This is Ben.
Ben likes craft beer.
Ben wants to show you all of the craft beer in Melbourne.
This is the story of how on one cold but sunny Melbourne day I found myself boarding a mini bus on a Ben’s Brew Tour. I was given a beer tasting glass and accompanied by eight other craft-beer enthusiasts, we were ready for a day of taste testing on the on the Northern Stars tour.
First stop: Hawkers – the craft beer from Lebanon
On the way there, Ben tells us about Hawkers’ Lebanese origins. Former investment banker and airline CEO, Mazen Haijar, literally taught himself to brew in a quest to find a decent beer in Lebanon. He then met Melbourne chef, Joseph Abboud who he teamed up with to sell the beer in Australia.
All this brewing was happening against the backdrop of the Lebanon war, when Mazen realised the conflict may one day cause the brewery to stop production. So in 2006, he decided to move his family to Melbourne where Hawkers Beer has been operating ever since. The name Hawkers is a reference to the time Mazen and Joseph spent on the road visiting restaurant owners selling their first craft beer, like Hawkers from a bygone era.
On arrival, we meet John, head brewer and self-confessed beer-geek. We get out our glasses to taste test the Hawkers Pilsner, and the tour slash beer science lesson begins.
As you tour Hawkers, Ben will pour you quite a few different beers. From pale ales and pilsner to IPAs and a saison. Brewed at 30 degrees, the saison was quite sweet, but also my pick of the Hawker’s beers.
Hawker’s brewery is one of the most high-tech breweries in the southern hemisphere and John proudly talks about the shiny new equipment. The vats are from Germany, the barrels imported from France, the bottling machine is from Hell and jams regularly; but they are getting a new one very soon, possibly from Germany.
The servings of each beer are generous and I’m already starting to feel a little bit tipsy, luckily a food stop is next.
Second stop: Beer and burgers at The Terminus Hotel
Lunch is included on the tour and also comes with the opportunity to create your own tasting paddle.
What I really fell in love with at the Terminus was the Haloumi burger with pickle relish. I’ve been told the wagyu burger is one of Melbourne’s best burgers but even if you’re not a vegetarian, I’m going to call it, the Haloumi burger is still where it’s at.
Behind the beer – the origins of Ben’s Brew Tours
Ben is a high-school teacher during the week and has been running Ben’s Brew tours on the weekends for almost a year. I ask him why he wanted to start up a craft beer tour and he tells me the inspiration was because he always wanted to be a tour guide.
“I lived in London for quite a few years and I always enjoyed having friends and family come to visit and showing them the sights, says Ben.
Originally from New Zealand, Ben and his wife Natasha, moved from London to Melbourne, when they decided to start their new business venture.
“I enjoy craft beer from all over the world and the craft beer scene in Melbourne is thriving. People want to know more but there is no real way to see these breweries in the same way you can take a tour of the major Melbourne breweries; so I decided to start running my own tours”.
Over lunch he talks about his experiences networking with brewers in Melbourne. The tour is professional and runs smoothly so it’s hard to imagine a lot of road blocks; but in some cases he faced a flat out no from brewers.
Sometimes he just needed to be in the right place at the right time. The owner of the 3 Ravens once shut him down, stating he’d had people pretending to be tour guides to sample beer and see the brewery for free; however a chance meeting in the men’s room at a beer festival a few weeks later made him a contact that helped the owner change his mind.
Which brings us to the next stop.
The man cave turned brewery bar – The 3 Ravens Brewery
Take a brewery and an old garage, and you’ve got the beginnings of the 3 Ravens. Located in an area surrounded by mechanics and panel beaters workshops, the 3 Ravens brewers were known for using their garage as a space for local workers to have after-work drinks.
In April they opened the garage to the general public and turned it into a bar. Not forgetting their roots, the place has a grungy workshop feel with tables made from old beer pallets. It looks part man cave, part garage, and part the type of bar I imagine to be hidden in somewhere in America’s deep south.
The man-cave theme appears again when we sample the 3 Ravens Imperial Stout which has been described as bacon in a beer, and well yes, it does taste a bit like bacon.
Ever wonder what hops look like? 3 Ravens will show you this as well as let you sample freshly brewed beer straight from the tank.
The brewery next to a brothel – Moon Dog Brewery
Like Hawkers, the Moon Dog Brewery was born out of a desire to make better beer. However if Hawkers are the high-tech wizards of the craft beer world, then Moon Dog have earned the title of the craft beer renegades.
We meet Mattias who describes Moon Dog as an experimental brewery. He pours us all glasses of watermelon beer while openly telling stories about cutting up different fruits and peeling redskin lollies to make new beer flavours.
Creativity is a job requirement as Moon Dog brewers must come up with three new ideas during a bottling shift. Giving their beer creative names like Billy Ray Citrus, Melon Gibson, What’s up Doc (carrot and vanilla), and Chilli Vanilli (chilli chocolate). This makes me wonder if the practice of buying a cocktail on the basis of it having a really cool name transcends to beer drinkers as well.
Right now you’re probably wondering how watermelon and redskin flavoured beer doesn’t taste disgusting and who on earth would drink it. Well the redskin beer was so popular that Moon Dog get frequent emails asking when the small batch beer will be made again. To make this flavour, the brewers literally have to unwrap the redskin lollies and at the time I took the tour, they didn’t have the man-power to keep up with demand. The watermelon beer we tried had a light flavour, and was not nearly as heavy or sweet as the fruit beers you’ll find in Belgium. Plus it has real watermelon in it, so you’re getting your fruit intake too. That’s how it works right?
Similar to the 3 Ravens, Moon Dog operates as a bar and a brewery, just in a slightly more chaotic fashion. Quirkiness rules with a chandelier hanging over a brewing tank and a bookcase hides a secret passage to the main brewery. The stories where things went wrong are always more interesting than what went right at the Moon Dog Brewery.
The tour ends up at Foresters Hall in Collingwood at around 6pm which is perfect timing to have one of their wood fired pizzas for dinner. There is also more beer on tap if you feel like drinking more and a ping-pong table. Just be careful not to drop the ball, it has a tendency to disappear into the downstairs cool room.
Want to drink beer with Ben?
Visit the Ben’s Brew Tours website to make a booking. The tour I took was the Northern Stars tour but you can also choose between the Southern Stars tour, Brew to Bottle, or drink all the craft beer you can handle on the no 86 tram line tour.