It wasn't long ago when the outside of Cellarbrations at Carlisle was difficult to distinguish from the many bottleshops which bare the same name across the country. Once the store was surrounded by the familiar Cellarbrations logo and a handful of posters highlighting the latest deals on cartons of lager.
More recently, Cellarbrations Carlisle has had something of a face lift with local artists commissioned to add a splash of colour to the neighbourhood, helping to show the ethos of community which you'll find inside the store.
It's inside where you spy the far wall - a wide expanse lined with pretty much every good beer you can expect to get your hands on in Australia. And then you spot the wicked glint in the staff members' eyes when they sense they have a fellow craft beer lover in their midst...
Dig deeper and you'll find all manner of quality beer curios: old festival posters, extremely rare beers, evidence of past beer adventures. Head into the back room and you enter the realm of Grain Cru – the room that plays home to the Cellarbrations crew's Beer Club, where they host regular beer education nights focusing on the latest and greatest trends in the beer world.
Family run for more than 30 years, a family that goes by the motto: "We carry a little bit of the best of everything", the store began by specialising in fine wines before, in the early boom years of craft beer, becoming one of the most enthusiastic stockists of awesome beer. From Mikkeller to Moon Dog, Bridge Road to Brooklyn, Jester King to Jever and pretty much everything in between, there's more than enough to keep the most avid beer geek satisfied.
Aside from the aforementioned Grain Cru Beer Club, the shop also runs regular free tastings featuring beer, cider, wine, even spirits most Fridays and Saturdays. All that's coupled with a counter-pressured 11-tap system and staff who not only love all good booze but want to help you love it too.
The store has proved a training ground for some of the best known characters in the WA beer scene, some who have gone onto run other venues, some who brew, all of whom have added to the story of one of the most important retailers in the west.
