Botany Brewery Crawl: Slow Lane, One Drop & Beer Fontaine in One Perfect Afternoon
Botany isn’t the first suburb that springs to mind when you think of Sydney’s craft beer scene — especially with the goliath that is Marrickville just up the road — but maybe it should be. A short distance from the airport, this pocket of industrial Sydney is quietly home to some of the city’s most distinctive breweries. With three within easy walking distance, it’s the perfect spot for a mini brewery crawl that balances classic styles, bold experiments, and elegant pours.
Here’s how a sunny Saturday afternoon at Slow Lane, One Drop and Beer Fontaine unfolded.
The Crawl
➡️ Getting there: Botany is only a 15 minute cab or rideshare from the CBD. Or you can get the train Redfern and catch the 309 to nearby Botany Road. From there, you’re a mere 5 minutes walk from your first stop.
1. Slow Lane Brewing
📍 Byrnes Street | Website
Couple Alex and Yvonne have been part of the local scene since 2020, opening their Botany taproom the following January. After years of home-brewing in New York and soaking up the Californian craft beer boom, they brought their passion home to Sydney. The result is Slow Lane Brewing.
The unassuming warehouse on Byrnes Street houses their modern takes on old-world ales and lagers. It’s Simplicity itself — quite literally, with their German Helles lager of the same name perfectly summing up their approach. On the Saturday afternoon of our visit, we sat outdoors under shady trees and umbrellas, sipping on malty Czech-style pilsners like Pivotal and Jagged Little Pils.
Their traditionally brewed Grain of Salt gose, made with a mixed culture that includes Lactobacillus and Brettanomyces, is a subtle affair, refreshing without the sharp acidity or tartness some goses lean on.
Food comes from the in-house kitchen, which turns out share plates and pizzas from outdoor ovens. The special of the day happened to be a bright, herby vegan pizza that did a fine job of convincing us we’d eaten something green.
As we joined a few other groups tossing rings and playing cornhole among the outdoor benches, we eventually — and reluctantly — tore ourselves away for the next stop.
➡️ Walk: Four minutes up Byrnes Street, then left onto Erith Street for your second stop.
2. One Drop Brewing Co
📍 Erith Street | Website
If Slow Lane lives up to its name with its relaxed vibes, One Drop is the big, bustling, family-friendly barn. You’ve probably seen One Drop’s colourful concoctions or cocktails at festivals and tap takeovers — and their Botany taproom instantly connects you with that same vividness.
Their location here feels like kismet. As they note on their site, One Drop launched in 2019 — the same number as Botany’s postcode. Step inside and your eyes are immediately drawn past the big tanks to the glittering mirrorball overhead, and the kaleidoscope of around 17 brews on tap.
One Drop’s core range — the Botany Bay Lager and Hazy Pale Ale — belies just how adventurous the rest of the lineup gets. Their sours stretch from Funny Guy, a tropically charged smoothie sour, to Liquid Blueberry, a triple-fruited imperial sour ale that packs a hefty 10% ABV. With another stop still to come, we opted for pony pours of two standouts: the Liquid Motueka IIPA and the silky Tallahassee Crema Oat Cream DIPA. At One Drop, variety really is the sweet (and sour) spice of life.
Food comes via a rotating lineup of food trucks. On our visit, Amigos Mexican was serving up stacks of vegetarian options, but BBQ, Vietnamese, and woodfired pizza were all on the horizon.
There’s almost always something happening here — live music, trivia, or a weekend party. There’s plenty of seating inside and out, but it’s easy to see this one filling up fast, so booking ahead isn’t a bad idea.
➡️ Backtrack along Byrne Street, turn right onto Hale, then right onto Botany Road. It’s about a 10-minute stroll, or a four-minute rideshare if you’d rather skip the walk.
3. Beer Fontaine
📍 Botany Road | Website
Down at the quieter, more residential end of Botany Road — and with its beautifully appointed foyer — you might think you’ve accidentally wandered into a private office. Fontaine doesn’t look like the other breweries in the area. Then again, the tables out front filled with people drinking are probably a dead giveaway.
Inside, the mix of classic furniture, polished floors and decorative barrels hints at founder Marshall Harrington’s varied influences. You can just as easily settle in with friends around a long table in the brewery bar while a DJ spins in the background as you can perch by the window in the front room and watch the world go by.
Harrington made the leap from film and TV production during the pandemic lockdowns, turning his homebrewing background — and his degree in chemistry — into something bigger when Fontaine opened in 2021. The award-winning beers take their cues from Belgian and French traditions, including Sparkling Forest, a Gold Medal–winning Belgian-style sparkling ale, and Bière Gastronomique, a Bronze Medal barrel-fermented wild ale that’s 100% up our nerdy alley.
But you don’t need a science degree to appreciate what’s on tap. We happily knocked back some more sessionable options during our visit: the Red Red Rye IPA, South Cloud – Riwaka Hazy IPA, and the malt-forward Botany Best Bitter poured from the hand pump.
Snacks and small bites were available inside, and a food truck out front was serving a chicken-heavy menu. (Not much for us vegetarians that day, but we were content with chips — still working off that pizza). As fans of Belgian styles and especially wild ales, this was the perfect way to wrap up the crawl.
Practical tips
Best time to go: Mid-afternoon on weekends for a lively atmosphere, or mid-week if you’re after more of a local vibe.
How long you’ll need: Around 2.5 to 4 hours, depending on how long you linger at each stop.
Getting back: It’s only a 25-minute 309 bus ride to Redfern, with plenty of train options from there. A rideshare or taxi will get you back to the city in about 15 minutes — or to Marrickville if you’re still feeling it.
Drink responsibly: Stick to tasting paddles if you want to pace yourself, and don’t forget to drink water. It can get hot in Botany, especially in summer.
🍺 Before you cross the Cooks River, warm up with our Marrickville Brewery Map — your ultimate Inner West crawl.
Final thoughts
As denizens of the Inner West, we often get stuck in our comfortable little bubble of 16 local breweries. But Botany’s brew scene is proof there’s plenty to love in the so-called “Inner South” — and it’s well worth venturing beyond our usual haunts.
If you follow the 309 bus route a little further north to Rosebery, you’ll find Frenchies Bistro and Brewery. Or hop on the 348 over to Yulli’s Brews and Sydney Brewing in Alexandria, then continue up the road to 2 Halfs Brewing & Distilling and Blackwattle Bar + Brewery. But that’s a crawl for another day.
Where should we head next? Let us know on our socials — we’re always up for a new adventure (especially if it comes with a good pint).
