Photo Credit: Paul Pichugin
VENUE FEATURE: COASTAL COLLABORATION
THE craft beer movement has been gathering momentum for the past decade, and Tasmania’s North West Coast is well and truly getting in on the act to join other regions in the state. Tasmania’s North West Coast may have been slightly slower in the uptake when it came to finding watering holes which stocked products outside those from major breweries, but things are now trending in the right direction. Craft breweries, alongside their micro counterparts and ‘brewpubs’, are becoming increasingly popular across the country, despite still only amounting for around nine per cent of the entire beer market. That’s something three coastal entrepreneurs are hoping to play their part in increasing. Buttons Brewing, the brainchild of Josh Roberts, began operating in Ulverstone’s Short Street in 2017 and was among the first to establish itself on the coast. Buttons proved such a hit that by 2019, Roberts and his wife Cora expanded by opening a bar and restaurant at the Leven Wharf.
Scott and Tara Seymour - who previously ran a craft beer bar in Bendigo - joined the party by opening Penguin Beer Co on the town’s Main Road earlier this year, and are currently building their Island State Brewing masterpiece in Devonport at Providore Place, which is scheduled for completion in January. In mid-November, Andrew Turner’s eight month vision for Communion Brewing Company was finally realised when it opened its doors on the corner of Burnie’s Alexander and Wilmot Streets, firmly entrenching the region as a micro-brewery destination. “We first started in 2017 and for the reason that there wasn’t any decent beer options on the North West coast,” said Roberts, who has a background in agriculture but realised his true passion was in brewing after he moved to Ulverstone. “I always knew that once we started up, it was just a matter of time before each town would probably have its own little brewery like what’s happening now.
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