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This here is Ned Kelly country.
There’s not a business name or street plaque in Beechworth that won’t forget to tell you. Just down the road in Glenrowan is where the famous Kelly Gang’s Last Stand was, but Beechworth was the country he played, robbed banks, and broke out of gaol in.
Just in case you don’t know, Ned Kelly is Australia’s most infamous bushranger and beloved icon. Yes, Aussies tend to revere bad guys. I’ll let you watch one of the numerous movies made about him to decide if he was really bad, or just really wronged (My favourite Ned Kelly movie version is with Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom).
You can learn all about Ned Kelly when you visit Beechworth in Victoria’s high country. Beechworth was once a gold mining town; it’s now famous for it’s Kelly gang history, antique stores, the Beechworth Bakery, and what we consider to be its highlight – the Bridge Road Brewery.
We think it’s so good, that we’re putting it on the Australia Bucket List – you know, the highlights of the biggest island in the world.
We visit a lot of pubs and breweries, but it’s rare we find one we love so much. I even pushed aside my gluten intolerance’s to have a beer. Yes. Willingly accepting a couple of days of discomfort just to have a cold Hefeweizen.
Not sure which beer to start with? You can try the sampler.
We arrived for lunch and could have easily stayed for dinner too. There was such a welcoming and friendly atmosphere within the brewery and we enjoyed chatting with the table of people beside us about travel and what makes the local area so great.
What we love about Bridge Road Brewery
Kid Friendly
You know a place is good when you can sit there all day and your kids are happy and entertained. They LOVED the small kiddies play area, which we were lucky to have a seat next to. They went down the slide, played on the swings and made lots of new friends. They were almost as disappointed as us when it came time to leave.
Delicious pizza
They have gluten free bases!! My Pizza Funghi was sensational: Tomato, taleggio cheese, thyme, mushrooms and capers, topped with baby rocket and almond salad. It was one of the best pizzas I’ve had in a long while. The rocket and almond salad on top sounds weird, but it really boosted the flavours to make it pop with pizza power.
Craig really enjoyed his Prawn Pizza: tomato, bocconcini, fresh tomato, chilli, garlic, prawns and Meredith goats feta.
And the kids, well they were kept happy with a classic cheese pizza.
Last, but not least, the sticky date pudding was to die for.
You can order other beer-friendly plates such as nachos, ribs, pie or a lighter soup or salad.
Great craft beer
We’ll let you in our little secret. We don’t like Australian beer much, that is the commercial stuff. Yuck. That’s why we fall all over ourselves when we find a craft brewery that brews beer with depth and flavour. No watery headaches-tomorrow beer here.
Ben, the founder, creates his beer from scratch, using their own production equipment on site. The beers are brewed naturally, without pasteurization, or preservatives and of course with a lot of passion.
You can buy beer to take home with you from the Brewery, or purchase them online.
An experience in an old historic building
Bridge Road Brewery is located in a 150-year-old coach house. I love a bit of history with my beer. The beer hall is spacious and filled with beer-making paraphernalia, decor and furniture as well as a cosy wood fire (not in summer of course). We preferred looking at the building from the beer garden. Soaking up the high country sun.
Bridge Road Brewery is building an experience around what they do which is evident in their branded merchandise and attention to detail in their interior decorating. The logo is:
Young, modern thinking owners with a great success story
I get so excited to hear stories of people growing a business from their own backyard based on passion. Only this time it was Ben’s father’s back yard shed. Ben Kraus went to Italy to learn how to make wine, he got side-tracked in Innsbruck, Austria, and learned how to make great beer and pretzels instead.
Ben came home, experimented in the shed and 8 years later has a thriving business that sees over 400 posse members (beer membership program) around the country, and a constant stream of people walking down the brewery lane to sample his beers and pizza.
COOL story. See what you can create with passion and a step forward.
Social media savvy
This may sound like a weird criteria for making a brewery great. But, it shows me that the owners are up with current trends and tapped into what their clients really want. It’s fresh modern thinking – I like businesses that are stepping up and ahead with our world. It’s rare to come across a business in Australia with a great website and tapped in on social media. Big props for modern, forward thinking.
And yep you guessed it, the Bridge Road Brewery is all about Ned Kelly! He’s in the logo and on the merchandise. Keeping the tradition for wanting the people to come to the high country.
There’s no way Ned would have tried to break out of this place.
[ybox_title] Bridge Road Brewery – The Facts [/ybox_title]
- Location: Old Coach House Brewers Lane, 50 Ford Street Beechworth, Victoria
- Website: http://bridgeroadbrewers.com.au/
- Opening hours: Kitchen opens lunch 7 Days a week, 12 – 3pm and Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings from 6pm.
- Cost: Pizzas range from $14- $21
