Buffalo Brewery is located in Boorhaman, a locality 15 minutes from Wangaratta in Victoria’s High Country. The brewery doubles as the Boorhaman Hotel. Husband and wife team Greg & Leanne Fanning run the brewery & pub with help from their daughter Tia as they have done for almost 20 years. It’s your typical, really small town country pub. It’s very long & narrow, with a veranda out the front & a summer beer garden.
Brewery Type
Physical
Region
High Country
Tasting Room
1519 Boorhaman Road, Boorhaman
They pump out their beers in 180L batches, in a space smaller than most homebrewers would operate in! The brewery is named after the Buffalo Brewery in nearby Wangaratta that operated between 1902 & 1950. They were well known as the only brewery on the main road betwen Melbourne & Albury. They claim to have been the original producer of Victoria Bitter Ale, the beer better known as VB that has become associated with Australian culture around the world, although this is disputed in numerous sources.
Their lounge area is quite cosy. There’s a 360 degree fire place in the centre of the room, which was providing serious heat! It’s got a number of tables of various sizes with heavy duty plastic chairs – a bit of a staff canteen sort of vibe, but in an old wood lined bar. There’s a piano in the corner, with some bottles containing some different malts, and right next door is a red velvet chez… It’s a slightly odd space, but it works!
The menu was really impressive! I was slightly surprised by the amount of seafood on the menu, considering they’re a long way inland. I opted for a schnitzel with gravy – always tough to turn down – and it didn’t disappoint. On the day we visited they were having a few issues with their draught systems – some beers were undercarbed, some massively overcarbed,
I ended up with a partly frozen bottle of their Dark Ale – so it definitely wasn’t in the best condition it could’ve been. There was some chocolate & molasses, but it was offset by a weird herbal quality & something that I initially thought was a chlorine issue with their water. I’d like to try the beer in better condition one day – but I have to work with what I’ve got for now…
Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!
