The intention was merely to find a way to mark the 150th anniversary of his pub. But as Scott Meager considered ideas such as a commemorative beer, things started getting a little out of hand. Next thing he knew, the owner of the Steam Packet Hotel was speaking to liquor licensing and various local council departments and the Willy Beer Fest – or Williamstown Heritage Beer & Cider Festival to give it its full title – was born.
The festival will take place just a short walk from the pub on November 23, featuring a mixture of brewers stalls, live entertainment and a handful of cider and wine stalls. What’s more, it will also feature an as-yet-unnamed commemorative beer that is being brewed in conjunction with Two Birds Brewing, the brewing company based just a couple of suburbs away in Seddon.
“The idea came from the pub turning 150 years old this year,” says Scott. “Also, on January 7, the liquor licence [originally granted to the Ship Inn on the same spot] turns 175. I thought we should have an event to celebrate both.”
The original pub on the site of the Steam Packet was a wooden structure that burnt down a couple of times before the bluestone building that it currently occupies was built in 1863. The interior of the pub underwent a reshaping a few years back, but photos of its past line the walls, including those of a family that owned it for more than 60 years and the day a donkey wandered in and was served carrots at the bar (pictured below). It has also served as a boarding house and bakery.
The Willy Beer Fest and commemorative beer are the latest – and biggest – of a series of events marking the anniversaries that have already included a showcase (part of the town’s Art in Public Places event) that saw the pub become a gallery of images featuring Williamstown’s current and former pubs and hotels.
“After we’d displayed his artwork, I thought about what we could do for another event. I did some research online and discovered that Willy used to have its own breweries in the 1800s,” says Scott. “I thought it would be cool to have a beer that represented Williamstown that we could sell for that month [of the anniversary] to highlight the heritage.
“I made some enquiries and spoke to Jayne Lewis from Two Birds Brewing. She said they could do it, but that 1,000 or 2,000 litres was the minimum we could make. I figured that was a bit much for us to serve on our own, but didn’t think we could have a Steam Packet day if other places were going to sell the beer as well. So I thought, ‘Let’s make it a festival.’”
Approvals were soon granted and Scott suddenly had a festival to organise. To date, he has 17 brewers, cider producers and winemakers lined up and has come up with early concepts for the Williamstown beer. The idea is to create a beer that reflects the area’s history and has a link to the early days of brewing there. At this stage, it looks like being a fairly dark pale ale that will take its name from local history and may even feature some sort of local ingredients. It will also be cloudy as a nod to the fact that it took forever to get water into Williamstown.
“Why the long face?”
Jayne Lewis says: “We’re looking at what’s happened there over a period of time and want to tie in as much of that as we can. We are trying to pull in some sort of native element as well, so that could be using rocks from the area [in the brewing process – like Stone & Wood’s Stone Beer] or getting something from the sea around there – or something that reflects the fact that Williamstown is a weekend getaway, day out by the water kind of place.”
As for the festival itself, it will be run over two sessions on the Saturday. Exact session times are still to be confirmed but there is a capacity of 1500 per session and it will be over-18s only. Tickets will be priced between $30 and $40 that will include ten $2 tasting tickets. To take up a stall, brewers only have to supply up to $200 of stock to be served in a main bar, where the commemorative beer will also be pouring.
A local musician who plays regularly at the Steam Packet is coordinating the music, which will have a “live and local” focus and for those who plan to travel in from outside Willy, the train station is only a stone’s throw away. It promises much for beer in the area, as to date there hasn’t been much penetration for craft beer. The Steam Packet has a guest tap and pours the likes of Mountain Goat, Little Creatures and 2 Brothers, while there’s some good stuff on tap at the nearby Prince Albert. Yet for a great selection in the area, you still have to head back to Newport for the Junction Beer Hall.
“I’m hoping to put the beer into some other venues, maybe in the run-up to the festival,” says Scott. “I’d also like to do the festival every year and if the beer goes well we could keep brewing that too.”
Tickets for the Willy Beer Fest are due to go on sale around the end of September. You can keep tabs on progress via its Twitter account.
Confirmed Exhibitors
Mountain Goat
2 Brothers
Trumer / Bridgeport
Two Birds
Boatrocker
Cavalier
Hawthorn
Kwencher
Thunder Road
Golden Axe Cider
Napoleone Cider
Cheeky Rascal Cider
Scotchmans Hill
Sitting Duck
