Blasta Brewing beer and tanks

Perth’s newest brewery has opened to the public, its founder already having made a name for himself by winning a number of professional and amateur awards in the space of two years.

Blasta Brewing was founded bySteve Russell in the south-eastern suburb of Burswood, where he’s lived since migrating to Australia from Scotland 11 years ago.

Russell started out as a home brewer and originally had no intention of embarking on a commercial venture.

But his beers won multiple awards in amateur competitions, including a BrewDog competition he entered having only been brewing for four months.

In 2017 Russell also won best packaged IPA at the Perth Beer Awards with his first commercial release, Myway Grapefruit IPA.

“I started making more and more beer and instead of making one per week or one every two weeks, I was making one every two days,” he told Brews News.

The Blasta logo and name was inspired by his Scottish origins, ‘blasta’ being the Gaelic word for ‘delicious’, and the geometric unicorn symbol represents his background in engineering combined with the national animal of Scotland.

The venue includes an alfresco dining space, children’s play area, kitchen and coffee shop that is open from 7am daily, where people can drop off their growlers and have them ready by the afternoon.

“We wanted to get the patrons involved in what we’re doing so every second Tuesday is ‘prototype Tuesday’,” Russell said.

“People who like us on Instagram or Facebook will be randomly invited to come along. We’ll have about 12 people and they’ll help with the judging of the latest prototype beer, and help us design the next one for the next group to try.”

Blasta’s 350-capacity brewpub has eight taps pouring beers including its Tangerine Dreams wheat ale and Blastaweizen hefeweizen, which will be canned on-site using an ABE system.

Blasta is neighboured by Nowhereman Brewing and Northbridge Brewing, and open everyday from 7am to midnight.

Brewery openings are presented bySpark Breweries and Distilleries, the finest in-venue and production brewing systems available, with local design and support.

Read more:
How to start a brewing company: Part One
Spark releases new all-in-one brewhouse