First Look: Drink Beer and Help Feed Those in Need at Local Brewing Co’s Clifton Hill Taproom

Local Brewing Co has always been a brewery for the people. When friends Nick Campbell, Claudia Mitchell, Chris Cefala, Hugo Mylecharane and Sam Harris started the whole thing in 2019 (then under the name A Local Beer), they weren’t just trying to add to the craft beer noise. Instead, they partnered with Secondbite, a food rescue organisation that turns food waste into meals for those in need. For every four pack or pint sold, they’ve donated a meal through Secondbite.

“Usually alcohol has a negative connotation when it comes to impacting the community,” Campbell says. “We wanted to flip the script a little bit and find out a way that alcohol could positively give back to the community.”

Now, with its Clifton Hill taproom, Local Brewing gets to be a physical part of its community. It’s light-filled, owing to the large glass-fronted entrance, and within the industrial concrete is a curved patchwork-timber bar and a centrepiece mural by beer branding specialists Craft Instinct, which tells the brand’s farm-to-brewery story. There’s a little bit still unfinished – the mezzanine level, when ready, is earmarked for semi-private functions, and there’s an empty space for a 500-litre brewhouse, due to arrive in July.

On tap, you’ll find the easygoing core range, including a hoppier take on a classic lager, a tropical-leaning XPA and a dank, mightily hopped west coast IPA. But there’s still room for adventure. Navel oranges and single-origin coffee from Richmond roasters Veneziano combine for the coffee-citrus sour, while raspberry puree flavours a nitro stout for a winter-ready, jam-doughnut-style ale. Beyond the beer, bar manager Jordan Taskovski (formerly of Beneath Driver Lane) has put together a snappy cocktail list with picks like an amaretto, whisky and blood orange sour.

An expanded food menu is to come, with plans for a container kitchen serving pizzas and platters from the driveway. For now, you’ll find classic toasties like ham and cheese (five cheeses, sweet pickles, mustard) and roast chicken with pesto and cheese, while a more expanded sandwich and pastry menu is available during the day until 3pm, when Greater Good Coffee (the brewery’s low-key cafe) runs out of the front.

Local Brewing Co
3 Hilton Street, Clifton Hill

Hours (taproom)
Wed & Thu 3pm–11pm
Fri & Sat 12pm–11pm
Sun 12pm–10pm

Hours (Greater Good cafe)
Mon to Fri 7am–3pm
Sat & Sun 8am–3pm

localbrewing.co/taproom
instagram.com/greatergoodau/