L-R: Phil Zakaria and Chris Cooper of Last Rites

Two new breweries are set to open later this year in Cambridge on the edge of Tasmania’s Coal River Valley wine region, just a couple of minutes’ drive from Hobart Airport.

Last Rites Brewing Company was founded by five mates: Jason and Brett Allchin, Chris Cooper, Phil Zakaria and Tom Potter.

“Three of us have been in the hospitality industry. Our brewer’s a PhD in chemistry that’s been homebrewing for about five or six years, and there’s another guy who’s a vineyard manager,” Jason Allchin told Australian Brews News.

“We’re right on the gateway of the Coal River Valley so we’re hoping to latch on to a few winery tour operators.”

Jason Allchin will distribute Last Rites through his new business Liquor Industry Solutions, which is already the Tasmanian agent for mainland beer brands including Mornington Peninsula, Clare Valley and Balmain.

Last Rites will start with kegs and is looking into packaging some if its beers in cans. The team has already trial brewed several of their beers at Morrisons Brewery in Launceston.

“All our recipes we took up there to make sure that they would work commercially, and the feedback that we got was awesome,” Allchin said.

“We’re really confident and can’t wait to get the beer out there.”

Allchin hopes Last Rites will be able to begin production in about a month once it has overcome one final element of red tape relating to its plumbing system.

“Because we’re going to be coming out in winter, we’ll probably start with our Pale Ale, our Black IPA and our Chocolate Porter,” he said.

Ty Capaci of Double Head

Double Head Brewing,Cambridge
Just down the road is Double Head Brewing, the new venture from Amanda and Ty Capaci.

“There’s two of us, we’re from Tasmania and we’re not shying away from it,” Amanda said of the Double Head moniker.

“We’re only two minutes drive from Last Rites, which is very exciting – we’re going to have beer, whiskey and wine available for people to experience in the region.”

Ty has about 13 years of all grain homebrewing experience. The duo between them have a broad range of skills and backgrounds including science, education, the arts and marketing.

Capaci said Double Head will launch with four flagship beers and will also be brewing seasonal releases.

“My personal favourite at this stage is our American-style Pale Ale, we spent a long time working out the recipe and tweaking it,” she said.

Using a 500L Braumeister system sourced from Grain & Grape in Melbourne, Double Head hopes to start brewing by the summer and will ultimately have a cellar door operation.

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