Hop and Clover Brewing Co is turning heads with its Irish-inspired drops

The 'gypsy brewers' have seen plenty of growth in the handful of years since starting Hop and Clover Brewing Co, most recently seen on television screens around the country when they were interviewed on Sunrise this week.

The journey from idea to execution has not been a straight line for the team who first had the idea to brew their own beer essentially on a whim back in 2014.

"We started up in Darwin when we were there. There's nothing to do in the wet season. Our dog groomer up there was making home brew - we didn't know you could. But because of the constant temperatures, even though it's hot, it makes really good beer," Shiree said.

When the family moved back to Sydney in 2016, David found and brought a 200-litre brewing system in Orange that was no longer in use.

Which as it turns out was its own adventure, David bought the system on Gumtree which caught the attention of the company who featured the fledgling brewery in an ad campaign.

Fast forward to 2018, and buoyed by the campaign, that's when - as Shiree describes it - they 'jumped off a cliff' - and took the leap and brewed their first batch of commercial beer. But it didn't quite work out as planned.

"We had no idea what we were doing, there were so many mistakes, but we used it as a big learning curve," Shiree said.

But ever the quick thinkers, the attempted Pale Ale was instead turned into a Bitter Ale. A product that Hop and Clover still produce and sell. "It was a blessing in disguise," David said.

Along the way, as word of mouth spread, the Sydneysiders started picking up contracts for award and charity events, selling out of the Bitter Ale.

The duo enjoyed continued success in the independent brewers community. Fast forward to April, 2020 when Shiree and David moved their young family to Mudgee, Shiree's hometown.

Since moving to the region, Hop and Clover Brewing Co has gone from strength to strength, now producing a handful of beer varieties. A pale ale, Irish red ale, a bitter ale and a mid-strength they cheekily call 'The Wee One, Gundy's Mid Strength Beer '.

David also runs classes on beer making at the Little Cooking School on Henry Lawson Drive, where he takes students through the basics of 'Brewing-in-a-Bag'.

Hop and Clover aren't strangers to collaboration either, teaming up with friends for wedding-exclusive brews and even brewing a limited-edition beer for a navy ship in Sydney for David's colleagues.

But the most recent and exciting collab is with the Mudgee Wombats who are saying goodbye to their home at Jubilee Oval in 2021 and have worked with Hop and Clover on a Mudgee Wombats beer that will be produced in limited quantities for the club.

Hop and Clover are always aiming higher, with the beer already appearing in local pubs, David and Shiree say they're just getting started.

"We're just pottering away, and hopefully we can find a venue to open up a tap room," Shiree said. And eventually the aim is to have 100 per cent of the ingredients grown in Mudgee. "A true Mudgee beer, made from the grain, the hops and the rain, all from Mudgee," they said.

Hop and Clover will be running a ginger beer workshop at the Fermenta Festival in March.