News

Kim Churchill to set Bright alight at Darker Days 2021

Australian live roots legend Kim Churchill will headline an all-star line-up for the return of Bright Brewery’s DARKER DAYS festival for 2021.

After the horror show of 2020, Bright’s annual midwinter festival, DARKER DAYS, will rise from the ashes from July 16-18, 2021.

A celebration of all things dark and decadent – with a special focus on dark beer, live music and crackling bonfires – DARKER DAYS 2021 will be bigger, better, darker and diving deeper into winter than ever before, with three full days of events.

With festivities to enjoy across the weekend, Saturday’s main Festival Day will heat up with 10 hours of live music, cold beer, hot food, local drinks & roaring fires.

Surf-rock icon Churchill will be joined on the bill an eclectic line-up of Victorian musicians, including seven-piece funk outfit Funk Rabbit, returning pop-punk trio Since We Kissed, and indie-pop/rock duo This Way North.

And we are very excited to announce that our friends at Mr Banks Brewing Co & Molly Rose Brewing will be joining us on the dark side, as our special Guest Brewers at DARKER DAYS 2021.

Best known for its exciting line-up of fun, small-batch beers, including hop-forward ales, super sours and crushable lagers, Mr Banks is synonymous with innovation and quirky releases.
Molly Rose prides itself on bringing people together through beer – some we value here at Bright Brewery – and their eclectic and creative beers are designed to do just that!
We’ll also be joined by award-winning High Country producers and our recent collaborators Reed & Co Distillery, Backwoods Distilling, and Alpine Cider.

Bright Brewery Marketing Manager Laura Gray said while the core elements of Darker Days would remain the same – beer, music, food & fire – the 2021 festival would be bigger than ever.
“It’s been a long time in between drinks at Darker Days and we know festival-goers are just as keen to get to Bright as we are to see them!” Gray said.
“Having missed 2020, we thought we’d come back with a bang for 2021.
“We are absolutely stoked to be welcoming our friends from Mr Banks Brewing and Molly Rose, between the two of us, we’ve got a huge range of incredible beers on offer.
“Think a vintage Stubborn Russian Bar, Affogato Stout sundaes, and some beautiful barrel-aged releases as well.”

The weekend’s festivities include:

Friday, July 16:
• Brewer For A Day with Bright’s Head Brewer Reid Stratton
• Weekend Welcome Party with free live music
• Darker Dinner

Saturday, July 17:
• Festival Day
• Guided Brewery Tours

Sunday, July 18:
• Brewer’s Breakfast
• Barker Days Fundraiser for RSPCA Vic
• Recovery Session with free live music

Some events across the weekend will be free, with others ticketed. Children can attend the main festival day free of charge.

Early Bird prices are available for those keen to lock in their plans early, and a weekend-long VIP Darker Pass is available for those who want to fully immerse themselves in the dark side!

Tickets are now on sale. If the booking page does not appear below, please refresh your page or click here.

Easter at Bright Brewery

Get egg-cited – Easter is coming!

And we’re open every day – including Good Friday – pouring cold beers, local gin & wine, and serving beautiful fresh meals.

Doors open at 11.30am daily, and lunch starts at 12pm.

Here in beautiful regional Victoria, it’s sometimes easy to forget that we are still living in COVID-times. Life is not back to normal, but we’re all getting used to “COVID-normal”.

Our venue capacity is still reduced due to COVID restrictions, we are still managing labour-intensive requirements like table service, sanitisation, managing crowd numbers, etc. This is to ensure your safety, and the safety of our beautiful community.

And, unfortunately, like the rest of Bright – we are also experiencing a severe staff shortage.

We want everyone who visits us to have the best possible experience, and we are prioritising quality over quantity, so we are no longer taking any bookings for the Easter period.

If you don’t already have a booking and you’d still like to join us, please pop by and we’ll do our best to seat you if we have capacity.

If we don’t have capacity, please be understanding. We would love to be able to host everyone who walks through our doors but, at the moment, we just can’t.

But back to the fun stuff…

Children of Bright & surrounds, little visitors and their parents are invited to join us at Bright Brewery at 11am on Easter Saturday for our annual Easter Egg Scramble.

This hugely-popular annual event has become a must-do for chocolate-lovers and those who love a bit of competition!

The Scramble kicks off at 11am SHARP this Saturday. Bring a bucket, bring a basket, bring a wheelbarrow. Just don’t be late – chocolate waits for no child!

More details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/618982865640973

Bright launches Australia’s first beer can handle recycling scheme

In what is believed to be a first in Australia’s craft beer industry, Bright Brewery has rolled out a national recycling scheme for Paktech beer can handles in bottleshops across the country.

Bright Brewery-branded Paktech recycling bins are being installed in independent bottleshops and supermarkets from this week.

Beer lovers can drop any plastic Paktech beer can handles into the bins – whether they’re from Bright beers or any other brewery – to ensure they’re recycled correctly.

Bright Brewery National Sales Manager Evin Craney said the recycling scheme was an important part of Bright’s Sustainability Program.

“We believe this is the first recycling scheme of this kind in Australia,” Craney said. “We pride ourselves on acting sustainably in every aspect of our business, and this seemed like an obvious way to do that on a much bigger scale.

“We will collect all the handles, and make sure they are all are reused or properly recycled, as part of our ongoing quest to lessen the environmental impact of craft beer.”

Paktechs are made from 100% recycled milk containers and are also 100% recyclable – a fact that Bright’s Marketing Manager Laura Gray said was lost on many beer drinkers.

“Most people don’t realise that they are actually made of recycled materials, and they are completely and infinitely recyclable,” she said. “They are also really sturdy and re-usable, which makes them even more sustainable.”

Craney said the idea for the recycling scheme, like all great ideas, was concocted over a few cold beers, in order to solve a problem all beer-drinkers face.

“We have always recycled and reused our own Paktechs in-house. But we know that, anecdotally, many beer drinkers don’t even know they are recyclable and are just throwing them out.”

The first bin was installed at Carwyn Cellars in Thornbury earlier this week and general manager Ben Duval said he was thrilled to be involved.

“As soon as Bright came to me with the idea, I knew it was gold,” he said. “Beer drinkers never know what to do with the handles, and they just end up getting chucked out.

“Bright has solved a massive problem for us and for our customers, and I can’t believe no brewery has thought to do this before now!”

The bins are currently rolling out to Bright’s independent retail customers across Victoria, with other states to follow shortly.

Craney said Bright was hoping to implement the same program within the major national “big box” retailers to increase the awareness around sustainable practices in the craft beer industry and implement the program on a larger scale.

“We are hoping that the success of these in independent retailers helps translate over to the major chains as we continually develop new ways to lessen our carbon footprint,” Craney said.

Bright Brewery Paktech/Beer Can Handle Recycling Bins are available to beer retailers across Australia.

To register your interest, secure your bin and help Bright help the planet, please email Evin Craney on nationalmanager@brightbrewery.com.au

Hellfire Amber lands in Dan Murphy’s across Victoria

Bright Brewery is thrilled to announce its partnership with Dan Murphy’s, which will see their beloved Hellfire Amber Ale stocked in every Dan Murphy’s store across Victoria from today.

Hellfire Amber Ale has rolled out to all 74 Victorian Dan Murphy’s stores, including its flagship South Melbourne store, which officially reopens today. In South Melbourne, Hellfire sits alongside four other Bright Brewery beers including Alpine Lager, Blowhard Pale Ale, M.I.A. IPA and Bright Sour.

Hellfire Amber Ale is a staple of Bright’s core range line-up, and has been brewed continuously for 15 years, tweaked along the way to its current state of perfection by Head Brewer Reid Stratton.

The Dan Murphy’s partnership signifies the first state-wide ranging of a Bright Brewery beer in a large retailer and comes straight off the back off an incredibly tough year, after the Brewery was hit not just by the global pandemic but also bushfires in January 2020.

Bright Brewery National Sales Manager Evin Craney said the move was a “huge step forward” for the brewery.

“Our whole team has come together during, arguably, the hardest time imaginable to not only reinvent Bright Brewery for a larger audience but grow the brand from a small-town business to what it is now, with so much more still to come,” Craney said.

“It’s confirmation of a lot of hard work paying off, and being able to showcase Hellfire to such a wide audience after all these years is an incredibly exciting opportunity.”

Bright Brewery Marketing Manager Laura Gray said the brewery’s presence in the craft beer market had exploded in recent years.

“For the first 12 years of its life, Bright Brewery only existed within Bright for visitors to Bright,” Gray Said. “Then, three years ago, we built a multi-million dollar production facility to allow us to meet demand and started selling wholesale as well.

“Since then, we’ve built an army of partner venues and retailers around Australia – in every state and territory (except the NT) but our heart and soul remains in Victoria, so we are absolutely thrilled that beer lovers all over Victoria will now be able to easily and regularly find our beer at Dan Murphy’s.”

A rich and malty Amber Ale, Hellfire oozes with caramel sweetness and toasty highlights thanks to the complex blend of malts and fruity yeast. Its hypnotically fiery red colour inspired Bright to name it after Hellfire Gully – an exhilarating drop off the side of Victoria’s Mount Feathertop, known only to adventurous backcountry skiers.

“It’s the perfect beer for sipping around an Autumn campfire, with a rich Sunday roast, or after a day of adventuring in the mountains with friends,” Gray said.

You can find Hellfire Amber Ale at all Victorian Dan Murphy’s stores, straight from the source in Bright, and in our Web Shop.

Product recall: Pineapple Dream Milkshake Ale

Bright Brewery is devastated to announce that we have launched an immediate product recall of our Pineapple Dream Nitro Milkshake Ale cans.

The recall covers Batch PCD01 of 355ml cans with a best before date of 05/11/21 printed on the base of the can. Kegs of Pineapple Dream are not affected by this recall.

Unfortunately, we suspect that cans stored in ambient temperatures may be experiencing secondary fermentation, leading to possible bulging and/or eventual rupture of the can.

This continued fermentation may also lead to an increase in the ABV, above the stated 6.2%.

Cans which have been stored chilled, including all stock at Bright Brewery, are not affected by this issue, however in the interest of ensuring our customer’s safety and in keeping with our company value of Authenticity, we have decided to immediately recall all cans.

The affected products have been available for sale in Victoria, New South Wales, ACT, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania. Please note that no other Bright Brewery beers are affected by this recall.

On learning of this issue today, we immediately enacted our Independent Brewers Association-approved Product Recall Plan, and have notified all relevant state and federal health authorities.

Official Bright Brewery Recall Notice

We encourage customers who have purchased cans, either from Bright Brewery or retail outlets, to safely dispose of the cans (using the information below) and to contact your place of purchase for a full refund, if you have not already consumed them.

Customers who may have already consumed the products are assured that the beer is 100% safe for consumption.

All of our wholesale customers are receiving a full credit for the products. This process is already underway.

Here at Bright Brewery, the quality of our beer and safety of our customers are our primary priorities. We have been brewing craft beer in Bright for 15 years and we are shattered to discover that, for the first time in our history, one of our products has not met the extremely high standards we aim to achieve with every beer.

In the past two years, we have consciously and continually pushed the boundaries of craft beer and experimented with new techniques and ingredients. Unfortunately, some experiments do not lead to success.

Secondary fermentation in cans can occur due to continued activity of the brewer’s yeast, or by a contaminating yeast or bacteria. Each of these factors can be exacerbated by incorporating non-traditional beer products in the brewing process.

At this stage, we are unsure which has occurred, but we are committed to ensuring the high quality of our beers and so, will be having the beer assessed by scientists at the Australian Wine Research Institute to ensure we learn everything we can from this experience and to ensure it does not happen again.

For further information, or to obtain a refund for products purchased from Bright Brewery, please email info@brightbrewery,com.au or call 03 5755 1346.

To safely dispose of cans: If a four-pack carrier is still on the cans, do not remove it. Place all cans carefully in an outside bin and cover with piece of cardboard or other suitable material. Cans that have been stored at ambient temperature are more susceptible to rupturing than cans stored under refrigeration.

To request a refund:

Did you buy your beer from Bright Brewery bar? If not already consumed, please dispose of the cans safely, and email us on info@brightbrewery.com.au and we will arrange an immediate refund for you.

Did you buy your beer from Bright Brewery website? If not already consumed, please dispose of the cans safely, and email us on info@brightbrewery.com.au and we will arrange an immediate refund for you.

Did you buy your beer from a retail outlet/bottle shop/pub/etc? If not already consumed, please dispose of the cans safely, and return to your point of purchase for a full refund.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What product is being recalled?

Pineapple Dream Nitro Milkshake Ale cans: Batch PCD01 of 355ml cans with a best before date of 05/11/21

Why is this product being re-called?

The product has been recalled as a precautionary measure to ensure that customers get the best experience of our product. We believe the beer is undergoing secondary fermentation, which can lead to bulging, potential rupture of the cans, and an ABV higher than the stated level.

Where can I find the batch number and date code?

Cans: Both the batch code and the date code can be found on the base of each can. Batch PCD01; BB 05/11/21

Cases: Both the batch code and the date code can be found on a label on the side of each case. Batch PCD01; BB 05/11/21

What happens if I have already drunk some of this beer?

We assure you that the beer was 100% safe for consumption, and the taste of the beer remains unaffected. The risks to our customers come from the potential for an higher alcohol level, and the potential for bulging and/or rupture of the cans.

What should I do if I have some of this beer at home?

Any can that shows any level of expansion should be treated very carefully.

If a four-pack carrier is still on the cans, do not remove it. Place all cans carefully in an outside bin and cover with piece of cardboard or other suitable material. Cans that have been stored at ambient temperature are more susceptible to rupturing than cans stored in refrigeration.

How do I claim my refund or replacement and where?

Did you buy your beer from Bright Brewery bar? If not already consumed, please dispose of the cans safely, and email us on info@brightbrewery.com.au and we will arrange an immediate refund for you.

Did you buy your beer from a retail outlet/bottle shop/pub/etc? If not already consumed, please dispose of the cans safely, and return to your point of purchase for a full refund.

Why isn’t my favourite beer on tap?

By Shaunagh O’Connell

2020 has been a crazy year – not just for breweries but for all of us. You’re out of lockdown, you want to visit your favourite brewery in Bright, and relax on the Hop Terrace with a pint of your favourite beer – but it’s not on tap! The horror! Breweries have had nothing to do but brew beer for six months, right? Wrong. Read on to find out what’s been happening behind the bars of your favourite breweries this year…

PRE-COVID

Prior to COVID Lockdown #1 in late March, we were brewing at about 80% of our full capacity here at Bright Brewery. With summer bushfires having wiped out our entire tourist season and visitors only just having started returning to town, we had not yet returned to full capacity.

As usual, the majority of this beer was packaged into kegs for sale through our Brewery Door and mostly Melbourne pubs, bars, and restaurants. Only a small percentage was packaged into bottles and cans.

COVID STRIKES

When COVID struck in late March, our Brewery Door was forced to close with only a couple of days’ notice – along with every single pub, bar, brewery, and restaurant around Australia. In the blink of an eye, 90% of our stockists were gone. You could not buy draft beer anywhere in Australia. Bottleshops remained open around Australia to the joy of beer-lovers (and brewers!) Australia-wide.

With our Brewery Door, which generates the majority of Bright Brewery’s revenue, closed, Bright Brewery’s management decided to prioritise keeping as many people as possible in work – approximately 30 local people, across all areas of the business, including long-term casuals, were kept employed through this period. While JobKeeper helped, and bottleshops were still buying, we needed to try and make some revenue in uncharted waters – online sales and free home delivery of beer throughout Melbourne and regional Victoria.

It was all hands on deck. Our Sales Manager began delivering beer to people’s homes five days a week; we created an Online Sales team within 48 hours; Bar Staff were painting the Brewery Door in preparation for reopening and delivering food and beer throughout Bright every afternoon and evening; our Venue Manager spent her days gardening; our Founder, Scott Brandon, paved a huge outdoor area.

Sales through bottleshops and online boomed and we quickly returned to brewing (and selling) the same volume as we had pre-COVID (80% of capacity).

But with pubs and bars still closed and with no re-opening date in sight, venues began returning kegs to us as they couldn’t sell them. And we (along with most other breweries) became concerned about the quality of the beer in those kegs should they keep sitting there. At Bright, we pride ourselves on fresh, high-quality beer that is free of preservatives.

But with packaged beer sales at an all-time high, we managed to save about two thirds of these kegs by pushing the beer into cans. Sadly, though, about a third of the kegs could not be saved and have to be disposed of (read: poured down the drain) at huge expense.

REGIONAL VIC REOPENS

In June, things began to look slightly more positive with venues, including our own, in regional Victoria reopened. But with visitation severely limited, and 80% of our normal wholesale income coming from Melbourne, this did not mean profit for the business, in fact, quite the opposite.

With no keg venues open in Melbourne, packaged beer remained the most financially viable way forward for us and most other brewers so kegs were in limited supply.

COVID STRIKES AGAIN

In August, after a couple of months of freedom, COVID’s second wave hit Victoria and we shut down again. Hospitality across Victoria was devastated. Breweries again stopped packaging kegs as there was no end date in sight for venues to reopen.

But we’d been here before – we knew what we had to do, and Online Sales and Wholesale Sales kicked up another notch.

During this time, our Sales Team struck a deal to get Bright Brewery beer distributed in every state in Australia (except the Northern Territory) and even into Singapore. This was a major coup for us, especially in the midst of a lockdown.

LOCKDOWN LIFTS

Within the past 2 months, we’ve seen Melbourne reopen and state borders begin to lift. Demand for fresh beer shot up overnight and once Melbourne’s hospitality industry reopened, we sold out of kegs immediately.

While we opened our venue to just 40 people initially, capacity has shot up to 400, the whole state is travelling and our Brewery Door is already catering for crowds we don’t normally see until the summer peak.

But this all happened very quickly, and fresh beer is in very high demand across the country.

Remember, we were already brewing at 80% of our capacity during lockdown, thanks to packaged beer sales only. And since the start of November when Melbourne reopened, our core range beer sales have increased by another 230%.

Our brewers are working overtime to try and brew and package as much beer as possible. But no matter how hard the brewers work or how many of them are working, we only have so much tank space, and yeast only works at one speed – and we are beholden to its timeframe.

Our Alpine Lager takes 4-8 weeks to brew and keg. M.I.A, our quickest brew, takes 3 weeks.

Breweries cross Australia are facing the same issues. Even mainstream brewers had to pour millions of dollars worth of draft beer down the drain and start again.

So if, when you visit us next time, your favourite brew is not on tap, this may give you a better of idea about what’s going on behind the scenes – and to reassure you that we are doing literally everything in our power to get more beer into kegs and into your glass as quickly as we can.

High Country Collab Case: a cure for what ales

Each September for the past seven years, High Country brewers have gathered at one of the region’s famous craft breweries to work side-by-side, pooling their knowledge and experience to create a special signature collaborative ale under their own Rule #47 label.

But this year, COVID-19 has meant the annual collaborative brew day won’t happen.

The good news is that this innovative bunch have instead thrown their collective efforts into producing Collab Cases featuring selections of standout beers from seven of the High Country breweries – Bright Brewery, Blizzard Brewing (Dinner Plain), Black Dog Brewery (Taminick), Bridge Road Brewers (Beechworth), King River Brewery (King Valley), Mitta Mitta Brewing Co, Billson’s Brewery (Beechworth).

Collab Cases are available online for anyone in lockdown dreaming of a High Country Brewery Trail road trip or for a loved one in need of a gift of good cheer. Or anyone anywhere in Australia keen to enjoy the best brews from Victoria’s High Country this Spring!

There are three Collab Cases to choose from each packed with a mouthwatering variety of 24 bottles or cans of fine seasonal and limited-releases, plus a couple of core faves, from each. They are:

● Dark & Stormy: 24 x Dark and decadent beers featuring a delicious selection of Porters, Stouts, Black Ales, Dark Lagers and Doppelbocks

● Light & Bright: 24 x Pale beers. A vibrant selection of Ginger Beer, Fruited Sours, Hoppy Ales, IPAs, and more.

● Mix It Up (half dark/half light): 24 x beers – half dark / half light. The perfect mix of dark and decadent beers, with light, fruity, sour, hoppy and vibrant brews to balance it all out.

High Country Brewery Trail Collab Cases are available for pre-sale until 11.59pm Sunday Oct 16, 2020. Shipping is free within Victoria and at a flat rate of $9.95 across Australia.

For more info on the Collab Cases, and to order, please click here.

Click here to find out more about the High Country Brewery Trail.

Positions vacant: Chefs & Kitchenhands

Bright Brewery is a family-owned and operated brewery, bar and restaurant, producing MountainCrafted beers in the spectacular alpine town of Bright, Victoria.

We’re a vibrant business that values the enjoyment and protection of the pristine environment that surrounds us, and the authenticity of our products and services. We embrace active and sustainable lifestyles, celebrated with great beer.

Bright Brewery is a social hub for locals and a destination for tourists. We serve great value meals for lunch and dinner (7 days a week), which helps showcase our beers when customers dine in.

Bright Brewery is seeking experienced chefs and kitchen-hands (experience not necessary for kitchen-hand positions) to join our kitchen team.

Chef Position Description

We’re looking for leaders to help us create delicious food with a craft brewery twist in a very busy environment.

We require team players who loves working with the freshest local produce and who can bring a real creative flair to our cuisine.

Job tasks and responsibilities

Reporting to and working with the Head Chef and Sous Chef, the Chefs will help lead the Kitchen Team and are accountable for delivering great and unique food for Bright Brewery’s customers.

This rewarding role includes continually improving menu quality, food sourcing, storage, preparation, cooking and waste processing.

You will be competent in all areas of cooking and cleaning, maintaining high levels of Food Hygiene Standards and HACCP controls.

Skills and experience

Qualified Chef
Must have prior experience in a high-volume hospitality environment
Experience in menu planning and demonstrated skills in high standards of menu prep and delivery
Passion and imagination for food
Interest in local produce and beer matching
Demonstrate excellent communication skills
Ability to work well within a team
Ability to identify and resolve problems efficiently
Knowledge of relevant laws and regulations relating to the hospitality industry
Proven leadership skills and lead by example
Mature attitude, honesty, loyalty and exceptional work ethic
Comply with all company policies and procedures

A knowledge of, or passion for, beer and brewing is an advantage.

In addition, Bright Brewery provides rewards and recognition programs to all staff, including quarterly and annual reward scheme to ensure great work and high performing staff never go unnoticed. We also seek to provide valuable training opportunities so all staff may further their skills and careers.

Bright Brewery is three-time Victorian Tourism Awards Gold Medal winner, Victorian Tourism Awards Hall of Fame inductee, and Australian Tourism Awards Silver Medal winner, as well as an Alpine Shire Business of the Year and Excellence In Hospitality Award winner. The successful applicant will be driven to build on these successes and high standards.

These positions offers a chance to live in a truly beautiful place with world class mountain biking, cycling, hiking, camping, paragliding, snow and river sports all at our door. We encourage broad and active lifestyles, and flexible working arrangements may be negotiated to accommodate this.

For more information, please contact Head Chef Alan Davison on the details below.

To apply:

Applications for both roles can be made confidentially by emailing covering letter and resume to kitchen@brightbrewery.com,au

For more information please contact:

Alan Davison
Head Chef, Bright Brewery
tel: 03 5755 1346

Tour de Froth Mixed Cases

Due to the imminent start of the 2020 Tour de France, our Tour de Froth cases are now only available for PICK UP FROM BRIGHT BREWERY. Read on for more info.

We apologise to those in Melbourne and further afield who may have been planning to purchase, however, the case is designed to enjoy one day at a time, in conjunction with the Tour stages. With increased shipping delays in Australia Post and local couriers, we did not want our valued beer drinkers to feel let down by delays.

But don’t despair – Tour de Froth will be back in 2021; bigger, better and more widely available than ever!

**Bright Brewery’s Tour de Froth 2020 case.**

What is Tour de Froth?

Tour de Froth is a mixed case of 21 Bright Brewery beers (and a branded beer glass!), perfectly matched to each unique stage of the 2020 Tour de France. Grab your case and your tasting notes and follow along at home! The perfect way to enjoy this year’s tour.

Want to get yourself a case?

Head into Bright Brewery from 5pm-8pm and buy yours over the bar

Can’t get to Bright but still want to play along at home?

Download our official Le Tour de Froth Tasting Guide, head out to your local bottl-o and stock up on some beers to enjoy.

Bright Brewery Tour de Froth Tasting Guide 2020 Download

The latest news & jobs from Bright

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

To apply: