The 4th Annual Balmain Christmas Crawl took place on a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon, taking in seven of Balmain and Rozelle's finest establishments. There were 15 Gentlemen of the Crawl this year, featuring seven newbies and six veterans on their fourth ABCC.
We visited seven pubs in our six hour walking tour; the only rule was to have a different beer in each pub. Times and beers below supplied by Dono.
- The East Village Hotel, Balmain East, 12.00pm: our starting point this year and new in 2014, the East Village has enough craft beer on tap to be a pub crawl all on its own. Moo Brew Pale, Prickly Moses Raconteur, Hargreaves Hill Pale Ale
- The Dry Dock Hotel, Balmain, 1.26pm: Founded in 1857 and with a claim to be Balmain's oldest pub, The Dry Dock was our location for a cheap feed. Balmain Pilsner, Balmain Rock
- The Sir William Wallace Hotel, Balmain, 2.42pm: Location of our annual mural photograph. Little Creatures Bright Ale
- Dicks Hotel, Balmain, 3.35pm: worthy of a visit purely because of their 'No pub crawls' sign outside. Matilda Bay IGP Cloudy Ale, Redback
- The Balmain Hotel, Balmain, 4.33pm: New this year, The Balmain was a revelation; not much on the outside but fantastic beer garden out the back. One Fifty Lashes Pale Ale
- The Welcome Hotel, Rozelle: Established in 1877 and one of Sydney's best Irish pubs. After the Battle Pale Ale
- Ruby L'Otel, Rozelle: also new in 2014, our final pub also has live music on Sunday evenings and being on Victoria Road was the ideal spot to finish. Young Henry's Pale Ale, Ruby Tuesday Amber Ale, Coopers Pale Ale
Cast of Characters and how I know them, including the number of ABCCs completed:
Back row:
Alan: Husband of Tania, Gill's cousin once removed (1)
Wayne: Father-in-law
Glen: Alan's son (Gill's second cousin) (1)
Dave: Pete's brother (1)
Paul: Meg's friend Sarah's husband (4)
Jono: Exchange teacher from the UK who arrived in Australia last week (1)
Rob: Dave's mate (1)
Rob: Dave's mate (1)
Jason: Pete's work colleague (2)
Front row:
Chris (Dono): Gill's friend Angelique's partner (2)
Chris Burke, Pete's dad (3)
Michael: Gill's friend Sarah's partner (4)
Me (4)
Col: Michael's mate (1)
Heath: Meg's friend Sarah's brother (1)Peter: brother in law (4)
Still very civilised at Pub #2
Jono works at Tonbridge and arrived last week on exchange to Newington. I thought a pub crawl would be a good way to induct him to 'Straya
Outside Pub #3, 'the one with the mural'
Wayne tries something more exotic
Dicks (#4) isn't a craft beer pub, but it does have that sign by the door, so it's a must visit
Walking past the Exchange Hotel, which featured on the first two ABCCs
Out the back of The Balmain (Pub #5)
Inconspicuous on the outside, The Welcome (Pub #6) is always a good craic. Organising the group photo by this stage was like herding cats.
From the Archives.....
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