La Sirène Brewing

Brewer

Name
La Sirène Brewing
Address

277 Edwardes Street
Reservoir
VIC 3073

Open Hours

Wed to Fri: 5pm to 11pm
Saturday: midday to 11pm
Sunday: midday to 6pm

Late in 2011, a buzz started spreading around the Melbourne beer cognoscenti that there was a hot new beer in town, a saison that had appeared all of a sudden. Bearing the name La Sirène and packaged in champagne bottles decorated with artwork of an elegance not usually found in the beer world, it was impressing all who tried it. Being avowed saison fans at The Crafty Pint, we hunted down its maker, brewing consultant Costa Nikias, and were soon sharing a coffee with him.

He told us how he and a mate, James Brown, who had met while studying winemaking, had decided to turn their passion for Belgian style ales into a small commercial venture. They'd done it properly too: hunting down via contacts in Europe their own unique saison yeast strain, which they purchased from a family in a small European village and air-freighted to Australia. The first sample failed to survive the trip intact; the second didn't, taking up residence in a lab at the university where microbiologist James worked.

It was quite the tale, but would the beer match up? We moved to a suitably elegant location (OK, the boot of Costa's old school Merc in a Collingwood side street), he pulled a chilled bottle from the boot along with two beautiful stemmed, branded glasses and out poured this glowing orange nectar with the most towering of fluffy white clouds as a head. Let's just say the beer matched up: a delicate, subtle yet complex delight that rivalled any saison ever produced in Australia.

We became instant advocates, encouraging friends to try it whenever they saw it. Which, over time, wasn't that often.

With Costa spending most of the time focused on his brewing consultancy business and James busy at the university, their trips to brew at Jamieson Brewery, in the Victorian High Country, were few and far between. For them, despite the acclaim – which only grew with each new release – it was a hobby as much as a passion. At least for a while.

In 2013, Costa decided it was time to give the people what they wanted. In between fitting them for others, he installed his own brewery in an old tank-building factory in the Melbourne suburb of Alphington, with wife Eva stepping in as co-pilot for this unique enterprise. Over time, output grew significantly, more warehouse space was leased, a rather large amount of oak barrels were gathered – selected by their cooperage rather than for what was once inside them, a legacy of Costa's time in the wine industry (and his geek like obsession for detail), and their beers started appearing far and wide – and not just in Australia.

For the most part, the beers tended to be variations on a theme: a wild saison, Super Saison, the Fleur Folie honey saison, an annual Saison Noel. But increasingly, the La Sirène wings have been spreading. A Belgian stout featuring cocoa, vanilla and hazelnuts called Praline took out People's Choice at the 2014 GABS festival before an experiment with spontaneous fermentation, barrels and cherries led to a delicious Kriek. And since then little has been off limits, whether that's been releasing highly-hopped farmhouse pales, sessionably low ABV wild ales in cans, or all manner of wild and spontaneous ales celebrating their local environment.

The beers are lapped up by beer lovers and those who don't usually drink beer in equal measure, with fine dining restaurants finding a home for the beers. The experts agree too, with the original Saison (now Flor Saison) taking out Champion Belgian and French Ale at the inaugural Craft Beer Awards.

In October 2022, they finally opened their long-mooted bar in Alphington, which turned out to be the starting gun for a wild 371 days. They were suddenly locked out of their building with fellow tenants two months later, then allowed back in, then left permanently.

While they'd developed an affinity for thei original home, releasing many beer celebrating the natural diversity of Darebin Parklands, they've found the silver lining. And then some.

After moving the entire brewery – lock, stock, and liquid-filled barrels – to Reservoir, they've built La Sirène II in a sawtooth-roofed warehouse, installed their own kitchen serving food many levels above what's found at almost every other brewery in the country, pulled out 2,000 bottles from their museum stock for the bottleshop, and are relishing the opportunities presented by the local creeks and lake.

As Costa put it when we chatted to him on the opening weekend: "No more Alphington. Bring on Rezza!"

This is a directory listing. To find out more, head here

Stories featuring La Sirène Brewing

Core Range

La Sirène FUNQ IPA
Farmhouse IPA
5.8%
La Sirène Citray Sour
Sour Ale With Oranges
4.5%
La Sirène Paradoxe
Sour Ale
4.8%
La Sirène Farmhouse Red
Sour Red Ale
6.5%
La Sirène Flor Saison (formerly Saison)
Saison
6.5%
La Sirène Wild Saison
Brett-Fermented Saison
6.5%
La Sirène Farmhouse Red
Farmhouse Red
6.5%
La Sirène Fleur Folie
Saison Miel
6.5%
La Sirène Praline (Cans)

Limited Releases

La Sirène Tropicali, Beer With Mac & On The Vine
Various Styles As Indicated
3.5% & 6.4% & 6.2%
La Sirène Bière de Cerise 2023 & Ginger & Lime
Blended Wild Sour Ale with Cherries & Ginger Beer
5.5% & 4.5%
La Sirène Convergence & Convergence + Chamomile 2022
Mixed Ferment Wild Ale on Chardonnay Lees
Both 3.0%
La Sirène & Backhearts & Sparrows Biere Du Hearts
Wild Ale With Tropical Fruits
5.5%
La Sirène & Carwyn Cellars Supernaturally Wild Ales
Fruited Wild Ales
4.2% & 5.8%
La Sirène Reserve Saison & Cuvée de Bois 2020
Barrel-Aged Saison & Wild Ale-Wine Hybrid
7.0% & 6.2%
La Sirène Cuvée Bleu 2020
Barrel-Aged Wild Ale with Blueberries
7.5%
La Sirène Coolship Collection: Time & Place and Age & Beauty
Coolship Wild Ales
6.0% & 5.5%
La Sirène Oak Season
Barrel-Aged Wild Ale
4.0%
La Sirène Barrel-Aged Praline 2019
Barrel-Aged Belgian Stout
6.5%
La Sirène What The Farmhouse & Beer With Jeff & Blueberry Noir
Oak-Aged Wild Ales
5.0% & 7.2% & 6.0%
La Sirène Praline (Sour Version)
Sour Stout
6.0%
La Sirène The Beginning
Spontaneously Fermented Ale
5.5%
La Sirène La Funq & Elemental (Autumn) & Vin Folie Chambourcin
Barrel-Aged Farmhouse Ales
6.6% & 4.4% & 7.6%
La Sirène & Bannockburn Vineyards Convergence
Farmhouse Ale
5.8%
La Sirène Cuvée de Bois 2018
Beer-Wine Hybrid Farmhouse Ale
6.2%
La Sirène Wild Wit
Chardonnay Barrel-Aged White Ale
4.8%
La Sirène Season Ale
Farmhouse Session Ale
4.0%
La Sirène Reserve Saison 2018
Barrel Aged Saison
7.0%
La Sirène Farmhouse Noir
Dark Farmhouse Ale
6.0%
La Sirène Barrel Aged Wild Tripelle 2016
Spontaneously Fermented Tripel
8.0%
La Sirène Barrel Aged Wild Saison & Praline
Barrel Aged Saison & Belgian Stout
6.5% & 6.0%
La Sirène Brewing Saisonette & Fleur Folie 2017
Saison variants
3.8% & 6.0%
La Sirène Cuvée de Bois
Barrel Aged Wild Ale
6.2%
La Sirène & Seven Seeds Seven Sirens
Coffee Farmhouse Ale
6.5%
La Sirène Brewing Belle D'Orange
Barrel Aged Citrus Farmhouse Ale
4.8%
La Sirène Brewing Forêt Sauvage
Barrel Aged Wild Cherry Ale
8.0%
La Sirène Copper & Vine
Single Barrel Aged Saison
6.0%
La Sirène Harvest Ale
Brett Pale Ale
5.1%
La Sirène Urban Pale
Hoppy Farmhouse Ale
5.2%
La Sirène Wild Tripelle II
Spontaneously Fermented Ale
8.0%
La Sirene Avant Garde range
Farmhouse Ales
3.8% to 6.5%
La Sirene Imperial Praline
Imperial Belgian Chocolate Stout
8.0%
La Sirene Wild Tripelle
Spontaneously Fermented Tripel
8.0%
La Sirene Botanique Winter Seasonal
Spiced Saison
6.5%
La Sirene Saison Nouveau – RETIRED
Saison
5.0%
La Sirène Botanique - Summer 2014
Spiced Saison
La Sirène Saisonette
Midstrength Saison
3.8%
La Sirène Belle
French Table Ale
5.0%
La Sirène Super Saison
Double Saison
8.0%
La Sirène Florette
Belgian Witbier
5.0%