Blue Mountains: Microbrewery proposal lodged with council

Plan a road trip! Blue Mountains Beverage Collective looks to add a tap bar to its ever-widening beer, wine and coffee trail.

Brew Mountains Brewery founder Craig Talbot looks to bring a tap bar to this Blue Moutains premises. Picture: Isabell Petrinic

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Blue Mountains Beverage Collective looks to add a tap bar to its ever-widening beer, wine and coffee trail.

The Collective’s Craig Talbot has lodged a development application with Blue Mountains Council to open a new microbrewery in Valley Heights, within easy walking distance of the train station.

The $25,000 proposal seeks to make modifications to an existing commercial premises at Unit 3/2-4 Tayler Rd, near the Bunnings hardware store on the Great Western Highway, to create a small dog-friendly tap bar.

Craig Talbot at the proposed tap bar. “There’s no construction involved, so it’s quite minimal in terms of what we need,” said Mr Talbot, a former medical researcher who now applies science to brewing. Picture: Isabell Petrinic

“It will be a tap room within a brewery — a cellar door for beer really,” said Mr Talbot, who successfully opened Brew Mountains Brewery nearly two years ago and has been looking for a new site where customers can visit and also try his beers ever since.

“It’s an exciting time for us.”

Brew Mountains Brewery is among a group of regional boutique distillers, breweries, cider makers, wine and non-alcoholic drink makers, together known as the Blue Mountains Beverage Collective.

“There are a lot of chemical and temperature controls within brewing and you need to understand what the yeast is doing and when,” Craig Talbot said. “We only use Australian ingredients and we do a lot of local collaborations.” Picture: Isabell Petrinic

“Together we’re setting up a craft beverage trail in the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury,” Mr Talbot said.

If given the green light, Mr Talbot’s proposed Valley Heights microbrewery would be the second to open in the Blue Mountains since late 2019.

Craft brewer DJ McCready — also part of the Blue Mountains Beverage Collective — last year threw open the doors to Mountains Culture Beer Co in the old Blockbuster rental video store in Parkes St, Katoomba.

“We do reverse osmosis on all our beers so we can really hone in on the mineral profile,” Mountains Culture Beer Co. co-owner DJ McCready said. Picture: Angelo Velardo/AAP Image

McCready, who hails from Asheville in western North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, has put a microbiologist on staff to help achieve his goal of producing beer that appeals to his primary audience: craft beer aficionados and outdoor enthusiasts.

The heritage-listed Carrington Hotel in Katoomba also operates a microbrewery, called the Katoomba Brewing Company, and the tiny mountain village of Bilpin is home to Hillbilly Cider, which are both also part of the Blue Mountains Beverage Collective.

Other Collective members include: Dryridge Estate and Megalong Creek Estate in the Megalong Valley; Frankly, This Wine Was Made By Bob in Katoomba; Herbs of Life and The Little Coffee Co. in Lawson; Karu Distillery in Grose Vale; and Gingle Bells Gin in McGraths Hill.

“The idea behind the Collective is if we help each other out and collaborate, we can help draw overnight visitors to the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury as well,” Mr Talbot said.

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Posted by Katoomba Brewing Company on Wednesday, December 19, 2018