There’s something delightfully homespun about the Hickinbotham Winery in Dromana. While elsewhere on the Mornington Peninsula you’ll find some of the most extravagant wineries in Australia, here the focus is on delivering the fruits of winemaking knowledge passed down through several generations in a rustic, family-focused environment where, if something looks like it’s been recycled from a former life as something else, the chances are it has. Owners Terryn and Andrew Hickinbotham take a refreshingly organic approach to everything from their winemaking to the construction of their cellar door and, most recently, the brewing of the Hix range of beers.

What began just a few years ago with 32 litre batches of pilsener poured through an old freezer and tap setup has rapidly expanded to the point where the Hix Pale Ale picked up a gold medal at the 2011 Australian International Beer Awards – the first time the brewery had entered any of its beers. Vineyard manager Cameron Turner, a keen homebrewer prior to encouraging the Hickinbothams to complement grape with grain at their cellar door, now brews double batches of a growing range of beers on a unique 600 litre brewhouse to keep up with demand. We say unique as, just as much of the main building is made up of a gym reclaimed from Hampton High School plus parts of the old Melbourne Steamship building, the State Bank of Malvern and the old Hoyts Palace Theatre, in the brewery they’ve made the most of what they have too. You’ll find former shampoo and milk vats among the equipment in use and a mash tun built onto a hydraulic base so that it can be moved by forklift mid-brew then tipped on its side to empty the spent grain.

The permanent beer lineup includes the original Pilsener and medal-winning Pale alongside a Brown Ale and Irish Stout. The first three are available increasingly widely in 500ml bottles that take their look from wine packaging. Meanwhile, at different times of the year you’ll find small batch specials pouring at the cellar door, from German dark lagers to hoppy red ales.

As for the wine side of the business, it boasts a heritage that stretches back to 1936 and has seen various members of the Hickinbotham family start up wineries and make vintages for leading vignerons across South Australia and Victoria. Andrew and Terryn bought their current site in 1988 with the main aim of producing the “Holy Grail” of wines, pinot noir, but also specialise in a wide range of other varietals, including the rarely seen Aligote and Taminga.

They view the winery as a place to socialise as much as a place of work, likening the experience of welcoming visitors into the restaurant to that of having guests into their lounge room. On top of this, you’ll find live music in the restaurant at weekends, outdoor concerts in summer, an annual Oktoberfest for home brewers, and a cheery welcome from the owners all year round.