Despite Melbourne being poised to overtake Buenos Aires as the most locked down city in the world throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there is still plenty of action in our local beer scene. This past weekend 8 Track Brewery opened in Ringwood, contract brand Daylesford Brewing opened their long awaited taproom & Kaiju announced plans to hopefully have their own taproom up & running in Huntingdale by the end of the year! All hot on the tail of the news that Bridge Road will be opening a brewpub in the East Brunswick Village development with plans to be open by the end of 2022.

Despite all that positivity there were some negative stories. There was the sad news that Mick Piera had to sell his Crank Handle Brewery after the passing of his wife & his ongoing ill-health, Matt & Neil have called time on their Bale-Worker Project Brewery, whilst Beach Hut Brewery is up for sale with receivers appointed. The Buffalo Brewery/Boorhaman Hotel has been sold by Greg & Leanne Fanning after almost 22 years! Beer O’Clock has reached out to the new owners but have not yet heard if they plan to continue running one of the smallest breweries in the state.

There was also plenty going on with The Year of Local project at Beer O’Clock headquarters. As you have likely seen if you’re reading this; 6 posts went up in the month of August as well as an episode of the podcast being sent out to the masses. Hopefully I’m somewhat back into the swing of things after quite a long spell with little going on for you to all read. I’m going to attempt to do this monthly to keep some form of personal accountability!

If you have missed those recent posts you can find them here. Noodledoof a brewpub in far Western Victoria was first cab off the ranks in August. Closely followed by a trio of High Country breweries in Crank Handle, Bright & Bonfire Station. The oft maligned Thunder Road in the northern Melbourne suburb of Brunswick followed, before we trekked way out east to Hard Road Brewing in Bayswater. If you haven’t already done so you can listed to the latest episode of the podcast here or simply search Beer O’Clock Australia wherever you get your podcasts! With any luck September will see even more YOTL posts than August & there should be a new podcast out in the coming week or so.

Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!