The Beer Cartel

Some while back I arranged a cross-link with www.beercartel.com.au. You can see it to the right =>

It was with some delight to recently learn of their acquisition of the Porter's outlet in Reserve Rd Artarmon (Sydney).

On the way home from work today, I dropped in to see what was happening. It's slightly hard to find, amongst the light industrial units of downtown Artarmon. But, even at this early stage, worth the effort of discovering.

Imagine my surprise to see a variety of esoterics, such as Burleigh Black Giraffe, Holgate Hopinator, Hunter Brewing beers, and Kooinda Pale. These are generally hard-to-find Aussie beers, and certainly unique to the north shore of Sydney.

Also, there were some single offerings from a range of significant international brands:  Nogne O, Mikkeler, Southern Tier, Anderson Valley.  And a Bourgogne des Flanders, one of my favourite tipples in the nearby Epoque Belgian Beer Cafe.

I had a quick chat with one of the principals, Geoff Huens, who graciously received my unannounced visit. It's their intention to grow this business into a leading retailer of Aussie micros, as well as top-notch internationals. They're in the process of creating more shelf-space, by relocating all that boring fermented grape stuff.....

And Geoff also mentioned Sierra Nevada, which I know will arouse at least two of my readers...

** EDIT ** And he also mentioned a growler service....... Now I'm aroused.... (please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_bottle#Growler before getting the wrong idea).

He showed me a recently arrived palette of Aussie micros. Don't ask me to name them all, but I saw Hargreaves Hill (recently reestablished after the Victorian fires), and Bootleg (from WA). The Beer Cartel club members get first dibs at these, but whatever's left is available to all.

Although still in ramp-up mode, I applaud the direction of the Beer Cartel, and look forward to following their progress.

The Beer Cartel (Porters) can be found at Unit 9 / 87 Reserve Rd Artarmon, NSW.