Based up in Port Stephens on the NSW coast, Murray’s brewery is a must-do destination if you’re up that way, for two reasons.
1) It’s a brewery, for God’s sake. Any time you’re driving somewhere and there’s a brewery nearby is all the excuse you need to stop in.
2) It’s Murray’s for God sake.

Some breweries have a rep for good quality stuff, and Murray’s is definitely one of them. I’ve liked every beer I’ve tried from them (with the exception of their anniversary ale, which I bought from the brewery one year and, when I got it home and opened it, found it was a gusher. So I got a lot of head and not much else. Not clued in about beery things at that time, I just figured that’s what happened with real fancy beers under cork).

So I could have picked any beer to recommend here – and will no doubt recommend other Murray’s beers as we go along. But let’s start with the Whale Ale, named for the creatures that swim along the coast at Port Stephens. A US wheat beer, there’s some nice tropical notes up front from the hops and, on the tongue, there are mild banana flavours, with a citrus kick at the back.

All-up it’s a refreshing drop, and a well-crafted one as well.