At Glencoe B&B we offer local beer, wine and cider for sale…many from breweries Tasmania. We like to promote local businesses. If our guests like a product…then it is usually less than an hour’s drive to go to the cellar door and purchase some more to take home.
Russ is your man for beer. He likes to stock local and other Tasmanian craft beers. Have you tried a Covid Killer or a Tropical Fruit Sour? Maybe a Spotty Dog or a Peanut Butter Porter. Locally, there are several boutique breweries.
In Railton, there is Seven Sheds. Seven Sheds is a craft brewery, and their range includes a number of beers inspired by ingredients grown and produced in the Cradle Coast region including quinoa, oats, raspberries and honey. While the style is heavily influenced by English and European ales, Seven Sheds also produces quirky styles including a beetroot steam ale, a barrel-aged India Pale Ale and a Tart Cherry Saison brewed with Kentish cherries. Seven Sheds also produces a range of mead wines and one or more is usually available for tasting on request. The meads range from sweet and sparkling table wines to dry, medium and spiced meads.
There are two newcomers to the beer scene. Firstly, there is Penguin Beer Co. located on Main Road, Penguin. It’s a great way to spend an afternoon tasting their range of locally brewed beers from local North West breweries in Tasmania. Dine in from lunch until dinner 7 days a week. The tap house features a deck overlooking the beautiful beach of Penguin – relax and experience a tasting paddle of our signature brews. Entertainment weekly, live music, events and catering. Irene generally doesn’t like beer, but she will drink Penguin; now that’s saying something.
Penguin Beer Co has just brought Buttons Brew Pub on the Wharf in Ulverston. Buttons is a local production brewery that is still located in Ulverston. Buttons is now concentrating on producing the best beer possible. Owner Josh Roberts and brewer Dale Brooks are dedicating their time to developing recipes and designing prototypes. The brewery cans a large portion of our beers and sells them to only the best bottle shops and cafes around Tasmania.
They have 6 beers in their core range: Pale Ale, Draught, Session Ale, Brown Ale, IPA and Lager, but are always experimenting with new brews. Penguin is renaming the Brew Pub to Island State Brewing and will have 4 taps dedicated to Buttons beers.
The second newcomer is Communion Brewing Co located in Burnie. Communion is located inside a stunning Art Deco building that once housed one of Burnie’s first car dealerships and is as much a restaurant as it is a brewery. Sure, there’s the 500-litre brewhouse, steel tanks and a wide array of beer styles on offer, but the 120-seat venue is open every day and serves up a far more substantial food menu than many other breweries out there – predominantly dishes built for sharing that feature beer as an ingredient. It makes sense. After all, if you visit a place called Communion Brewing seeking communion of one form or another, what better communion is there than sharing in food, beer and a chat from one of the breweries Tasmania?
Tasmania is renowned for its wines, too. There are too many wineries around the local area to list here. When you stay at Glencoe, we can show you all the many things you can do and the wineries you can visit. The closest two that have excellent cellar doors are La Villa Wines located in Spreyton, and the well-known Ghost Rock Wines at Northdown. Ghost Rock has an excellent restaurant with stunning views over the vineyard.
Here’s something for those who like spirits. Hellyers Road Distillery near Burnie produces single malt whiskies of true distinction. From Hellyers:
- We are home to arguably the world’s most unique whisky still (known as the ‘Secret Still’).
- We are recognised for having an incredibly unique and distinctive signature style – rare in today’s age (think Ardbeg, Glenmorangie).
- We brew our own wort for mashing, distil our own new make spirit and bottle our own whisky. One of the very few true craft distilleries in Australia to do this.
- We often produce triple distilled single malt whiskies – rare for a southern hemisphere distillery.
- We produce a variety of highly recognised and unique peated whisky styles awarded on the world stage.
- We release our single malts at an average age of 12 years old.
- We are one of only a few producers in the world to make truly fresh cream single malt whisky liqueurs.
In Devonport there is Southern Wild Distillery, the makers of Dasher and Fisher Gin. The gins are named after the two wild rivers, the Dasher and the Fisher, which run from the snowmelt of Cradle Mountain through the rich hinterland to the pristine coast. Three gins are based on the landscape and the ingredients that are found in the area: Mountain, Meadow and Ocean, using the ‘Tassie Trio’ of ingredients – native pepperberry, lavender and wakame. They are uniquely Tasmanian, wild and pure. The focal point of the distillery is a unique copper still designed by distiller George Burgess, which also has a tasting room and a bar serving cocktails using a unique range of spirits and liqueurs made onsite.
Western Tiers Distillery is located near Westbury, a historic town in the region. With pristine water sourced from the Highland Lakes, botanicals sourced from the Western Tiers, and dedication and a commitment to staying true to their passion, Western Tiers Distillery is now producing a range of premium Tasmanian spirits. A triple-distilled, Single Malt Whisky, premium Gin, Vodka, and for the rebellious at heart, a smooth and uniquely Tasmanian Poitín. At the heart of their new distillery are the unique and beautiful copper pot stills, designed by Stillsmiths Tasmania, handcrafted by Kolmark at their Westbury workshop from the highest quality copper sourced from Europe. Utilising a state-of-the-art control system, Stillsmiths Tasmania has created a fully automated next generation distillery which means Western Tiers Distillery can focus on their passion; creating spirits of unmatched smoothness and flavour. Western Tiers Distillery showcases a fabulous selection of premium Tasmanian whisky at their tasting bar, and conducts tours, tasting and meals made from local produce, offering a unique Tasmanian experience.
Two close cider producers are Spreyton Cider at Spreyton. The family who owns Spreyton Cider has lived in the area since the 1850s and has been growing apples since 1908. Since its inception, Spreyton Cider Co has won numerous awards for our cider in competitions all over Australia. They have continued to develop the craft cider category by growing ‘cider specific’ varieties of apples that will further improve the traditional ciders that are produced. Spreyton say they are serious about real cider made from real apples and use both traditional and more contemporary techniques to ensure the quality of what we produce. They also often have live music at the cellar door with a cafe onsite. A perfect place to spend an afternoon.
For something different, there’s also Redbrick Road Ciderworks and Distillery located at Deloraine. Red Brick Road handcraft ciders and perries with only natural ingredients, based on traditional techniques with a twist of innovation and experimentation. As family cider makers, they believe in real cider made from real fruit by real people. All of their ciders and perries are sugar-free, unpasteurised, unfiltered and made only from natural fermentation processes. This means that they are dry and cloudy and sometimes funky compared to many commercial ciders. But if you taste them, you’ll see that this minimalist approach means that you really taste the apples and pears that have been used. They are blended and bottle-fermented with the same care as Tassie’s top sparkling wines, so if you look you’ll find soft, creamy bubbles and a gentle yeast flavour that adds to all the fruit.
As you can see, you can spend several days sampling the liquid delights of the area. I haven’t even mentioned Prickly Moes – when you stay at Glencoe we will tell you about this little gem.
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