Declaration of independence
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Become a citizen of the world’s first beer micronation.
Brewland’s borders are open to everyone. We value the contributions of all our loyal citizens who enrich this country and continue its legacy as a place for passion, innovation and independence.
As a reward for your allegiance, we’re offering one free pint for all our citizens who bring along their certificate during Good Beer Week May 10-19 2019*.
To become a citizen enter your details in the form below:
*Enjoy a free pint from our core range in the grounds of Brewland during Good Beer Week (May 10-19 2019) upon presentation of your Brewland citizenship certificate. Limit 1 free pint per citizen.
How to find us
We’re only 270km (3hrs) northeast of Melbourne and 6 hours from Sydney, with airport and rail access nearby.
Brewland tours – daily at 11am
Cross the borders into Brewland and discover how we craft our beer and why it’s different. Official tours start at 11am daily, where you’ll learn why our beer has certain colours or flavours, while watching our nation’s top brewers craft the beers you love.
Learn more
There’s more on offer than just drinking in the sights, smells and tastes of our on-site brewery. Why not stay for lunch too? Our restaurant serves up pizza (our national delicacy) that will perfectly match your tasting paddle.
Cost: $15 per person – includes 4 tasting paddle
Book ahead by calling: 03 57282703
Beechworth — meet our neighbour
Nestled in the heart of Beechworth, Brewland is proud to share borders with Australia’s best preserved 19th century gold mining town.
Learn more
Sitting 560m above sea level, Beechworth provides a tremendous showcase for the seasons – it’s a place of long hot summers, stunning autumns, proper winters, and a truly vibrant spring.
What makes the town’s iconic streetscape so instantly charming are its buildings, all largely constructed in the same style, at roughly the same time (1850s) and with the same material – the local honey-coloured granite.
However, it’s what this picture-perfect town houses that’s of most interest: mountain biking trails, fine dining, wineries, boutiques, an ever-evolving arts community, year-round festivals, and amazing local food producers. Beechworth is a town where the only thing that seems to stand still is its history.
With only 3700 permanent residents, Beechworth has the perfect mix of high country hospitality and city sophistication.
Come visit us soon!
A vital part of the brewing process, our president selects only the finest ingredients for each batch of brew.
1. Water
The mineral content of brewing water has long been recognised as making an important contribution to the flavour of beer. This is especially important since water composes more than 90% of the beer. Historically, different regions have become famous for their classic beer styles as defined by the waters available for brewing. In Brewland, we adjust our water mineral content to suit each style of beer by adding or not adding certain salts.
2. Malt
Malted grain is the most important ingredient in beer. Malt is where most of the flavour and all the sugars, which are converted to alcohol by the yeast, will be derived from. The malting process consists of wetting the grain and allowing it to germinate. The grain is then dried and tumbled to knock the beginnings of roots off. The grain is then kilned dried and sometimes caramelised or roasted to create dark malts for use in beers such as porter and stout.
3. Hops
Hops are what give beer much of its bitterness and aroma, act as a preservative, and help in head retention. Hops are flowers that grow on a vine. Some grow very rapidly –about a foot per day. Only the female plants are used for making beer –male plants are only used for breeding. The female plants have the hop cone that contains lupulin glands –which are vital in beer. There are two types of hops: Aroma and Bittering hops. Bittering hops are added early on in the boil. Aroma hops are added at the end or after the boil.
4. Yeast
Yeast are small single cell organisms. They are everywhere you can imagine. When making beer the yeast used for ales is different than that for lagers. There are many strains of this yeast to obtain different flavour profiles. Ales ferment at higher temperatures (18-20C) than do lagers (10-12C). Yeast is used to convert sugars, originating from the malted grain, into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Without yeast your beer would be sweet, sticky and alcohol free ie. soft drink.
The Brewland brewing process
Under the guidance of our esteemed president, our nation’s top brewers concoct the perfect brew.
1. Milling
The first step in the brewing process after a recipe has been created is to elect and weigh malts before milling them into moderately fine particles. In Brewland, the milled grain is transferred to a hopper above the mash tun a day ahead of brewing.
2. Mashing
Mashing involves the mixing of the milled malted grains with hot water to create a mix known as the mash. Typical mashes have a a mixture of three parts water to one part grain. Once mixed, the mash is left to stand at 65C for 60 mins. At this temperature starches are converted to sugars that are digestible for the yeast. These sugars will provide us with the alcohol during fermentation. The liquid that is removed from the mash is sweet and sticky and known as wort.
3. Boiling
The wort is run to the kettle (sometimes known as the copper, even though they are nowadays fabricated from stainless steel) where is is boiled. Boiling the wort serves various function, including sterilisation, and locking in the bitterness of the hops. The addition of hops first occurs in the brewing at the start of the boil, where the essential oils are extracted which provides the bitterness to the beer. A typical boil lasts around 60 mins with hops added at different points to impart bitterness, aroma and flavour.
4. Cooling
This is where the hot wort gets its chance to cool before it is saturated with oxygen. This heat exchange utilises both the town water supply and chilled glycol to achieve a temperature drop of more than 75°C, from 95°C to 18°C. The water used is heated as a result and used for the following brew.
5. Fermentation
After the transfer via the heat exchange is complete, the hopped wort is pitched with yeast. This is the place where the yeasties get busy, multiplying by the billion overnight. Fermentation in Brewland is usually complete within 7 days at temperatures as high as 20°C in ales and 10°C in lagers.
6. Maturing
Once fermentation is complete the beer is in fact a beer and is allowed to condition and undergo their secondary fermentation. Most of the yeast has been removed, but those left are allowed to chill and mop up the mess their relos made during the primary ferment.
7. Kegging and Bottling
In Brewland we package our beer in bottles and kegs. The majority of our bottled beer is bottle conditioned, which means it is bottled without bubbles, and undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle to provide carbonation. As our beers are live we ask you to treat them with care, keep them out of the sun and don’t let them get hot!
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