Geelong shop to become city’s new beer bar

A Surf Coast brewer has leased a Geelong shopfront to open its first craft beer bar.

Torquay-based husband and wife team Scott Hunt and Ange Tydd own Valhalla Brewing and plan on bringing the Vahalla Taproom to life to showcase their beers and other independent, small batch Australian breweries.

A planning application to City of Greater Geelong seeks to change the use of retail space at 12-14 Union St to a hotel (not including accommodation and gaming) and to obtain a general liquor licence.

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Hunt says that approval is all they are awaiting before they can get in and fit out the space.

“We are hoping to be in by the end of November,” he says.

“We had been looking for a spot for quite some time. It seems like a good location and is close to everything.”

The site at 12-14 Union St, Geelong.

The beer bar will share the street with Italian restaurant Lipari Espresso Bar, the Union St Wine Bar and Union St Cellars and The Sporting Globe.

Hunt says other regional cities like Ballarat and Bendigo already have two or three good beer bars.

“With the size of Geelong I think it’s definitely ready for it and hopefully we will be proven right,” he says.

The bar, which will have maximum patronage of 80 people, will have eight beer taps pouring beers from Vahalla Brewing as well as other independent breweries. The couple also own Lotus Beer Collective, a craft beer wholesale business distributing throughout Victoria and South Australia for a small number of independent Australian craft beer breweries.

The Union St retail and apartment complex was completed this year.

Drakk director and BRW Young Rich lister Kosta Drakopoulos is the man behind the two-storey development that has a statement mural of power couple Beyonce and Jay Z by Danielle Weber.

Drakopoulos says he saw the potential of the mixed-use development in the CBD so transformed a carpark into the two-storey building it is today.

The Valhalla Taproom will be the first venue to sell Valhalla Brewing products, though they are stocked in retail outlets.

Talented artist Danielle Weber with her Beyonce and Jay Z mural in Union St. Picture: Peter Ristevski.

As well as beer and cider there will be a limited selection of wines and spirits plus a basic food menu including jaffles, cheese platters and tapas style bar snacks.

Hunt says they want the space to have a relaxed vibe with good music, old couches and a nice big, long timber bar.

“We want people to feel like they are walking into someone’s loungeroom.”

This article from the Geelong Advertiser originally appeared as “Surf Coast brewer Valhalla leases Geelong shopfront for beer bar”.