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Temple rising

Chris Canty

Temple's new label.
Temple's new label.Supplied

Brewing beer for a living is supposed to be the dream job, but for Ron and Renata Feruglio the past year at Temple Brewing Company has been the stuff of nightmares.

It began promisingly, when, after years of gypsy brewing and looking for suitable locations, they found a Brunswick East industrial site just metres from busy Lygon Street in 2011.

Having a home helped continue their run of creating respected brews, such as their gold medal-winning Special Bitter, and giving many Melburnians their first taste of a saison.

Highly regarded beers were being brewed, the locals were flocking in, but disagreements with a business partner and Ron having a health scare slowed progress until, in May, they went into voluntary liquidation.

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It was a calculated risk to restart and rebrand the business with new partners, and it worked. Instead of it being bought from underneath them, when potential buyers in the beer industry learnt that Ron and Renata hoped to buy Temple back for themselves, they pulled out.

Especially heart-warming was that within the business itself, despite 16 weeks of stressed negotiations, not one staff member left. ''We've faced a time of great opportunity hinged to great uncertainty,'' Ron says. ''Deals were done, relationships broke down, mental and physical health took a beating, but we emerged triumphant!''

The future includes plans for significant growth and, with 1000 apartments being built within 100 metres of the brewery, there is a ready-made market on its doorstep.

''Things we will do differently will be facilitated by having a team of business-savvy partners steering the brand,'' Ron says. ''It will be all about the beer.''

Temple Brewing will be reborn on Friday at 5pm, and continuing its reputation for creating delicious yet different-type beers, a special ''pre-prohibition, all-grain pilsner'' will be on offer. Appropriately, they called the beer Resurrection.

templebrewing.com.au

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