Top places for a craft beer

Looking for some good places to grab a pint or a handle, and get more of a handle on the booming craft-beer scene? Look below.

The Local Taphouse

Beer-centric boozers continue to open all over Sydney and The Local Taphouse still rules them all. The transformed corner pub is a temple of artisan brews with three bars featuring unique and rotating taps, and a tightly curated selection of bottles with rarities you'll be pressed to find anywhere else. There's a rooftop for saisons in summer and chesterfields warmth via stout in winter.

122 Flinders Street, Darlinghurst; 9360 0088; thelocal.com.au

Petersham Bowling Club

Settle down, beer geeks. Yes, there are places in Sydney with a load more unique taps, but do you really want to drink Batch and Badlands at another cookie-cutter joint with cut-price taxidermy? Or at this community hub where families turn the retired green into a soccer oval, country music plays softly (turning to loudly of an evening) and afternoon sun lights the place up like Paul Kelly on a road-tripping radio station?

77 Brighton Street, Petersham; 02 9569 4639; thepbc.org.au

The Grifter Brewing Co

The blokes made a beer for Noma when the restaurant was serving schnitzel out here, so you can probably trust 'em to know what they're doing. Grifter has made part of its taproom look like a regional watering hole, complete with pool table, Australiana​ prints and classic pub carpet. The dog-and-child-friendly venue might be the only brewery around with Aesop​ handwash in the bathroom.

1/391 Enmore Road, Marrickville; 02 9550 5742; thegrifter.com.au