Beer and art: a winning combination

THERE’S much more to Palling Bros brewery than award-winning craft beer, it’s also a vibrant arts hub.

Since the doors opened in June 2018, the venue has been home to live music, theatre, poetry and numerous art exhibitions.

Palling Bros founder Peter Pichut said he had been interested in the arts since childhood.

“When we lived in inner Melbourne we were surrounded by the arts and we’d always go to the theatre, the opera-it’s just something I naturally gravitate to,” he said.

“So I put out a call for an open mic for singers, musicians and poets.

“I included poetry, because that’s my absolute passion, and the first person to come up on stage was Dave Munro.”

The local poet’s show-stopping performance led to the formation of pizzabox poets a few weeks later.

This friendly meet-up showcases original works and is still going strong on the third Sunday of every month at the brewery.

“I play music too,” Mr Pichut said. “I’ve played in bands my whole life.

“We were going to set up a folk band, because I thought lots of people play guitar, so I put out a call.”

Instead, a diverse group of musicians responded and this evolved into the Loose Pallings, an informal session where audience members have been known to jump on stage and perform with the band.

“But there’s been a lot of variations on the music out of that, we started a pub choir before Christmas and that was packed on the first day,” Mr Pichut said.

Palling Bros is named after nineteenth-century Heathcote larrikin and local legend Henry Rood Palling.

The main brewery is home to the Rood Henry catwalk where performers strut their stuff and the adjacent 1850s cottage accommodates Rood Henry’s Art Space, a dedicated gallery and small-scale performance space.

The cottage was home to the meetings of the first Heathcote Municipal Council in 1859 and has variously housed a baker, a grocer, a draper, a butcher and a corn dealership, as well as being a private home for many years.

It has required extensive renovation and Mr Pichut describes it as a work in progress.

“We’re very grateful to the Fosterville Mine for their sponsorship,” he said. “It’s a very old building that was about to fall down and they’ve been able to help.”

The small art space rooms are a direct contrast to the wide-open character of the main brewery and they invite a more intimate interaction with the art on display.

Mr Pichut welcomes approaches from artists interested in exhibiting in either the main brewery or Rood Henry’s Art Space.