Travel Blog: Sydney Pub Tour

Just like in Corner Brook, when we were here last we took a tour outside of town, to the Fortress at Louisbourg. This time we thought we'd get a taste of Sydney and booked a walking tour that took us to a couple of pubs in town.

Fortunately our tour went out in the early afternoon. Not only was it quite windy, but there were three other ships in port and only room for two on the pier. The two smaller ones, us and Holland America's Volendam, had to anchor out and use tenders to get to shore. We could already see just by the water conditions that it would be a bumpy ride; because of that and the route we had to take, the tender ride was about 25 minutes long.

Our first stop on the pub tour was actually at a cidery rather than a beer brewer. Island Folk was established in 2020 and specializes in apple ciders made from apples grown in the Annapolis Valley. They also make other fruit wines using the same process, and they blend these with the apple cider to make some very interesting flavours. The head cider maker explained the process, and then we headed off to try some.

We were given a tasting of 3 ciders, ranging from the basic apple cider to a semi-sweet rosé flavoured with rose petal and a sweet cider that's called 'Sweater Weather' that has hints of cinnamon.

The head cider maker explaining how
they make and blend their product

The owner of Island Folk, Jill, leading
our tasting

The 3 ciders we tried, along with a keychain/bottle
opener I won for guessing the secret ingredient in the
one of the ciders.

We really enjoyed the ciders. They're almost like wines but with less alcohol and a little fizz when they hit your tongue. Even better, although they aren't available at the LCBO, we can order direct from the cidery for delivery at home.

As we left the cidery, we passed a local food truck set up just outside. It's too bad we didn't know about it, or we would have come here for lunch before the tour:

This food truck gets rave reviews online and wasn't busy when we got there. Too bad we couldn't pick something up.

Our next stop was at a Daniel's, a pub that offers a large variety of beers, mostly locally brewed, ranging from ales to lagers, IPAs and stouts. They even had a Weizen, or wheat beer, which is the only kind I drink. Our guide regaled us with a maritime song and some historical information about the area while we all had a glass of our choice.

Me and my once-every-five-years beer!

Our final stop was at an Irish Pub called The Old Triangle. It is a good size and was quite busy when we got there, so we figured it was one of the better places in town. They put us in 'the Snug', a private room to the side. They had already poured a tasting of beers, but we had no information on what they were, and the fellow who gave the explanation only talked to the larger table at the other end of the room. We couldn't hear a thing. Needless to say it wasn't our favourite stop, and the beers weren't favourites either.

We didn't stay that long. Six of us decided we'd rather get back to the ship and walked back on our own. We even found the TD Bank's old, and new, locations on Charlotte Street. Larry had inspected the Charlotte and Pitt branch a couple of times when he worked at the bank.

We came across a couple of interesting things during our walk. We were glad the sun was out, because it was still very windy. We knew that the tender ride would be bumpier on the way back than it was coming in.

I finally got a photo of the Big Fiddle! It
took a little work to keep the Holland America
Zuiderdam out of the picture!

A sculpture at the end of the pier

We were right about the tender ride! It was very bumpy, even though we could take the inside route, between the Volendam and shore, back to the ship. Fortunately the ship gave enough protection for the tender platform so we could get off easily.

The rest of our tour group must have been on the last tender....I wonder how well they did with the waves and bumps after all that beer! We did, however, leave on time, so they must all have got back.