160 YEARS AGO IN GEELONG
(From the pages of the Geelong Chronicle)
GEELONG BEER
In 1863, there were two main breweries in Geelong: Volum’s Geelong Brewery in Corio Street and Powell’s Corio Brewery in Little Malop Street. Other breweries had come and gone over the previous 20 years or so but these were the two stayers. A reporter from the Geelong Chronicle tasted the wares of both establishments and made his comparison known. He seemed to have a bob each way!
“A tankard of Volum’s treble XXX is no way inferior to the best ale ever imported from England or Scotland. But while we would do justice to Volum’s treble XXX, we cannot pass over in silence the last two or three batches of ale made by our old friend Mr Thomas Powell, which, in point of flavour, strength and colour, is nothing inferior to that produced at the more famous brewery.”
Volum’s, Geelong Brewery, had the longer pedigree. It was the first local brewery, commenced in the 1840s by Scotsman, John Cumming. Cumming made a lot of money from quenching the thirst of Geelongites and established a pastoral dynasty in the Western District of Victoria – continued by his sons. When Cumming died in 1858, the brewery was bought by retired sea-captain, James Volum.
In Volum’s time, the brewery works were described as having a large barley store, a malt kiln, and a mash tub able to hold 800 gallons. There was a six-horsepower steam engine with a boiler of eight pounds pressure to the inch. After fermentation ceased, the beer was sieved and poured into barrels for the market in two compartments, each measuring 42 feet by 16 feet.
Powell’s, Corio Brewery, was established around 1850 by another Scotsman, Thomas Aitken. When Aitken moved to Melbourne to establish a brewery there, Thomas Powell, who had been a publican in Geelong, moved to the wholesale side of the business.
The battle of rival ales was just a matter of taste. Another journalist at the time thought that “the demand for colonial ale has increased so rapidly that there will be plenty of room for the products of both businesses”.
In fact, by the end of 1865, there were at least three more breweries in Geelong: the Pivot Brewery, attached to the Clare Hotel, Bellerine Street; Treacy’s West End Brewery in Latrobe Terrace, near the railway station; and Walker’s South Geelong Brewery in Fyans Street.
This article was provided by the Geelong Historical Society. For enquiries, email admin@geelonghistoricalsociety.org.au or write C/- P.O. Box 7129, Geelong West, 3218.
