Blasta Brewing Co

The journey from a FIFO homebrewer to opening Blasta Brewing has been one of incredible speed and grace, not unlike the brewery’s unicorn logo – but more on that later.

It appears that owner/brewer Steven Russell doesn’t mind a challenge and, following some initial brewing success - best packaged IPA at the Perth Beer Awards 2017 for MyWay IPA is one of many his accolades to date - the thought of scaling up his beer aspirations in 2016 took flight in a light industrial section of Burswood, WA.

Steven had lived in the suburb since arriving from Scotland in 2007. It’s this heritage that informed the brewery’s name – it’s Gaelic for delicious – and the unicorn logo, inspired by Scotland’s national animal. It’s geometric rendering echoes his engineering career, not that many under the age of eight are going to be too concerned with that.

Officially opening in early 2018, Blasta’s vision was for a brewery that’s a community hub, serving coffee and breakfast early then lunch before moving on to the harder stuff. However, its proximity to the Perth Stadium has certainly delivered fans beyond the local neighbourhood – a one-minute train ride will do that for a brewery.

At the same time, it’s the local spirit that’s seen Blasta give back to its community through charity work with local schools, the Victoria Park Council charity, the Cancer Council and Youth Focus, a mental health support for young people that shares Goodwood Parade with the brewery.

Inside the expansive brewery, a rotating lineup of beers flow from the 20 hectolitre system, initially including Blastaweizen, the Tangerine Dreams citrus Hefeweizen, the Mosaic hop driven Grimster Rocks APA, Chainbreaker IPA and MyWay Grapefruit IPA, but since home to all manner of heavily-hopped IPAs and fruit beers. These are delivered in globally sourced, Blasta Certified Pint glasses: a 650ml serve, as well as pressurised growlers to make sharing with the table a more enjoyable experience. Joining them is always a guest beer, usually showcasing another WA brewery.

Over the years, they've proven that early trophy for MyWay was no fluke, with the Blasta team making their way onstage at the Perth Royal Beer Awards year after year, claiming Champion Brewery titles and, in 2020 and 2021, back-to-back Champion Beers too.

Blasta’s supporters also get to take a hand in new product development. Each Tuesday, ten random punters are selected from Facebook and Instagram to try out test batches of new beers in a special tasting room. As these beers evolve, the punters are invited back to contribute more feedback before the test batch is scaled up into production. The staff know their stuff too, going through Cicerone trained server training and managers participating in the Certified Cicerone program.

While the café keeps things intimate, once inside, the cavernous 350 capacity space opens to long rows of shared tables below circular chandeliers. These are surrounded by booths, the bar area and the brewery itself.

Outside, a 230 square metre alfresco area provides ample additional room to drink, or spill one over yourself [Thanks for reminding me – Editor], and a kids' sandpit that’s frequently full, while live music every Sunday and Friday night over Summer, keep the vibes rolling.

Food wise, the Blasta café and kitchen operate from 7am, with service building towards the full lunchtime menu. Small share items include Haggis Spring Rolls (of course!), pizzas and larger classics to sate the masses on game days, while the grill offers much for the carnivorous.

Interestingly, the brewery’s home of Burswood was once known as Burrswood. The omission of the second "r" was apparently a signage mistake by a couple of 1890s painters at a local train station that stuck. Playing off this, Blasta released its “Where the Helles is Burrswood?” Helles Lager and features the story as part of the wall artwork inside the venue. This connection to place is a telling mark of owner Steve Russell’s years spent living in, and affection for, the area.

Guy Southern

Name
Blasta Brewing Co
Address

84-88 Goodwood Parade
Burswood
WA 6100

Phone
(08) 6102 4130
Open Hours

Seven days: 7am to midnight

Tours

By Appointment


This is a directory listing. To find out more, head here

Blasta Brewing Co Regulars

Blasta Brewing Rampant Raspberry

Published November 17, 2019
What began as a beer for GABS 2019 has returned plumper than ever. It’s no secret Blasta’s owner Steve Russell has an affinity for fruited beer but this takes things to a new level. Four fruit additions were made throughout Rampant Raspberry’s creation and it shows. The gloriously hot pink beer leads with raspberry, masses of it, before being joined by passionfruit and suggestions of cranberry from the hibiscus addition. Although brightly acetic, there’s a whipped fruit smoothie creaminess… Read more
Style
Fruited Kettle Sour Wild Ale
ABV
4.7%

Blasta Unleash The Beast NEIPA

Published August 17, 2018
The first limited release from Blasta Brewing took a dive straight into the murky world of NEIPAs. Informed by a trip Steven Russell took to the UK shortly before brew day, Unleash the Beast was, at the time, the largest beer to date from the Burswood brewery, one that ably delivers the tropical breakfast juice vibe that drinkers have come to expect from the style. The name refers to the expansive ingredients for style – three yeasts, five grains and four hops – as well as the massive aroma… Read more
Style
NEIPA
ABV
7.4%

Blasta Where The Helles Burrswood?

Riffing on a 1890s train station typo for its name, Where the “Helles” Burrswood showcases the traditional hallmarks of the lager style. Premium German malt and noble hops are melded to create light cereal characters and a pale straw colour in a beer that’s cold conditioned during its two month turnaround. Bitterness is soft and the overall appeal is of well made, slightly sweet but uncomplicated refreshment that’s perfect for game day.… Read more
Style
Munich Helles
ABV
4.7%
Bitterness
13 IBU

Blasta Blastaweizen

The Reinheitsgebot is alive and in the inner east Perth... Using more than 50 percent wheat malt and a strain of yeast from Bavarian wheat beer meisters Weihenstephan, Blasta has carefully crafted an easy-drinking Hefe that stands proudly in the oversized, Blasta Certified Pint glasses. Classic notes of banana and clove abound with some light spice, a flash of lemon, restrained malt character and low bitterness in this respectful take on one of the world’s classic beer styles.… Read more
Style
Hefeweizen
ABV
5.3%
Bitterness
11 IBU

Blasta Grimster Rocks Pale Ale

One of the Blasta’s best selling beers, Grimster Rocks delivers everything that you’d expect from a Mosaic focused pale – masses of stone fruit and tropical aromas – particularly passionfruit - that are supported by potent grapefruit and candied orange flavours, balanced by some sweet caramel malts, before wrapping up with a reasonably biting bitterness. The 5.4 percent ABV and 35 IBUs of bitterness make Grimster Rocks more of a serious contender without losing sessionablity, albeit one… Read more
Style
American Pale Ale
ABV
5.4%
Bitterness
35 IBU
Awards

Champion Pale – Perth Royal Beer Awards 2018

Blasta Chainbreaker IPA

It might not be the biggest IPA by contemporary standards, but it's a fair step up in punch from Blasta's pale, with Chainbreaker a beer that makes its bitterness felt. The sweet malt body provides a light platform for the double dry hopping of Citra, Simcoe and Amarillo hops to work their magic. Tropical and citrus hops sit atop a subtle piney base and the near 6 percent ABV adds weight but remains at a responsible level in keeping with Blasta’s mandate of well made, drinkable beers. In short,… Read more
Style
American IPA
ABV
5.9%
Bitterness
45 IBU

Blasta Myway Grapefruit IPA

Perhaps Blasta’s most recognisable beer outside of the brewery and the beer that cemented Steven Russell on a path to opening his brewery, Myway IPA could almost be viewed as a statement of intent. The American style IPA is infused with ruby grapefruit and blood orange sourced from Chittering in the Perth Hills and ably delivers a punchy citrus hit atop caramel malts that leave some sweetness beneath the bitter finish. The citrus additions almost make Myway cost prohibitive – there’s 400 kilograms… Read more
Style
Grapefruit IPA
ABV
5.9%
Bitterness
45 IBU

Blasta Brewing Co Specials

Blasta Brewing Over The Way NZ IPA

Published November 24, 2022
Over the second half of 2022, Blasta have dabbled within the world of NZ IPAs, but this wider canned release is where they really showcase their affection for the style. And, in a move that will be pleasing to many, they’ve done so with a beer that sits at a sessionable level, even though Over The Way drinks bigger than its 5.4 percent ABV station, such is the expressive influence of Nectaron and Motueka hops. A heady nose of pineapple, orange oil and green papaya peel leads with hint of custard… Read more
Style
NZ IPA
ABV
5.4%

Blasta Brewing Black Swan Spontan Kriek

Published August 4, 2022
Black Swan Spontan Kriek 2021 marks the beginning of Blasta’s wild cultured beer releases, and for a brewery built on energy and pace, this has been an exercise in patience. Just over two years ago, the program began with a number of barrel-aged lambic-style Belgian ales, some of which were later blended with a portion of wort which had rested overnight in the Upper Swan Valley – collecting local yeast and bacteria in the process – as the base for this inaugural release. Pleased with the progress,… Read more
Style
Spontan Kriek
ABV
7.2%
Stockists

Available from the brewery.

Blasta Brewing 4th Birthday QIPA

Published March 11, 2022
Birthdays are often permission to indulge in a little excess, and much seems to have been granted for Blasta’s fourth. For starters, this quad IPA is the biggest beer the Burswood team have ever made, contains one the largest hop additions ever over four charges to boot, and utilised dip-hopping for good measure. And that was all before invites were sent out! The resulting liquid enthusiasm is undeniably huge, yet somehow balanced in its excess. Its late season summer fruit bowl shows off guava,… Read more
Style
Quadruple IPA
ABV
11.4%
Stockists

Available from the brewery

Blasta's web store

And Blasta stockists nationwide

More stockists...

Rocky Ridge's February Fivesome

Published March 1, 2022
If we judged our breweries on the number of different styles they brewed, Rocky Ridge would be one of those dominating the Australian craft scene. We tend to judge breweries on their quality, however, and that’s an area Rocky Ridge also happen to thrive in, with their consistency as noteworthy as their lengthy and diverse tap lists. In February 2022, five new beers dropped for punters, each as thirst-inducing as the next. To start with, an internal battle has been brewing between taphouse legends… Read more
Style
Various Styles As Indicated
ABV
As indicated

Blasta Brewing Raspcherry Cheesecake

Published January 16, 2022
“I just wanted to make something different. I’d seen these kinds of beers in the US, and we’ve done marshmallow before, so why not cheesecake?” A perfectly rational response from Blasta’s Steve Russell when asked about the genesis the Burswood brewery’s first release of 2022. You see, while many in the cavernous beer hall were quaffing Blasta’s Helles over Christmas, Steve was finishing this pastry sour with 50 kilograms of pie crust, otherwise known in internet acronym land as SDPC,… Read more
Style
Pastry Sour
ABV
6.0%
Stockists

Available from the brewery

And Blasta stockists

Cake forks optional

More stockists...

Blasta Brewing White Jeans & Blue Jeans & Poppa Don't Peach

Published September 28, 2021
Blasta’s new, on trend yet disparate IPAs deliver of the moment enjoyment, despite the fact there’s no style guide for one of them, as owner Steve Russel explains, in a very tongue in cheek manner. “There is no Crisp IPA style, so we have made our own," he says. "So, the direction is on point along with the ‘style' as we nailed our own brief.” Which has been done with a crisply classic fashion sense. White Shirt & Blue Jeans cold IPA offers tropical dankness, lime blossom… Read more
Style
Cold IPA & Hazy IPA
ABV
5.4% & 6.0%
Stockists

Available from the brewery

And Blasta stockists nationally

Blasta Brewing First Port Of Call

Published May 14, 2021
Being the closest brewery venue to Perth airport, Blasta may well be the first port of call for many travellers; however, back in 1829, the area was the last stop for Henry Camfield. The English gentleman settled on the Swan River peninsula, naming it after one of his estates, Burr’s Wood, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent – with Burrswood a moniker Blasta have used previously for their Helles . Whether Camfield was a stout fan remains a mystery, but there's no doubt about Blasta owner Steve Russell’s… Read more
Style
Imperial Stout
ABV
7.0%
Stockists

Available from the brewery

And Blasta stockists

DTC & Friends Dankfest 2021 Quartet

Published April 3, 2021
Ever wanted to have a party with some mates and celebrate the good old days, but want it to be as fresh as it probably wasn’t then? So do The DTC crew, who've been celebrating all things dank in beer via four collabs created for their Dankfest 2021 weekender: each was conceived by a pair of hop-focused brewers – one East Coast, one West. All Shook Up is a double grapefruit IPA that's an amplified meld of classics from two breweries of Scottish origin, with the internationals from BrewDog lending… Read more
Style
Various IPAs
ABV
9.0% & 8.5% & 7.0% & 7.0%
Stockists

Available from The DTC and online

Bad Shepherd Poseidon 2021 & Flower Power ft Blasta

Published March 22, 2021
It's fair to say there's not a huge amount in common between Bad Shepherd's twin March releases. One is a double digit imperial IPA, the other a lower ABV beer featuring native flowers. One comes in a big can (the bigger beer, naturally), the other a normal sized one. One is a returning past special, the other a new collab with a WA brewer. Actually, maybe they do share one thing in common: both pack a punch, just in very different ways. Poseidon is the IIIPA that slots in above their Almighty IIPA,… Read more
Style
IIIPA & Spiced Session Ale
ABV
10.0% & 3.3%
Bitterness
74 & 23 IBU

Blasta Brewing The Beast Unleashed

Published February 11, 2021
Blasta’s Beast series has appeared in hazy form for the past two years, and with The Beast Unleashed the Burswood brewery have set free a beer featuring the most hops that they have ever used in a beer (and they haven't held back in the past). But in no way is this excessive on the tongue. In fact, this beast – for all of the brutish evocations – arrives with such a joyous orange, it’s hard not to smile at the glass. The vivid liquid is plush with mango and pan-tropical fruit punch, which… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
7.1%

Blasta Brewing Sour Mama Pepa

Published November 24, 2020
Besides the name, and we’ll get to that in a moment, the first thing that hits here is the colour. Even the ephemeral head radiates lurid fruit pulp – there’s none of your typical "crested with a crisp white head" malarkey going on here. No, this is fruity. Really fruity. And that's from the brewery that's turned heads and impressed beer judges with a quad-fruited beer called Rampant Raspberry. MAngo, hand-peeled PEach, and PAssionfruit in fact – the name now makes a little more… Read more
Style
Fruit Cream Sour
ABV
5.1%

Blasta Brewing Unbridled Unicorn Double IPA

Published June 29, 2020
Unbridled Unicorn picks up from Blasta’s 2020 release List.Loud.React, a massive yet nimble double West Coast IPA brewed with Stone Brewing for a Metallica tour that never transpired. This time around it drips with the hype hop of 2020, Strata. The liquid blessing – that’s the collective term for unicorns, you’re welcome – is also flush with Citra, making this a very modern expression of such a beer, and something which hints at the decline in ubiquity of the American hop industry's classic… Read more
Style
Double IPA
ABV
8.8%

Blasta Brewing Big Brekkie Of Champs

Published May 28, 2020
Blasta’s Steve Russell has been refining Big Brekkie Of Champs over the last few years. And by refining we mean finding more adjuncts to add to this winter release. On the lighter side of imperial, but still at a weighty 7.3 percent ABV, Big Brekkie Of Champs now weaves six different specialty malts, coffee, organic maple syrup, cacao nibs and vanilla into an opulent kickstart to the day – if that’s your thing, of course. Mostly likely, it's a nightcap for everyone else – we’re not judging,… Read more
Style
Imperial Coffee Stout
ABV
7.3%
Stockists

Available from the brewery and Blasta stockists nationally

Blasta Brewing Exploratory Oat Cream Beast

Published May 15, 2020
To say 2020 has been crazy is an understatement, but to say that oat cream IPAs are shaping up to be this year’s hype style du jour is not. Like the mutant lovechild of pastry stouts and NEIPAs, they're well placed for equal amounts of adoration and cynicism, much like any too cool Hollywood hook-up’s progeny before the salivating tabloid paps and real world derision. And, yet, it’s impossible to look away! Whatever your stance, there is a lot to like here, albeit you'll want a sweet tooth.… Read more
Style
DDH Oat Cream IPA
ABV
6.5%
Stockists

Available from the brewery

And in very limited quantities from select Blasta stockists

Blasta Brewing Ya Wee Blasta Wee Heavy

Published April 29, 2020
Steve Russell’s relentless pursuit of ideas seems to favour him, as if guided by his brewery's unicorn talisman. Here, while wanting to make a wee heavy – a strong and malt rich beer – the idea of incorporating traditional Scottish ingredients, including some from his hometown, was too good an opportunity to pass up, even if that meant overcoming a fair few challenges to get hold of Scottish heather honey and ex-whisky staves from the Highland distillery that was his local before emigrating.… Read more
Style
Oak-Aged Wee Heavy with Heather Honey
ABV
8.8%
Stockists

Available from the brewery

WA and national stockists to follow

Blasta Brewing Grimster Double G

Published March 1, 2020
It’s hard to believe Blasta will be two years old on March 1. Given the massive progress and influence on the WA scene, plus national distribution, it feels as though the Burswood crew have been around far longer. A mere three years ago, owner Steve Russell was homebrewing in his kitchen; since then Blasta have tripled in capacity, opened one of WA’s largest beer venues and collaborated with an icon from the US beer scene for List.Loud.React, a beer that made our Best New WA Beers Top 5 for… Read more
Style
IPA
ABV
7.3%
Stockists

Launching at 5pm on March 1 at Blasta's birthday bash, featuring food and beverage specials and a seven-piece band

Cans to follow

Blasta Brewing Cherry Bomb Blasta

Published January 5, 2020
By this stage in the brewery’s young life, it should be apparent to regular Blasta drinkers that the owners, the Russells, like fruit. Even while sampling this new number, I had to double check the glass as a new batch of Rampant Raspberry sour had been placed next to it, making the pair virtually visually indistinguishable. For this outing, the inspiration was Kate Russell’s love of kriek, so Morello cherries were sourced from Hungary and Belgium, with the final 50 kilograms hand puréed in… Read more
Style
Cherry Sour
ABV
4.5%
Stockists

Available from the brewery and Blasta stockists nationally

Blasta & Stone LIST.LOUD.REACT.

Published October 17, 2019
Collaborating with one of the largest and most influential craft brewers in the USA was not something Blasta owner Steve Russell ever thought he’d be doing while homebrewing in his kitchen just three years ago. In a similar sense, it’s doubtful Stone co-founder/owner Greg Koch ever expected to be on tour with one of the world’s best-selling bands, Metallica, when he and Steve Wagner started telling drinkers that they weren’t worthy in 1996. Although the 2019 Metallica tour has been cancelled,… Read more
Style
Double IPA
ABV
8.488%
Stockists

Launching at the brewery on Oct 18

Blasta & Rocky Ridge Incan Saison

Published September 11, 2019
Flipping the usual collaborative process for Rocky Ridge, the team at Blasta invited the Busselton brewers north to create a little beer magic in Burswood. Adding to the intrigue, the duo used an exotic Marañón Canyon wild cacao yeast to kick off fermentation before finishing with a comparatively straightforward Belgian saison yeast. The backstory of the former yeast from White Labs is quite incredible; it’s derived from the Northern Peruvian white cacao bean, until recently thought to be extinct,… Read more
Style
Berry Saison
ABV
5.0%

Blasta Brewing Son Of A Beast NEIPA

Published August 15, 2019
The second in the Blasta Brewing Beast series effortlessly delivers what many NEIPA releases fail to achieve – texture. Son of the Beast ‘s smooth, full length supports the Galaxy-driven, tropical breakfast juice that’s synonymous with the style but with a creaminess that never feels contrived or adjunct derived. Perhaps it helps to be receiving regular Treehouse packages at the brewery as well as enjoying frequent trips to the UK to sip on Cloudwater, Verdant and the like... Whatever the… Read more
Style
NEIPA
ABV
6.5%
Stockists

Available from the brewery, draught and for takeaway purchase, plus Blasta stockists nationally

Blasta Brewing MyWay Amplified

Published March 6, 2019
MyWay IPA has become something of a flagship for Blasta, a grapefruit IPA that helped put the Perth brewery on the map. So, when they celebrated their first birthday, head brewer Steve decided to take the beer to the next level by giving it more of everything: more hops, more malt, more ruby grapefruit, more blood orange and more booze. The original MyWay weighed in at 5.9 percent ABV and 45 IBU; big brother comes in at 6.7 and 53 respectively. It's easy to see why MyWay (original and Amplified)… Read more
Style
Grapefruit DIPA
ABV
6.7%
Bitterness
53 IBU

Blasta Brewing I Am The 1

Published March 6, 2019
For their first birthday celebrations, Blasta have launched a new beer, with owner Steve Russell deciding to make it a special beer. Aptly named I Am The 1, it features more than 300kg of raspberries and the same amount of passionfruit, with the result a vibrant and very distinct bright red colour. Calling in shortly after it was tapped, sitting in the courtyard at the brewpub in Burswood, I looked around to find most people with a glass of this bright red liquid in their hands – how times have… Read more
Style
Fruit Sour
ABV
3.8%

Blasta Brewing Cat's Whiskers

Published February 8, 2019
First up, we should probably express our gratitude that Steve Russell didn't opt for the canine slang equivalent when coming up with a name for this beer; the cat's whiskers is a far better image to have in mind when bring a beer to your lips... For Blasta, the name is a reference to the smug cat who got the cream – or lactose addition in this case – something that’s digitally rendered on the can as the brewery's tinnie lineup expands. Originally released in support of the 2018 strawberry tampering… Read more
Style
Fruit Cream Pale Ale
ABV
4.8%
Stockists

Following Blasta signing with Northdown, expect to see the brewery's beers appearing across Australia.

Blasta Tangerine Dreams

When you’ve got a classic wheat beer pouring, the temptation would be leave it alone. Not Blasta. The addition of fresh tangerine juice and peel to the Blastaweizen has created some entirely new with, perhaps, even broader appeal to new beer drinkers. Banana, clove and spice from the original are evident however this is more than a case of adding a slice of citrus to the beer; here, there's a cocktail like citrus intensity, accentuated stonefruit characters and a greater perceived bitterness,… Read more
Style
Fruit Hefeweizen
ABV
5.3%
Bitterness
11 IBU