Blair Hayden

Sydney’s Lord Nelson Hotel will mark its 30th year as a brewpub with the release of two new beers in packaged format.

Brewed to celebrate the recent milestone, Dead Ahead Golden Ale will now be available in bottles, owner Blair Hayden told Australian Brews News.

He said the brewery will also be releasing its first canned product in the coming months.

The Lord Nelson currently contract brews its packaged beers at Icon Brewing in Sydney, which is clearly stated on the label.

Hayden said this contract brewing arrangement is unlikely to change now that son Trystam Hayden is living in Canada, where he has recently established Brittania Brewing Company in Vancouver.

The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel

“We looked seriously at building a brewery. I was very serious about it a year and a half ago, but I’m getting near the end of my tenure at the Lord, so to speak,” Blair Hayden said.

Dead Ahead Golden Ale

“When my son Trystam chose to go to Canada there was no point for me [to pursue the brewery].

“I would have done it with the family being involved, but for me to run it on my own, build a new brewery and get on with that, it just didn’t appeal at my stage of life.”

Hayden said both the two new beers have stayed true to the Lord Nelson’s preferred style of sessionable ales.

“Never have I tried to do anything outside of make sessionable beers – flavoursome beers that are memorable,” he said.

“I’m not a big fan of IPAs. I can have one but I don’t really feel like another one, I feel the hops overrunning the product.

“It’s like having too much oak in wine.”

Lord Nelson’s packaged beers are soldthrough Dan Murphy’s in NSW and nationally through BWS and Vintage Cellars.