Valhalla Taproom announces sale, sets sights on future

A POPULAR taproom in Geelong’s CBD has been listed for sale, with the owners planning to focus their efforts towards their recently opened second venue.

News of Valhalla Taproom’s impending sale first broke on social media last week, shocking the Union Street venue’s dedicated customer-base.

Established in 2018, the taproom marked a significant step forward for Valhalla Brewing’s micro-brewing operation and quickly gained a reputation for its jaffles and metal nights.

The operation expanded again in October last year with the opening of a dedicated brewery and brewhouse within the historic Federal Mills precinct in North Geelong.

Now nestled alongside hospitality titans Anther Distillery and 1915, it took owner Scott Hunt six years to find the ideal location to launch the brand’s flagship site.

He said the team behind the Norse mythology-inspired craft beer brand were now looking to put all their effort and energy into the one venue.

“It’s a big project…We want to make sure we make it work,” Mr Hunt said.

“As much as we’d love to keep both [venues], we just don’t want to be under-resourced.

“We’re only a small business and we don’t want to spread ourselves too thin.”

He said although the Union Street site had always been good to the business, he did not view its sale as a loss.

“It’s been a great little meeting place for our customers, but overall, it means we get to focus everything we’ve got – all our effort and all our resources – on the one project, which is the brewery.

“I just see it as an exciting chapter of our business.”

Mr Hunt confirmed the business would remain open until a new owner was found and encouraged the taproom’s regulars, both past and present, to “come down and have a beer” with the team.

Bouyed by the success of its inaugural medieval winter feast, held last weekend, Mr Hunt is now looking to focus on hosting a variety of new functions and events over at the business’s Federal Mills location and welcoming new customers into the space.

“It’s a fantastic space; we want to utilise that,” he said.

“We offer something very unique, I think, as far as what we do as a brand and as a company.

“We’re just really excited about what the future holds.”