Stone & Wood Brewery Byron Bay

Our review

Stone & Wood's Byron brewery is in the Arts & Industry Estate at 100 Centennial Circuit — the home of Pacific Ale, one of Australia's most-ordered craft beers. 90-minute guided tour includes a welcome beer, brewing deck walkthrough, and a tasting paddle of 5 beers. The on-site beer garden and canteen (food by Romie's Kitchen) is an underrated lunch spot in its own right.

Who it suits: any craft-beer-curious traveller; couples wanting a relaxed afternoon activity that doesn't involve sand or saltwater; travellers using a rest day between surf or kayak days; backpacker groups doing a "we should drink less, but we are not going to" social outing.

Pricing: $45 for the 90-minute tour with welcome beer + 5-beer paddle. Beer garden is free entry; food and drinks priced individually.

Tour times: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 11am + 3pm; Friday 11am + 2:30pm; Saturday + Sunday 11:30am, 2pm, 4pm; no Tuesday tours. Tours are 18+ only and sell out weeks ahead. Book ahead, especially weekends.

What you'll see + drink: the actual brewing tanks (a 31-tank brewery), Pacific Ale poured fresh metres from where it's brewed (genuinely better than the same beer at a Byron pub), 4 other beers from the core range, Pilot Batch beers and limited releases, and the brewery's sustainability programmes (Stone & Wood are serious about packaging + water + ingredients).

What stands out: this isn't a manufactured tourism experience — Stone & Wood is a real working craft brewery + the original Pacific Ale brew site. The tour is led by the brewery's Tasting Room crew.

Vs the alternatives: Behind the Barrel (behindthebarrel.com.au) and Urban Legends Tour Co (urbanlegendstourco.com) both run combined brewery/distillery tours that include Stone & Wood — worth a look if you want multiple stops. Cape Byron Distillery (Brookie's Byron Dry Gin) is the gin alternative.

The catch: location is in the industrial estate (the Byron Arts & Industry Estate, about 5 minutes' drive from town, or take the solar train to North Byron and walk 10-15 minutes). Not on the beach. If you're after a beachfront afternoon experience, this isn't it. If you want a working brewery experience with proper beers, it is.

For travellers who've done the beach + surf circuit and want a different kind of afternoon, Stone & Wood is one of the more consistently good experiences in Byron. Strongly recommend the Pacific Ale at the source — it tastes noticeably better at the brewery than anywhere else.

Written by the Byron Bay Backpackers editorial team. Independent. No paid placement.