Since 1925
A hundred years, in their own words.
Four generations of the Whitlam family have brewed beer in this town. Some chapters are proud. Some are hard. All of them are why the next pour tastes the way it does.
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1925Tom Whitlam pours the first ale
Returned from France with a thirst he couldn't explain. Set up a kettle in the shed behind the milking shed, and traded his first kegs at the Royal Hotel for whatever wasn't sold.
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1955First export to Newcastle
A bitter Tom's son Frank reluctantly crafted "for the city palate." It outsold everything for a decade. Heritage Bitter is its great-grandchild.
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1979The fire took the brewery. The yeast survived.
A summer of north-westerlies and a bad spark wiped out the original shed. The yeast strain — five generations of it — was in a fridge at Frank's home. We rebuilt around it.
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2002Taproom and kitchen open
Frank's daughter Mae opened the bar on a Friday in March and never closed it. The kitchen runs on the same wood-fire grill she ordered that week.
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2025Century Reserve — the hundredth brew
An imperial red, barrel-aged in retired Tawny casks from a winery 30 km up the road. 4,000 bottles. We'll never make it the same way twice.