Friday night drinks at The Spooning Goats, Sydney (17th August 2012)

Olof rounded up the usual crowd for a couple of beers after work in a new bar he found in town called The Spooning Goats. Sydney is littered with boutique beer bars serving craft or local beers these days and we are quite spoilt for choice when deciding on where to go for a drink. Jono and I don't normally seek out beer bars but instead get introduced to new places by fellow friends like Olof who's a keen beer drinker and always trying out new beers (Olof brews his own beers too).

Around 6pm, Jono and I left home and headed into town to meet up with the rest of the gang at The Spooning Goats. Located on York St, one wouldn't even notice the buzzing little bar from street level. The bar was underground and accessible only by a flight of stairs that seemed to lead into a brightly lit dairy rather than the bar next door - at the bottom of the stairs, we sighted  the bouncer standing in front of the sliding door with bars attached (think jail bars) which led into the venue. Several of Jono's workmates were already drinking and chatting merrily indoors. "Yeah, I invited a few people and it just exploded," said Olof grinning when we asked if he had invited the whole office.

The Spooning Goats aka TheSG opened in mid-2012 and like most popular (and 'hidden') small bars, its clientèle are mostly gained from word of mouth rather than advertising. The bar decor was rather quirky, reminding me of the 70s retro style - the chairs and tables were all mismatched but somehow works with the setting (the bar is kitted out with recycled products including its furniture), and they even a console and screen set up at the back for customers to play old-fashioned games like Space Invaders, Tetris and Pacman using a joystick. Flashback of the past - awesome! The drinks menu onsite was pretty small and their boutique beers sourced from NSW microbreweries. I don't mind the lack of choice so long as they have a few good drinks and the pale ale I got definitely hit the spot. Oh, and we were given a little button pin that says 'I LOVE GOATS' when we bought our first drink - cute!

With a drink in hand, I caught up with Anna who has just returned to Sydney from Sweden, and mingled with the other Googlers and friends. There were several visiting Googlers from the other offices abroad - I found it rather amusing that most of them assumed I was a lady of leisure and seemed surprised when I mentioned that I have a job AND in IT too. Perhaps they thought I may have visa restrictions when moving countries with Jono - fortunately being a Kiwi, I don't have such issues here :) Lots more chit-chat and as the night continued on, the bar progressively got emptier and the handful of us that were still around at 9pm found ourselves seats at one of the tables enjoying a relaxing evening of craft beers and good company. Definitely a bar I would recommend checking out!


Comments

Popular Posts