The story of Temple Brewery is one of the more interesting in the Victorian brewing scene. It all started back in 2006 when Ron & Renata Feruglio started the Temple Brewing Company as a gypsy operation. Between 2006 & 2010 they built a brand on 4 key beers; Pale Ale, Saison, Special Bitter & Soba Ale, all brewed wherever they could find spare tank capacity around Victoria.
Then all of a sudden their beers disappeared from the shelves. Little known to the wider craft beer community they were busy setting up the site that would later become their Weston Street brewery. It took longer than many prospective brewery fitouts, 18 months in total, as they wanted to ensure the brewery, bar & kitchen were all fully operational before opening to the public shortly before Christmas 2011.
Brewery Type
Physical
Region
Northern Suburbs
Tasting Room
122 Weston Street, East Brunswick
Things seemed to be going swimmingly until May 2013 when Temple shocked the industry by announcing that they were entering voluntary administration. There was an outpouring of sadness from the community & as many as 50 offers to the administrators to buy the business. It quickly came out that the Feruglio’s had had a disagreement with their original business partner & intended to purchase their brewery back & a number of potential investors.
In stepped Nick Pang, a man with experience in the financial sector with NAB & PWC to name a few. He teamed up with the Feruglio’s & bought back the brewery from the administrators. They celebrate their relaunch with a dinner at The Alehouse Project, a wonderful venue supporting craft beer around the corner from the brewery, that I attended in November 2013.
It wasn’t all rosy for long, with Ron Feruglio announcing his departure from the business just months later, in January 2014. Renata stayed on for a further year before departing herself. Since then the brewery has become less impactful in the local scene, but has established a number of markets in Asia – so much so that they now have an office & distribution hub in Shanghai to fulfill these markets.
The venue is hard to miss! It’s a relatively modern warehouse that has been rendered & painted black with a bright yellow “brewhouse” splashed across the top. You enter through a beer garden, that if I’m being honest has seen better days. The tables are mis-matched & weather worn, whilst the concrete & fake grass combo doesn’t work for me.
Inside the brewery & restaurant is staged across 2 levels, with full length glass windows looking through to the brewery. It’s got a more modern feel than outside & one of the more impressive setups around. They’re still pumping out good burgers, although the Midnight Burger on the black bun is gone!
I had to stick with the beer that made them famous; Bicycle Beer. It still tastes as I remember it, very much in the Australian Pale Ale mold. There’s a relatively light body, with a reasonable proportion of wheat, and fruity & citrusy hops laying over the top which don’t provide much bitterness. It’s the sort of beer that everyone can enjoy, especially sittin in a beer garden one lazy afternoon.
Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!
