Collingwood can lay claim to being one the country’s best locales when it comes to getting your hands on craft beer. It lies in the middle of a clutch of suburbs well served by quality bars and bottleshops and, increasingly, breweries.
Next year will see even more breweries and brewpubs open in this pocket of Melbourne. They'll join The Mill, the brewery that was occupying founder Mirek Aldridge’s thoughts long before the craft beer scene exploded into life.
After a decade spent homebrewing and working out what shape his brewery would take, early in the 2017 he opened The Mill Brewery in an old mechanics space just off Smith Street.
The Mill Brewery
Why do you brew?
To provide tasty beers for others to enjoy. The idea of brewing beers is very humbling, and something I’m lucky to be doing.
What beers have you released to date?
Jack D-Licious Golden Ale, Mostly American Pale Ale, Tropicool Pale Ale, The Dark Lord Black IPA, The Great Russian Imperial Stout (Standard + Barrel Aged), Vanilla Porter, Oktobellfest Marzen, Imperial Guard IIPA, Pineapple Haze IPA, Export Stout (Tallboy & Moose Collab), Triple IPA (The Winston Collab).
Of those, what’s your personal favourite?
Pineapple Haze.
What’s the inspiration behind the brewery name?
The Mill Brewery was named after the grain mill – specifically my old hand-cranked corona grain mill – an integral piece of equipment for all breweries. The malted barley needs to be crushed with a grain mill before mashing to allow the grain starches to be converted into fermentable sugars. It seemed like an appropriate name, and I was very surprised to find it not being taken already!
Was there a beer or a moment that set you on the path to becoming a brewer?
Sitting at Little Creatures brewery in Fremantle, I think in 2007, sipping on their Pale Ale. My brother and I were enjoying the atmosphere and discussing how awesome it would be to one day open a brewery of our own.
If your brewery was a band, who would it be?
What would your desert island beer be?
Fixation Squish.
Where do you hope your brewery will be ten years from now?
I hope to see our current location thriving and still providing an awesome place for people to come and continue enjoying delicious craft beer, with a production facility opened slightly further out of Melbourne.
What beers are in your fridge right now?
Fixation Squish.
Where can people find your beers?
At the brewery, and a few local craft beer bars occasionally for special releases.
The Mill is at 40 Sackville Street, Collingwood.
You can check out past Who Brews features here. And if you run, or know of, a brewery we should be featuring here, get in touch.
Will Ziebell is a history graduate who knows more about The Wire than he does about beer. He was awarded the AIBA Best Media trophy for 2018; HBO have told him to please send his fan mail elsewhere. He can be found on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
The beer(s) or moment(s) that turned you on to good beer:
Spending time living in the UK (and backpacking across Europe) when I was 21 certainly gave me a better understanding of the beer and different styles of the world. But I'd say it was a holiday to the High Country a little while later when lunch and a tasting paddle at Bridge Road Brewers created an obsession with Australian breweries and locally made beer.
You've got three beers to turn someone else on to good beer; what are they and why?
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Boatrocker's Miss Pinky: It's a raspberry-packed Berliner Weisse that neither looks or tastes the way many people conceive of beer.
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Bad Shepherd Hazelnut Brown: A luscious mix of chocolate and hazelnut that can appeal to the sweet tooth within us all.
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Stone & Wood Pacific Ale: As the father of my oldest friend once said to me: "It's the perfect refreshing pint that smells like they've loaded it with the God's herb."
The last beer you enjoyed:
Garage Project's DFA while sitting at the bar at Miss Moses as the sounds of The Rolling Stone drifting in the background.
Three things that represent you:
- Bruce Springsteen
- Ken Burns
- The State Library of Victoria
