True brew

Every Paddington pub has an interesting history and the Imperial on Oxford St is no exception. Built in 1874 as a village drinking hole, the Imperial gained its distinctive facade after beer baron Edmund Resch bought it in 1910 and set about making it one of Paddington’s grand hotels.

Resch was a man with a vision and means. Having emigrated from Westphalia (now Germany) in 1863 at age 16 to seek his fortune on the Victorian gold fields, he instead found rivers of gold in Sydney’s brewing industry.

According to City of Sydney archives, Resch began brewing in 1879 and by 1900 had bought several breweries, consolidating them at Waverley Brewery, Redfern. Resch’s beers became some of NSW’s most famous products, with a range that eventually included Dinner Ale (DA), Smooth Black Ale, Extra Stout, Premium Lager, Sydney Bitter and Double Bitter (DB).

Tooth & Co bought Resch's in 1929 and many Resch's beers have since been 'retired’, but the Resch's story is springing to life again courtesy of developments at the Imperial.

Edmund Resch. Photo: City of Sydney Archives

Still in the hands of the Resch family — Edmund’s descendant Alice Resch is the current owner, with partner Hugh Clarke — the pub this month opens an onsite heritage beer microbrewery and distillery, nestled on the ground floor, behind the bar. There is also a plan to launch a beer museum on the upper levels, showcasing the history of Sydney brewing.

For Clarke, the microbrewery and distillery make a perfect story arc for the hotel built on the talent of one of the nation’s finest brewers.

“There’s a lot of rising interest in heritage brewing and heritage beers,” Clarke says. “All the big breweries are foreign-owned now, which means there’s definitely space for boutique brewing and small brewers.”

Clarke has trawled through the Resch's archives to unearth original recipes to use at the new microbrewery.

“These are original, heritage recipes that we have dug out,” he says, adding that the small quantities will be just enough to service the pub and Paddo locals.

He hopes to work in collaboration with other Paddo hotels to showcase their heritage brews and thinks there will be keen local interest, too, in the microdistillery, which will make small-batch gin, vodka and whisky.

Clarke says Resch's is increasingly considered a cult product with a rising number of fans.

“There’s a real groundswell for old-style beers like Resch's,” he says, adding that the Reschs Appreciation Society has upwards of 13,000 members. This year Carlton & United, which now owns the brand, resurrected the Dinner Ale after 30 years in retirement.

The opening of the beer museum will be timely, for 2023 marks the centenary of Edmund Resch’s passing.

Despite having been 'brewer by appointment to His Excellency the Governor-General' from 1904 to 1914, Resch was declared an enemy alien in 1917, during WWI, for his German roots. He continued paying his staff’s wages from the POW prison camp, and after the war returned to his Darling Point mansion, Swifts, until his death.

* Update: heritage beers can be now bought at the hotel, ask at the bar for the week’s on-tap brew.

The Imperial Hotel Paddington

252 Oxford St