Small Brewery Update: Hospitality professional Casey Wagner recently opened Westside Ale Works brewery and taproom in South Melbourne.

Now open: Westside Ale Works

The name Westside references Wagner’s American background and his particular enthusiasm for West Coast-style IPAs.

A home brewer, Wagner worked for hotel group Hilton for ten years prior tohis latest venture.

He was emboldened to act on his longstanding ambitions of goingprofessional, after witnessing the increased interest in hop forward beers at GABS earlier this year.

“I couldn’t believe this year compared to last, how many more IPAs there were,” he told Australian Brews News.

Casey Wagner

Wagner is brewing on a Braumeister 500, selling most of his beers on-site as well as offering free delivery of longnecks anywhere within a five kilometre radius of the brewery.

“I’m not trying to get national distribution or conquer the world, I really just want to be the fresh craft beer option for this area,” he said.

Westside Ale Works is open Thursday to Saturday at 23 to 25 Alfred Street, South Melbourne.

Presented by Spark Engineering, creator ofhigh quality brewing and distilling systems, the Small Brewery Updatereports the latest brewery openings and closings from across Australia.

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