Lady Burra Brewhouse — Restaurant in Adelaide

So there has been a lot of criticism toward the quality of beer coming out of the Lady Burra Brewhouse. I heard a statement from their quarters stating that they are trying to make ‘sessionable’ craft beers, which differs from the normal hop-forwarded IPAs. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I decided to try their Pilsner at Fork on the Road. Pilsner is typically ‘sessionable’, characterised with firm bitterness, pale appearance and earthy/grassy/spicy aroma.

I thought that much of the criticism may have been because their beers were not as hop and malt driven as many other craft beers on the market. Nothing wrong with sessionable beers, but it has to be clean and done properly. What I tried was quite terrible!

The description boasted the use of 3 different malt varieties, 2 of which must have been caramel malts. The overuse of caramel malts gave this beer an unpleasant sweet character which is unfamiliar with this style. The hop bitterness was there, but it had an unpleasant harshness which leads me to believe they didn’t use a noble-style hop, and if they did, they used a considerable amount of other non-noble hop varieties. The result was a bitter-sweet beer that was not identifiable to the style they tried to project.

I understand that brewers want to venture away from traditional styles and put their own twist on things, but surely this recipe needs to change as it contradicts their philosophy in creating ‘sessionable’ beers. Firsly, change your grain bill. To make a ‘sessionable’ Pilsner all you need is Pilsner malt and a small portion of carapils to aid head retention. Most importantly, tune down your crystal malts – it totally ruined your beer. Secondly, I have no idea what you did with your hopping schedule and type of hops used, but it did not marry well with your grain bill. Lastly, I’m not here to s*&^ on your brewer or your philosophy on brewing. I’m stoked there is a brewery in the heart of our CBD, but I’m very disappointed that this beer (I’ve only tried one of your beers mind you) fell so short of my expectations it was not funny. I’m fairly sure you will disregard this criticism and keep trying to massage your egos, but all I want for you to do is to take this criticism and modify your beer.

Kind...

Thoroughly disappointed at the blatant singling out of myself and my staff when we attended the venue on Saturday night.

Granted we were dressed slightly more ‘street style’ than a percentage of other patrons (albeit still well put together as the majority of us had come from work at a fashion retailer), but we were all requested for ID at our table AFTER having gotten a round of drinks under the basis of ‘looking young’, despite our entire group being moderately to significantly tattooed (from at least entire visible arm(s) to including hands and in my case head as well) and all being in our 20s to 30s. One of my group was IDed a second time as he tried to go inside. In the hour-plus that we were there I saw, at most, a small handful of people get requested for identification at the door, and no one else got asked while seated. Plenty of people appearing to skirt that 18-20 bracket were let in with no questioning.

We were not disruptive at all - simply keeping to our own table and chatting amongst ourselves like literally every other patron there - and yet were eyeballed by the door staff the entirety of our visit which was frankly quite uncomfortable. The security guard informed us it was management that flagged the perceived youthfulness of our troupe, and we were approached multiple times.

Drinks were fine - got ice in our ciders when I didn’t ask for it but given the bartender that served me seemed to still be learning (judging by how he had to be shown how to pull a pint anyway), I’m fine to look past it.

I personally have been drinking/dining at Lady Burra for a couple of years now and regularly suggest it to people. After last night I...

I recently visited Lady Burra Brewery with high hopes of enjoying a good meal while watching the football game. However, my experience left much to be desired. Upon calling ahead to confirm they had a TV to watch the game, I was assured they did, only to arrive and find out they didn't have a TV. They did eventually confess they have a projector but they didn’t have the necessary subscription to broadcast the game. The disappointment didn't end there.

I ordered the Emerson gluten-free pizza, only to be served a chorizo-topped pizza instead. The waitress delivered it saying the Emerson, to which I was confused with the toppings but I didn’t think I could argue as maybe it was my fault and I hadn’t read the menu properly. The waitress a couple minutes later brought to my attention of the kitchen mistakes by making a chorizo and her stating it was the Emerson. There was no apology or acknowledgment of the inconvenience, she even wanted me to keep it, but I wasn’t enjoying the chorizo at all so I asked for my ordered to be provided. The lack of attention to detail and customer service was evident throughout the evening.

Despite the attempts by the staff to rectify the issues, the overall experience was marred by poor communication and subpar food and beer. Even advertised happy hour specials were not visibly displayed, adding to the frustration of the evening.

In conclusion, my recommendation would be to look elsewhere for a dining experience that meets expectations both in terms of service and...