely continue with amiably professional service and plenty of help for anyone unfamiliar with their offerings. It’s got a charmingly odd style, with nice little quirky touches all over the place that never seem overwrought or fake; you get the impression it’s a genuine\u00a0local<\/em> for a good number of people and a space that reflects the personalities of those who spend their days there.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/a>
Young Henrys ‘Real Ale’, and Bill Murray<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The beers embody (intentionally or not) a nicely pub-first mentality; they skew hugely towards the sessionable and the simple-but-tasty, finding plenty of nuance and interest to be had within pretty damn friendly bounds. ‘Newtowner’ is an even-handed hoppy-and-golden thing, bordered nicely by their ‘Natural Lager’, being lighter and easier still, and the ‘Real Ale’, satisfyingly richer and apparently also gangbusters on handpump \u2014 an option I was talked-out-of on the day, given the weather. Instead, I ended my little visit two things I’d normally avoid: a cider, which was perfectly endearing and quaffable, and a much-boozier cherry saison, which did very well to throw nice doses of fruit flavour without coming across all candy-ish and phony as too-often happens.<\/p>\n

They’ll quickly tell you of expansion plans, when you compliment them on their cute little setup,<\/a>4<\/sup><\/a> but hopefully they’re not self-conscious about for-now being a relatively-obscure suburban brewery. They do it very well indeed.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Young<\/a>
Young Henrys bar: Regulars’ glasses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Young<\/a>
Young Henrys bar: Merch, and subtle satire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Young<\/a>
Young Henrys bar: More merch, and keg-plumbing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Young<\/a>
Young Henrys bar: Beers, elaborated-upon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Young<\/a>
Young Henrys bar: In medias res<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Young<\/a>
Young Henrys bar: The End (until next time)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n

<\/a>1:<\/strong> Coopers always confused me<\/a>, as Australia’s other famously non-possessively-styled brewery. But I suppose, by now at least, they’re so multi-generational that it’s just a proud plural. I’m still not sure about Y.H.’s reasons \u2014 weirdly<\/em>, people tend not to address these questions on their websites \u2014 but managed to get a mangled version of Supergrass’ ‘Alright’<\/a> stuck in my head just thinking about it: “We are young \/\u00a0we are\u00a0free \/\u00a0we don’t\u00a0need \/ no\u00a0\u2019postrophe”. And if that now suddenly transfers to your brain and earworms you, I\u00a0sincerely<\/em> apologise.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2191<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/a>2:<\/strong> In the interests of full disclosure and Good Mental Hygiene, it’s worth pointing out that these two observations draw from two separate visits, the latter from my holiday last Easter(ish) \u2014 the write-up of which has languished a little unloved in my Drafts folder as ‘A New South Wales Travelogue in \u224838.5 Beers’ \u2014 so it’s at least possible that they’ve traded the former sin for the latter.\u00a0\u2191<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/a>3:<\/strong> Which provides a nice balance to the regulator-praising in my most-recent post<\/a>; all is not Utopian in Sydneytown, of course, and sensible small-bar special rules still exist alongside apparently-overly-restrictive ordinances for relatively-suburban operations like this.\u2191<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/a>4:<\/strong> So, it must be said, will seemingly everyone in these corners of the market \u2014 even those you know to’ve already expanded, relatively-recently. It’s a terrifyingly exciting time in the beer business, and it must be keeping the steelworkers busy.\u2191<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s probably some neat-and-vaguely-plausible theory to be elaborated about the psychogeography of a suburb called “Newtown”. I can only speak from experience about the two closest ones \u2014 in Wellington and Sydney \u2014 but they’re similar-enough in sufficiently-numerous ways to make me wonder if their history as the first-established alternate center of a city is … Continue reading Young Henrys<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-locations"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2575,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2011\/04\/11\/lindemans-cuvee-rene\/","url_meta":{"origin":6735,"position":0},"title":"Lindeman’s \u2018Cuv\u00e9e Ren\u00e9\u2019","author":"Phil","date":"April 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"And now for something completely different. 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It's entertaining and incisive stuff, doing what all the best satire strives to do when it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mediawatch"","block_context":{"text":"Mediawatch","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/interesting-finds\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/TMTB-crop.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/TMTB-crop.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/TMTB-crop.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/TMTB-crop.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1107,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2011\/01\/08\/moa-pale-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":6735,"position":2},"title":"Moa Pale Ale","author":"Phil","date":"January 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Hearken to a saga of two beers.\u00a0Two incarnations of one beer -- a Draft and Final, or a Beta and a One Point Oh, perhaps -- neither of which I particularly enjoyed, one of which I sufficiently non-enjoyed that it became my first Beer Diary beer in years to have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Moa Pale Ale","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Moa-Pale-Ale-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4187,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2012\/06\/15\/gabs-paddle-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":6735,"position":3},"title":"GABS Paddle #2: Random Favourites","author":"Phil","date":"June 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The final Sunday-afternoon session of GABS was considerably lower-key than the ones which came before. 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