Throughout this process we’ve catalogued a number of different ways in which breweries come to fruition. A type of story that I’d thought we’d see a little more of is the story of Rare Bird Brewing. Three mates, who’ve known each other for 30+ years, all bought houses close to each other in Hurstbridge & began sharing the tricks they’d picked up brewing independently in one of their sheds.
Brendan Corrie, Pete Imision & Steve Marshall met at university, where they developed the perfect array of skills for things to get a little out of hand; the trio comprise two engineers & a “mad” scientist. They describe their brewery as a “homebrew brewery”; cobbled together from a combination of modified old cheese making equipment, old beverage manufacturing equipment & the odd bit they’ve had to have custom made. The more time the trio spent in the shed, the more additions needed to be added to the brewery.
Brewery Type
Physical
Region
Yarra Valley & Dandenong Ranges
Tasting Room
None
First they expanded to 60L batches; then it became 160L batches… Suddenly they had more beer than they could possibly drink themselves. They were literally giving away beer to friends, family & anyone who’d take it! It got to the point that Brendan & Pete were visting Steve’s shed so often & spending so much time there that they thought they better go commercial otherwise their wives might put a stop to their passion/fun.
Not much has changed since they’ve gone commercial, their limited edition beers still come out of Steve’s shed, whilst the core range/can offerings are brewed in a “bigger shed” more commonly known as Temple Brewing. If you want to seek out their beers you have to head up to a couple of small craft stores in the area surrounding their Hurstbridge homes, although it’s probably best to check with them at the time who has stock!
Despite the wafer thin profit margins in craft beer, Rare Bird Brewing donate 10 cents from every beer sold to Bird Life Australia to help protect the fantastic bird life in the beautiful part of Victoria they live. There are a number of beers on the market with affiliations with certain charities, although I’ve found none to be as transparent with their donation figures than the Rare Bird Brewing team.
The beer I sampled was their AuPA – Australian Pale Ale. I’m not sure if it’s been handled poorly but I am not getting much in the way of characteristic Australian hops. The beer is light bodied, a touch dry and has some reasonably bitter floral/grassy hop elements. By no means do I think this is a bad beer, just possibly a poorly handled one – as evidenced by the obvious dents pictured above. I will certainly be looking out for more of their beers when I’m next in their neck of the woods.
Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!
