4 Pines … so much more than a microbrewery
This well-established microbrewery is all about good beer, good food and genuine, down-to-earth hospitality. Since opening its doors in 2008, 4 Pines Brewery has grown from a small microbrewery designed to produce around 30 kegs to a brew pub, restaurant and truckbar, with two more venues slated to open within the next six months. The man behind it all is Jaron Mitchell, a Sydney transplant from a small town called Yallingup, north of Margaret River in Western Australia.
Inspired by Yallingup’s local artisans, Jaron is shaping 4 Pines into a series of establishments that have a real sense of community and decent beer to boot.
“I grew up in an area that time kind of forgot, the rest of the world was celebrating everything becoming homogenised while we were caught in a time-capsule. People use to laugh about our weird part of the world where there was still no McDonalds,” says Jaron.
Leaving his hometown, Jaron’s first port of call was Manly, along Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Drawn to the laidback culture and surfie vibe, it was an easy place for him to slip into. A few years in, Jaron’s dad came for a visit – the boys were eating handmade pies after a surf when they realised there wasn’t anywhere to go for a decent pint of beer. Enter, 4 Pines Brewery.
Overlooking Manly Cove, 4 Pines mastered the art of fermenting beer and hospitality under one roof. A local hangout and a destination within itself, this was merely the beginning.
“We not only wanted a decent beer but a decent place to drink that beer. Where you feel like you are part of the community, and the bar tender actually gives a toss about the person across the other side of the bar,” says Jaron.
4 Pines expanded into neighbouring Brookvale – not only to increase their brewing and bottling capabilities, but to also open the Truckbar, an old 1960 dodge that has been reconstructed into a bar with 21 beers on tap. More recently, 4 Pines transformed the space beneath the Brew Pub on East Esplanade, Manly, into 4 Pines Underground, a restaurant that pairs beer with every meal of the day.
“Traditionally people would have a beer with every meal because it was safer to drink then water,” says Jaron. “At Underground Manly, we will match a beer with every meal, including breakfast – you should try it, it’s amazing!”
With beer remaining the core focus of their business, 4 Pines is set to open Newport Public House in December. But come April 2017, 4 Pines will be launching Beer and Bread – a concept that stems back to Jaron’s days in Yallingup, where he and his family bought woodfired bread from a German baker who utilised techniques that are almost extinct in Germany.
“We are going to build a woodfired oven in Belrose and introduce people to a completely different way of making bread,” says Jaron. “Bread and beer has this warmth; they have run parallel throughout history.”
Whether you want to grab a pint, some good pub grub or take a tour of their facilities, 4 Pines well and truly have you covered.
4 Pines Brookvale
Brewery Truckbar 4G, 9 – 13 Winbourne Road, Brookvale
4 Pines Manly Underground 43 – 45 E. Esplanade, Manly
4 Pines Public House 313 Barranjoey Road, Newport (Opening December 8)
4 Pines Belrose Glen Street Theatre, Belrose (Opening April 2017)
