Built of a resilient and passionate community who will overcome any obstacle put in front of them, the Aussie craft beer scene is booming and we could not be happier! The July 2022 Tour de Tinnie box is filled with just a few producers who have made inspiring leaps of progress over the last couple years.
If this line-up is anything to go by the Australian beer scene will continue to persevere, grow, inspire and provide us with delicious brews along the way. To that we damn well say CHEERS!
White Bay
White Bay began brewing in 2019 after being founded by a team of industry veterans with a love for lagers. Adapting to the pandemic, they added other styles to their repertoire, such as IPAs and Imperial Stouts, that continue in the form of special one-off releases. This year they opened their doors to the public with the formation of their Rozelle-based taproom. We have been seriously impressed with everything we’ve seen from the White Bay team so far and expect this is only the beginning for them.
White Bay Beer Co.
26c Mansfield Street,
Rozelle NSW 2039, Australia
Dangerous Ales
Fellow NSW brewery, Dangerous Ales, found their home at the Milton Hotel, also back in 2019 when it was purchased by head brewer Damien Martin and his father-in-law Andrew Bell. They refurbished the old watering hole and built the brewery out back, eventually upgrading to a new brewhouse, tanks AND canning machine. Forging through fires and a pandemic, they are very vocal in thanking the community support they received. Once a month, a ‘Community Keg’ is tapped and visitors pay what they want for a schooner, with all the money going to a charity or local group.
Dangerous Ales at The Milton Hotel
74 Princes Hwy,
Milton NSW 2538, Australia
Fox Friday
Hobart’s Fox Friday precedes 2019, but that fateful year it changed hands to current owners Benn & Sarah Hooper. Since then, they have undergone a rebrand, opened two new breweries; one in Hobart’s CBD the other in the suburb of Moonah, and NOW they have a new Melbourne site in the works! That’s a lot for 3 years and we get the feeling they aren’t slowing down anytime soon.
Fox Friday (Hobart)
105 Murray St,
Hobart TAS 7000, Australia
Love Shack
The youngest of the bunch is Love Shack Brewing Co. In 2020, keen to start their own venture, ex-Stomping Ground brewers Conna Mallet & Harrison Cox (also ex-Hop Nation & Mornington Peninsula Brewery) found the opportunity to do so. A serendipitous meeting led them to the shed they now call home, tucked behind Castlemaine’s heritage-listed Theatre Royal cinema & live-music venue. They began pumping out beers towards the end of 2020, followed shortly by the opening of the Love Shack Garden Bar on the same site. Introducing themselves to the world with a very well-executed core range, we’re now starting to see some exciting special releases, along with a re-design of their cans, and we are frothing all of it!
[update: brewpub temporarily closed]
CoConspirators
Melbourne’s CoConspirators have been around a bit longer than the rest, with the crew forming out of the Merri Mashers home brew club, and beginning to brew commercially in 2016. Last year they achieved their goal of opening a brewpub! Finding a home in the northern suburb of Brunswick, their in-house 12,000L kit fills 24 taps that can quench the thirst of up to 195 punters! They aren’t planning on stopping there though and hope to add a mezzanine, kitchen and whisky bar to the venue in the future. Possible through crowdfunding efforts, pop by for a visit and you will see a plaque listing the 402 names, from VIC to the USA, who contributed a whopping $600,000 to the venue.
CoConspirators Brewpub
377 Victoria St,
Brunswick VIC 3056, Australia
Images: @whitebaybeer, Dangerous Ales / @the.milton.hotel, Fox Friday / @foxfridayhobart, @loveshackbrewingco, CoConspirators / @coconspirators_brewpub