Frenchies Bistro & Brewery

Our first rendezvous with Vince de Soyres and Thomas Cauquil happened underground. It was in 2014, in the cellar of Naremburn’s Flat Rock Brew Cafe where the pair – Vince the brewer and Thomas the chef – served up a memorable degustation with colourful pairings that shone through the dim light of the barrel room.

Besides thick accents that clearly marked them out as French, there was no suggestion the two had any association beyond working at the same place. It wasn't until much later we found out that not only did they know each other but they had done for some time, as far back as hospitality school in their homeland. It was there they’d discovered a mutual appreciation for consuming good things and undertaking epic journeys; where most people are satisfied with a brisk walk or biking to work, they would do things like climb Mont Blanc or cycle from Paris to Istanbul.

During this time, Vince was learning to brew in Lyon while Thomas steered a path towards gastronomy, racking up experience in the kitchens of Michelin star restaurants. Their career path was being neatly laid out but that adventurous streak kicked in and they decided to travel to Australia, though not by the most direct route.

They plotted a path through Kamchatka, walking more than 700 kilometres along the remote Russia peninsula where serene scenes are punctured by ferocious obstacles ranging from exploding volcanoes to roaming hordes of wild bears. What brought them this way was Lapérouse, the French explorer who famously sailed from Kamchatka to New South Wales in 1788 and missed beating the First Fleet to Botany Bay by just a few days.

Loosely following his trail took them several months and, when they made it to Australia, the pair packed away their hiking boots and picked up where they’d left off: finding work in breweries and kitchens. That was where locals first gave them the affectionate sobriquet “Frenchies”. Thereafter, the name stuck everywhere they went, so when they made the decision to launch a business of their own they knew what to call it.

Labelling the business Frenchies also neatly summed up what they wanted to achieve with their venture, showcasing Gallic heritage and French fare under the banner of ‘bistronomy’, in other words gastronomy in a bistro setting – in even simpler terms, it was high quality food at affordable prices. To accompany this they would attach a brewery.

As they began assembling the bits and pieces required of the new business, not least a place to put it, Vince began gypsy brewing in different spots around Sydney to launch Frenchies beer and get some runs – and the odd competition medal – on the board. The beers he opted to make were generally French or European inspired and stood out from the crowd because they didn't necessarily follow it; the IPA, as an example, uses French and German hops rather than the more fashionable New World varieties.

After encountering a few hurdles trying to secure the right place to build a home, they found their sweet spot in The Cannery Rosebery, a piece of urban redevelopment where a host of young, likeminded businesses are housed in one large space – think provedores, designers, bakers, coffee roasters, a distillery, a cooking school and more.

In mid 2017, Frenchies’ brewery was installed, the kitchen completed and the bistro readied to welcome guests. Into the dining areas, both upstairs and down, came oak tables with a personal connection, the wood having been felled from the forest behind Vince’s father’s home in the Loire Valley, turned into timber at the local mill in exchange for a few offcuts then shipped off to Sydney. The pièce de résistance of the set is a six metre, twenty seat dining table for which the phrase "long lunch" might have been invented. If you can organise yourself nineteen friends the chefs will customise a menu for the occasion – a suckling pig, game bird or cured fish, for example – otherwise it's more a case of tucking into whatever’s been chalked up on the bistro menu.

That menu changes often so don’t expect to find the same thing on the board every week, let alone every day. Thomas’ approach is reminiscent of the way one ought to go about their own grocery shopping; seeking out things that are in season, look fresh and inspire you to create a meal around them. Each and every day a different five course menu made from local and seasonal ingredients is available for $75, while for an extra $20 you can get beers paired with each course.

If you’re not up for a full meal, sit down at the bar and indulge in French staples like terrines, pâté, pastes and cured meats – all of which the kitchen team makes on site – plus a cheese selection that’s exactly what you’d imagine a place of this lineage should have. The name of the game at the bar is to mix and match a few small items, though you can save yourself the trouble by just grabbing a platter.

And while you're there it’d be rude not to try a beer or three – after all, it’s made just a few metres away so you’ll hardly find another restaurant in Sydney with beer that’s fresher. With a core range of kölsch, an American pale ale that uses what you might term retro hops and two contrasting biere de gardes, it’s a selection that’s versatile enough for standalone drinking or proper food pairing. You can add to that a continual cycle of limited releases and experiments, such as the fortified beers made in collaboration with their neighbours at Archie Rose.

Taking a trip to Frenchies brings to mind that common lament among dedicated beer drinkers, whereby restaurants do themselves a disservice by offering immaculate meals only to present a beer list made up of generic lagers. It goes without saying that you'll find no such problem at Frenchies. Indeed, good food and good beer is made to look so easy. In a city where brewery food more often than not means food trucks, Frenchies’ fine fare is something altogether different and welcome.

Nick Oscilowski

Name
Frenchies Bistro & Brewery
Address

The Cannery
6 / 61-71 Mentmore Avenue
Rosebery
NSW 2018

Phone
02 8964 3171
Regular events

Midweek mussels:
Dinner every Wed; lunch and dinner on Thurs. Mussels, fries and a beer or house red/white wine – $35pp
Bottomless lunches every Sat & Sun:
Unlimited beers or mimosas for two hours, and a shared feast for $85pp

Open Hours

Wednesday: 2pm to 10pm
Thurs to Sat: midday to 11pm
Sunday: midday to 4pm


This is a directory listing. To find out more, head here

Frenchies Bistro & Brewery Regulars

Frenchies Kamchatka

Published July 10, 2020
Of all the beers Frenchies have released since opening in 2017, in this writer’s opinion Kamchatka is the one that most represents the founders Vince de Soyres and Thomas Cauquil. No one would ever jam a brewery and French fine dining bistro in together on the same premises. And no one would ever brew a bière de garde and jam it full of enough Carafa malt to render it black as the void. Kamchatka is named for the far eastern Russian peninsula where Vince and Thomas made a 700km trek through a… Read more
Style
Black Bière de Garde
ABV
6.1%

Frenchies Astrolabe

Published March 31, 2018
Long before the Frenchies Bistro & Brewery first opened its doors in 2017, the company’s founders, Vince and Thomas, wanted to hit the ground running and generate a bit of awareness about their new brand. The most tangible thing they figured they could do to help get some traction behind Frenchies was to release some beers. So, in 2015 Vince began gypsy brewing around Sydney, testing the market with a little range of European-inspired styles they hoped would fit in with the venue they would… Read more
Style
Red Biere de Garde
ABV
7.4%
Bitterness
30 IBU

Frenchies Pale Ale

Frenchies Pale Ale is a showcase of hop varieties from a part of the world that the mind might not automatically wander to - France. The beer uses a range of hop varieties from the country's Alsace region to provide a mix of citrus and more floral notes. The beer is one that leans heavily on caramel malts to bind together to make the beer a classic, everyday pale which the brewery says pairs perfectly with anything from the grill.… Read more
Style
Pale Ale
ABV
5.0%
Bitterness
40

Frenchies Lapérouse

The launch of the Lapérouse must have been a nice feeling for Frenchies brewer Vince de Soyres. For some time – what feels like years – he’d spoken of a plan to fully satisfy what is an apparent affection and curiosity for the Biere de Garde style of his homeland. As such, when the Frenchies brewery was commissioned in 2017 he wasted little time in launching not just one, not [two][(https://craftypint.com/beer/5016/frenchies-astrolabe) but three into their core range. This one is a golden… Read more
Style
Golden Biere De Garde
ABV
7.2%
Bitterness
30 IBU

Frenchies Draught

Draught is a term employed by many different breweries to mean many different things but we think it's safe to say when most Australian breweries use the term on the can, it doesn't mean French Pilsner. But the Sydney brewery has long been a fan of French hops and here they employ the noble Strisselspalt hops to bring bitterness and citrus hops to the clean dry beer. First brewed as a limited release and later joining the brewery's core range, if you ask us, the smooth, sweet malt that makes you… Read more
Style
French Pilsner
ABV
4.5%
Bitterness
25 IBU

Frenchies Bistro & Brewery Specials

Frenchies' Fifth Birthday Beers

Published August 15, 2022
And it’s a hearty "Bon anniversaire!" to Frenchies Bistro and Brewery as they celebrate their fifth rotation around the sun. To mark the occasion, they’ve released a birthday four-pack of oaked IPAs. Yes, that’s correct, four different IPAs, all oaked up the wazoo. Clearly, you wouldn’t want your fresh and vibrant IPAs anywhere near a porous mass of wood and bacteria, so Frenchies have once again used their modified hop cannon to oak up some beers quickly and cleanly. First up,… Read more
Style
Oaked IPAs
ABV
Various ABVs
Stockists

Order the four-pack here

Frenchies Bastille 1789

Published July 1, 2022
I reckon I could count on one hand the number of beers I’ve had that gave me a strong hankering to abolish feudalism. You know what I mean? A couple of cool, refreshing sips in and you’re like “This whole lords, vassals and fiefs thing seems a bit iffy to me.” Then as you’re draining the last of your glass it’s all “Right, I’m off to storm the nearest political prison, let’s get a bit of bloody egalitarianism and liberty going around here. Time for the ruling elite to meet Monsieur… Read more
Style
Lager
ABV
4.5%

Frenchies Oak Vienna Lager & Cool Kids Talus & The Big C's

Published April 30, 2022
Almost every day, someone stops me in the street and asks: “Judd, pray tell... I simply have to know, what would you say is Sydney’s premier French brewery?” And every single time my answer is the same. Disgusted with the shameless display of audacity, I pull a cartoonishly large ACME-branded mallet from my trousers and turn their body into an accordion with one powerful blow. However, if I were to answer truthfully without extreme Warner Brothers style violence, you simply cannot go past Frenchies. Not… Read more
Style
Oaked Vienna Lager, Hazy IPA & West Coast IPA
ABV
5.2% & 6.5% & 6.5%

Frenchies & Hopsters New Kids vs Old Kids IPAs

Published January 12, 2022
Intergenerational warfare. You absolutely love to see it. Young vs old, youthful exuberance vs wisdom, cyber bullying vs a swift kick up the arse, who will reign supreme? Playing the different generations off each other: just a bit of fun or is it an unnecessary distraction from the only war that actually matters (class war)? Who could possibly say? Here, Frenchies have continued their hop-focused experimental collaboration with the Hopsters Coop Brewery and weighed in on the old vs new debate with… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA & West Coast IPA
ABV
Both 7.0%

Frenchies Fôret & La Grosse Oceanna

Published November 3, 2021
Frenchies are certainly no strangers to wood. In fact, you could even go so far as to say that if wood was moving house, and they’d spent all their money buying a dilapidated shack for seven million dollars and could only afford to hire a ute for the move, they could get Frenchies on the blower and know that, within hours, they’d both be awkwardly trying to tie a mattress on top of a bookshelf. Up until recently however, Frenchies’ expeditions into woods have been limited to barrel-ageing and… Read more
Style
Oak Conditioned Pilsner & Barrel-Aged Raspberry Sour
ABV
4.8% & 4.5%

Frenchies & Hopsters The Cool Kids: Cashmere & Eclipse

Published March 4, 2021
With so many new, frequently fascinating, hop varieties around, little wonder a number of brewers have reverted to something we first saw on these shores from the likes of Mikkeller and Bridge Road around a decade ago: single hop series. Designed to give the drinker an idea of the differences (and similarities) to be found when you switch Simcoe for Sabro or Mosaic for Motueka (pretty sure I've made variations on knowing your Saaz from your Eclipse enough over the years now), said brewers have never… Read more
Style
Single Hop Hazy IPAs
ABV
Both 6.5%

Frenchies & Hopsters The Cool Kids: Cryo Idaho 7

Published December 30, 2020
Pokemon cards? Yo-yos? Digimon…s? What did it take to be in with the cool kids when you were at school? (Because clearly I had no idea.) Nowadays, for many in the beer world it takes exploring new and interesting hop varieties. In the case of Frenchies, they're collaborating with Hopsters Co-op Brewery on not just one beer, but a series of single hop hazy IPAs, and the first is this one showcasing Idaho 7 Cryo hops. This beer is really smelly. In a good way. I mean, it’s really tasty… for my… Read more
Style
Single Hop Hazy IPA
ABV
6.5%

Frenchies Soft Tropical Mist DDH Session NEIPA & Draught Pils Style & Tropical Brut IPA

Published December 27, 2020
Three super easy-drinking beers in 330ml cans. You ready for this? Our man Judd Owen wrote about Frenchies’ Tropical Mist and Thick Tropical Mist in November, and if he knocked back the seven percent NEIPA in six minutes then he’d do this Soft Tropical Mist DDH Session NEIPA in three because it’s full of beautiful haze but contains precisely zero elements to slow you down but considering it’s less than one standard drink perhaps that’s not a problem for anyone so enjoy the Strata-Sabro-Mosaic… Read more
Style
Session NEIPA & Pilsner & Brut IPA
ABV
3.5% & 4.5% & 6.5%

Frenchies Tropical Mist DDH Cryo NEIPAs

Published November 18, 2020
Craft beer may never have been more popular and widely available than it is now, however there still must be so much that remains completely inscrutable to the average punter. Case in point: DDH Imperial Cryo NEIPA. It sounds less like a delicious beverage and more like some kind of dumb transportation system Elon Musk “invented” that’s just less efficient in every conceivable way than a train. Which brings us to Frenchies' latest – a duo of Tropical Mists, a lil’ boy and a thicc boy. I… Read more
Style
DDH NEIPA & DDH Imperial Cryo NEIPAs
ABV
7.0% & 8.5%

Frenchies The World Of Yesterday & Triple (with Little Alchemist Brewing)

Published November 14, 2020
I think what’s most endearing about Frenchies is their ability to continuously take on classic styles that rarely see the inside of a bottleshop fridge and absolutely nail them while pumping out DDH hazies and milkshake IPAs at the same time. It’s a sort of best of both worlds type situation, as long as you’re the kind of beer nerd who is positively fizzing at the thought of picking up a four-pack of German lager to balance out the mouth-stripping humulus assault of almost every other beer… Read more
Style
Vienna Lager & Belgian Tripel
ABV
4.5% & 9.0%

Frenchies Rising Star XPA & Pretty Please Milkshake IPA

Published September 15, 2020
The new beers are coming thick and fast from the Frenchies Bistro and Brewery in Rosebery through 2020. This time around, head brewer Vincent De Soyres has opted to experiment with a brand new hop variety out of Aotearoa and have a crack at a berries and cream inspired milkshake IPA. Rising Star is labelled as a double dry-hopped New Zealand XPA featuring the hop known as HORT4337 which, let’s face it, isn’t the snappiest of names. Like, I get that horticultural research institutes don’t exist… Read more
Style
DDH Single Hop XPA & Milkshake IPA
ABV
4.5% & 6.8%

Frenchies Third Birthday Single Hop DDH IPA Quartet

Published September 2, 2020
I don’t know about you, but when I was three years old, I was absolutely not brewing and releasing four different single hop IPAs. I mean, I barely even understood the relationship between amylase and saccharification of starches at that age. Although, in my defence, I don’t know how financially feasible selling a hazy IPA would have been in 1989, even with the novelty of it having been brewed by an infant? Probably best that I stuck to chicken loaf and tomato sauce sandwiches and watching Dumbo… Read more
Style
Single Hop DDH IPAs
ABV
7.0% & 10.5% & 7.0% & 7.0%

Frenchies Middy (RETIRED)

Published July 10, 2020
It’s only been within the last couple of years that craft fans have begrudgingly acknowledged that yes, cold crispy lagers are actually quite nice and mid-strength beers are great to have as a viable option when you really just aren’t in a position to drink 7 percent IPAs at all times. It’s almost as if the one of the most dominant beer styles in the country for the last century existed for a reason? Like XXXX Gold, Frenchies Middy is a 3.5 percent ABV lager but unlike Gold Middy is almost… Read more
Style
Mid-Strength Lager
ABV
3.5%

Frenchies Lola Apricot Saison

Published July 10, 2020
Alright, quick story time. I’ve had an intense aversion to apricots ever since I was a little bloke. And this is almost entirely due to my Mum cooking apricot chicken probably once a fortnight for about 15 years. I’m not disparaging Mum here, because she’s a great cook, but apricot chicken is an absolute abomination against God and not being allowed to leave the table until you finish your dinner when the dinner is some fetid sickly sweet goo is an enduring image of torture that plagues me… Read more
Style
Apricot Saison
ABV
3.5%

Frenchies Tahiti Lager

Published July 10, 2020
What the bloody hell is a Tahiti Lager and what is it doing in a Frenchies can? Look, I can’t answer the majority of that question but I can give it a bloody good go. Tahiti, being the largest island of French Polynesia, was colonised by the French in the 19th century and therefore retains a great deal of French influence in the two thousand and twentieth year of our Lord. Thus how a Sydney-based French brewery and brasserie might draw some Tahitian influence into brewing a lovely little tropical… Read more
Style
Tropical Lager
ABV
4.5%

Frenchies Little Sunray XPA (RETIRED)

Published July 10, 2020
There’s something slightly illicit about drinking a beer named Little Sunray as a TGIF afternoon bevvy when it’s an overcast 13 degrees. I’d love to say it’s a warming beam of light but the fact my drinking hand ends up being absolute Kelvin before I’ve had three sips is hard to ignore. Sure, this lovely little light-bodied, hop forward pale ale is actively making me colder, but in the best possible way! There’s no denying XPAs are rapidly establishing themselves as de riguer in the craft… Read more
Style
XPA
ABV
4.5%

Frenchies Festbier "Party Lager" 2019

Published October 11, 2019
I don’t know about you, but when I think about the marriage of King Ludwig I to Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, which, if I’m honest, isn’t as often as it used to be, I think about Sydney’s premier French bistro and brewery. Frenchies have gone all out in their usual fashion for their 2019 Oktoberfeast event and brewed a pitch perfect German festbier that head brewer, Vincent De Soyres, has rather more aptly named, a Party Lager. There’s great news for the dozens of Reinheitsgebot fans… Read more
Style
Party Lager
ABV
5.6%
Stockists

Best enjoyed at Frenchies Oktoberfeast (but in cans too)

Frenchies Coast Extra IPA

Published August 1, 2019
What do you do if you want to make an IPA that bears some traits of an East Coast IPA and some traits of a West Coast IPA? You cheat, and make the IPA exactly as you want it to taste, and call it a Frenchies Coast Extra IPA. Five hops bring the blend of flavours that make this beer the hybrid it is - a base of Columbus and Simcoe, aromatics from Centennial and Mosaic, and a flourish of Riwaka from New Zealand. There’s no real haze to speak of, but the sticky pineapple and citrus on the nose give… Read more
Style
IPA
ABV
6.8%
Bitterness
60 IBU

Frenchies La Boussole

Published July 26, 2019
Bières de garde are one of the rarest beer styles brewed in Australia. In fact, with the release of Frenchies' La Boussole, you could buy more bières de garde from the Rosebery bistro and brewery than just about every other brewery in the country combined. What sets La Boussole apart from the others, however, is it’s the first out of Frenchies' barrel-ageing program. La Boussole (French for compass) is named for the French frigate and sister ship to the L’Astrolabe, which sailed under the… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Bière de Garde
ABV
7.6%

Frenchies Brutus IPA

Published August 24, 2018
If Brut IPAs are to have a place, Frenchies feels like the kind of place they belong. After all, for a brewery that strives to make marginally left of centre beers with a European twist that go well with food, what could be more appropriate than a Champagne IPA? Brutus is their first effort at this specific kind of beer, though the idea does go back a bit further. Brewer Vince de Soyres reckons this is the kind of thing he had in mind when Frenchies first released its now retired Old World IPA,… Read more
Style
Brut IPA
ABV
8.5%

Frenchies W.H.I.S.P.A. Wet Hop Harvest Ale

Published April 26, 2018
Following this year’s hop harvest, the team from Frenchies corralled a dozen or so fellow brewers into each brewing a beer using fresh hops, then hosted something of a collective launch party under the banner of the Fresh Harvest Beer Festival. The Frenchies’ contribution to the occasion was and is a Wet Hopped India Session Red Ale, which gets shortened to the far catchier name WHISPA (or the marginally less catchy WHISRA, if we’re splitting hairs and paying attention to the faded fine print… Read more
Style
Wet Hop Red Ale
ABV
4.0%

Frenchies Oceanna's Saison

Published October 13, 2017
Back in 2014, when he was head brewer at the Flat Rock Brew Cafe, Vince de Soyres brewed Flynn’s IPA, a beer made for and named in celebration of the birth of his son. In due course Flynn got a sister, Oceanna, but Vince wasn't working in a brewery at that time so she missed out on an honorary beer. Skip further ahead and Vince recently got a third child, of sorts, in the shape of the Frenchies brewery. And that meant he could finally make a beer in Oceanna’s name. The one she got is a dainty… Read more
Style
Raspberry Saison
ABV
3.5%

Frenchies San Fransisco Lager

Published October 12, 2017
Back in the 1970s, with the number of US breweries at an all time low outside Prohibition and the country awash with big brand lager, the future wasn't looking great for small brewers. But San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing was daring to be different. On the back of the now famed Anchor Steam, the archetypal example of the California Common beer, the historic brewery morphed into one of the icons of the modern American craft beer industry. And it proved, if nothing else, that you don't have to accept… Read more
Style
California Common
ABV
4.9%

Frenchies Old World IPA

Published September 4, 2017
Most breweries these days have an IPA, but not many have one like this. Frenchies’ Old World IPA is not a riot of fruit and bitterness as you’d come to expect from, in particular, the US interpretations of the style based on that country’s big and bold hops. Instead, here they’ve used French hop varieties (Columbus and Triskel) and German (Hallertau Blanc and Mandarina Bavaria) to construct a more delicate beer built on floral characters, an almost vinous quality and very little bitterness.… Read more
Style
IPA
ABV
6.0%
Bitterness
60

Frenchies Golden Steam

Published September 4, 2017
While their main focus flies beneath the tricolour, not everything is entirely French at Frenchies. Case in point is the Golden Steam which is actually more of a New Zealand style pilsner. Where Frenchies’ similar-in-strength Kölsch aims to please with sophistication via subtlety, the Golden Steam lets go the leash a little more. It’s made using only kiwi hops – Motueka, Wakatu and Waimea – though the amounts used are deliberately kept in check, with just enough to ensure you pick up the… Read more
Style
Pilsner
ABV
4.4%

Frenchies Kolsch (RETIRED)

When it comes to brewing a Kölsch you'd be safe to surmise that spending a good amount of time in the city where the style originates would be of considerable benefit. That’s the case here, for Frenchies brewer Vince lived and studied in Cologne (or Köln, if you prefer) where he also schooled his palate on the finer points of the local beer. His Aussie-brewed interpretation is thus intended as a nod to the classics. It’s made with very light malts and Tettnang and Strisselspalt hops, forming… Read more
Style
Kölsch
ABV
4.8%
Bitterness
25