Cascade Brewery tour, Hobart
Even if you were unaware that Cascade is Australia’s oldest brewery, the castle-like grey building standing tall among the trees provides hints to its history. The brewery was designed by its founder, Peter Degraves while he served time in the Old Hobart Gaol.
We booked online far in advance and paid AU$25 per person for the 90-minute tour that included the compulsory safety lecture, a lesson in the brewing process, a look inside the brewery, tastings, and lots of stories from Cascade’s interesting past, including more about the visionary Peter Degraves. The factory doesn’t operate on weekends although tours still take place then – we didn’t get the live spectacle and clatter of workers and moving machinery but watched a less noisy, less hazardous video of the bottling process instead.
When we checked in, we were each given two bottle caps to redeem at the bar at the conclusion of the tour, for Cascade beer or non-alcoholic drinks – this is the ‘tasting’ part of the tour. Note: the Cascade Brewery website said we’d get three drink tokens per person, but we all definitely each received two.
After the tour, we stayed for lunch in the cafe, ordering meals from the special tour menu (six dishes, all AU$15 each). It’s simple pub-style food, nothing outstanding or particularly memorable, but I was content on the day with my Cascade Stout & beef pie with chips and a cold bottle of Cascade ginger beer.
Even as a non-beer drinker, I thought the tour was a worthwhile activity, giving us an insight into part of Hobart’s rich history. The perks that brewery workers once enjoyed had may surprise you!
The gardens are beautiful and worth a walk through. The souvenir shop sells Cascade merchandise and beer by the carton. Besides ‘the castle’, the image that has stayed with me is the lush greenery, just another example of the beauty of Hobart.
The tour includes an intro to how beer is made. The only problem with doing brewery tours is you get this lesson every time!
Everyone gets to wear a fetching high-vis jacket while on the tour
In the background is Mount Wellington
Al fresco seating
Salt and pepper squid with chips and salad (AU$15 – tour menu)
Chicken parmigiana with chunky chips and salad (AU$15)
Cascade Draught beer battered fish fillets with salad and chips (AU$15)
Cascade Stout and beef pie with chunky chips and salad (AU$15 – tour menu)
The obligatory pie innards shot
Cascade’s range of non-alcoholic products was acquired by Coca-Cola Amatil and are no longer produced in Hobart. Cascade Brewery is now owned by Foster’s Group. Cascade Brewery
140 Cascade Road
South Hobart, Tasmania
Telephone: (03) 6224 1117
Open daily 10am to 4pm
Closed Christmas day, Boxing day, New Years day and Good Friday.
Brewery tours are 90 minutes (including tasting) and are run twice a day – 11am and 12.30pm.
You must be over 16 years old to go on the brewery tour.
About this series
In December 2013, my partner Jac and I went on holiday – 3 nights in Melbourne, then 3 nights in Launceston (Jac, to stay with a friend) and King Island (me, for a photographic safari with our friends Craig and Caroline), and finally, Hobart for 6 nights. This trip was not sponsored in any way.
The full list of posts is below:
- Short stories: Mount Wellington
- Christmas lunch at the Salamanca Inn
- The Quarry Salamanca
- MONA, Hobart
- A food lovers’ day out on Bruny Island
- Salamanca Market
- Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
- Cascade Brewery tour – this post
- The Taste of Tasmania
- Two bakeries and a half-laundromat – three cafes in Hobart, Tasmania