Jamieson Brewery ‘Beast’ Poster

The well-equipped Jamieson Brewery is located in the former Lakeside Hotel and was opened by Jeff and Jeanette Whyte in May 2001. Three of their beers have won awards; Pale Ale, Brown Ale and Mountain Ale and their Raspberry Ale which won a Peoples Choice Award in 2006 and 2007. Their restaurant features Lambshanks in Stout, and Beef and Beer Pies. Late in 2011, ownership changed to Terri Marsden with Jeff Whyte continuing as brewer. This poster was for their IPA which was heavy on the hops so they named it the ‘Beast’.

Jeff Whyte, who would later go on to start Social Bandit Brewery in nearby Mansfield, sold the business he’d founded in 2001 to Terri Marsden in 2011. Terri came from the banking sector, with no significant hospitality experience. The inevitable happened; the business, and upsettingly the beers, went downhill and was up for sale again less than 2 years later. Wrong Side Brewing entered the frame a couple of years later but eventually left town to become gypsy brewers.

In stepped local sparky James Nelson, a man who had been in Jamieson to witness the rise and subsequent fall of the Jamieson Brewery name. He wanted to bring pride back to a name that was once one of the toasts of the local industry. He’s joined on the team by his wife Shelley, herself a trained chef, who has worked in restaurants around the region after training at The Marriot Hotel in Melbourne with business partner Tim Arandt, who owns a number of high end fashion labels in Melbourne.

The trio struck a deal with Wrong Side Brewing owner Paul and took possession of the brewery site in April, 2019. First port of call was to install a new kitchen, so Shelley could show off her talents. The pub also had a bit of a facelift, whilst the original Jamieson 12 Hectolitre brewhouse (also part of the deal) had seen better days with a few bits & pieces of key equipment missing or damaged.

One of the key pieces of the puzzle was securing Darren Kerr as their brewmaster. Darren was there at the start of the Jamieson journey alonside Jeff Whyte almost 20 years. He’d been involved with each venture to occupy the site since, in various guises and was keen to rejoin.

They opened their Brew Pub at the end of June, 2019. Locals and tourists a like flocked, quickly they were doing 450 meals a day and things were looking very positive for the reimaging of the Jamieson brand. 6 months after opening the catastrophic bushfires that hit Victoria removed all tourists from the area and limited movement of locals – the business almost ground to a halt, barely notching 10 meals some days. They closed down for a short time. They re-opened on Australia Day, 2020 and served 760 meals! That’s a lot of work for Shelley and her crew pumping out a wide array of offerings from pub classics to meals that wouldn’t look out of place in a high end restaurant, with a seasonal rotating menu for added difficulty!

Source: Beer O’Clock Australia