The Grand Australian Brewery Adventure: Quest 2: Pirate Life - Port Adelaide, Adelaide

It has been a while between drinks and quests. The quest that started this journey is over and once again we step off along the path to find the best brew in Australia.

The next quest takes us to the docklands of the city, Port Adelaide. To an expansive, behemoth of a warehouse and a well-loved brewery, Pirate Life. You would struggle to find a soul in this part of the world that hasn't sipped one of their elixirs and even fewer that haven't heard of it.

Pirate Life was founded in 2014 from two boys and a dream. Here it is, eight years later with beers sold all over the country and millions of litres of beers brewed to date. It wasn't until 2018 however that Pirate Life in Port Adelaide would materialise. Going from concrete slab to fully swinging brewery in little over five months. An inspiring feat to marvel in.

The place is truly humming and if the doors are open you can expect two things: Cold beer inside and people about.

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The Beer

As is tradition, I had to have a beer or two whilst looking around this place and I was not disappointed.

As you have probably gathered by now I love a good sour. So that was the first beer that I tried. The Acai and Passionfruit is a refreshing sour at 3.5% alcohol boosting the titular flavour of acai berries and passionfruit for the cost of a mid-strength. Bright in colour and flavour this sour will have you coming back for more.

It wasn't long and I was straight into my next beer, South Coast Pale Ale. A 4.4% alcohol pale ale that is crisp with a slight bitterness accompanying some fruity flavours. Just like you wouldn't go to a steakhouse to order a salad. You wouldn't go to Pirate Life and not have this pale ale.

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The Range

Pirate Life have a truly impressive range. With no less that 24 beers on tap at any one time. 12 beers come from their core range whilst the remaining 12 are a rotating range of limited release batches that are only limited by the imagination of the brewers. Some notable limited range beers are: Lemon Meringue Nitro Thickshake IPA, Black Forest Gateau Dark Sour and the Chardonnay Barrel-Aged Belgium Blonde.

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The Venue

The Port Adelaide venue is a massive warehouse with a shopfront style bar with lots of seating both inside and outside. The outside tables are great in the summer with massive umbrellas to provide shade. Whilst the indoor tables are a godsend in the cold winter. But that is not all folks. There is pinball machines, a mini curling table, a merch shop and a barber inside!

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The Culture

Culture can be a hard one to gauge at times. What always is a good indicator is how this place is always packed. Bookings are available for functions both big and small.

Monday is a particularly good time to visit Pirate Life because of an event known as The End of the Line. Where you can pick up pints for schooner prices on a row of taps that are going to be changed out.

The brewery is definitely is focusing it's style and decor to a modern audience of beer drinkers with a grungy artstyle highlighted with retro, neon light.

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The Food

The Port Adelaide venue in 2021 had an entire kitchen rebuild and as such has expanded their menu service to include a wide range of entrees and main meals. These aren't your standard pub meals and are quite boutique and exotic with a lot of thought put into their creation.

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Stats Recap

It is that time again. To close off another quest in this journey. But let me tell you, I really didn't want this one to end. Pirate Life have an amazing venue and a great range of beers to choose from. It is definitely the place to have your weekly beers.

Alas, the time has come to move on. The second quest is over and we are once again back on the road looking for more beers and more breweries that may be hidden right under our noses.