CLUB’S MICRO BREWERY, MAX ON IMPACT
The much-anticipated Basement Brewhouse, part of the ongoing suite of F&B offerings from Bankstown Sports Club, opened last week on Melbourne Cup Day.
Two years in the making, the Brewhouse is situated in the clubs now defunct sports bar and is an impressive, well designed space that can cater for up to 300 patrons.
The concept originated after the club conducted several surveys and focus groups about dining and entertainment venues in the Bankstown area, and realised there was a need for a bar and restaurant that catered to 18-45-year-olds, particularly females. Microbreweries and craft beer bars are popular overseas and while there has been significant push towards these offerings in Australia, there were currently none in the local area.
Bankstown Sports Club CEO Mark Condi says they’ve been busy from day one. “We had a huge amount of interest in the Brewhouse in the lead up to opening, and we’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response from members and patrons since we opened the doors. Our aim with this venue was to provide a bar/restaurant in Sydney’s west that has a bit of a boutique feel, without the hassle of having to head into the city or Surry Hills. This is a unique venue and a completely new concept for the Bankstown area, and we’re confident it will really take off”.
The build and renovations were undertaken by Paynter Dixon and the interior fitout was by Pony Design, the same company that looked after Camperdown Commons and The Pantry for the Norths Group. Some of the striking design features include copper clad circular booths, reminiscent of beer tanks. Each booth has been designed to cut out exterior noise and comes complete with its own TV screen that can be controlled by the patrons inside the structure.
Copper pipes run across the ceiling as a design feature but also carry beer lines directly from the exposed keg room to the bar.
The Basement Brewhouse features its own burger bar and a gourmet delicatessen serving up a large range of hand-crafted burgers, hot ‘dawgs’ and shakes, plus is very own signature Reuben Sandwich. The deli carries plenty of hand selected deli cheeses and cured meats with share plates available for those wanting to try a little bit of everything.
The Brewhouse even has private rooms available to hire for parties and functions and carries its own branded range of merchandise.
Overseeing operations is Brewhouse Manager Jared Francuz who previously worked at a number of premier craft beer-focused venues in Sydney including The Trinity Bar in Surry Hills. Jared says the microbrewery will be offering up a pale ale, American pale ale, Pilsner and a sparkling ale to start and these will be changed and rotated according to patron demand.
The microbrewery uses Smart Brew, a fully automated system with online monitoring capabilities, which was developed by Master Brewer, Brian Watson. It only uses half the space and a quarter of the water compared to other craft beer systems, and provides real-time updates on when a brew cycle is complete, ensuring the Brewhouse has the freshest beer and cider possible. The first portion of the brewing process is done off-site, before it is transferred to the Basement Brewhouse tanks for fermentation. They then dry-hop to finish, before serving to their customers.
The microbrewery does have some flexibility to create their own brews on-site, but the Smart Brew system gives a little more flexibility in the space that they have, given their tanks are situated in the middle of the bar, and pop up into the gaming floor above.
All brews beers are served in pints and middies in the Brewhouse, and like other microbreweries, they we also offer takeaway glass growlers, branded with the Brewhouse logo, which can hold the equivalent of a 6-pack of craft beer or cider. Patrons can bring their growler back to be cleaned and refilled with their favourite brew.
The Basement Brewhouse is open Sun-Thu: 11.30am-midnight (Kitchen closes at 9pm) and
Fri-Sat: 11.30am-3am (Kitchen closes at midnight). The microbrewery has three entrances, one directly from the gaming floor, one from the dining precinct and one adjacent to the main foyer.
