Day two of finding beer in Australia felt like it wouldn’t hold any surprises to me. We were planning on a trip into the heart of enemy territory; Manly. On a previous trip we had uncovered the 4 Pines Brewing Company, so I knew they served good beer already, but this time I was better prepared to appreciate them.

The Missus and I were still on New Zealand time so we started our journey to Manly from North Narrabeen pretty early, stopping for some sightseeing and gift shopping on the way. We hit Manly Wharf about lunchtime and decided we would indulge ourselves at the Bavarian Bier Café. Now I know this isn’t Australian beer but it is beer in Australia and the search is really about finding good beer.

The Bavarian Bier Café was in the middle of an Oktoberfest promotion, so they had more traditional food and a handful of specially imported Oktoberfest Beers on the menu for it. I figured I wouldn’t get the chance to try any of these again so I went for the Lowenbrau Oktoberfestbier and after being disappointed by that I tried to find something a bit darker, which again was a bit disappointing. Does anyone know if they use hops in Germany? I think I’ve been ruined by the Hopocalypse.

Later that afternoon we found our way to 4 Pines, unfortunately we were running a bit short for time by this point so I could only fit in one beer, I went with the Pale Ale and it was a good one. The bloke next to me was getting a beer tasting paddle and the Stout poured so beautifully that I almost changed my order. The intention was to get back here to try the Stout but it never eventuated, so I’ve left it on my things to do for next time.

‘Beer of the Day’ winner is 4 Pines Pale Ale.

Beers by order of appearance:

• Lowenbrau Oktoberfestbier
• Hofbrau Dunkel
• Pale Ale by 4 Pines
• Tooheys New by Tooheys (novelty beer)
• VB by Fosters (another novelty beer)
• and a couple repeats from the previous entry as Dan had bought them in 4-packs