After ten extraordinary years of wild fermentation, award-winning beers, and building something genuinely special in the Ballarat hills, Ed and Fiona Nolle have made the decision to retire Dollar Bill Brewing and offer an incredible opportunity to whoever comes next.
The business, property and brand are for sale — a rare chance to step into a fully operational, award-winning micro-brewery and farm stay on 7.5 acres of regional Victoria, just seven minutes from the centre of Ballarat and its train station, positioned in one of Australia’s most dynamic regional beer markets.
A Fond Farewell
To the industry that embraced us from day one from the heart.
To Stomping Ground — thanks JJ, Steve and Guy for letting us on your kit until we finally became big kids with our own.
To IBAs — Anna – thank you for convincing us we should actually show up to that first event, having no idea we were about to win for Learning to Breathe in Mixed Fermentation. That night changed everything.
To Melbourne Royal – Damian, Oskar Kirrily, Matt and the board of directors what an amazing experience it’s been thank you for everything you have given us, always extending kindness to our whole family, these moments will live forever in our hearts.
To the retailers — Jack at Mr West, both Bens at Carwyn, and so many more — you were always there with a hug a laugh and a place in your fridge.
To the events crew — Mike at GABS, Crafty and the Hair of the Dog team during GBW — you kept everything together like ducks on a pond and made every event feel like a homecoming.
To the chefs who spoilt us beyond reason — Telina Menzies, Rob Kabbord, David Wilcocks and Tim Bone — you elevated what we made into something unforgettable.
To the farmers — Elliesfield Farm for the killer Sour Morello Cherries every Boxing Day that went into Candy Paint, and James and Cass at Upton Grove for the biodynamic peaches in Gold Teeth, and most recently those Ron Cherries that became Upton Funk at The Scratch Bar’s annual weekend of tartness — you are the foundation of everything we made.
To our tap partners at The Mallow with Dan Tesoriero and Doug Kerr, Midtown Cellars, The Lake House Hotel in Ballarat, and The Taphouse at Melbourne Airport — thanks Tom — it has been an honour.
Most importantly to the Rare Oak Members past and present we want you to know you have been our oak trees, giving us strength and support to create beers we love to share with our family and friends and wherever we land you will always be welcome at our table — And to all the other incredible humans, the brewers, our family (Hop Nation, Banks, 3 Ravens, Range, etc) and friends we have met along the way, who see value in friendship, kindness, independent beer and artisanal pursuits, so many of whom are now our close friends— you were the entire point!
A Legacy
What Ed and Fiona built over a decade is, frankly, remarkable. Two AIBA Australian International Beer Award victories — Gold Teeth in 2021 and Candy Paint in 2023. The 2023 Indies Award for Champion Australian Independent Beer. Numerous Crushie Awards from the US for branding and marketing that consistently punched well above its weight. They survived COVID, raised their kids, never went into administration, and kept making genuinely world-class beer the whole time.
The Future
The final two Rare Oak Society shipment head out in May and June, closing five incredible years of the subscription with the respect it deserves. Tap contracts wrap up at Christmas. Then the keys go to whoever is ready to take this somewhere extraordinary.
Ed and Fiona leave with excitement and the particular kind of sadness that only comes from leaving something you genuinely loved. They are heading somewhere with good beer, good wine, good food, and enough horizon to remind them why they started making things in the first place.
Dollar Bill hopes the next chapter is written by someone with a passion for beer, a love of Ballarat, and a vision for what this place can become. Anyone wanting to know more should contact them directly.
The Opportunity
166 Millers Road, Invermay is not just a brewery — it’s a complete lifestyle and business platform. A six-bedroom family home with high-end finishes — three-metre ceilings, polished concrete floors, hydronic wood-fire heating — sits alongside a 20m × 12m commercial shed housing a 12hL brewing setup scalable to 200,000 litres annually, with a built-in cool room, LPG 10hp steam boiler, and glycol chiller. The property is fully off-grid on three-phase solar with battery storage, 60,000 litres of rainwater capacity, and two dams.
Three road frontages. School bus at the front gate. Direct adjacency to Ballarat’s active residential growth corridor — new estates like Drew’s Paddock are already selling lots, with thousands of homes planned across Creswick Road, expanding the local market and labour pool significantly.
The brewing operation is dual-licensed as a brewery and cidery with no employee limit, and the cellar door is licensed to operate one weekend per month — with genuine expansion potential. Subject to planning approval, a second residence with its own secluded road frontage is possible, offering options for extended family, rental income, or on-site staff accommodation.
The Numbers
At a modest 160,000 litres annual output — well under the small producer excise remission cap — revenue exceeding $500,000 per year is achievable. The excise remission alone represents approximately $350,000–$400,000 in annual relief for a qualifying small producer. Gross margins are strong, particularly with direct cellar door sales and on-site production efficiencies.
The property also qualifies for full primary producer status — a permitted orchard and hop farm are waiting to be built, with livestock eligibility including cattle and poultry without additional permits under the Rural Living Zone. This unlocks substantial ATO tax concessions: income averaging over five years, Farm Management Deposits, and accelerated deductions for horticultural plants, fencing, and water infrastructure.
As a regional Ballarat employer, the right operator accesses a payroll tax rate of 1.2125% versus 4.85% metro, plus a $1 million tax-free threshold from July 2025. The financial structure of this property is genuinely unusual — it is simultaneously a lifestyle asset, a manufacturing business, and a primary production operation with the tax treatment that comes with it.
The Local Market
Ballarat has over 400 licensed venues actively seeking local, provenance-driven craft product. Proximity to Daylesford — one of Victoria’s premier food, wine and wellness tourism destinations — and Creswick creates genuine cellar door and agritourism upside. This is one of the only breweries in Australia located in a true agricultural setting, combining farm production, commercial brewing, and lifestyle in one cohesive, permitted package. That is not easily replicated.
In the current Ballarat seller’s market, the property is priced in the $1.7M–$1.9M+ range, well supported by the area’s typical values, the substantial improvements, income potential, and location catalysts. Qualified parties interested in further financial information, production projections, licence and permit details, or solar specifications are welcome to make direct contact.
