There’s something brewing in Kensington

For those in the know, this will come as no surprise, but Kensington is carefully becoming a treasure trove for micro-breweries, roasteries, and soon, it will add distilleries to that list.

Stretching through the mixed industrial and commercial land along Moonee Ponds Creek, you’ll find the two pillars of this artisan community punching well above their weight; Henry St Brewhouse and Bonehead Brewing.

The first of the two, Henry St Brewhouse, has called its Barrett St address home for more than five years, but brewing lineage in “Kenso” dates back more than a decade to a small backyard on, you guessed it, Henry St.

Co-founded by owner and former structural engineer, Phil Quayle, Henry St Brewhouse provides an intimate insight to the world of brewing.

Almost all brewing machinery is on full view, including “Dorothy”, a new 1000-litre fermenter named after Mr Quayle’s grandmother, a woman who inspired him to pursue a career in beer.

Along with brewer Drew Whitehead, the team at Henry St Brewhouse has refined a range of beers that have garnered a growing following in the area, including a beer named after Kensington itself.

“After you’ve done a few batches, you know what goes with what. There’s just so many different options and flavours, that’s why there is so many different beers,” Mr Quayle said.

Between the malt, hops, yeast and temperature control, you can literally have millions of different types of beers. Sometimes it’s trial and error, but that is the beauty of brewing.

“Our Monsieur Grey IPA has become a real favourite among locals. It’s an English-style IPA with a twist – dry hopped with a spicy hop combo and French Earl Grey tea for a lingering floral and bergamot finish.”

“Another popular choice is our Kenso XPA. It’s hoppier than our Secret Pale Ale; paying homage to the suburb and its locals.”

According to Mr Quayle Henry St Brewhouse moves 90 per cent of its business through the four walls of its factory, with the remaining sent out to local bottle shops and pubs like Hardimans.

In just over 10 years, Mr Quayle has turned hobby home-brewing that his mates thought “tasted pretty bloody good”, into a fully-fledged career in beer that’s steering on an upward trajectory.

“Engineers like to drink beer, as I found out during university, so that is probably where my love of beer started. I’m a very technical person and love getting into the nuts and bolts of things,” Mr Quayle said.

“Brewing beer is art and science, my mum was an artist, so maybe I’ve got that side from her, and my dad was a mathematician, so the combination has probably given me the right pedigree to love brewing.”

“It’s a fine line that we tread to ensure we are remaining consistent to our brand and quality, while putting out as much beer as we can, without cutting corners.”

In brewing, there is a delicate dance between temperature, time, and ingredients. Each degree hotter or cooler, each hour or day longer will change the structure and taste of the beer.

The full display of this dance is seen in the range of beers offered at Henry St Brewhouse.

From the balanced Brewberry Sour, named after Drew Whitehead himself, with its combination of berries adding a subtle sweetness without stepping the line, to velvet-smooth Belgian Dubbel.

It’s a no-nonsense approach to brewing with the hands of a team totally devoted to handcrafting exquisite beers using the “finest ingredients, a lot of passion, and even more hard work.”

Flanked by the microbrewery’s almost entirely visible machinery, Henry St Brewhouse provides a cosy capacity for 75 people inside flanked by an inviting fireplace, with a further 20 spaces outside.

Henry St Brewhouse is open Friday 4pm to 10pm, Saturday 2pm to 10pm and
Sunday 1pm to 7pm.

Just a short walk over Macaulay Rd along Stubbs St, you’ll find the second cornerstone of Kensington’s growing fermenting family.

Bonehead Brewing was conceptualised by two self-admitted “boneheads”, wanting to part with their homebrew kits for greener pastures.

Travis Nott and Anthony Dinoto are best mates and the minds behind Bonehead Brewing, the growing microbrewery calling Parsons St home.

“The whole block was originally my dad’s body shop in 1970. I have basically been here since before I was born. I remember coming home from kinder and coming into the office there,” Mr Dinoto said.

Mr Dinoto worked at his family business next door until launching Bonehead Brewing with Mr Nott in 2018.

Although their business is still young, brewing together dates back far longer than their time in their freshly fitted warehouse.

“When we first started brewing in 2004, I was working for Fosters Australia. That’s where I fell in love with beer, the marketing of beer and different types of beer,” Mr Nott said. “Back then, there wasn’t a lot of microbrewing, everything was either imports or the big Australian names.”

“On the same weekend, I called Anth and said, ‘hey, what are you doing this weekend? I’m thinking of making some beer’ and he said, ‘I’m doing the same thing.’ So, we kind of started doing that together.”

“We started doing mini mashes on my stove using a 10-litre pot and a muslin bag. For a long time, it was just brew in a bag but then we moved into more complex systems, which replicates what we now have on a larger scale.”

From there, conversations graduated to the idea of opening a bar together, but the pair soon realised they’d prefer to be “playing while others are working” rather than the inverse, planting the seed for a life in production.

As part of his best man’s speech at Mr Nott’s wedding, Mr Dinoto first told the crowd of their plans to open a microbrewery. Of those ears to hear the news for the first time was Mr Nott’s surprised wife.

Now, with brand-new machinery installed to increase capacity, Bonehead Brewing is a finelytuned, small-scale, machine that is dogged in its pursuit of achievement beyond expectation .

With the avoidance of another COVID induced lockdown key, the team at Bonehead Brewing is looking to take its business to new heights.

“We had to change our business model completely. We got extremely fortunate with time that we purchased a canning line before Christmas 2019,” Mr Dinoto said.

“During lockdown we transitioned almost entirely to producing cans, while setting up an online store overnight and hitting bottle shops as hard as we could.”

“It benefitted us in a way because it levelled the playing field, because it meant the big boys couldn’t throw their weight around in independent bottle shops like they could in pubs. We managed to get our beer in more hands than we could ever before.”

Bonehead Brewing’s warehouse is designed to make the most of the sun on the weekend and at night it becomes an intimate, closed, space with the fire going and a relaxed, industrial feel.

The space, that boasts walls covered in locally produced artwork and full visual access to their production line, is outshone only by their selection of eclectic, award-winning, beers.

Their core range consists of five key beers, including Mum’s Pilsner, an ode to Mr Nott’s homebrew kit given to him by his mum; Revered, a balanced sweet and bitter America-style red ale; and Sweet Pea, an inviting dark lager.

“We don’t have any IPAs or stock lager pale ales. The reason we have put together this range is because we felt we were coming late to the craft beer dance. We needed to make sure we had the moves no one else did,” Mr Nott said.

“One of our most popular beers is our Sweet Pea, Melbourne dark lager. Kind of like a Schwarzbier, a European dark larger and Czech dark lager all mashed together. It has picked up two silvers and a bronze at the Indie awards.”

The Bonehead Brewing team is open Friday 4pm to 11pm, Saturday 2pm to 11pm

and Sunday 2pm to 8pm.

With Bakery Hill Distillery, one of Melbourne’s finest whisky producers, expected to set up shop in suburb by the end of the year, Kensington is looking is slowly becoming the destination for all things grog •