Riverside Brewing Co. Cellar Door

Riverside Brewing Company

Cellar Door (Fridays & Saturdays

Friday 9 January 2015

Unit 3, 2 North Rocks Road, North Parramatta NSW 2151

I did it as.... ferry from Circular Key to Parramatta, then a bus up to the Brewery. Sydney Opera House on your right, under the Harbour Bridge, you know how it goes.

Great little tasting room. With a very tight, cheek by jowl set of tanks behind. 6 beers on keg from what I'll call their core range. 4 specials. Three bucks for a small one,  four for a bigger one. Plus Growers & Bottle Jobs.

I started with a collaboration Riverside/Mountain Goat - MountainSide RiverGoat at 6.7%. Citrus fruit dominates. I've got it more Orange than Grapefruit. Very pale in the glass. I got the abv kick as a bit of fire a long long long way down. Almost in my tummy. They've got it as Indian Pale Lager. I see where they're coming from.

Riverside - River Salmon at 8.9%. Apparently, the winner of a HomeBrew competition. Then brewed as a small batch by Riverside. Billed as Belgian Trippel. Marmalade. Barley Sugar sweets (lollies in these parts). A nice spiciness I couldn't quite place. There's a sort of thick Mango juice mouthfeel & a bit in the taste as well.

There is a good deal of sweetness, but it doesn't feel out of kilter. Complex in that a lot going on but nothing overbearing. I love that. It's an old fashioned sweet shop in a glass.

Next up. Riverside 55 at 5.5%. Lemon citrus first hit. A nice bitter kick. Very refreshing mouthfeel. Bursting with energy & simple flavour. I like that a lot. Wavers between the hop hit of an American Pale & the Citrus clout of a South Seas Pale. In balance.

I finished my stint with Riverside 88 at 6%. Billed as Robust Porter. Lets be honest, I'm looking for bittering. Getting red fruit, some toasting. And, lovely, a neat kit of back of the throat bitterness kicks in. Nothing extreme. Nice & gentle. But, crucially, better than a Stout. I'm a little surprised at the berry, red fruit flavours. But they work very well.

Very friendly people. Great ferry trip out there. Great beers.

Standout beer of the day was the River Salmon Belgian Trippel.