Burnley Brewing

Brewer

Name
Burnley Brewing
Address

648 Bridge Road
Richmond
VIC 3121

Phone
(03) 9429 3042
Open Hours

Midday to late

Regular events

To book a function at Burnley, please email bookings@burnleybrewing.com.au

There might be a lot of breweries in Melbourne but there are still ways to stand out. One way is to brew beers that are a little more traditionally-minded than most modern lineups, or you can throw a tonne of hops and adjuncts at beers and spend your time on new ingredients and styles. Alternatively, you focus on the food element of a brewpub as much as you do the beer and give locals a place they want to keep returning to.

In the case of Burnley Brewing, which launched in 2017, they’ve largely made a name for doing all three of those things at once. Launched by a group of mates from both the beer and wider hospitality worlds, Burnley Brewing took over a space that previously housed the Italian restaurant Romulus & Remus on the easterly edge of Bridge Road, where nobody is sure if it’s part of Richmond or its own suburb.

In doing so, they added an extra dimension to Bridge Road’s good beer scene, while also bringing a new kind of brewery to Melbourne. In part, that was thanks to the brewery retaining some of what made the restaurant so appealing: the booths that had long been filled with families sharing antipasti remained a place for sharing, although now it wasn’t just food but tasting paddles being passed around; the space’s light shades remained, complemented by the north-facing windows that bring natural light flooding in and keep the brewery’s pastel logo shining bright.

Unsurprisingly, considering the new brewery’s former inhabitant, Burnley’s focus has been as much on good food as it has been on the beer pouring through the taps. With Romulus & Remus’ staff retained, the brewpub inherited a wealth of hospitality experience along with a menu based around house-made pastas and pizza. To that has been added more traditional pub fare – burgers, steaks and the kind of snacks that go hand in hand with beer.

But, of course, at its heart, it’s now a brewery; so bringing this all together is the beer – 14 taps of the stuff. They’re the work of brewer Michael Stanzel, a Melburnian who spent years learning to brew (and malt barley) in Germany before returning home. Indeed, his background as a brewer is a winning combination for an inner city Melbourne brewery: he’s just as comfortable brewing a Reinheitsgebot compliant lager as he is throwing fruit into a stout.

Burnley, however, is very much a family affair with Michael’s wife Chloe Hoiberg heading up sales and the pair of them eventually moving from being employees to having a stake in the brewery. Their beloved dog, Harry, is a key part of understanding the brewery too, with the Vizla casting a large shadow across the brewery and inspiring many beers born in his honour.

For the first few months of the brewery’s life, the beers were contract brewed as the Burnley crew waited for not one, but two brewhouses to arrive. The first of those to be installed was the brewery’s Dandenong South production site, while the second now sits in one corner of their Bridge Road home.

The production brewery focuses on the beers destined for wider release, while also serving as something of an incubator for brewing companies seeking a space to brew from. Meanwhile, the smaller, 500-litre brewery is in a state of constant flux, with the brewing team using it to experiment and create new beers with their own staff and other beer businesses. When ready, the majority travel directly from bright tank to your glass.

Whether it’s thanks to the tanks that line the front windows, or the bar that wraps around the brewhouse, or even the staff’s willingness to recommend their favourite beer and food combination, there’s no doubt you’re in a brewery. It’s just one that combines German-conceived lagers, heavily fruited sours and a food offering a little more refined than most.

Will Ziebell

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Stories featuring Burnley Brewing

Core Range

Burnley Brewing Middy
Midstrength Ale
3.5%
Burnley Brewing Zero Alc Lager & Radler
Alcohol-free beers
0.5%
Burnley Brewing Helles
Munich Lager
4.5%
Burnley Brewing Lager
Vienna Lager
5.6%
Burnley Brewing Pale Ale
Pale Ale
5.1%

Limited Releases

Burnley Brewing Eco Project Gin Botanical Sour
Gin Sour
4.5%
Burnley Brewing X Jarrah Boy Njarala
Native Botanical Lager
4.0%
Burnley Brewing New Flex & Double Dry Hopped Pale Ale
West Coast IPA & DDH Pale
6.0% & 4.6%
Burnley Brewing & Friends Zusammenarbeiten
Various
Varoius
Burnley Brewing x Bracket Forbidden Love & Missed Flight (with Seeker)
Radler & Vienna Lager
3.2% & 5.4%
Burnley Brewing x Duckpond x Pours Clover Club
Cocktail Sour
6.0%
Burnley Brewing Italian Pilsner
Italian Pilsner
4.2%
Burnley Brewing NEIPA Rainbow & Mandarin Gose
NEIPA & Mandarin Gose
6.8% & 4.2%
Burnley Brewing Freundschaftsbezeugung
Various Styles As Indicated
Various ABVs as indicated
Burnley Brewing x Mr West x Collective Arts Remix Chocolate Malt Milkshake Double Stout
Nitro Chocolate Double Stout
8.5%
Burnley Brewing Bohemian Pilsner & Smoked Lager
Bohemian Pilsner & Smoked Lager
4.8% & 5.1%
Burnley Brewing Piggy Dippin'
Hoppy Lager
5.0%
Burnley Brewing White IPA
White IPA
5.8%
Burnley Brewing West Coast Lager & Pineapple Gose
West Coast Lager & Pineapple Gose
5.2% & 4.2%
Burnley Brewing Dingo X Burnley & Cold IPA
Mexican Lager & Cold IPA
4.5% & 7.0%
Burnley Brewing Kellerbier & Double Fruited Mango Ale
Kellerbier & Fruited Ale
Both 5.0%
Burnley Brewing Zusammengehörigkeitsgefühl Part Two
Various - but all brewed to the Reinheitsgebot
Various
Burnley Brewing Zusammengehörigkeitsgefühl Part One
Various
Various
Burnley Brewing Brut IPA
Brut IPA
6.4%
Burnley Brewing Get Lost
New Zealand IPA
6.0%
Burnley Brewing Strawberry Witbier & Dunkles
Strawberry Witbier & Dunkle
5.0% & 5.2%
Burnley Brewing Oyster Stout
Oyster Stout
5.5%
Burnley Brewing & Blackhearts & Sparrows Apricot Sour
Apricot Sour
3.8%
Burnley Brewing & Miss Moses & Brunswick Beer Collective Hazelnut Roll-Inspired Double Oat Cream Ale
Double Oat Cream Ale
6.5%
Local Brewing Co & Burnley Brewing Fruits Of Our Labour: Mango Nectar Sour
Mango Sour
3.5%
Burnley Brewing Doppelbock (With Mr West) & Main Character
Doppelbock & Fruited Lager
7.2% & 4.2%
Burnley Brewing & Whitehart Bar Tepache & Raspberry Berliner
Nitro Sour & Berliner Weisse
4.2% & 3.5%
Burnley Brewing & Hops To Home Danker IPA
IPA
7.0%
Burnley Brewing & Good Heavens Tropicana Sour
Sour
3.8%
Burnley Brewing It Is What It Is, Raspberry Sherbet Gelato & Julebryg
Lagers & Berliner Weisse
4.0% & 3.2% & 5.0%
Burnley Watermelon Crush (with Local Brewing Co) & Wit Me Away
Watermelon Hazy & Belgian Witbier
4.8% & 5.4%
Burnley Brewing & Carwyn Cellars Fruitful Discussion
Imperial Berliner Weisse
7.0%
Burnley Brewing Take It Ezaa Mango & Pineapple Lager
Mango Pineapple Lager
5%
Burnley Brewing Radler
Radler
2.4%
Burnley Brewing Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout
Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
9.8%
Local Brewing Co & Burnley Brewing Fruits Of Our Labour: Banana Bread Brown Ale
Banana Bread Brown Ale
5.8%
Burnley Brewing NEIPA Re-Loaded
NEIPA
6.8%
Burnley Brewing Grapefruit IPA
West Coast IPA
6.5%
Burnley Brewing Smoked IPA
Smoked IPA
Burnley Brewing Blackcurrant Gose
Blackcurrant Gose
4.6%
Burnley Brewing Peach Melba NEIPA & Dry Stout
NEIPA & Stout
Burnley Brewing The Flex IPA
West Coast IPA
6.9%
Burnley Brewing x5 Fruits x1 Beer
Fruited Berliner Weisse
4.5%
Burnley Brewing Draught
Kolsch
4.2%
Burnley Brewing NEIPA
NEIPA
6.5%
Burnley & Art vs Science vs Beer
Hazy Pale Ale
4.2%
Burnley Brewing Mandarin Gose
Gose
4.2%
Burnley & Old Wives Ales Kiwi Lemon NEIPA
NEIPA
6.2%
Burnley Brewing & Brunswick Beer Collective The Spring Slice
Pumpkin Pie Brown Ale
5.9%
Burnley Brewing & Mountain Distilling Botanical Sour
Botanical Berliner Weisse
3.5%
Burnley Brewing Summer Ale
Summer Ale
4.1%
Burnley Brewing Pils
Pilsner
4.5%
Burnley Brewing Nitro Coffee Brown
Nitro Coffee Brown Ale
5.3%
Burnley Brewing Kellerbier
Kellerbier
5.1%
Burnley Brewing Coffee Brown Porter
Coffee Porter
5.7%