Rob Christopher is Taggerty born & bred. His family have owned and run a cherry farm in the regional Victorian community, 15-20 minutes south of Alexandra, for most of his life. He’d enjoyed backpacking around the world throughout his 20’s & loved beer, but there was always the pull of the family business back home. In 2016 he had an idea.
The family farm business was expanding & needed more accomodation to house the backpackers that serve as seasonal pickers. What do backpackers like? Drinking. Robert had to build more accomodation anyway and decided to renovate the old golf clubhouse on the property and turn it into a bar to host the workers knockoff drinks. By this point Rob & his brother Philip had been home brewing for years & were capable of producing more than passable beer. A year later the team was complete with the arrival of Florine, a Belgian native who became Rob’s partner, who’d started the season as a backpacking fruit picker & ended it as a Taggerty local.
Brewery Type
Physical
Region
High Country
Tasting Room
Lot 1 Yellow Creek Road, Taggerty
Cherry season is relatively short. Now that they had the accomodation built they were able to hire our the venue for private functions & it became a popular wedding venue. They decided now was the time to ramp up their beer production. Although they’d only originally planned to brew for consumption at their own bar, the word got out about their beer and they began pushing it out into local pubs. With COVID lockdowns devastating hospitality in Victoria, the team pushed their beers into cans for the first time in 2020.
Early 2021 saw Bonfire Station open to the public for the first time. They only open on sporadic Sundays, so it is best to check in advance before heading up their way (another reminder that this is why I don’t post opening hours here!). For the time being the only food onsite has to be pre-ordered from local deli Harvesting the Feast, who put together platters containing plenty of local ingredients. The team are currently installing a commercial kitchen and hope to be pushing out woodfired pizza in Summer 21/22.
The Bonfire Station experience really starts on the drive in, which is through some of the most beautiful countryside there is in Victoria. When you arrive the charm continues, first you drive past the wonderful rustic barn before you might be lucky enough to be greeted by the friendly Jack Russell’s that roam the beer garden looking for any morsels of food they can convince unsuspecting visitors to drop/feed them. The whole team are super friendly and really make you feel welcome in their own unique space.
The barn houses the brewery bar & is fitted out in keeping with the feel of a rustic old barn, everything in there feels authentic with only what’s required; no frills & whistles. Whilst, I think, there were some tables inside the real beauty of Bonfire Station is being able to enjoy the beers outside; with plenty of garden furniture scattered around the sprawling grassy area next to the barn, you’ll be sure to find a seat. The day we visited was stiflingly hot, but in the shade under the trees there was still enough of a breeze to keep it pleasant & there was more than enough room for everyone.
Bonfire Station brew a really wide array of styles & do all of them really well, I have to keep reminding myself that they’ve been around a long time even though they seem new. I’ve settled on the Amber Ale to review. It’s a cracking Amber Ale! It beautifully straddles that tricky balancing point between the sweet caramel malty notes & the bitter tropical/grassy notes from the hops. I was pretty impressed with all of their beers that I’ve sampled, both on site & in cans, & would recommend everyone finding time to go and check them out!
Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!
