Dave's Brewery Tours, Sydney: growlers, squealers and CANimals

Phillips, "owner and tour dude", now runs Northern Exposure tours (the one we're on) as well as a full-day Hipsters & Hops tour of the Inner West, a Central Coast tour, Ales and Axes tours, and quickie "3 in 3 hours" tours for beer fans pressed for time.

He's certainly picked up on a trend that doesn't look like running out of steam any time soon. There are, he explains as he negotiates the traffic over the Spit Bridge on the way to Manly, more than 400 craft breweries in Australia now.

"I come from a small country town," he says, "and my dad had a strong belief in supporting local shops and businesses – beer is no different."

At the 4 Pines bar in Manly we meet up with the rest of the tour group and repair inside for a quick lesson in the brewing process in its small keller, and a taste of the Bastard Children of the British Empire – a new selection of six pale ales. After all, it's 11.30am and the sun's over the yardarm somewhere in the world.

A word of warning, though: sip don't glug. As Phillips says at the start of the tour, this is not about guzzling, it's about education and enjoyment – and, trust me, you will get through a lot of beer throughout the day.

On the way from 4 Pines to Mona Vale, Phillips says he believes everyone should be on a beer journey through life – and gets each of us to reveal where we are on that quest with a series of questions: earliest beer memory, favourite style, worst style and where and when did we have our last beer.

It certainly passes the time through the unprepossessing suburbs and reveals funny yarns about exploding beers during World War II, turning up drunk at scouts and the therapeutic value of stout. "It's surprising," laughs Phillips, "how many people have their first beer experience under the age of 10."

At Modus Operandi we start by ordering from the short menu – stone-fired pizzas, hot buffalo wings and the $20 M.O. burger, which turns out to be a stunning, towering combination of black Angus brisket patty, house-made pickles, bacon jam, baby cos, cheese, bacon and a zingy mustard mayo. Delicious.

Washed down with a refreshing Kite Flyer cream ale and accompanied by a bowl of beer-battered fries this is close to beer nirvana. Among others, we also try the Zoo Feeder IPA and the Former Tenant Red IPA, a sweet, caramel and toffee tinged, fruity beast that's an acquired taste. It's a bit like drinking a dessert.

Our next port of call is the 4 Pines production facility in what is essentially a Brookvale industrial estate and where the venue manager takes us on a passionate beer making journey through mash tuns, lauter tuns, kettles, water levels and hops such as Fuggles (named after Kent hop grower Richard Fuggle in 1861).

At the end of the tour we taste a few more beers at the "bar" – a converted timber merchant's flat bed truck – before jumping back into the bus for the short trip around the corner to Nomad, a newish Italian-Australian brewery.

Here, after a short tour around the small brewery where they knock out beers such as the hoppy Sideways pale ale, its Jetlag IPA, the Long Trip spicy saison and the golden Cruisin' Aussie Pale Ale.

It's a much quieter bus on the way back into the city, the slightly boozy silence punctuated by relaxed chatter about beer and the occasional muted rattle of a couple of CANimals in a bag.

During the day Phillips had pointed out that we shouldn't feel compelled to finish all the beers offered: "You won't offend us or the brewers but you will offend if you don't at least try them."

Try it, try them, take him at his word – he'll make a beer nut out of you yet.

*A growler is a large take-away bottle, popular in craft beer circles, that usually holds about two litres of beer while a squealer contains half that. Once bought they can be brought back and refilled. A CANimal – sometimes called a Crowler in the USA – is a one-litre beer can that's filled and sealed at the brewery bar. CANimals eliminate the negative effects of UV light on beer and are, obviously, less prone to breaking than glass growlers or squealers.

TRIP NOTES

MORE INFORMATION

davesbrewerytours.com.au

TOUR

The Northern Exposure Tour takes place on Saturdays and Sundays, with chartered groups on Fridays, from 11am-6pm, starting at the 4 Pines Brewpub on the Esplanade, Manly. It costs $160 and includes tastings and lunch. Visit davesbrewerytours.com.au for more details of tours and times. They also run Grain and Grape (beer and wine) and Beer, Bootlegger and Winery (beer, wine and spirit) tours.

The writer was a guest of Dave's Brewery Tours.