By Stefanie Collins, editor b&c
The winners for the third annual Time Out Sydney Pub Awards were announced on Monday at craft beer hall Beer DeLuxe King St Wharf.
The Courthouse Hotel, Newtown was crowned Sydney’s best pub with Emily Lloyd-Tait, Time Out Sydney’s pubs editor, saying that the win was well deserved.
“Everybody loves the Courthouse,” said. “You never have a bad time when you go there. The beers are cold, clean and delicious. The food is great. Staff are champions and you can bring your dog. They make it all seem easy, but there’s a lot of dedication and expertise behind their win tonight.”
Newtown was the suburb of the evening, with the Union Hotel also picking up two awards: Best Beer List (the pub’s 22 taps hosted 300 different brews in 2015) and Publican of the Year for Luke Hiscox.
Hiscox has been overseeing extensive improvements at the craft beer pub, including a menu revamp, for the past 12 months.
Old-school food was the order of the evening with the recently reopened Unicorn in Paddington taking home the Best Pub Food gong for its “inventively retro snacks” like French onion dip, and classic counter meals.
With a plethora of pubs seeing revivals and refurbs in the past 12 months, the Pub Revival Award category was packed. However, it was Merivale’s huge redevelopment of The Newport that carried the day.
Finally, Time Out’s Legend Award, reserved for a pub “with plenty of history that has shaped Sydney’s drinking culture”, was awarded to the Botany View Hotel, Newtown – a true diamond in the rough.
Lloyd-Tait told TheShout that despite changes to the Sydney scene, what makes a great pub remains the same.
“The pub scene as we know it has been rapidly changing in the last 12 months. We've seen the addition of rooftop bars, big name chefs, and even a paddling pool to encourage punters, but the essentials of what makes an excellent pub remain unchanged,” she says. “That's why our Pub of the Year is the Courthouse Hotel in Newtown. It's ticking all the boxes – ace counter meals and an inclusive attitude, a healthy love of televised sport, plenty of outdoor spots where you can hang with your dog and your kids, friendly staff and great beers.”
FULL LIST OF NOMINEES AND WINNERS:
Best Pub Food
WINNER: The Unicorn
HIGHLY COMMENDED: The Paddington
Best Beer List
WINNER: Union Hotel, Newtown
HIGHLY COMMENDED: East Village Hotel, Balmain
Pub Revival Award
WINNER: The Newport
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Hotel Palisade
Good Times Award
WINNER: Lord Gladstone Hotel
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Harpoon Harry
Family Friendly Award
WINNER: Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel
HIGHLY COMMENDED: The Newport
Publican of the Year
WINNER: Luke Hiscox, Union Hotel, Newtown
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Matthew Sen, Forest Lodge Hotel
People’s Choice
Harts Pub
Legend Award
Botany View Hotel
Pub of the Year
Courthouse Hotel, Newtown