Brewers of Brunswick
Our world is in ferment. Microbreweries are opening up everywhere. Labs are concocting potions with local flora. There’s a new generation reviving ancient beverages. And as a magical byproduct, a new spirit of conviviality fosters mutual support.
Here’s a tasting.
Merryn Rowe at honing
We start in the laboratory.
Merryn Roe began fermenting while doing a PhD in epidemiology (malaria) during COVID. As others were experimenting with sourdough, she began creating her own concoctions. “You can take the girl out of the lab but not the lab out of the girl.” It was a happy balance, “I have a morbid fascination for infectious diseases. Love them! But it is nice to know that there are just as many little things trying to help us.”
Inspired, Merryn started gathering family recipes passed down through her Dutch and Maltese grandmothers. Her extended family started sending recipes from various sources, including handwritten notebooks photographed on phones. Many recipes were for what is called snobbishly “country wines”. But Merryn gained an appreciation of their folk varieties such as elderflower champagne or parsnip wines.
During the allotted 5-kilometre walks of lockdown, Merryn would rendezvous with her mother to take a freezer bag of exotic ingredients. Merryn discovered the magic of infusions and experimented with seltzers out of native plants like quandong plums and native limes. By the end of the marathon lockdown, she had made 30 litres of wine to celebrate the return to normal life.
After lockdown, Merryn started work at Rewine, where you can bring back wine bottles to be refilled. It’s a hub of information exchange. “You got a few people at the bar, you’re doing refills, but you get lots of time to chat. Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, what are you up to?’”
One of their products is a honey liqueur, but the maker passed away “at the ripe old age of 98”. The owner Marshall made her an offer, “‘If you get the recipe, you can make it next.’ I felt like I’m moving up in the world. It was very generous for the family to give me the recipe.”
With information gleaned from Rewine customers, Merryn found local flavours to experiment with. “I did a Melbourne mead, which is just mead made out of honey from the backyards of all over Melbourne. That was so successful: people are sending it to their loved ones from Melbourne overseas, for their wedding.” She claims that urban honey is now better than rural because most of the countryside is now monoculture. There’s more diversity in city gardens.
Moreover, she also learnt about honey collected from the hives on top of Barkly Square shopping centre. She is now making a Sparkly Bear mead to celebrate its anniversary.
Her boyfriend, who still works at Rewine, has also helped her find jasmine hanging over back fences in the lanes of Melbourne. “Did you know, women can smell jasmine better than men?”
You can find Merryn’s mead at Rewine, but most of her sales are online orders at honing. You’ll have to be patient. There are usually 100–200 people on the waitlist. However, you can buy a beautiful calendar that she produced herself telling you which vegetables and fruits are in season.
The Good Brew
It’s not just alcohol that’s brewing.
Dean O’Callaghan discovered kombucha in Germany where he was running a learning platform. While he was overseas, his father had started a microbrewery in Healesville. Returning home, Dean was shocked at the energy waste involved in brewing and started a company Good Brew to put solar panels on breweries and kegs on bicycles.
He tried producing craft beers after discovering the “angry yeast” in the industrial brands that is used to speed up fermentation but creates negative energy in the drinker’s biome. “If you find someone headbutting when they’re drunk, it’s never due to craft beer.”
“I pivoted to kombucha because I couldn’t handle the stress of being a drug dealer, an alcohol dealer.” He was able to brew kombucha at his father’s brewery in its downtime.
He has since thrown himself into kombucha brewing. For him, kombucha is a boon for gut health: “Every single millilitre in this drink has 200 strains of bacteria in it.” His brews are also produced sustainably. “You can deliver 500 drinks on a bike and without packaging.” Labels are not stuck to his bottles, so you can get refills with any container from his Hope Street centre or Source Bulk in Sydney Road.
Dean is proud of his ingredients. He uses Daylesford spring water, organic sugar from Brazil and the “world’s best tea” grown in the Victorian town of Alexandria. Individual flavours are sourced eclectically. “I get a bit of bush river mint from the Merri Creek and I get pineapple sage from my own garden.”
You can find the Good Brew in outlets around Brunswick, including Source, Terra Madre and Inner North Brewery.
Melbourne Sake Company
And now we have the world’s first Australian sake.
Like other brewing ventures, Melbourne Sake Company emerged out of a friendship. Matt Kingsley-Shaw and Quentin Hanley were eating at Kappo in Flinders Lane where the courses were matched with different styles of sake.
“We had 10-year-old rich aged sake, light and delicate sake and some acid-driven styles. With our interest sparked it all evolved from there, moving from casual sake drinkers to home brewers and culminating in trips to New Zealand, the USA and Japan to learn how to brew commercially.”
Matt and Quentin were committed to using Australian rice. Their KH sake uses Koshihikari rice produced with large-scale farming (Sun Rice) in the Riverina region in lower NSW. Their TM version uses Tachiminori rice from a single source farmer (Marlivale farm) growing rain-fed rice up near Nimbin in northern NSW. “We have a raw product that wants to do everything it can, to be a high alcohol, rich, umami bomb.”
Finding the right rice polishing equipment was a challenge. They settled on a style similar to Ginjo or Daiginjo fermentation, which removes the outer layers of rice that can affect the flavour. “This helps us retain balance and freshness in the sake. “
“We are chasing acidity, mouthfeel and structure in our sake and creating something that doesn't shy away from the types of food we like to eat here in Australia. Pro tip, one of our favourite things to match our sake with is Pizza. “
They have had great local support. “Sometimes it’s lending us a forklift and sometimes it’s just a bit of advice, but it’s always appreciated.” You can find their sake at Gomi Boys, Good Days, Miss Moses and Cult of the Vine.
Foreigner
Meanwhile, microbreweries are springing up in the backstreets.
The industrial park in Henkel Street is home to a private cinema, the renowned printmaker Trent Walker and Foreigner, a specialist in Czech pilsners.
Czech friends, Mira Koman & Peter Denison started experimenting with home brews. Mira’s father used to play basketball in Czech with Petr Petruzalek, a specialist in Pilsner Urquel with 35 years of experience.
Mira and Peter travelled to Czech to find Petr, who was kind enough to write a recipe on the back of a lunch menu. After more experimentation, they asked if he could come to Australia for a month, with travel and accommodation covered. Petr decided to take a holiday to escape a Czech winter. “So we learned from this master who handed down a small part of his craft.” He ended up coming a few more times to help them master the craft. Fortunately, Mira is a boilermaker who could construct the specialist vats and pipes.
Peter describes a process to me that seems quite intuitive. You make a mash from grain and water which is then separated and combined at different temperatures many times.
They apply the same careful approach to people chemistry. Regular patrons of Foreigner are encouraged to purchase a larger glass tankard which is engraved with their name and hangs up on the bar. Sometimes there’s Polish pirogi, a DJ and video projections.
Peter is an advocate of local “foreign” beer. “Beers are heavy? They’re 98% water. Why would you drag that around the world?”
Gales
Dave Williamson and Tom Creswell at Gales seek to enhance the relaxed local feeling in their beer garden. “We wanted to build a venue that was appealing and comfortable to everyone, so we put a lot of effort into the interior and lighting, which softens the industrial origins of the building. I think the result is a venue that’s cozy, welcoming and avoids the masculinity that haunts some breweries.”
They’ve expanded their brewing to develop a series of meads. Tom’s raspberry and mulberry won first prize at a recent competition. Tom is also growing his own hops that you can find in the side garden at Gales.
“Compared to food, beer is complex. With up to 2,000 chemical reactions happening at once, it’s a lot to manage, and the permutations are endless. I never know for sure what’s going to happen and I love that.”
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Craft beer is growing, particularly in Australia. The share of market volume by independent breweries grew 25% between 2017 and 2019. Locally, there are vibrant brewing ecosystems that ferment not just with yeast, but also good old neighbourhood chat.
Some other microbreweries
Am I missing a brewery? Leave a comment.
Hi Kevin!
Great article- we have recently taken over the Thunder Road brewing site and rebranded the venue and Brewery as Rocky Ridge Brewing- we've also just reopened the venue to the public!
If you'd like more info, please reach out to us: info@rocky.beer
Cheers!