Once upon a time in the wild inner city suburbs of Sydney, four dads met on the sidelines of junior rugby games, cheering on their sons like proud, slightly hungover lions. Their boys played for Petersham Junior Rugby Club, and the dads - Chris, Darrin, Adam, and Stu - bonded over the universal language of weekend brewery visits.

One of them, Chris, had a hobby: rock climbing. You could say he was quite good at it—until one fateful day in 2017, when gravity decided to remind him who's boss. Training at St Peters climbing gym, Chris took missed a hold crossing the roof and fell. His belay partner didn’t catch him (we’re still not sure if they’re friends anymore), and after some ambulances and an operation that could’ve had its own Netflix docuseries, Chris ended up in the spinal ward.

Luckily, Chris made it out - slightly bent and buckled but not broken. Climbing was off the table, but the guys knew he needed a new obsession. So, they thought, they’d been discussing beer for years.

Maybe it was time they tried their hand at brewing.

They pulled down the old bouldering wall in Chris’s garage and installed a 65L all-grain three-vessel nano brewery. Their first beer? It was… absolutely dreadful. Undrinkable, even by supportive friends. But they didn’t give up. They read, researched, and experimented like mad scientists until they brewed a Brown Ale that was not only drinkable but actually good. Encouraged, they kept going - brewing more beers, entering comps (getting decent results, but nothing for the trophy shelf), and even buying a canning machine.

The garage brewery was in Glebe, just a stone’s throw away from Blackwattle Bay. And so, Blackwattle Brewery was born.

Inevitably, the “What if we did this for real?” conversation happened. Then COVID happened. Progress paused, but not for long. Post-COVID, they stumbled upon a car repair shop for lease in Alexandria. It had character. It had good bones. It smelled like opportunity (and maybe a bit of oil).

Eventually, after the usual delays and bureaucratic madness, fermenters were being forklifted in, tanks were bolted down, and the place came to life. Just before Christmas 2024, Blackwattle Bar + Brewery officially opened its doors.

They even found an amazing designer to capture their offbeat spirit - using native birds to represent each beer’s quirky personality. Because, why not?

Today, Chris runs the business day-to-day and brews the beer. The gang - Chris, Darrin, Adam, and Stu - are the proud owners and are usually hanging around, happy to chat beer, life, or the tragic arc of Chris’s climbing career. They all live nearby - Glebe, Erskineville, and Alexandria - so this really is their local. And they turn up to watch rugby in the Blackwattle Brewery Rugby Club Clubhouse.

And those sons who brought them together? Chris’s son, Karl, is now running the bar.

Swing by. Have a pint and say hi. Blackwattle is more than a brewery - it’s a community, a cocktail bar and a fun place to be but there will always be a glass or two of Blackwattle’s highly rated beer on tap.