2 Brothers Brewery

I hope the Kooinda boys have been to 2 Brothers Brewery. It really showcases how to make the best of a warehouse space.

Divided pretty much down the middle, the bar acts as a separator between the social area and the brewery, a series of towering, polished fermenters. Although cloaked in darkness, the fermenters remain clearly visible behind the bar, if only because they're so shiny and new-looking, reflecting and amplifying the lowest light rays right back to your eyeballs.

The social area, a series of tasteful couches and modern art, runs along the left-hand side and the length of the looong bar, before expanding at the rear.

As 2 Brothers Brewery is only open for business two nights of the week, I expect it's something of an occasion for the locals, who, on the night of my visit, occupied it very much like any local pub or bar. (The location, hidden a fair way south of Melbourne city in Moorabbin, probably deters a lot of visitors from making the trip.) A few security guards stand ready to eject any rowdy louts, stumblers, or the curious from crossing the Holy Line of Demarcation between bar and brewery. In that sense, it's probably the least brewery-esque brewery I've visited.

Which isn't to warn anyone away due to my general distaste for the common douchebag. 2 Brothers Brewery occupies a space between a local hangout and classic brewery that can form a bridge akin to that between mass-produced lager and the finer things in life, and I've already recommended it to some friends.

So, the beer! Have to say, I was a bit disappointed in this area. Not specifically in terms of quality, mind, more that there were only three brews on tap.

If you've spent any time moving about Melbourne's venues, you've probably at least seen the 2 Brothers Taxi Pilsener and the 2 Brothers Growler, their two mainstays. These beers too bridge the gap, containing a very serviceable level of complexity and quality while remaining highly sessionable.

So the only tap remaining belongs to a single seasonal, which I can certainly cope with as long as that seasonable is anything like the 2 Brothers James (Belgian) Brown.

I was first introduced to the James Brown at one of the Federation Square Microbrewery Showcases in 2010. Already heavily interested in exploring dark and Belgian beers, it sounded right up my alley. While certainly good, this batch of the brew was more an interesting curiosity. Very heavy on banana, it was something I imagined I could revisit, but only on odd occasions.

This time, however, James Brown was truly the right kind of funky, with the banana dialled back and the alcohol making it pop just that bit more. Very nicely done.

Still missed The Guvnor, though...

Warehouse 28 (Kooinda Boutique Brewery)

Kooinda Boutique Brewery is branching out, growing even. Known best for their only "wide" release up 'til now, Kooinda Pale Ale – an American Pale Ale with some bite – the lads at Kooinda have moved into a new warehouse brewery and are adding a couple of brews to their arsenal.

We now find them in Heidelberg West, in an industrial estate, in an unassuming warehouse. If you're lucky and eagle-eyed you might notice their decal, no larger than a landscape sheet of A4 paper, on the glass door. Inside, a freshly-painted branded wall and a bar of corrugated iron against a large expanse of concrete floor with newly-stamped kegs stacked at its perimeter. There's a bottling and labeling station near the back, there's of course the brewery itself behind a large sliding door, and in this room, most tellingly, the old brewery. The reminder. Against the southern wall of Kooinda's new brew room, facing a series of shining new fermentation vessels, the old, worn kit. And seeing this certainly informs their new adventure. These guys are really taking the next step.

The name Kooinda, to me, seems to equally belie and befit the brewery's output. Although tending towards purposefully high-hopped and/or roasted-malt bitterness, such as with their new Full Nelson Black IPA, which one might describe as anti-establishment, there's also a very Earth-like quality to their beer. Sticking your nose into one of their brews – by which I mean the glass, obviously – the strength and quality of the aroma from dry-hopping evoked for me the feeling of holding freshly plucked hops in the palm of my hand.

This event was definitely more of a private family-and-friends occasion, so in that spirit, I won't comment too specifically on the taste of the beers on offer; to do so I feel would betray the continued process of refinement and exploration in their new home. But I will say that among those poured were of course the Kooinda Pale, as well as another release being bottled, a Belgian Witbier. (With a Kooinda twist, of course.) There were a couple of trials, including their Valhalla Golden Ale, and my favourite, a Porter that I forget the exact name of. More balanced and seasoned than their other offerings, the Porter was a classic alternative to their established theme, and a good one. There might be a little more work to go to keep it consistent – the second keg had a more pronounced bubblegum flavour – but it's something I quite enjoyed and I hope they'll think about releasing it at some point.

Good luck, guys. I'm sure this'll be a success for you, and I sure hope you don't mind me talking about the day.

(Thanks, Kim, for the lend of the camera.)