Regatta Hotel

An occasional haunt in university days, and it was always full of drunk, arrogant wankers. I always preferred the Royal Exchange nearby, always a bit rougher, and a more interesting and relaxed crowd. Of course, in those days in Brisbane it was nearly all XXXX Bitter, with an occasional VB, Fosters, etc to break the monotony. Things have changed and I was here again recently and had an interesting stout (can't remember what) and a pleasant moment's break watching the world pass by. A beautiful, historic pub building, great location near the river, although I suspect that the clientele hasn't changed much.

 

Atmosphere at night? Well if you want to get shitfaced drunk and make passes at large breasted women (or if you have large breasts and want drunken young to middle aged yobbos to make passes at you) than this is the place for you.

Not my cup of tea, and I doubt it would appeal to most on this site. During the day its a far more typical Brisbane crowd though. Loud and slightly drunk.

The boatshed restaurant has decent modern pub meals, though overpriced. They used to have St Arnou on tap at the Regatta. Better than the usual but nothing special. Now they have James Squire on tap as well, so at least you can come here and enjoy something better than average (you'll have to hunt the bar that serves them though).

If you're with a crowd you can get a decent (albeit expensive) meal and a decent beer (albeit not a selection of decent beers). Nice location, nice looking area but chances are its going to be loud. The mens toilets provide some novelty value, particularly if you drink enough to bring out the idiot in you. I can't comment on the ladies room though I'd be surprised if they had a similar set up.

The Regatta Hotel is a Brisbane landmark. Right on the Brisbane River in the suburb of Toowong, it's a very popular nightlife spot particularly for University of Queensland students and western suburbanites.

While it's correctly listed as a brewpub, the vast majority of people I know who've been there are unaware that it actually brews its own beer. This tells you not only something about the clientele, who are more there for the rowdy, sports bar, pick-up scene than for a quality beer and chat with friends, but also about the attitude towards brewpubs/microbreweries in Brisbane (and, of course, Queensland as a whole). Most people who go there are the younger uni crowd who want jugs of XXXX Gold or rum & cola to down as they work up the courage to talk to a group of girls. While I'm not saying anything bad about this behaviour, I'm simply pointing out that this is not a premium distination for the beer hunter.

In fact, it's difficult to actually find the brewpub's brews (the St. Arnou line of beers) there -- as there is usually only one type available (either Pale Ale or Pilsener) on the "main floor". You have to wander downstairs to the pokies (slot machines) area to find the rest of what's available in this line. The servers generally have very little knowledge about the beer and offer little in the way of advice. From memory, there's a wheat beer, pale ale, pilsner and maybe one or two more - but nothing flashy. One time, a bartender on the "main floor" told me that all they had was the pilsener, but a short trip downstairs revealed that he was clearly wrong.

I've never actually been to a brewpub where the microbrewery aspect of the place plays such an inconsequential role - and even non-existant to many regular customers.

I rate the selection as "average", but this is Queensland terms, the atomosphere as 1.5 because it's not what I like in a brewpub at all, the quality isn't great, the service staff aren't knowledgable. The food is a 3.5 because there is a full restaurant attached to the hotel - the Boatshed - which has decent food, albeit a bit pricey. So, check it out if you happen to be in Toowong - but don't go out of your way for the Regatta's specialty beers.

Just in case you didn't get the message throughout this review, check out their web page: I challenge you to find any mention of the beers brewed there anywhere on the site... unbelievable.

Edit: After a recent trip to the Regatta, I've learned that they've ditched their contract-brewed St. Arnou line to make way for the contract brewing of the James Squire line, the bulk of which they currently have on tap. Not a very creative microberwery, but at least James Squire beer is awesome - and they even carry their limited release beers (Hop Thief on tap now - March 07).