Brewery announces abrupt closure as industry on its knees

Yet another brewery has joined the growing pile of corporate corpses after abruptly announcing it would be shutting its doors at the end of the week.

Yet another brewery has joined the growing pile of corporate corpses after abruptly announcing it would be shutting its doors at the end of the week.

On Monday, Melbourne-based Alchemy Brewing Co posted on social media to say they’d “had a rough ride” and that “it’s time to call it quits”.

The embattled business revealed to its several thousand followers that its last day of trading will be the end of this week, on Friday.

“It’s with a heavy heart I’m announcing Alchemy Brewing will close at the end of the month,” the social media post continued.

Alchemy’s customers have been invited to a farewell party happening at the end of this week, on Saturday, June 29.

Alchemy Brewing Co announced it was shutting down at the end of the month. Picture: Alchemy Brewing/Instagram

The brewery is having a farewell party this Saturday. Picture: Alchemy Brewing/Instagram

Alchemy launched five years ago, on Lygon Street, on Melbourne’s Brunswick East, in December 2019.

The timing couldn’t have been worse as it opened right before the Covid-19 pandemic and Melbourne’s subsequent six lockdowns.

Alchemy relied on government grants and selling takeaway cans to local patrons to survive.

One of the co-founders, Pim Muter, originally from New Zealand but born to Dutch parents, living in Europe when he was younger, and styled some of the company’s beers on that.

“I also like to represent some beer styles that aren’t necessarily widely brewed currently such as a Belgian Wit beer or American Brown Ale,” he told Beat in 2022.

Alchemy expanded out to have its own taproom and kitchen, with its brewing facilities out the back.

The venue has also had live music at its peak.

News.com.au has contacted Alchemy for additional comment.

Its comes at a torrid time for the craft brewery industry with a spate of closures hitting the sector as onerous taxes and a massive drop in demand drives breweries to their knees across the country.

Alchemy Brewing Co said it had been a “rough ride”. Picture: Alchemy Brewing/Instagram

Alchemy Brewing also had its own kitchen and taproom. Picture: Alchemy Brewing/Instagram

A number of other independent breweries have gone into administration in the past year including Brisbane-based Ballistic Beer Company, Adelaide business Big Shed Brewing, Melbourne-based breweries Hawkers Brewery and Deeds Brewing, and the Wayward brand and Akasha Brewery, both from Sydney.

Earlier this month, popular Sydney outfit Malt Shovel Brewery announced it would be shuttering at the end of August.

News.com.au had previously revealed an industry insider sounding the alarm about the difficulties the brewing industry faces.

Nick Boots, an industry consultant from The Business of Beer Consulting and Advisory and previously the general manager of popular Byron Bay brewery Stone & Wood, warned that more breweries will collapse in coming months amid a perfect storm of factors.

It’s an issue many craft beer breweries are experiencing amid the economic downturn, according to Mr Boots.

“Craft beer was the hot thing” from 2005 until the post-Covid economic downturn, he said.

But with Aussies cutting back on discretionary spending, as well as the tax department chasing breweries on deferred debt hanging about from the Covid-19 era, and with inflation increasing the already onerous excise tax, it’s becoming impossible for many indie brewers to continue.

Meanwhile Asahi, Australia’s biggest beer company, announced just last month it was also closing one of its craft beer operations Matilda Bay Brewpub in Victoria due to rising costs including wages, energy bills, materials and taxes.