Shedshaker Brewing aren’t moving far at all from the home that's served them well this far, but they've still been on quite the journey to get their new brewery and taproom open.
Indeed, Jacqueline Brodie-Hanns, who owns the Castlemaine brewery with Doug Falconer, says the actual moving has been the most straightforward part of their journey.
“We’re moving a hundred metres – actually it’s not even that,” she says of their shift to a site at the opposite end of The Mill precinct they’ve called home since 2016.
As founding tenants, the brewery has been part of the area’s growth and development since day one; today, the restored 1870s woollen mill is home to around 40 businesses and makers.
It’s an impressive range of tenants too that, fittingly for a beautiful Gold Rush town, feels a little out of place in the modern world. Alongside Shedshaker, there's a winery, bakery, ice creamery, deli, coffee roaster, chocolatier, and the expansive Castlemaine Vintage Bazaar: a retro market you can easily get lost in for hours and still never want to leave.
Both the precinct and Castlemaine more widely have long been popular destinations, drawing in many from Melbourne thanks to the quick train journey or drive up the Calder Freeway. It’s also a short trip from Bendigo and Ballarat and, says Jacqueline, the popular town has only been further embraced since the end of Victoria's COVID lockdowns.
For Shedshaker, the city has become a little too popular; the brewery’s landlord first approached Doug and Jacqueline about moving to a new space in September 2020.
“He did that because we were just bursting at the seams at the current site,” she says. “Visitation to the brewery and this area just skyrocketed after COVID.”
Since then, it’s safe to say plenty has happened. The space was in need of restoration while the cost of just about everything has shot up. But, while they've gone over their budget and are opening the new Shedshaker during a cost-of-living crisis, the brewery owners are optimistic about what their future holds.
“It’s been a stressful exercise but it does look brilliant and we’re thrilled,” Jacquline says.
“For the last eight years, we’ve never got ahead of ourselves; this is the right time, the right size and the right investment.”
The new taproom means they have room for 300 people, which is triple the number they could accommodate previously. It means they have a lot more room to host community events, fundraisers and live music, and gives them a larger kitchen that allows them to go beyond the pizzas that have served them well over the years
A larger, more automated brewhouse offers the chance to triple their production capacity, although Doug says their focus very much remains on being a brewpub and looking after their locals.
“We don’t want to be a production brewery, we want to serve our own needs, our existing customers, and a few more outside that,” he says.
The brewhouse runs on steam and will make the most of the 400 solar panels on their roof. The entire setup runs on electricity, including a prototype pizza oven and induction stovetops, with the decision to cut out the fossil fuel driven by a desire to run a sustainable business.
“Gas is yesterday’s fuel, it’s cleaner than brown coal but not by a whole lot,” Doug says. “We think that in five or ten years, an increasing number of businesses will be all-electric, and we want to be on the bleeding edge of that.”
All that extra space allows Shedshaker to further commit to supporting local music and the arts too; a personal connection for Doug in particular as a member of Hunters & Collectors.
“Live music is in my blood and we don’t see it as a money-making exercise,” Doug says. “It’s about supporting musicians, particularly local musicians, and providing entertainment to people that’s affordable.”
To date, Shedshaker's taproom gigs have been free and, while they might add ticketed shows so they can bring in bigger and more varied acts, the plan is to keep music affordable. Often, they host as many as four gigs a week.
“There’s a lot of breweries downsizing or closing, and there’s a lot of live music venues downsizing,” Doug says. “It’s not quite pessimism but there is a lack of enthusiasm about craft beer and live music at the moment.
“We feel like we’re swimming against the tide, but all the signs for us are going in the opposite direction, so we’re going to ride that wave.”
Jacqueline also points to their commitment to Castlemaine and the wider central Victorian region as helping ensure they’re in a financial position even while needing more capacity to grow. During COVID, they pulled their beer out of Melbourne in the belief that “local” would matter more and more to drinkers, and that breweries were better served by focusing on their backyard.
Instead, they’ve spent much of their time selling directly to customers and driving across their home region to build lasting connections with pubs that typically haven’t made craft beer a focus.
“We were doing two or three farmers markets a week at one point and there was such an extraordinary community groundswell,” Jacqueline says. “What we found was the big guys and larger craft breweries don’t visit small country towns. Even pubs that were never going to put us on were so thankful we came and visited them.
“Now there’s all these one-pub towns serving our beer and we’re getting rusted on Carlton drinkers who are coming over to craft; that’s not just a win for us but the industry.”
Jacqueline adds they’re also always keen to work with whoever they can in the area, saying they support around 30 organisations with fundraising and events. That includes their sponsorship of the Town Folk Festival this weekend that will bring around 3,500 people out to enjoy live music in the middle of Ausmusic Month.
It’s also another reason that many will be glad that, after four years of planning, Shedshaker finally have a new shed to shake…
“That’s another commitment to live music and also why we really do need to open – we’re hosting the closing act,” Jacqueline says.
The new Shedshaker can still be found at The Mill at 9 Walker Street, Castlemaine. It's open from midday, Tuesday to Sunday.
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
