A popular North East craft beer brewery has expanded its operation to Melbourne. Beechworth-founded Bridge Road Brewers opened in Brunswick East on Friday, September 22, and was fully booked across its first weekend of trading. The 350-seat venue on Nicholson Street that employs 30 staff features a working brewery and two bar areas, with 30 selections on tap split into four categories - light and easy, hoppy and hazy, dark and malty and sour and fruity. Founders Ben and Maria Kraus, who first launched Bridge Road Brewers in 2005, are delighted with the new site, which has been a long time in the making. "We have developed our vision for this venue across many years, having dreamt that we'd one day have an outpost in one of Melbourne's great food and drink neighbourhoods," Mr Kraus said. "The inner north in a lot of ways is the heartland of craft beer in Australia. There's a high concentration of bars and pubs that cater to quality craft beer and a genuine passion from the public. "It's an inspiring place to be amongst so many who value the craft behind the beer. We've been enjoyed on tap for years at venues in the region and there was no question in my mind to where Bridge Road Brewers would set its roots in Melbourne." Head chef Jabili Mchawala has put forward a modern Australian menu, inspired by flavours from foreign cultures and produce from the North East. Wood-fired pizzas, which have been a feature of the Beechworth brewery, have been retained, with a new miso mushroom vegan variety added to the menu, as well as pretzels, using Mrs Kraus' Austrian recipe. The kids menu goes beyond the boundaries of chicken nuggets and chips, with pesto penne pasta and a black bean and carrot sausage roll among the offerings. "Our approach has been to create a space that is vibrant and inviting, with quality experience at its heart," Mr Kraus said. "In the kitchen, we're genuinely excited at how the menu is going to appeal to a sophisticated, but unpretentious type of crowd. "We're pouring our most popular beers and will continually be creating venue-specific beers via the in-house production brewery." Marketing manager Nathan Fenton said Melbourne was Bridge Road's biggest market outside of the North East and won't lose any fans with confirmation it will host an AFL grand final party on Saturday, September 30. "We've got a really strong following up in the North East in the in high country, but we've got two reps down in Melbourne who are flat out keeping everyone stocked," he said. "I don't think we'd be doing anyone any favours by opening a venue in Melbourne and then not having the granny on." It caps off a big 2023 for Bridge Road Brewers, which earned accolades as Victoria's Best Brewery Venue in Beer Cartel's Australian Craft Beer Survey and was regarded Victoria's Best Craft Beer in the GABS (Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular) Hottest 100 Craft Beer Countdown. To read more stories, download The Border Mail news app in the Apple Store or Google Play. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
