I bet you didn’t know that Matilda Bay was the first new brewery to open in Australia after World War II! Many craft brewers have followed in our footsteps, but we were real brewing pioneers. It all started in 1984 when a bunch of guys with a passion for making great beer got together at the famed Sail and Anchor Hotel in Fremantle, Western Australia and formed the Matilda Bay Brewing company.
Just about the time Bondy was winning the America’s Cup for Australia (1983 in case you’ve forgotten) and putting Freo well and truly on the world map, the world of beer was changing too, thanks to Matilda Bay’s release of two beers with a difference, Redback and Dogbolter.
Throughout the 90s Matilda Bay kept experimenting with new and different beers. Meanwhile, Redback was winning the favour of punters around the nation and Matilda Bay was slowly but surely gaining status amongst beer cognoscenti just about everywhere. Our next big hit was Beez Neez, soon joined by our Bohemian Pilsner and the classic Alpha Pale Ale – two more award-winners.
In 2005 we crossed this wide brown land to Victoria and opened up ‘The Garage’ in Dandenong. The new facility gave us more opportunity to refine our beers and continue to invent new ones, including Barking Duck, a champ of a beer that won us Bronze in the 2005 Beer World Cup in the USA.
Since then, experimenting with new brews, winning awards and especially the loyalty of beer lovers thirsting for something special has been what we’ve been all about. In fact, Matilda Bay is the current Grand Champion Brewery of the Australian International Beer Awards, having scored ‘Champion’ status in the Wheat Beer and Reduced Alcohol categories in the process. Plus we’ve picked up the title of Champion Beer at the 2008 Sydney Royal Show.
What’s next? Only one thing is certain. It’ll be controversial, out of the ordinary and maybe even a little weird.
Which is just the way it should be.