“Shambles” might denote a complete mess but, when you walk through the doors of the Hobart brewery bearing that name, there’s nothing disorderly to be found. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Instead, Shambles Brewery is a sleek, modern brewpub in which glistening copper beer taps serve fresh beer while friends and families perch by polished wooden tables, watching on to find out who among them is the worst at table tennis.
That pristine picture is a long way from the ramshackle warehouse Cornel Ianculovici first walked into, however, and the brewery’s origins, though not necessarily shambolic, were certainly on the scrappier side for an operation that helped drive Hobart’s small brewery renaissance.
The story begins when Cornel and his best mate started homebrewing in his mate’s garage. As a maths and science teacher, Cornel was captured by the science behind beer and, quite quickly, the homebrew system developed and grew to the point where cars – and just about everything else in the garage – had to go to make room.
Naturally, Cornel saw a chance to turn his passion into a profession – and his timing couldn’t have been better. Today, Hobart is a small city awash with local breweries, but back when those ideas were taking shape in 2015, the landscape was very different. Brewpubs in which beer, food and community were given equal prominence were thin on the ground and the eager brewer spotted an opportunity to change things.
That chance to make a change became a reality when he took over an old warehouse in Elizabeth Street, a strip that runs from the southern end of the CBD into North Hobart. In the years since Shambles opened, it’s become an artery pumping with all things delicious.
Armed with his passion for beer and brewing, and with his closest mates at his side, Cornel had found the perfect home in an old meat processing site; the former Mundy and Sons Butchery had spent close to half a century serving the people of Hobart. It was a place with a lot of local history and, as a result, it was a space filled with a lot of, well … a lot of everything. We’re talking old machinery, tools, spare parts, mattresses, TVs, cars – even a framed picture of Julia Roberts.
Little surprise, then, that the first thing uttered by Cornel upon seeing the cluttered warehouse was: “What a shambles.” And, as it turns out, the name didn’t just stick but couldn’t be more suited. In old English, the word “Shambles” referred to a meat market or slaughterhouse – and it’s far from the only way the current resident pays homage to the building’s long-term tenants.
The aesthetic now is the work of one of the mates who helped Shambles become a reality: architect Nathan Crump knew his close friends didn’t have much in the way of budget so set about transforming the former butchery into a brewery on a shoestring. Necessity, however, tends to foster creativity, and that proved the case here.
Striking features that run throughout a brewpub in which black paint, concrete, steel, timber and copper create a sleek industrial motif. You might notice the innovative use of concrete Besser blocks to make tables (both those for sitting and for playing table tennis) and to frame the production floor, which, alongside a row of triangular keg stacks, create a truly unique beer hall and function space.
The use of hollowed out blocks and beer bottles on part of the roof add an impressive dynamism to the lighting, while the beer garden out front is a lovely spot to soak in the sun and watch the people of Hobart make their way along Elizabeth Street. It makes for a unique and memorable brewery experience, with the fit-out securing an architecture award for Nathan too.
Of course, a brewery experience wouldn’t be memorable without the beer. At time of writing, Shambles’ core range features the Afternoon Delight Summer Ale, their Baggy Green Session Ale IPA, The Big Guy robust porter, and Dances With Hops – a classic American IPA built upon five hops, a hearty malt backbone, and a lingering bitterness.
The brewpub taps also rotate through keg-only brews, with their cans – both core range and limited release – readily found in Tasmania’s craft beer haunts and available via their online store.
If you’re after a feed, the menu here is broad, centred around modern Australian fare that includes snacks like bao and arancini, fried chicken, plus a vast range of burgers and substantial pub dishes.
In other hands, such a unique space and diverse offering might risk becoming a shambles. Yet here the disparate parts, refined over many a year, come together just so at one of Hobart’s craft beer pioneers.
Will Ziebell
