As I write, several new breweries around the country are close to opening. I have in mind Riverside in Sydney, Casella at Griffith (NSW), Temple and Black Dog in Victoria near Glenrowan, McLaren Vale in South Australia, Morrison in Tasmania and Cheeky Monkey and Boston in Western Australia, all in the late stages of development. Some of these had planned to be launching in Spring, but the inevitable delays are now making a Summer start seem more likely. They must therefore be the topics of a future report. In the meantime, here are some significant happenings from the recent past.

Victoria

Another new Melbourne-based microbrewery was introduced to the beer-drinking public at the Victorian Microbreweries Showcase at Federation Square last month. Black Heart Brewery, based in the bayside suburb of Brighton, unveiled its impressive inaugural product range, comprising an American pale ale, American brown ale, Belgian blond ale, weizen, and dunkelweizen. Black Heart is a partnership between Brad Schultz and champion homebrewer Robin Brown.

Black Heart Brewery
24 Oak Grove
Brighton, V, 3186
ph. 03 9596 7830

info@blackheartbrewery.com.au

After six years operating at Lake Purrumbete, near Camperdown in south-western Victoria, the Red Duck Brewery has been relocated to Alfredton, a suburb of Ballarat. Scott Wilson-Browne and his wife Vanessa opened Red Duck in 2005, and released their first beers in October that year. They opened a retail outlet—the Red Duck Provedore—in the main street of Camperdown in December 2009. Their next big step has been the removal of their brewery to Ballarat, which was achieved last month, after a couple of months of downtime. They hope to open another Provedore in 2012 (the one at Camperdown continues to operate), and to open a bar and cellar door set-up at the brewery.

Red Duck Brewery
c/o red Duck Provedore
243 Manifold Street
Camperdown, V, 3260
ph. 03 5593 3303

scott@redduckbeer.com.au

Western Australia

The Margaret River Ale Company is the latest new addition to the microbrewing scene in Western Australia. This brewery, which formerly operated as the Bug Ocean Brewery (2003–05) and the Ocean Beach Brewery (2007–08), is situated in the industrial estate at Margaret River. It was re-opened recently by a group of people associated with the Settlers Tavern at Margaret River, including tavern operators Rob and Karen Gough.

Margaret River Ale Company
Unit 4, 17 Minchin Way
Margaret River, WA, 6285
ph. 08 9758 8791

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