I visited Watts River Brewing in Healesville, which is run by two young families with a passion for great beer. The brewers are both former brewers from White Rabbit, who stayed in the Yarra Valley when the Brewery moved to Geelong, so they have heaps of experience and certainly know how to make great beers.
The beers I sampled were:
1. Blonde, 4.7% abv, this beer makes use of Noble hops which give the beer a lovely complex, floral hoppy aroma and taste. This is a really easy drinking blonde but one with a lot of flavour. Fabulous!
2. IPA, 6.6% abv, this Ale has a great hoppy aroma and initial taste that is followed by a great malty palate. It is a very well balanced beer that finishes with a dry taste. This is a very sessionable beer.
3. Firstly, 5.2% abv, the name for this beer comes from the fact that it was the first batch made in new equipment. It is a great hoppy amber ale that really fills the whole mouth with flavour and has a wonderful smooth finish.
4. Stout, 6.0% abv, this stout has a great malty nose and a smooth malt palate with hints of dark chocolate and a mild smoke finish. A wonderful stout.
This Brewery has only been around since late 2016 with the first batch of beer being produced on site in January of this year, prior to this their beer was made offsite in Moorabbin. I foresee a great future for this Brewery.