I recently asked Kevin H to write about his recollections of how the club got started. Here is what he had to say:
When I first came to Australia in 2005 from the UK, I have to admit, I was shocked at the poor quality of most packaged beers I could buy here, let alone get in the pubs.
Iād come from the land of cask conditioned ales, where you could find a variety of different locally brewed beers on hand-pumps in pretty much every pub you might walk into.
Suddenly it seemed the only choices were Carlton Draught, VB, Boags, & Cascade. Beers which described themselves as āBitterā, which usually means pale ale in the UK turned out to be metallic flavoured lager, and even some actually labelled as āPale Aleā turned out to be lager.
But one thing I did discover, which is not so prevalent in the UK, was home brew kits on supermarket shelves. And I looked to these as a lifeline.
Soon I was making a variety of beers from Coopers kits, and from there I quickly learned how to steep grains, add specific hops, and I moved on from the basic kit & kilo beers.
I collected many books on home brewing and eventually started all grain brewing with a BIAB set-up using a 40-litre Crown urn. I even attended the first Australian National Homebrew Conference, and then 2 years later, the second, here in Melbourne.
But unlike most of the other conference delegates, I wasnāt a member of a club. I was just a lone home brew enthusiast. But I heard from members of Wort Hogs, Westgate Brewers and others from other states, the advantages of being in a home brew club, sharing brewing knowledge, tips, stories, and of course beer.
By this time, around 2013, I had two young daughters, both attending Brunswick South Primary School. It was at one of the events for the school dads that I asked if there were any other home brewers and learned that many of the other dads were indeed home brewers.
But when I asked if there were any home brew clubs in the area, I learned that there were none.
Also at this time, I was astounded and very pleased to discover that two new breweries were starting up nearby. The Temple Brewery, just on the other side of Lygon Street, and the Thunder Road Brewery, just one minute away, on my street!
As the Thunder Road Brewery was being constructed, I got to know the brewers, Marcus Cox and Harvey Kenny. I used to pop in every other night, and discuss beer and brewing with them, and occasionally even get to try a new recipe they were working on.
It was at one of these meetings that I happened to mention that I was frustrated that there were no home brew clubs in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. Marcus & Harvey quickly suggested what had already been on my mind. Why not see if anyone was interested in starting one! Then after they spoke to the owner, Phil Withers, it was suggested that if we could start a club, we might even get to use their breweryās professional equipment on occasions.
That did it! I decided to jump on the Aussie Home Brewer online forum to see if there was any interest in forming a home brew club in our area.
On the 22nd of December 2013 I posted the following on AHB: https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/any-interest-in-a-brew-club-to-the-north-of-melbourne.77283/ and very quickly got flooded with replies from people who were interested.
As well as the general enthusiasm for the idea, there were those who were interested in actually running the club. These included Tim Train, Tim Martin, Nathan Keach, Luke Corbin, Shannon Brooks, and Justin Spicer, all of whom went on to become, with myself, the original committee members.
Justin was keen to be the first President but asked me if I wanted the role. I was happy to take on the role of the first Vice President, as I was really just keen to help get the club on its feet, and then just be a member, leaving the running of the club to others.
There was initially some debate over what the club should be called. One of the early favourite names was āThe Northern Brew Clubā. I personally didnāt like this, as we were āNorthernā only in the context of Melbourne. But someone (and Iām afraid I canāt remember who) suggested we should be named after the creek that runs through our general catchment area. And so, after being put to a poll, the Merri Mashers was born.
Our first meetings were at places like The Great Northern Hotel in Carlton, The Temple Brewery, of course Thunder Road, and eventually settling into the first regular venue, the Gertrude Hotel in Fitzroy.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
We went on to attend ANHC as a club that year in Canberra, and the next year held the first IPA comp.
I resigned the Vice Presidency the next year and handed over to Shannon Brooks.
I was, as I wished, a member of a local home brew club.
Kevin Hawley