Forrest Brewing Co. Cafe Now Open

[jimi]

Got the below email recently from Sharon & Matt of Forrest Brewing Co. Cafe.
It sounds like they haven't yet got their own beers going, but I'll head down with the family on the weekend to test that theory a little more thoroughly and give a report. Forrest is a really eclectic and creative community, which I've developed a bit of a fondness for. Hopefully their beers will be just as diverse and creative once they get going.

I'm also keen to find out more about this wild local hop they intend to use. Anywho will let all know about my weekend experiences later and below is all their details if you are planning on a visit to the area sometime yourself.


cheers
Jimi



Hello Friends, Family and Fellow Tourism Folk,

We quietly opened the doors to our cafe and front of house over the Melbourne Cup long weekend. With a successful weekend under our belts we are ready to start telling some people to stop in for coffee/ cake, a meal, a local wine or a micro brewed beer.

What: Forrest Brewing Co. Cafe now open - Friday, Saturday and Sunday
The brewery and take-away bottles will be rattling by December

When: Open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from now until Christmas

Friday, serving lunch and dinner (12.00 noon - late)
Saturday and Sunday, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner (9.00am - late)

Open daily from Boxing Day until the end of January

Where: Forrest - Apollo Bay Road, Forrest (the blue building on the corner)

Where's our beer? We have just put down the tradesmen tools and are about to pick up a new set of tools to get the brewery together and start brewing some damn fine beer. Meanwhile we are serving a selection of micro brewed beers from our friends across the South West Region.
* Beacon Beer from Geelong
* Flying Horse Beer from Warrnambool
* Red Duck Beer from Camperdown

Many, many thanks for the mountains of help, love, enthusiasm and support we have received to get us to this place.

If you could spread the word to anyone you know that travels through these hills, that would be fantastic!

We hope to see you soon,

Matt Bradshaw & Sharon Bradshaw

Forrest Brewing Co. Microbrewery & Cafe
email: [email protected]
phone: (03) 5236 6170
web: www.forrestbrewing.com.au

 

[fcmcg]

I drove past there about 4pm yesterday (cupday)
Look like it was going off !
I didn't stop as i have a ******* massive sore throat and cold after doing the ANHC ( didn't get home before 3 both nights)
And then leaving 3pm Sunday arvo and going camping in the RAIN in the Otways, for 2 nights...
swmbo wanted to go...she'd been good about anhc and me in her pregnant state lol...
Probably the first time i've driven past a brewery and not stopped !
Cheers
Ferg

 

[jimi]

So I popped into the brewery yesterday with the family to see how things were looking. Matt & Sharon were very friendly indeed. As expected, at this stage the brewery is not yet fully assembled. I think they hope to have their own brews coming out within a month. Presently they have the Beacon ESB, Red Duck Pale & Flying Horse Dirty Angel on tap.
Mat was kind enough to give me the full tour, and while things were not yet assembled he was obviously quite excited about the 600ltr system he has and can't wait to get it firing. Presently he'd like to open with a Amber, a Kolsch and may be a Porter or Stout and once they've been estabilshed to offer a few different seasonals. The beers they offer ATM, although not their own, are worth calling in for and the menu looks good - my missus loved the cheese cake and my 2 yr old gave the frog in a pond two sticky thumbs up
Anywho, good folk and I'll be sure to call in again anytime I'm in the area to see how things are progressing

oh and I got a bit of a sniff of the local wild hop which I thought was floral, herbal ala Goldings but Mat suggest that they are a more Fuggles like

 

[Bribie G]

Would be worth getting a rhizome I reckon.
There are no wild hops in Australia, just ferals that escaped, but I bet that hop is very similar to the hops that may have been used in Australian brewing before POR was developed in the 50s - you could probably make a beer that Dave Sullivan would have approved of :icon_cheers:

 

[jimi]

Would be worth getting a rhizome I reckon.
There are no wild hops in Australia, just ferals that escaped, but I bet that hop is very similar to the hops that may have been used in Australian brewing before POR was developed in the 50s - you could probably make a beer that Dave Sullivan would have approved of :icon_cheers:

David sullivan the Ironmaiden guitarist??

another side note to the forrest brewery is that it might be the first / precedent of a brewery setting up in a main street/ center of town (albeit a small town). apparently the licensing for the brewery had to be ansillary to cafe (or something like that) to avoid the avoid the hassel of being classified as a 'industry'. Anyone looking to do the same might find this useful.

 

[Bribie G]

David sullivan the Ironmaiden guitarist??

another side note to the forrest brewery is that it might be the first / precedent of a brewery setting up in a main street/ center of town (albeit a small town). apparently the licensing for the brewery had to be ansillary to cafe (or something like that) to avoid the avoid the hassel of being classified as a 'industry'. Anyone looking to do the same might find this useful.

He doesn't appear on the Iron Maiden current or past members list. Or is it Ironmaiden (trib.) group from Dandenong? :lol:

Stand up the real boring appalling Dave Sullivan "AAhh Grace.... whinge..."



Many a scene shot in the local pub drinking rather amber looking ales from silly little pony glasses etc of the era.

 

[Newbiebrewer]

re: the wild hop, possibly a native bittering herb?

 

[///]

He doesn't appear on the Iron Maiden current or past members list. Or is it Ironmaiden (trib.) group from Dandenong? :lol:

Stand up the real boring appalling Dave Sullivan "AAhh Grace.... whinge..."

View attachment 41907

Many a scene shot in the local pub drinking rather amber looking ales from silly little pony glasses etc of the era.

That my sister in laws grandma's front fence right there!

Look forward to their beers ...

Scotty

 

[BrenosBrews]

Anyone know if they are serving any of their own beers yet?

 

[insane_rosenberg]

another side note to the forrest brewery is that it might be the first / precedent of a brewery setting up in a main street/ center of town (albeit a small town).

Coldstream brewery is on the main drag in Coldstream. And White Rabbit in Healesville is pretty central.

 

[billygoat]

Anyone know if they are serving any of their own beers yet?

Stopped in there yesterday and they had their own Pale Ale on tap. Also had an ESB from Beacon and a Pale Ale from Red Duck. Tried the Forrest Brewery Pale Ale, very nice and quite bitter. There was about 10 people drinking and the lady behind the jump said they have been very busy during the holiday period. Very nice place to stop for a beer when coming home from Apollo bay.

 

[HoppingMad]

Oh and I got a bit of a sniff of the local wild hop which I thought was floral, herbal ala Goldings but Mat suggest that they are a more Fuggles like

Thought I'd update as it's relevant to this thread. The Age Epicure article today refers to a 'Wild hop' being used by Otway estate in their once yearly batch. Hop is from fringe areas of Otway ranges and is reported by Otway to be 'Canterbury Goldings' a relative of the East Kent Variety.

Apparently the Otway & Colac region was a major supplier of hops for 'Ballarat Bitter' a beer which had a thin moustached fellow on the label called 'Bertie'.

There you go,

Hopper.

 

[DU99]

a bus load of us went there for lunch..the brewer showed us thru the place..also the food is excellent :beer:

 

[fcmcg]

a bus load of us went there for lunch..the brewer showed us thru the place..also the food is excellent :beer:

Matt the brewer , had a beer on tap that he made with a bucket load of local hops...i didn't mind it at all...
Matt also very kindly showed us his brew house...
Sharon also kindly kept the kitchen open when our bus had to do a detour in Geelong because we couldn't fit under a bridge..
Matt hopes to have his pale ale back on tap , this week..iirc...
As Du99 said , the food was pretty darn good
Cheers
Ferg

 

[jimi]

Called in here on the way back from Apollo Bay Australia day. I didn't get the chance to catch up with Matt and ask him about what has changed on tap, but I left really excited by their beer. First I tried their irish red which has been reduced to a modest 3.2% (I assume for the drivers and mountain bike riding clientelle). Its become more a light brown colour than a red (as if that matters) and the roasty bite has been backed off some. Still lots of flavour and a nice sessional beer or one for the road. Next I had a few sips of their stout which had a lovely chocolate malt and aroma and finished very smoothly - it was actually the wifes beer and I didn't get that much of it - she loved it. The real revelation for me though was the Honey Saison that Sharon sneaked me (it wasn't yet on tap but will be soon). It was a clear straw gold with a beautiful honey and vanilla aroma. Despite fairly luscious flavours of honey, vanilla, bananna and belgian esters it finished clear and dry. It showed little sign of its alcohol strength which I was warned about. I'm guessing it was about a 7-8% but that's just a very loose estimate, it was dangerously more-ish. Anywho I thoroughly recommend the Honey Saison, it was the best beer I've had in a long time!
No affiliation blah, blah - just love it when the locals are kicking goals.