About

Melbourne Brewers has been bringing homebrewers together since 1972, with regular meetings in Melbourne’s outer east. We’re a community united by a genuine passion for brewing — and for the company of people who share it.

What We Do

The club focuses on all-grain brewing but welcomes brewers at every level — from kit and extract through to full grain. Most new members find themselves making the jump to all-grain fairly quickly once they see how approachable it is with the support of fellow brewers around them.

Through involvement in the club you’ll build knowledge of beer styles, history, brewing techniques, ingredients, and beer evaluation. Best of all, you’ll get to sample and share some genuinely excellent homebrew along the way.

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Our History

The Melbourne Brewers traces its roots to the Amateur Brewers Association of Victoria (ABAV), founded in 1972 by Gordon Clark. Gordon is widely regarded as the father of amateur brewing in Victoria — he was brewing before it was even legal, malted his own barley, grew Bullion hops in his backyard, and constantly invented and improved his own brewing equipment. His Glen Waverley brewery was the legendary home of ABAV meetings for many years.

The ABAV was originally conceived as a coordinating body for Victorian homebrew clubs, but as those clubs preferred independence it became a club in its own right. In 2000 the membership voted to rename it the Melbourne Brewers — a name that better reflected its identity as a city-wide club open to all Melbourne brewers.

In 1992, then-President Barry Hastings proposed expanding to a national association (the ABAA), but the membership declined the responsibility. Hastings went on to found the ABAA independently, which at its peak had 650 members receiving the Ausbeer journal. The ABAV continued under new leadership and was formally reborn as the Melbourne Brewers in 2000. Beerfest — the club’s annual homebrew competition and public event — has been running since around 1999.

The Old Dick

Since 1999, the Club Brewer of the Year trophy has been a unique mechanical device affectionately known as “The Old Dick.”

Built by former member Dick Seville — a popular, quietly eccentric engineer — the device holds a 750ml bottle and gradually tilts it to pour without disturbing the sediment, producing a crystal-clear beer. Dick regularly brought it to BYO restaurants to decant his own bottle-conditioned brown ales.

Dick was also known for arriving at every club meeting with a large plate of cheese and onion sandwiches, unveiled late in the evening after the standard club nibbles had been consumed. A tradition members still remember fondly.

After Dick’s passing, his family and Colin Penrose donated “The Old Dick” to the club. Much of his brewing equipment was subsequently auctioned, so many current members own pieces he designed and built. His legacy lives on in the club he helped shape.

Previous Winners

Past Presidents