The year 2005 was one of the busiest in twenty years in the Australian small brewery sector. At least fifteen new breweries came into operation, a number that has been exceeded only once since the microbrewery boom began in this country in the early 1980s; the record year was 1988 when sixteen new breweries opened.
The following is a brief state-by-state overview of last year’s new starters (excluding Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory where there were none, and where the numbers of microbreweries remains at five and two respectively).
Western Australia
Three new breweries started in Western Australia. Undoubtedly the most substantial new entrant was Gage Roads Brewing Company which set up in a former margarine factory with a 40 hl brew kit obtained second-hand from the United States.
Gage Roads was the vision of Peter Nolin and Bill Hoedemaker, formerly brewers at the Sail & Anchor Pub Brewery in Fremantle. They originally intended to establish Gage Roads Brewery by the waterfront at Fremantle; it ended up, however, in the nearby suburb of Palmyra, but still close to its namesake, the stretch of water lying between Fremantle and Rottnest Island.
The new venture took shape during 2003 and 2004, and its first beer was released in May 2005. Eventual annual output of the brewery is expected to be 5 million litres.
The other 2005 starters in WA were small affairs compared to Gage Roads. On a vineyard at Pemberton, in the state’s south-west, Jarrah Jack’s brewery and restaurant opened mid-year and began bottling beer in September. The brewery, which is a 12hl plant, will brew about 1,000hl annually.
Its name reflects the historical importance of timber, notably the internationally famous jarrah, in the Pemberton district’s economy. The establishment of the brewery was assisted by a Federal Government grant to support economic restructuring in struggling timber communities such as Pemberton.
Elmar’s in the Valley opened in April at Henley Brook, in the Swan Valley on Perth’s north-eastern outskirts. This German eating and drinking house is the creation of Perth smallgoods manufacturer Elmar Dieren. It has as its centrepiece a 10 hl brewery, featuring transparent glass vessels, from Joh. Albrecht of Munich. It is the first brewery of its type in Australia. The number of operational small-scale breweries in Western Australia as at the end of 2005 was about eighteen.
South Australia
Moving eastward, three new breweries began operation in South Australia during 2005. At Greenock, on the northern edge of the Barossa Valley wine region, the Barossa Brewing Company released its first beer in May. The brewery, which produces 20hl batches, is housed in a historic 1860s wheat store.
The similarly-named Barossa Valley Brewing built its microbrewery in part of the picturesque old Chateau Yaldara at Lyndoch, in the heart of Barossa wine territory. The company’s first beer, Bee Sting, brewed from barley, wheat and honey, was released in November.
In December, the Gulf Brewery kegged and released its first beer, Humpback Pale Ale. This new microbrewery is situated in the southern Adelaide suburb of Seaview Downs near the Gulf of St Vincent. These new entrants brought the number of microbreweries in South Australia to seven at the end of 2005.
Tasmania
The opening of Moorilla Brewery in April 2005 raised the number of microbreweries in Tasmania, the least populous Australian state, to three. The new brewery is situated in the lavish restaurant and function centre complex which opened in April at the Moorilla Estate winery near Hobart. Brewing commenced soon afterwards. Batches of 8hl are produced in a Slovakian PSS system, and target production is around 2,000hl annually.
Interestingly, in a state renowned for its hop-growing industry, Moorilla Brewery uses no local hops in its products; instead it imports German Spalt, Kent Golding and American Cascade hops.
Victoria
Returning to the mainland, three new breweries began operation in Victoria during the year under review, raising the number of small breweries in that state to about twenty-three. On the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, Red Hill Brewery (named after its geographical location) uses an 8hl brewery that was sourced second-hand from the United States. The brewery opened in April after several years in gestation.
The initial application by David and Karen Golding to start a microbrewery on their small Mornington Peninsula property was rejected by the local council in 2001 on the grounds that brewing was a commercial use which had no direct association with the rural-zoned land. The council’s decision was subsequently set aside by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and a development permit granted on a number of conditions, including that the Goldings grow on their property all the hops required for use in their brewery.
In May 2005 Bridge Road Brewers began brewing at the old gold-mining town of Beechworth in north-eastern Victoria. Ben Kraus, the owner-brewer, uses an 8hl plant which previously did service at Lawrence Victor estate at Penola, South Australia.
A second microbrewery (to be known as Beechworth Brewery) was almost established in Beechworth, at the leafy LaTrobe University campus, the site of the former Mayday Hills Hospital. The project was abandoned, however, and the equipment removed to South Australia where it is being employed in a new venture to commence at Goolwa in 2006.
Near Camperdown, in the south-west of Victoria, Purrumbete Brewing released its first beer in October under the Red Duck brand. The microbrewery is installed in the old dairy at the historic Purrumbete homestead, recently converted into a luxury bed and breakfast establishment.
Although strictly not a new operation, Matilda Bay Garage Brewery started up in Dandenong South, near Melbourne, early in 2005. This was formerly the Stockade Brewery, opened in 2002 in conjunction with the Bacchus Distillery. After having some of their products brewed there for a while, Matilda Bay Brewing Company bought the place outright and established an eastern-Australian arm. The brewery is based on a 25hl Slovakian-built PSS brewhouse. Matilda Bay is part of the Foster’s Group; it was established as an independent brewer in Western Australia in the mid-1980s, but was acquired by Carlton & United Breweries in 1990.
New South Wales
The busiest state for small brewery openings in 2005 was New South Wales with five new starters, bringing the number in operation at the end of the year to about twenty.
The Macquarie Hotel in central Sydney opened its in-house brewery, a former Firkin (UK) plant, early in the year. Outside the metropolis, the Northern Rivers Brewing Company began brewing at Alstonville (between Lismore and Ballina in the sub-tropical far north coast district) using a 350 litre DME plant, sourced from a defunct microbrewery in New Zealand.
At Taylor’s Arm, near Macksville on the mid-north coast, a brewery has been added to the former Cosmopolitan Hotel, now known as the Pub With No Beer after the famous Slim Dusty ballad which celebrated it. Brewing commenced in December. This is no mere pub-brewery; owner Murray Howe intends to distribute bottled beer nationally under his Murray’s Brewing Company label.
In Mayfield, Newcastle, Steel River Brewery opened in the new Steel River Industrial Estate, created on the site of a former steel industry slag dump. Brewing started in November and the first beer, Pig Iron Lager, was released in December. Steel River’s German 60hl plant is basically that which operated as Kellys Brewery in South Brisbane, Queensland, for about ten years from 1988. Prior to coming to Brisbane, it had done service briefly in Cape Town, South Africa, as Trader Brewing.
Probably the most novel new starter of 2005 was Australian Independent Brewers, in an industrial area at Smeaton Grange on the south-western outskirts of Sydney. Brewing kicked off in May using a brand-new 50hl Canadian-built DME plant. What makes AIB novel is that it is exclusively a contract brewer. Clients include St Arnou, which distributes its European-styled tap beers throughout the eastern states, including through two self-named beer cafes in Melbourne and Brisbane.
The brewing brain behind AIB is New Zealander Brian Watson who has been involved in many brewery installations worldwide as a consultant for DME. He was a founder of the small Auckland brewery-restaurant, St Arnou, which evolved into the present Australian-based St Arnou operation.
The balance sheet
To put all these developments into context, about 140 new small-scale breweries (including several founded or later acquired by the major brewers, Foster’s and Lion-Nathan) have been established throughout Australia since the microbrewery boom began in the early 1980s. About eighty of these remained in operation at the end of 2005. Together with a handful of very big breweries, most of which pre-date the 1980s, there are now more breweries in operation around Australia than at any time in the last ninety years.
The Brewer & Distiller, Volume 2, Issue 3, March 2006
