The southern suburbs of Sydney are growing their craft beer offering once again this month with the advent of Sunday Road Brewing Co to the Sutherland Shire.

The newcomer joins Shark Island Brewing and Hairyman Brewery in the area.

Sunday Road founder Brad Walker has been working towards opening his own brewery and taproom for five years.

He told Brews News that the original plan was to find a site and open the brewery and taproom straight away but said that it quickly became a struggle.

“We knew we wanted to be around the Sutherland Shire, so that narrowed our search down a bit but we really struggled to find a good site.”

To avoid stalling his brewing ambitions any further, Walker said that he struck up a relationship with Camperdown’s Wayward Brewing Co where he has been brewing his flagship Sunday Road Enigma and a pale ale for three years.

After a lengthy search for the right site, Walker finally found and secured a lease 18 months ago.

Located in Kirrawee, Sunday Road’s brewery and taproom is now only two weeks away from opening to the public.

“It’s taken us a fair while to get up and going to where we are now but now we’ve got the brewery installed we’ll be looking to open our taproom in the next couple of weeks.”

Manufactured by Bespoke Brewing Solutions, the Sunday Road brewhouse is a 12hL steam system that has been custom built to fit the brewery space.

Commissioning the brewery and setting up the taproom has meant that it’s been a busy start to the year for Walker and his team.

Mick O’Rance, formerly of Goose Island and BentSpoke, came onboard as Walker’s head brewer just last month.

The taproom is licenced from 10am to 10pm but to start off with, Walker said it will focus on trade from Wednesday to Sunday from 12pm to 10pm and go from there.

Walker will extend his beverage offering to include other beers and ciders, in-houseItalian-style sodas and select wines. However, all food will be outsourced to local restaurants, food trucks and even Ubereats.

Now that Sunday Road has its own home, Walker said that he is excited to get more of his beer recipes brewed and out into the market – a lager will soon be available, followed by a string of seasonal releases.

While Hairyman and Shark Island opened before him, Walker said that his beers were the first to appear in the Sutherland Shire.

In preparation for the taproom opening, Walker said that the brewery has just undergone a rebrand, which has also included a move into cans.

Sunday Road is located at 147 Bath Road, Kirrawee, New South Wales, Australia.