West End brewhouse bought by Victorian whiskey maker
The massive brewhouse that produced the last beer at the iconic West End brewery has been sold to a Victorian whiskey maker.
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The massive brewhouse that produced the last beer at the iconic West End brewery site will be used to make some of the country’s finest single malt whiskey after being acquired by a Victorian craft distillery.
Ostra Distillers, which operates a commercial and craft distillery in Robinvale, 90km south-east of Mildura, picked up the brewing equipment, including a 500 hectolitre German-made Steinecker brewhouse brought into West End’s Thebarton facility in 2015.
Other major items at the brewery site, including bottle, can and keg production lines, and beer and cider filtration equipment, have also been sold off to buyers as far away as Canada.
With some minor adjustments, Ostra plans to use its newly acquired brewing equipment in the production of single malt whiskey and other spirits.
The company’s founder Dawid Ostrowski said he’d been looking to expand operations for several years, and the West End equipment would enable him to ramp up production for a global market.
“We’re so humbled and honoured that we can continue the West End brewery history and keep it operational on the next leg of its journey to make single malt whiskey,” he said.
“We’re going to make use of this to make really high-end craft spirits, but on a scale that we can then sell it to the world.
“Globally we'll still be seen as a small, craft, boutique distillery, but it gives us enough volume to be able to put a bottle of Australian whiskey in front of a global audience.”
Production at the West End brewery came to an end last June, and it is currently being cleared and remediated before an expected sale of the expansive 8.2ha site towards the end of this year.
Plant closure specialists Hilco Global and FA Maker managed the online sale of equipment.
Hilco Global project manager Adam McCue said most of the equipment had already been removed from the Thebarton site, and had been either delivered to buyers or in the process of being shipped.
“We attracted strong and widespread interest from a range of industries - beverage, brewing and food production industries, both within Australia and from regions including North America, Europe, Africa and South East Asia,” he said.
“Of particular interest was seeing how assets could potentially be repurposed ... keeping these assets in utility for years to come.”
The first tanks arrived at Ostra’s Robinvale facility on Friday, with the remaining parts of the brewhouse to be transported from Adelaide to Robinvale over the next three months.
Mr Ostrowski is hoping to have the brewhouse fully commissioned by the end of this year.
“There’s about 22 computers attached to this brewery so you can see the sophistication that this brewhouse has, and the level of quality of the machinery - Lion Nathan really took care of it.”
Originally published as West End brewhouse bought by Victorian whiskey maker
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