Reckless Brewing

When your brewery name is an adjective, you’ve got a question to answer: is it a fitting description of your brewery?

So: is Reckless Brewing as reckless as the name suggests?

The answer is yes… and no.

Yes, because it was started by three friends who threw caution to the wind and entered the highly-competitive brewing industry off the back of “We love beer!”…

…but they’re well-equipped people who followed this up with considered decision-making. Within the trio – Grace, Jarrod and Alice – they bring brewing expertise and business experience to bear, as well as a focus on consistency and quality.

There’s a mix of personalities in the crew, so the joyful abandon of one person is always balanced by the careful analysis of another. One makes a list and checks it off one item at a time, while another member charges ahead excitedly; someone dives in headfirst, but someone else has already done a depth check.

In their words: “Take a chance, be adventurous, but not stupid.” (Apparently, “Recklessness Within Reason Brewing Co” was already taken.)

In September 2022, Reckless made another adventurous move, shifting from gypsy brewing company to having their own home in Bathurst.

The site is a gorgeous heritage-listed flour mill, complete with rustic timber and a fireplace. This is a place for visitors to experience Reckless on their home turf, and for locals to extend their living room a little further. A place that brings together Inner West craft beer coupled with country hospitality. Talk about a killer combination.

(You can read about Reckless settling in Bathurst here and in this article all about head brewer Grace.)

So, what does this all mean for the beer?

Each beer begins life with Jarrod and Alice throwing out ideas like “Summer!” “Friendship!” “Rainbows!” and Grace, the head brewer, develops a recipe to match (and somehow captures these vibes perfectly). The aim is always to make flavoursome, hop-forward beers, but with a focus on being approachable and suited to the Aussie climate.

“Whatever we produce has to be easy to drink, no matter how complex,” Jarrod says. “There is a way to give people these flavours from the outset without being in your face.”

The Reckless crew have no interest in blending in; as a proudly female-led brewery in a male-dominated industry, they’re happy to stand out in the crowd. So, while their beers are easy-drinking, they refuse to make boring beers that don’t do the independent beer scene justice. They have a habit of dumping large amounts of hops into each brew late in the process, with the result of pumping out beers that positively sing with high aroma and low bitterness, setting them apart from many traditional “gateway” beers. The distinctive bright colours of their tinnies help them to stand out in the fridge, too.

As a brewing company which initially operated without its own home, the Reckless brand is all about the vibe of the people who make it and the people who drink it. It transcends place: it has the buzzing but effortless cool of Sydney’s Inner West (where the brand launched), and the relaxed nature of regional NSW (where the brewery now resides).

Think street graffiti and peaceful sunsets; dive bars with strangers and barbecues with mates.

Of course, you don’t need to know the story of Reckless to drink their beer. You might find the bold-coloured cans catching your eye. You might get a chance to taste one of their bold-flavoured beers. But, whether it’s the vibrance of the palette or the vibrance on the palate that draws you in, once Reckless grabs your attention it doesn’t let go.

Mick Wust

Name
Reckless Brewing
Address

2A Piper Street
Bathurst
NSW 2795

Open Hours

Wed & Thurs: midday to 9pm
Fri & Sat: midday to 10pm
Sunday: midday to 9pm


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

Reckless Brewing Regulars

Reckless Brewing Stout

Published May 28, 2021
When the Reckless trio decided to add a stout to their line-up, they discovered they all had their own thoughts about how it should turn out. Co-founder Jarrod describes the process on the Reckless blog: “We describe to each other what we think a perfect stout is all about… I want it to have low bitterness and be hop-forward, Alice wants the beer to have some sweetness, without the addition of sugars. Grace has a certain hop variety that she thinks would balance delightfully on her roasted base.” That… Read more
Style
Stout
ABV
5.8%

Reckless Brewing IPA

Published February 1, 2021
This beer was first released as 'Summer IPA,' and for good reason - it carries as much summer as Endless Summer played on loop ad nauseum.† But this isn't a beer to limit to one season, so the Reckless team added it to their year-round roster so it can bring summer to you whenever you drink it. It smells like someone has opened a packet of Starburst Chews, unwrapped every individual lolly, and then thrown them all at your head. If you like the idea of drinking overripe stone fruit, juicy blueberries,… Read more
Style
IPA
ABV
6.5%

Reckless Brewing Pale Ale

This is the darling of the Reckless line-up - the beer that started it all. It took 18 trial brews over almost two years for the Reckless crew to get this beer to where it is today, but once they were there, they knew they’d hit on something special; their Pale Ale strikes that chord of approachability and complexity that they were after. Grace the head brewer built this beer upon three of her favourite hops - Simcoe, Galaxy, and Citra. From the instant this beer pours into the glass, big orange… Read more
Style
Pale Ale
ABV
4.6%

Reckless Brewing Red IPA

In March 2020, the Reckless crew were just about to brew a big batch of a sessionable beer when it became clear that Australia was about to go into lockdown. So at the last minute, they decided to change tack and go with a smaller batch of a bigger beer - thus the Red IPA was born almost by accident. And what a happy accident it is. While it’s heavy by Reckless standards, this beer is lighter than many red IPAs; it’s fresh and zippy rather than sticky or syrupy. Even the colour is quite light,… Read more
Style
Red IPA
ABV
6.5%

Reckless Brewing XPA

“It was meant to be one-off, but it was the nicest XPA I’ve had in my life. We found ourselves drinking it exclusively to the detriment of our bottom line…” - Grace, head brewer. The Reckless team upgraded this single malt and single hop XPA from a small batch to a regular when they realised they couldn’t stop drinking it and it's not surprising given it's the most refreshing in the Reckless range. It’s bright to the eyes, alluring to the nose and spritzy to the tongue, enlivening the… Read more
Style
XPA
ABV
4.2%

Reckless Brewing Specials

Reckless Brewing Lamington Pastry Stout

Published May 15, 2023
When I hear Lamington, my mind doesn't immediately go to "jam-filled". Am I in the minority here? I don't know, and I don't know how to find out. I feel like this should be a question on the census. I bring this up because when I took my first whiff of this Lamington Pastry Stout, I was blown back with surprise. What's that smell?? Did they accidentally put the wrong beer in this can? Lamingtons are chocolate and coconut, but I'm smelling... And that's when I realised. Jam. Raspberry jam.… Read more
Style
Pastry Stout
ABV
7.2%

Reckless Brewing Black Forest Sour

Published May 10, 2023
Out in Bathurst, where autumn brings a shiver and winter brings a real inland chill, Reckless are serious about getting snug in winter and drinking dark beers by the fire. Their dark beers have started coming already, and while not all of us are lucky enough to have a fire to sip beside, we can welcome the plummeting temperature with their Black Forest Sour. Made with locally-sourced cherries, this beer is indeed ripe for the sipping. It pours a deep brown with a hint of red, and actually drinks… Read more
Style
Fruited Dark Sour
ABV
6.0%

Reckless Brewing BX Old

Published April 2, 2023
When they opened their Bathurst brewery in the second half of 2022, Reckless launched their BX Lager: a crisp knock-em-back lager that captures the spirit of traditional Aussie beer and is at home in a brewery pub out in regional NSW. Now they’ve launched this golden beer’s dark counterpart: BX Old. No prizes for guessing which popular Aussie pub staple this is channeling. Its body is a deep and brooding dark brown, but BX Old isn’t a heavy-hitter; hold your glass up and you’ll see the liquid… Read more
Style
Dark Ale
ABV
4.4%

Reckless Brewing Double IPA

Published March 24, 2023
Reckless are big on making approachable beers. It’s their thing. “Whatever we produce has to be easy to drink, no matter how complex,” co-owner Jarrod says. “There is a way to give people these flavours from the outset without being in your face.” So… what does that look like in their eight percent ABV Double IPA? It looks like a thick aroma of sweet resin luring you in. It looks like potent hop flavours of savoury dankness with citrus oils in the background, but with a malt foundation… Read more
Style
Double IPA
ABV
8.0%

Reckless X Akasha Helen Red XPA

Published March 8, 2023
We are Reckless, hear us roar, With every glass of beer we pour, You taste our values as you sip, and sip again. Brewed by women, drunk by all; Equality is at our core. No matter who you are, come drink with us as friends. Reckless is a woman-led-and-run brewery that’s never been afraid to fly the equality flag high, whether that’s in the form of this blog post or a beer paying tribute to the singer of one of the great anthems of feminism. Helen Red XPA* is a collab between Reckless and Akasha… Read more
Style
Red XPA
ABV
4.2%

Reckless Brewing Queen Bee-r Bush Lager

Published February 17, 2023
You’ve got Reckless Brewing, a proudly female-led brewing company that started life in the Inner West of Sydney. You’ve got Queen Bee DJs, a collective of female and non-binary DJs who spin vinyl at monthly sessions at The Hive Bar in Erskineville. Why has it taken this long for them to collaborate? Well, it doesn’t matter. They’ve joined forces now, and the result is Queen Bee-r Bush Lager: a corn lager brewed with finger lime. It’s a spritzy number that won’t be backed into a corner… Read more
Style
Lager with Finger Limes
ABV
4.5%

Reckless Brewing Cumquat IPA

Published February 1, 2023
I’ve finally done it. After a lifetime of knowing nothing about cumquats, I’ve researched them, so now I finally know what they are. It’s not that I’ve never interacted with cumquats before. I’ve eaten cumquat marmalade. I’ve tasted gin with cumquats in it. I’m even fairly sure I’ve seen cumquats on a tree. But somehow they remained a mystery to me. Anyway, now I’m an expert in cumquats.* Onto this beer. It comes out of the tinnie gold, bright, and ready to party. The upfront impression… Read more
Style
Fruited IPA
ABV
6.5%

Reckless Brewing GSD, Central West IPA & Double Gin & Tonic Sour

Published January 19, 2023
How thoughtful of Reckless to make a beer that’d help us get stuff done! If you weren’t aware, GSD is a clever little play on GTD, the Getting Things Done personal productivity methodology (gosh, that’s a mouthful). I’m not sure if GSD actually helps you to be more productive, but, I mean… it’s worth a try, right? This session ale is certainly putting in the effort: efficient use of malt gives it a nice biscuit character, it achieves plenty of orange sherbet aroma, there’s a proactive… Read more
Style
Session Ale & West Coast IPA & Gin Sour&
ABV
3.5% & 6.5% & 6.0%

Reckless Brewing Strawberry Gum & Lime Daiquiri Sour

Published December 5, 2022
Reckless Brewing are one of many breweries in Australia who've decided to eschew coming up with a colourful name for each beer in favour of keeping things simple. When someone picks up one of their beers, they know what they're getting: Stout, Red IPA, Pale and so on. Presumably it saves time in the brewery too, at least compared with those who've decided every limited release needs its own name (a policy that, in part, led the larks at Little Bang down this path a couple of years ago). Of course,… Read more
Style
Fruited Sour
ABV
3.5%

Reckless Brewing BX Lager & Hazy Mango XPA

Published October 5, 2022
You'd think giving the people of Bathurst a brewery to call their own would be enough of a gift, but the kind-hearted souls at Reckless clearly decided they should lavish their new locals with a little more as soon as they'd thrown open the doors. Bearing the tagline "The beer of Bathurst" comes BX Lager, which feels very much like a softener to win over newcomers to their operation in a city best known for an event at which the craftiest thing you're likely to find is the Reckless sponsorship… Read more
Style
Lager & Hazy Mango XPA
ABV
4.8% & 4.6%

Akasha & Reckless NAS XPA

Published March 8, 2022
There's a couple of ways you can approach this collab by close brewing buddies Akasha and Reckless. On one level, it's an easy-going XPA that sits neatly in the middle of the range of XPAs released by Aussie brewers: delicate tropical aromas and the lightest of grain sweetness; good body for a beer of its size, with a rising citrus character on the palate. In short, well put together and sessionable. Rather louder than the liquid itself is the message – tied to the #breakthebias theme of International… Read more
Style
XPA
ABV
4.2%

Reckless Brewing Peach & Raspberry Sour

Published March 1, 2022
The look, the taste, and the feel of this beer make me want to pour it into a champagne glass and drink it at brunch, or while looking over the ocean while a rosy sunset reflects off the surface of the water. It’s the lovely blush colour of Allen’s Peaches & Cream, but there’s no sticky, sweet, creamy confectionery here. The flavours of the fruit are present – more peach to start, with raspberry coming through in the aftertaste – but they’re delivered in a delightfully floaty way.… Read more
Style
Fruit Sour
ABV
4.0%

Reckless Brewing Double Cherry Sour

Published September 3, 2021
We all had plans scuttled by 2020. For the gang at Reckless Brewing, it meant missing out on the chance to brew a beer for their first birthday. So, when their second came around, the leapt at the chance to brew something delightfully different to their other offerings. Enter Double Cherry Sour – cherry sour since since Jarrod fell in love with the style on his last trip to the US, and double since Grace felt it was only fitting for a beer celebrating two years of Reckless. Pouring a glorious hot… Read more
Style
Cherry Sour
ABV
6.0%

Reckless Brewing Oat Cream IPA

Published August 6, 2021
Oat Cream IPA may be Reckless’ biggest beer to date, but this refreshing tropical cocktail goes down easier than the sun sinking into the ocean. Sultana hops are known for bringing a big ol’ pineapple hit to a beer and Sabro hops are famously known for their coconut character. Bring these two together and it’s hard not to start singing the Piña Colada song, even if you didn’t pick up the references on the can’s label. The beer isn’t one dimensional - among the tinned pineapple and desiccated… Read more
Style
Oat Cream IPA
ABV
7.0%

Akasha & Reckless Frida XPA

Published March 11, 2021
Brewed to coincide with International Women's Day 2021, Frida is a collaboration with fellow Sydneysiders, Reckless Brewing. Named after the early 20th century Mexican artist, icon and all-round legendary figure, Frida Kahlo, this is a bright and tropical XPA that somewhat belies the deeply serious and, frankly, disgraceful level of gender inequality that still exists in this country and the world at large. Really, it’s a testament to Grace, Alice, Katy, Alex, Nichole and all the other women associated… Read more
Style
XPA
ABV
4.2%