From Footscray to Reservoir, three new brew-pubs and taprooms to froth over this spring

As Melbourne emerges from its winter hibernation, knocking back a few cold ones on a sunny afternoon will be an even more exciting prospect thanks to new watering holes from three leading craft breweries, all set to open before summer.

Deep in industrial Footscray, Hop Nation (6/107-109 Whitehall Street,
Footscray) is levelling up its brew-bar offer with a fresh design from Studio Y, also responsible for Stomping Ground in Moorabbin.

Aspiring to a Brooklyn warehouse look, the new bar will be far more open. Poky corners have been replaced with a single space for punters, who can perch with their drinks beside soaring brick walls and gleaming brewery equipment. Recycled timber will make way for polished finishes, and flashes of green neon nod to Hop Nation’s label artwork.

Within the taproom will be Good Pizza, serving both thin-crust and puffy pizza by former Figlia and Arbory Afloat chef Alex Addams Williams. Pizzas come with dippers, such as whipped garlic and chilli sauce, and toppings may include pepperoni with habanero-spiked honey made from hops on the Dr Pep, and salami cotto with pickled pineapple.

Behind the bar, you’ll find 17 beers including the brand-new Footscray Draft to celebrate the new-look taproom. Limited-edition brews will rotate every fortnight. Hop Nation opens on September 28.

The mega Melbourne outpost of Beechworth’s Bridge Road Brewers (127-149 Nicholson Street, Brunswick East) is looking more like a pub every day, as the 350-person venue inches closer to ditching power saws for pizza peels.

A mid-September opening is on the cards for the sprawling site in Brunswick East. The Studio Y team is onboard for the design here, too, across a working brewery and split-level venue covering drinking and dining areas. The idea was to avoid stereotypes of the industrial brewery setting.

“You’re not in a warehouse. It’s very, very comfortable,” says co-owner Ben Kraus.

There are multiple bars with up to 20 taps each, outdoor seating, booths and two murals by artist Drez.

A menu is being drafted by new chef Jabili Mchawala that includes a “between bread” section plus “salad-y plates”, alongside the more common small and large share plates. Bridge Road’s signature pizzas will also slot in.

Mchawala has been working at social enterprise Free to Feed most recently after cooking at Rice Queen and his own food truck, The Voodoo Jerk Truck.

After a rollercoaster 12 months for La Sirene that involved opening a bar, being shut out of said bar and brewery, reopening on a short-term lease and then relocating to more stable premises, owners Costa and Eva Nikias are nearly ready to welcome you to their new home (277 Edwardes Street, Reservoir).

Building on the promising beginnings of Bar La Sirene, the new HQ for all things wild fermented will offer a much larger menu of Euro-inspired bites that are as rustic and character-filled as the beers on offer. Early ideas include char-grilled sardines with tomatoes and capers, Spanish-style meatballs with tomatoes, and manchego and red capsicum.

Costa Nikias says the 100-capacity bar will again upend the usual taproom offering. Although 14 beer taps will offer oak-aged wild ales, there’ll be a thoughtful wine list that leans heavily on Victoria, plus premier cru chablis and grower champagne, both available by the glass.

An early October opening is pencilled. Look out, Reservoir.

And, of course, Moon Dog’s conversion of the Franco Cozzo showroom into a kitschy bar for Footscray draws closer to reality. The team hope to open this December. They’re not slowing down, either, moving on a Docklands location for a fourth fabulously fun Moon Dog outpost. That should open mid-2024.