Victoria has plenty of regional breweries but one of that state's newest doesn't face the same challenges experienced by most. For one, the team there needn’t worry about how much beer they sell; instead, their task is to help produce better brewers. What's more, their ingredients go beyond water, hops, malt and yeast to include lesson plans and classrooms.
The brewery in question has been installed at Bendigo TAFE’s Charleston Road location so students undertaking the Certificate III in Food Processing (Brewing), which is run by Bendigo TAFE and the Kangan Institute, can gain hands-on, practical experience on campus.
It’s the first TAFE-run brewery in Victoria and follows in the footsteps of the likes of Queensland’s BrewLab and several long-established university courses elsewhere with their own breweries.
Helping guide students through the new setup is teacher Shivam Tandon, or Shiv, who has plenty of experience when it comes to both brewing and tertiary education. Alongside Gina Pacheco Arredondo and Daniel Rojas Sanchez, Shiv founded The Zythologist while at Monash University.
He’s been involved in teaching the curriculum, which runs out of the Kangan campus in Broadmeadows as well as in Bendigo, for the last three years.
“It’s been in the works for more than two years but it’s been a matter of securing funding and working out the logistics of how to do it,” Shiv says of the Bendigo brewhouse.
That founding came courtesy of a regional grant from the Victorian government, while the decision to build the brewery was based on a design to bring more practical components in-house.
The brewhouse itself is a 200-litre, three-vessel system that includes its own canning line and three fermenters. While it's small, Shiv says they built it to replicate the sort of setup found in commercial craft breweries so students can turn ingredients into beer, then package them into cans, before tasting and assessing them on their own.
“It’s about being able to provide training from grain to glass,” Shiv says. “Starting with materials and transferred all the way into a packaged product.”
The course covers everything from food manufacturing processes to wort production, fermentation and how to manage data and keep records effectively. It’s split between two components: a theoretical side running online and in the evenings to fit around people’s jobs; and the practical coursework requiring hands-on experience.
“With the practical component, students need to spend time on the tools to get assessed,” Shiv says.
Over the past few years, that’s generally taken place at working craft breweries across Victoria. While Shiv expects that practical experience to continue, having a brewhouse of their own gives the TAFE team more flexibility for students who might not live near a brewery, or who can’t make it into one due to other work obligations.
“I think a large number of students will still do that in metro areas,” Shiv says. “But now regional students can utilise our own on-campus brewery.”
Since launching the course, they’ve seen plenty of students walk straight into brewing jobs, with, KAIJU!, Tallboy & Moose, King River, and Mountain Monk just some of the breweries that employ graduates. Some have gone on to start their own brewing operations.
"A lot of it is about confidence, having that extra boost when you're starting your own venture," Shiv says. "This course helps them get an understanding and get confident with the production process."
The next intake of Certificate III in Food Processing (Brewing) is open now. Details can be found here.
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 in 2018 and in 2024; 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?
-
Boatrocker's Miss Pinky: It's a raspberry-packed Berliner Weisse that neither looks or tastes the way many people conceive of beer.
-
Bad Shepherd Hazelnut Brown: A luscious mix of chocolate and hazelnut that can appeal to the sweet tooth within us all.
-
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
