Just outside Glenrowan, at the end of a dusty dirt road seemingly leading to nowhere, you’ll come across a small brick wall amongst the vines with two signs; one older one bearing the name Taminick Cellars & a newer one bearing the name Black Dog Brewery.
The two are inextricably linked. James Booth is the current winemaker at Taminick, the fourth generation of his family to hold the title after his family first purchased the vineyard in 1904. In 2011 James decided he didn’t want to just do vintage after vintage anymore, he wanted to take his passion for homebrew & turn it into a commercial operation.
Brewery Type
Physical
Region
High Country
Tasting Room
339 Booth Rd, Taminick
And so it came to be that Black Dog Brewery was launched, all brewed on James’ 70L home made homebrew kit. The kit served him well whilst getting the brand, named after his dog Macca, off the ground; however word of his beers was spreading around Victoria & demand was well and truly outstripping the capabilities of his old homebrew system. 2013 saw the arrival of a 20hL Italian brewhouse, which allowed the Black Dog brand to rapidly expand.
Almost 10 years later & James is still pumping hard at work as the Taminick Cellars winemaker & head brewer at Black Dog Brewery. He’s still producing an excellent core range alongside an ever increasing array of esoteric offerings, some of which utilise the Taminick wine barrels as they become available or use the estate grown hops (Cascade, Chinook & Columbus) that they’ve planted on their own property.
The cellar door is another relic from a bygone era. It was constructed from local stone by Esca Booth more than a century ago in 1914! Walking in you really feel transported back in time, with old barriques lining the walls, a low wooden roof & a few wooden tables scattered around. It’s a bit dusty, like the local area, & bit dark but it feels authentic & right for the space. Towards the back of the surprisingly large room there is a bar, however it does have more of a winery cellar door feel to it than that of a brewery. It’s not the sort of place you’d settle in for a session, it’s a tasting paddle & takeaways kind of place.
As a rule Black Dog’s Belgian offerings are really good. As part of their birthday celebration a couple of years ago they decided to brew three different Tripels. As a lover of the style it’s where I had to go for this review, settling on; Triple Tripel Dry Hopped. The name says it all, it’s a dry hopped Tripel. There was good candi sugar on the front end, warming alcohol (even though it’s at the lower end of the style spectrum at 7.2%) & plenty of citrus dry hop character. It’s a really interesting beer.
Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!
