The Brewers
The Moo Story
Moo Brew was started on a whim: David Walsh—professional Tasmanian gambler, eventual builder of Mona—got a little drunk somewhere in eastern Europe, found a bottle he liked, and decided to build a brewery to fill it (as you do). He did already have a foot in the pond of booze, having bought one of Tasmania’s oldest wineries—Moorilla Estate—in the nineties, so a brewery probably made sense as well.
The brewery was initially built on site at Moorilla (which David called Moo Land—hence Moo Brew). It was very fancy, very small, and quite weird, but it was built with quality and local-ness in mind—Walshie wanted Moo to be a bit of a middle finger to the idea of ‘Tasmanian’ breweries being owned by monster national (or international) companies.
Quite a few things have changed since then, but our core DNA (a little arty, little weird, but mostly just keen on making good beers) remains.
The Bridgewater Brewery
One of the biggest changes since the early days is that we’ve moved out of the original brewery (which is now a laundry), and into a large concrete cube in Bridgewater. Here we’ve been able to spread our beery wings, growing to become Tassie’s largest craft brewery, as well as picking up a fair few awards, plaudits, laurels, etc. (if you’re into that).
Since moving to Bridgewater, we’ve seen a changing of the guard in the brewhouse: Jack Viney (who’s been with us since 2014) stepped up as Head Brewer in 2020 and now also serves as co-General Manager alongside Heath Griggs. Jack brings a sharp eye for experimentation and limited releases, all while keeping the classics in top form. Heath brings his sales, marketing, and operational smarts to the table. The business is in steady hands—and the beer’s tasting better than ever. Bloody bright all round, really.
In 2023 we opened our own taphouse, bar, restaurant and nano brewery: Sally’s
Situated on the Hobart waterfront in Salamanca Place. Pop in and sink a highly experimental/normal beer, have a snack/lunch/dinner and watch the brewers at work.
