Brewing wine, beer, gin and good times

FarmDog Brewing offers a unique blend of family history and a haven for local creations as the next generation takes hold.

Maddy and Jeremy Wolfe, Jaimie McGlashan and Jake Kays are the team behind the Wallington business, which operates out of McGlashan’s Estate.

Initially McGlashan’s Vineyard, the business was started by Maddy and Jaimie’s parents, Russell and Jan, who opened the cellar door about 17 years ago.

The two sisters, along with their partners, have now taken over the rains, rebranding to become FarmDog Brewing and expanding their offerings.

“My mum wanted to retire, and my dad didn’t really know what to do with the cellar door,” Maddy said.

“We love wine, but we also drink beer and spirits, so we decided to start brewing beer and distilling gin as well.”

 

Their dad still looks after the vineyard, supplying them with the wine, while Jeremey and Jake look after the beer and gin.

They initially started with a small brewing system, producing a pale ale.

“We were really happy with it and started selling it over the bar and then went into a few other varieties, lager, IPA, a dark ale and we outgrew that system pretty quick,” Maddy said.

“We would pretty much brew and only be able to get a keg or two of beer, so we upgraded to something we thought was quite big.”

After outgrowing the second system, they put in a proper commercial brewery around six months ago and added some specialties to the list.

“We do a vanilla bean stout that has been super popular, and we do a sour beer that is a white choc raspberry sour, based off the raspberry white chocolate bullets; and that’s probably sparked the most interest.”

 

The distillery produces four types of gin, including their FarmDog Small Batch Gin, FarmDog Pandan Gin, Christmas Gin and Shiraz Gin.

FarmDog Small Batch has a floral aroma with notes of citrus, while the Pandan Gin has a deep vanilla aroma and a burst of citrus.

The teams love for whisky has also inspired them to start producing the liquor, with the first batch already in the barrel.

“It’s been in barrel for nearly nine months, so we’ll be releasing that at the two year mark, I’m pretty excited for that,” Maddy said.

“We’re in quite a unique position that we have a brewery and a distillery on the same site, which I don’t know if anyone else does around this area.”

 

FarmDog Brewing also have a restaurant on site, something that’s always been part of the business, although has been expanded to include more food options.

“The produce we source is high quality, so good food, but not too over the top, and we get a lot of families through, which is really nice.”

Maddy described the atmosphere of the restaurant as “casual” with a really good feel to it as kids run around outside.

Since taking over they’ve also done some renovations to make it look more like a cellar door with a brewery feel to it.

One of the highlights for Maddy has been watching how the business has evolved and hearing people talk about it.

 

Being a family business is something she believes sets them apart from the crowd, and also one of the things she enjoys most about working there.

“It’s completely family-run, I don’t know how many businesses are left like that.

“I love working with my family, I love working with my sister and my husband and my brother-in-law.

“It’s a nice place to be, we’ve got a beautiful property, all our customers are all really nice.

“Hanging out in a good environment as your job, is a nice way to spend your working time.”

The family team also make everything on site themselves, with a focus on producing good wine, beer and gin.

“The people you see behind the bar are the people that are making the products, we know our stuff and we know what we like and what we think others will like, it’s quite a personal place.”

 

The brewers and distillers are also on site for those who are keen to have a chat to them.

Maddy said when they first took over, she never imagined the business would get to where it is now.

“I didn’t think we’d be producing so much, it was a high scale for us, we’re doing a little bit of local wholesale as well and it’s a lot busier than I thought it was going to be.”

Eventually the team would like to open up a second location.

“A tap room in Geelong would be cool because we can service the Bellarine Peninsula, but it would be nice to have another venue in a busier area,” Maddy said.

For more information, head to farmdogbrewing.com.au