Queensland
Bacchus Brewing Co., an all-grain brew-on-premises shop at Capalaba, in Brisbane’s south-eastern suburbs, has lately been selling some of its beer through the retail trade in Brisbane and Ipswich. Bacchus was started in 2004 by Glenn Pope with Darren Poyser, who had been the brewer since 1999 at Auroras Microbrewery in central Brisbane. The Capalaba brewery was taken over in July 2010 by Ross Kenrick, owner of Craft Brewer, a Brisbane home-brewing supply business. Craft Brewer has since been relocated to the Bacchus Brewery site, and it and the brewery now operate under the one roof. Bacchus is one of several Australian brew-on-premises operations to have obtained wholesaler/producer licences, blurring the originally very clear distinction between them and conventional commercial breweries.
Bacchus Brewery has six steam-jacketed kettles with individual mash tuns (pictured). Batch sizes are 5 x 50 litres, and 1 x 120 litres. A semi-automatic bottling machine is capable of bottling 50 litres of beer in about twenty minutes.
Bacchus Brewing,
Unit 1, 2 Christine Place,
Capalaba, Q, 4157
ph. 07 3823 5252
fax. 07 3823 5454
[email protected] www.craftbrewer.com.au
Meanwhile, Brendan Chan, the brewer for the Brisbane Brewing Company (and its retail outlet, Brewhouse Brisbane at Clarence Corner, Woolloongabba), has recently been succeeded by Johann van der Walt. Johann’s commercial brewing experience includes working for Ross Kenrick at Craft Brewer and subsequently at his Bacchus Brewery.
Brisbane Brewing Company,
c/o Brewhouse Brisbane,
601 Stanley Street,
Woolloongabba, Q, 4102
ph. 07 3891 1011
fax. 07 3891 1788
[email protected] www.brewhouse.com.au
New South Wales
Further emphasising my point about blurring the line between commercial breweries and brew-on-premises shops, the Pickled Pig Brewery at Tweed Heads South has recently entered the wholesale and retail beer business. The Pickled Pig started as a U-Brew-It franchise, but now is privately owned. It still operates as a brew-on-premises, but also sells its beer to a range of local retail outlets, and directly to the public in anything from single bottles to 50-litre kegs.
Pickled Pig Brewery,
18 Industry Drive,
Tweed Heads South, NSW, 2486
ph. 07 5523 0808
[email protected] www.pickledpigbrewery.com.au
The newest small brewery in New South Wales opened to the public on 27 August at South Nowra. Known as HopDog BeerWorks, it is the creation of Tim Thomas, formerly the brewer at Five Islands Brewery, Wollongong. Tim uses a tiny 200-litre kit, and has opened with a range of four beers: an American-style pale ale, an oatmeal stout, a flavourful but mid-strength mild ale, and a highly-hopped India pale ale, which unusually incorporates a portion of malted rye. In addition to supplying bottles and kegs to the retail trade, HopDog BeerWorks sells directly to the public in bottles and refillable 2-litre ‘growlers’.
HopDog BeerWorks,
2/175 Princes Highway,
South Nowra, NSW, 2541
ph. 0428 293132
[email protected] www.hopdog.com.au
