On Thursday the 23rd of November I visited The Stomping Ground Brewing Co. in Collingwood, Victoria. The owners of this brewery have their history in hospitality, owning the Local Taphouse in St Kilda and being the organisers of GABS.
The brewery took three years to establish with the searching for the appropriate venue and gaining all the planning approvals . They finally started brewing in March 2016, supplying their beers to other venues until they were able to open their beer hall in August of 2016.
The brewery consists of a 20 hectolitre brewhouse with twelve fermentation tanks varying in capacity from 10 hectolitre up to a massive 65 hectolitre. They are in the process of installing their own canning line to assist with their presence in the packaged beer market. At present they do have take away 1.25 litre bottles of some of their range. They have produced 60+ varieties of beer so far and have an extensive selection on tap, pouring between 18 and 20 different varieties at any one time. They aim to have a beer to suit every drinkers taste and change the available beers quite often.
They regularly produce collaboration brews with some of their clients, being a good number of well known Melbourne bars that have their beers on tap.
The brewery has an aim to be good citizens within the community, regularly sponsoring charity events. At present they are donating money from the sales of their Gipps Street Pale Ale to Movember with the goal being to donate $75000 to men’s health.
They are also trying to be environmentally friendly by reusing rainwater to water their plants, installing solar panels to produce their power, not using straws behind the bar and giving their used grain to farmers as stock feed. They are very much aware of reducing their environmental footprint as much as possible.
The venue is fantastic and very spacious. It has a children’s play area as well as a restaurant as part of the beer hall that has a view of the brewery. It is a great area with a really nice feel to it. They recently received the Best Brewpub in Australia award from a brewery magazine.
The beers that I sampled were:
1. Gipps Street Pale Ale, 5.2% abv, this is the brewery’s signature beer and is named after the street that is their home. It is an American style with a hazy golden colour and a citrus and tropical fruit aroma. It has a strong sweet fruity flavour and then a nice mild bitterness. This beer won a gold medal at the 2017 Craft Beer Industry Awards.
2. Wits End, 5.2% abv, this is a Belgian Witbier with a hazy straw colour and a spicy yeast and citrus aroma. It has a great taste of orange citrus, sweet banana, bubblegum and subtle coriander. Very nice!
3. Archfiend, 9.8% abv, this is a Belgian Golden Strong Ale which was made for their 1st birthday celebration. It has a hazy golden colour and a sweet malty banana aroma. It has a wonderful sweet complex malt flavour with spicy, bready, banana and citrus tastes. Strong and rich with a dry finish. Delicious!!
4. One-Eyed IPA, 6.5% abv, this is a West Coast American style with a hazy golden colour and a citrus and grapefruit aroma. It has a sweet fruity initial flavour that flows into a nice bitter finish. This beer won a Bronze medal at the 2017 Australian International Beer Awards.
5. Hop Stomper IPA, 5.9% abv, this is another West Coast IPA with a golden straw colour and a citrus, pine and cut grass aroma. It has a great sweet fruity initial taste before transitioning into a resinous bitterness on the finish.
The Stomping Ground Brewing Co. is producing some really wonderful brews and has a fantastic venue to enjoy them in. It is well worth visiting if you get the opportunity.
I would like to thank Justin for his hospitality when I visited.
