Overview
Grafton-Eden Terrace is quickly turning into the craft beer capital of Auckland. The uptown suburb and surrounding area is already home to Galbraiths Alehouse, Brothers Juke Joint, The Corner Store, Hopscotch and Home Brew West. In nearby Newmarket you'll also find The Lumsden Freehouse.
With The Lumsden and Mangawhai's Wood Street already on his roster, proprietor Evan King has added yet another beer bar to the craft-centric suburb. Uptown Freehouse takes residence inside the old Grafton post office at 224 Symonds Street, a building that has seen and farewelled its fair share of tenants, namely: Cartel, Pavement Bar, The Spotted Pig, and two versions of seafood gastropub Squid Row.
King states that the launch of Uptown basically came down to the location, which makes it perfect for a "craft-hop" between establishments. The vision for the opening is to be a local's bar, or the Auckland equivalent of the neighbourhood institution in sitcom, Cheers. "We just wanted a place where we would personally like to drink."
Rather than submit to big beer brands, Uptown will operate in the same 'free house' style as The Lumsden, not being tied down to any particular brewery. The beer selection includes 12 rotating taps and 60 by the bottles/cans, offering something for every palate. Pouring currently: Sawmill's Fuzzy Peach, Garage Project's Hapi Daze, Epic's Hop Zombi, Parrotdog's Dead Canary, among plenty of others.
And instead of offering a fine dining experience like previous tenants, Uptown's food menu is equally as relaxed and "all about cheese." While downing a cold one punters can take their pick from gourmet toasted sandwiches, thin crust pizzas, fresh salads, and mozzarella sticks.
Uptown Freehouse is open now at 224 Symonds Street.
Photos: Libby Law