Two Hobart brewers are coming together under one roof in another sign of collaboration in the indie beer world as T-Bone and Last Rites launch The Beer Shed this weekend.
Carla Bignell, who founded T-Bone alongside husband Tom (pictured above, with Last Rites' Phil Zakaria in the centre), told The Crafty Pint the commercial agreement sees them both making beer at the Huntingfield brewery and splitting the taps at the venue between them while keeping their businesses distinct.
“We’re still our own brands; we’re still T-Bone and Last Rites and do our own beers while being our own breweries,” she says.
“We’re calling it The Beer Shed for locals in Huntingfield, but we both have our own signage up.”
They’ll also continue to operate their original venues: T-Bone’s longstanding home in North Hobart remains open; likewise, Last Rites will continue to brew on their 10-hectolitre system in Cambridge, while opening to the public there once a week as they've done for years.
T-Bone opened their production brewery in 2022, marking a significant step up from their North Hobart brewhouse: the Huntingfield site is capable of making more than a million litres of beer a year.
Carla says that, while they needed more space than they had at the time in North Hobart to meet demand, the reality of current market conditions means they aren’t making as much beer as they could.
“It is a tough market at the moment and we and to do something to leverage our big facility,” she says. “We’re not producing as much as we thought with the state of the world at the moment, and we’ve always got on really well with Last Rites – and they have great venues as well as the brewery.”
It's a point echoed by Last Rites’ Phil Zakaria, who says the fact he and fellow brewery founder Chris Cooper had long known and got along with Carla and Tom made moving in together appealing. It’s a somewhat similar approach to the one undertaken by Mountain Culture and Wildflower, who launched joint taproom Village at the latter’s home in July.
“You do need that dynamic of people who have a similar vision, ethic and mentality to make it work,” Phil says, adding that they’ll keep brewing smaller batches on their original system in Cambridge that’s served them well since they launched in 2015, while moving some production to T-Bone’s four-vessel Alpha system.
Last Rites have also been making whisky wash for local distilleries on a larger kit in recent years and, as that has slowed down, they’d planned to switch the brewing of their beers to that kit. But T-Bone’s brewery is better set up for the sort of beers they want to make.
“We made wash on a bigger, more purpose-built brewery for wash,” Phil says. "That was where we were going to stay, but it is a fairly simple system.
“It’s a good opportunity for us in terms of a more purpose-built system, an easier system to use, and something that has a lot more flexibility and potential. It also brings reduced costs in terms of everything really: we can share freight, packaging, knowledge and manpower.”
When it comes to the struggles facing the industry, Phil says they see it across the industry. Alongside Last Rites, he and Chris also operate the craft beer bar Boodle Beasley in North Hobart, and Chris owns a few bottleshops. However, while people are going out and drinking less, he remains buoyant about the future and says they wouldn’t be expanding into The Beer Shed if they weren’t.
“We see things from both sides,” Phil says. “We see the purchasing from the venue side and what we can buy, and we see the other side of what we’re moving.
“We’ve got a real spread over what’s happening and it’s definitely a tough little climate we’re in. But, as I like to say, things are cyclical and, at the moment, there’s a little bit of consolidation and a bit of hunkering down.”
Likewise, Carla points to the challenges of being a small brewer in a small state where big breweries still dominate, hence the appeal of working with Last Rites to make the most of economies of scale as two independent brewers.
“It’s a real struggle to compete with everyone, and so many taps are tied up by the big guys,” she says. “So it’s been a struggle, but we’re pretty positive about the new move and moving into summer.”
Indeed, with their first collaborative brew day taking place yesterday, the relationship is off to a grand start.
“Everyone’s been together brewing and they’ve come up with a big hazy between them,” Carla says. “So it also gives us the chance to have these collaborations and have fun coming up with different beers too.”
The Beer Shed officially opens from midday on Friday and will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
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
