Willie the Boatman is a Austratlian Craft Brewery.

Having met on the school run many moons ago, Nick Newey and Pat McInerney bonded over a mutual love of fishing and boating, which eventually led the pair to tinkering in homebrewing together. After years of experimentation, and with neither satisfied in their 9-5, they decided to turn their passion into profession. And so, Willie the Boatman was born.

With no experience in running, let alone building a brewery, Nick and Pat started from scratch with little else to keep them going other than a belief in their beer, a belief in their brand, and an unwavering support from their local community.

Countless buckets of blood, sweat and tears (not to mention many a late night beer) later, the brewery finally opened its doors to the public in 2015, and we haven’t looked back since. With community at the core of our business model, Willie the Boatman have stayed true to our original homebrewing ethos and remain dedicated to producing good, clean beer using an uncomplicated approach.

Willie the Boatman now operates its own tasting room, open Thursdays through Sundays, as well as supplying beer to numerous pubs, hotels and bottleshops in and around the Inner West. Who knows, perhaps one day we’ll even have earned ourselves the same legendary status as our namesake, William Kerr…