The inner west in Sydney could well be the craft beer capital of Australia, with 13 micro-breweries in the area.

As debate rages about the effect of lockout laws on Sydney's night life, the craft breweries on the city fringes are set for a rare relaxation in regulation.

Inner West craft brewers celebrate the news: Chris Sidwa from Batch, Matt King from The Grifter, Richard Adamson from Young Henrys and Peter Phillip from Wayward Brewing Co, at Wayward. Credit:Brook Mitchell

After lobbying by members of the Inner West Brewery Association, the state Racing Minister Paul Toole, whose portfolio includes liquor, has marked the area for a 12-month trial to allow craft breweries to operate as bars.

“Craft brewers are a new, emerging industry and what we’ve found is they don’t really fit into traditional liquor licensing categories so there’s a need to develop a new model that will suit them,” Mr Toole said. “If this is successful, we’ll be able to reduce the red tape.”