Less than a year after they had to close their original taproom, Bracket Brewing are back pouring beers for Sydneysiders. The small brewery quietly opened their roller door on Addison Road in Marrickville last weekend, with their official opening party taking place this Saturday.
They were forced to search for a new home after being driven out of their Alexandria site by a massive rent hike. But that suburb’s loss is Marrickville’s gain; owner Mike Meletopoulo says many of their regulars have made the trek across suburbs to join them.
“It’s good to be open again,” he says. “It’s just been awesome to see so many people we haven’t seen in a while.
“It’s really cool to see a whole lot of our old regulars. We obviously changed locations; it’s not a huge change but it’s a big enough one that I wasn’t expecting to see so many of the old regulars over here.”
Ahead of leaving Alexandria, the family-owned brewery – Mike works alongside partner Roberta and launched Bracket with his dad, Mark – punched out a lot of beer to last them a few months, but they couldn’t brew again until November last year due to having no producer’s license. Fortunately, they have plenty of mates in the industry to collaborate with, which allowed them to keep the Bracket name and approach to brewing modern, often hazy, releases in people’s minds.
Last year, following the closure, they teamed up with the likes of Banks, Kicks, Slow Lane, One Drop, Range, Deeds and Future Brewing, with Rocks Brewing (before the business was liquidated) helping them with cold storage and logistics: then-head brewer Adreac Fitter and his team even helped pull apart Bracket’s original setup.
"Ady asked when we were pulling down the cool room and they turned up that day to pack up with us,” Mike says.
Even the warehouse across the road in Alexandria agreed to store much of their equipment.
"They're just very nice people,” Mike says. "I've asked to be invoiced and he never has and probably never will."
Today, 12 out of Bracket’s 16 taps are filled with beers, with more to come and then go – they plan to continue their core range free approach. Having had the chance to start again, the new Bracket features improvements for brewer and drinker alike.
“Weirdly, the building we’re in feels much much bigger but it’s only two square metres bigger,” Mike says. “It’s wider and shorter, the odd one was quite narrow and long.”
They also built a new bar and invested seriously in the best audio quality they could get in, along with improving aspects of production and ensuring the brewing and hospo sides of the business are more harmonious than they had been.
“We don’t have to move tables around on a Monday morning to start production now and there’s lots more standing room,” Mike says. “The bigger cool room is a huge one for us; we had one that was built around the stairs and so small it was pretty much unusable.
“Plus there’s an upstairs that’s licensed too that will be functional, we’re just not exactly sure how we’ll use it yet.”
The new taproom has also brought a fresh look for Bracket, which features in one of several murals that come courtesy of local street artist, Nico. Mike says Roberta pushed for the rebrand and they enlisted Nico to work on the redesign after collaborating with him in the past.
"We didn't know what we wanted to be when we put it all together in the first place, or where we would take it,” he says.
“Roberta wanted to soften the brand. Nico, a street artist in the area, who's become a bit of a mate, did the rebrand and the murals."
The Inner West Ale Trail, which relaunched in September last year, has also helped spread the word about Bracket’s arrival. The first redesign of the new maps let craft beer fans know the new taproom would be arriving soon, while Mike says that, compared with Alexandria, Marrickville locals are always eager to go out in their own neighbourhood.
“Everyone is here to drink craft beer," he says. "I don’t need to explain to people why we don’t have VB; you’d be a little surprised how often that question got asked at the old place.”
And in case you’re wondering, their Addison Road address gives them a long lease too. So, after signing the paperwork on the day his daughter was born, Mike says their future feels more secure.
“It’s seven-five-five,” he says. “I think the earliest we could be kicked out of here is May 2032. My kids will be eight and ten by then; that’s good enough.”
You'll find the new Bracket Brewing serving beers at 2/48 Addison Road, Marrickville, with the taproom open from Thursday to Sunday for the time being.
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?
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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
