Castlemaine Standard Brewery ‘Fine Ales’ Poster

Castlemaine’s first brewery, the Phoenix, had been started by the Wheeler brothers, James and Edmund, in 1853, and they stayed on to manage the brewery when it became the Standard Brewery Co. Ltd in 1862. Later, James Robertson became head brewer and George Millar was the major shareholder. Millar got into such financial difficulty that he decided to leave the country, ‘with stealth and speed’. He was eventually apprehended in London.

The brewery was auctioned in 1864; the successful bidders were four Castlemaine businessmen, Joseph Myring, William Halford, David Murray and Dr David Mackay. They thoroughly overhauled the brewery, put in a new cleansing process, and their first beer was pronounced to be ‘a fine pale ale which would turn out well’. 

George Elliott retired from the partnership around 1890 because of ill health, and the Standard Brewery, which was then in some difficulty, was put up for auction. Only the horses and wagons and some of the plant managed to sell, and the brewery closed.

Two years later the brewery was reopened by a syndicate that traded as Joseph Young & Co. The members were Joseph Young, Horace Collett and J. C. Greaves. 

The Castlemaine Brewery (Fitzgerald’s Brewing & Malting Co. Ltd) took over, and closed the Standard Brewery late in 1911. Throughout the brewing history of Castlemaine, no fewer than sixteen breweries had been licensed, with many more operating illegally, particularly during the goldrush period. The closure of the Standard Brewery marked the end of fifty-eight years of brewing by one of the district’s most famous breweries.