By Justin Flynn
A brewery has signed a 15-year lease to move into North Geelong’s historic Federal Woollen Mills site.
Valhalla Brewing will build a 1500 litre automated brewhouse at the site with capacity to brew up to 500,000 litres of craft beer per year.
Plans include a 200-seat taproom onsite, with an estimated opening date of March 2023.
Valhalla’s Union Street taproom located in the Geelong CBD, which opened in December 2018, will continue to operate.
Founded in 2016, the 2021 Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA) Champion Gypsy Brewer has been on the look-out for the ideal location for a brewery and taproom for the past few years.
While several opportunities have failed to reach fruition, Valhalla founding director Scott Hunt believes the Federal Mills lease proves that good things come to those who wait.
“While we have been disappointed that a number of previous opportunities have fallen through, in hindsight we now see that we just needed to be patient for this site to become available,” he said.
“We are now in a position to build a state-of-the-art brewing facility in Geelong and offer locals and visitors to the region a craft beer experience as good as any in the Geelong and Surf Coast regions.”
The Federal Mills site is a hub of creative, technology and hospitality businesses. The 50,000 square metre heritage-listed site is home to more than 50 businesses and organisations, including Anther Distillery and 1915 Restaurant.
Mr Hunt believes that Valhalla is the ideal addition to the already vibrant precinct.
“We are excited to be working alongside such great local businesses such as Anther and 1915,” he said.
“Adding Valhalla to the mix will not only make the Federal Mills precinct an even more exciting place to work, it will help establish the site as a go-to hospitality experience for the entire region.”
