Catchment Brewing Co.

While their kids played make-believe, mums Kate Jorss and Allana Robinson got chatting in the kindergarten catchment zone, finding some common dreams of their own. Fifteen months later, Catchment Brewing Co. was born.

There’s no mistaking the fact that this bar and restaurant is also a brewery – there are two stainless-steel tanks in the front bar and oversized bags of malt and hops stuffed under the stairwell. In the beer garden brewing equipment runs in a neat line down the centre of the courtyard, like an exhibit at the Ekka.

These imposing metal contraptions create two signatures – the hoppy, golden Catchment Ale; and the Pale Select. The latter pays homage to the signature beer of the defunct West End Brewery, founded in 1890, a few blocks away on the corner of Montague Road and Merivale Street. Guest taps rotate other local beers and there’s a full range of spirits, cocktails and boutique wines available too.

Upstairs in the restored Art Deco building, two petite balconies are hot property for sinking beers, soaking up sunshine and people-watching over Boundary Street. Downstairs, Carlen Uphill’s kitchen serves up a seasonal grazing menu. He’s formed a rewarding partnership with Eggcettera, a farm west of Brisbane, by feeding the brewery’s hops and malt to the pigs that wind up on the plate. Keep an eye out for nose-to-tail dinners.