The Melbourne craft beer scene had never seen anything like Thunder Road Brewing Company when they launched in 2011. They were different in almost everyway. They weren’t scraping together every cent they could find, borrowing money from family & friends or scouring the countryside for used dairy equipment they could modify to fashion something resembling a brew kit. Possibly more alarming to the craft community at the time; they also weren’t rebelling agains mainstream lager, in fact they were embracing it!
Instead they launched with a brewery complete with all the bells & whistles, with The Age reporting at the time an initial investment over $6 million! This included a state of the art lab, a move siginificantly ahead of its time, that would’ve been the envy of everyone bar the big boys in the country. Arguably their most significant point of difference, aside from the sheer amount of money they could throw at their project, was their decision to target mainstream lager drinkers rather than the 2% (at the time) of drinkers who consumed craft beer.
Brewery Type
Physical
Region
Northern Suburbs
Tasting Room
130 Barkly St, Brunswick
Philip had put in a huge amount of research into the project including a whirlwind 14 day trip to the US where he visited a staggering 83 breweries! It was during this trip where he came across Chuckanut Brewery in Bellingham, Washington. It’s a brewery known for brewing predominantly lagers, on excellent equipment and pumping out consistent clean beers. A few conversations later and one of the founding Chuckanut brewers, Harvey Kenney, who’d most recently had stints brewing in Istanbul & Mexico was on his way down under to setup Withers’ brewery.
One of the things that gets lost about Thunder Road & Withers is the dedication to brewing history. Philip had collected brewing records & historical items for years before looking to launch his own brand & even saught out Keith Deutsher, Australia’s pre-eminent beer historian, for advice on what issues had caused brewers to fail in the past. Keith’s three takeaways; being under capitalised, quality control & poor marketing. Say what you will about Thunder Road but they have certainly ticked these three boxes.
Over the years they’ve courted some controversy. The first incident involved them taking CUB to court, & losing, over unused trademarks. It may not have resulted in their desired outcome of being able to sell beers under these labels, but did make for interesting trademark law. Then there was the beers they had brewed in Belgium & shipped to Australia to sell under their name, as it was cheaper from a tax point of view. Finally, the legal battle they had with Stone & Wood over the term “Pacific Ale” resulting in the term becoming widely used rather than referring to a specific beer. These incidents have led to some members of the craft beer community being disconnected with the brand.
Thunder Road is tucked away in Barkly Street, just metres from bustling Lygon Street. The brewery is housed in an industrially zoned warehouse, behind a lovely heritage listed bluestone cottage which has been converted to house one of the best collection of brewing records in the country. It was opened in 2012 & was of coursed dubbed the Keith Deutsher Library, a lovely tribute to his friend and trusted advisor who sadly passed away in April 2020.
Walk down the side of the cottage, past the vintage stainless steel Airstream that doubles as a food truck, and in through the roller door. You’ll walk past shelves stacked with brewing supplies, pallets etc. before arriving in an open space between the tanks. The bar is on the opposite side, you really can’t miss it; it’s a huge wooden bar with about 30 taps! There’s plenty of tables, which really feel in and amongst the action; you’re so close you can almost touch the stainless.
The beer that has really driven the growth of Thunder Road is Brunswick Bitter & it seemed only fitting that that would be the beer reviewed here. It’s a beer I’ve had many times, although I think this may well be the first I’ve had from a can rather than on tap. It’s actually a bit better than I recall; the base presents as a relatively straight forward English Bitter with little malt character, laying the platform for some fruit forward hops to do their bit. This beer has always finished quite dry and with nice bitterness, although the fruit is a new characteristic for me. You can see why they’ve had success luring macro lager drinkers with this. It’s very approachable
In a rare break from form on Beer O’Clock Australia I’m adding a footnote. Thunder Road started off as a well funded brewery that used litigation as a form of PR. Their approach upset many long term industry advocates and partially alienated themselves from the wider craft community. As they, & the wider industry, became more established, & their marketing less in your face, the brewery has slowly found their niche & has been accepted by the community for what they are; a brewery serving clean, approachable “gateway” beers to anyone open enough to try one over a CUB/Lion offering. They play a pivotal role in helping the wider craft industry find the next wave of craft drinkers. Those who have been immersed in the industry a long time often forget that we all started somewhere & didn’t cut our teeth on Lambics & Barrel Aged Barleywines.
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