First Look: Molly Rose Taps Into Ambitious, Creative Brews in Collingwood

In an old furniture warehouse in Collingwood, Nic Sandery is making the beer he wants to make. When his brewing company Molly Rose launched in 2017, Sandery was just edging into the market, selling specialty ales via subscription, brewed to order.

“It was a way to launch the beers without any capital,” Sandery says. Molly Rose brews soon hit the shelves at specialty bottle shops including Mr West and Blackhearts & Sparrows, and the tables at fine diners such as Attica. By the end of 2018, Sandery had set up shop in a furniture warehouse in Collingwood where he was brewing, labelling and packaging everything himself. Now, he’s rolled up the warehouse doors to the public.

After time spent brewing at Byron Bay’s Stone & Wood and Holgate Brewhouse in Woodend, and using techniques picked up on travels through Japan, Belgium, the UK and America, Sandery makes beers that combine historical styles with inventive new takes. And while there are plenty of simpler styles – there’ll always be a fruity pale ale or an IPA on the list – Molly Rose takes beer to more adventurous places.

Beer By A Winemaker combines the notes of white peach and grapefruit you might find in a chardonnay in a zesty sour ale. It’s brewed in collaboration with Sandery’s partner Callie Jemmeson, co-owner of Niddrie-based independent wine labels Pacha Mama, White Stripes and Cloak and Dagger. Luiz is another sour with Proud Mary coffee and citrus, and Millions Of – a peach-infused bière de garde (dry French farmhouse ale) matured in brandy barrels – is the product of a collaboration with Fitzroy bar Bad Frankie, designed to be paired with St Agnes brandy as a boilermaker. There’s history and tradition here, but nothing feels old-fashioned.

Three to four taps pour prosecco, pinot grigio and chardonnay from Jemmeson’s labels. Food is kept simple and beer-friendly. Toastie options include kimchi beef; cheese and mushroom; and kale and blue cheese; and there are smaller snacks such as tomato soup with grilled cheese and togarashi-spiced popcorn. There are vegan and gluten-free options, too.

The narrow warehouse has industrial bare timber and dark iron surfaces that play off against more artistic touches from Claudia Passera of design studio Cloudy Co. Brewing yeast is reimagined in abstract, monochrome shapes. Every beer on the menu is represented in an artwork, too. Like at neighbouring breweries The Mill and Fixation Brewing’s The Incubator, here you’ll sit among the giant stainless-steel fermenters that signify the space as a working brewery.

Molly Rose
279 Wellington Street, Collingwood

Hours:
Thu 4pm–11pm
Fri to Sun 12pm–11pm

mollyrosebrewing.com