Ocean Reach Brewing

When Simon Bismire let people know about his plans to bring craft beer to one of Victoria’s most popular holiday locations, he was met with a mixed response.

A large proportion of people, both Phillip Island locals as well as frequent visitors, were thrilled. Yet he was met with some hesitancy too.

“Some people thought we were mad,” he says of those pre-launch times.

Like many holiday destinations, Phillip Island is a place where the population is in a state of flux, swelling over summer and dropping off over winter. But, since Ocean Reach Brewing opened their brewpub in Cowes towards the end of 2016, one thing has remained consistent: its popularity with locals and tourists, something Simon sees as a reminder that you should never underestimate the power of craft beer to bring people together.

His own journey to become a brewery owner started in 2011 when he first tried his hand at homebrewing in his parents’ garage. But it was while on holiday in 2015 that he and wife Alex began planning in earnest to bring local brewing to the seaside destination, ultimately naming the brewery after a local surf break.

With Simon’s father Wayne also part of the team, the initial plan was to stay small with a taphouse in Cowes where they could brew and showcase Simon’s love of everything beer. Indeed, when The Crafty Pint first visited shortly after opening, it appeared he was everything beer – brewing it on the small kit behind the bar and pouring it from the row of taps lining the way separating bar and brewery.

“Phillip Island had been screaming for something like this for a long time,” he says. “That became really clear once we started pouring beers."

The taphouse is located in Cowes’ main strip, just a short walk from the ocean, where the combination of local beer and a menu designed with beer in mind – their Food Van serves up burgers, wings and onion rings – proved a winning combination on the Island.

As demand for his beers grew, it wasn't long before the Bismires were drawing up new plans for a larger, off-site production brewery – as well as putting beer into cans and starting to distribute further afield, not something they'd envisaged prior to opening.

In 2018, they moved brewing out of the taphouse and into a warehouse on the island, before enlisting Craft Instinct – also responsible for The Crafty Pint's rebrand and subsequent design work – to design their cans. It's proved a wise move with their Tropical XPA cans landing in the top ten of the inaugural GABS Can Design Awards.

Evolution has played a big role in shaping Ocean Reach’s beers too, with Simon holding onto his roots as a homebrewer keen to experiment while balancing a core range that's an approachable mix of classic craft styles with limited releases that frequently head into hazy or sour territory – sometimes both. A pair of golds for the core range IPA and Porter show the beers aren't just pretty on the outside too.

That said, the first half of 2021 saw them focus on the pretty a little more with the launch of their Artist Series. The first two releases feature work by Joel Ebsworth which you can check out here.

The combination of a passionate family, making beer in a picturesque locale, and serving it in welcoming venue, makes you wonder why anyone would have doubted Ocean Reach’s ability to be welcomed into town. But, as Simon says, there’s a power to craft beer.

Ben Hopkins

Name
Ocean Reach Brewing
Address

47 Thompson Avenue
Cowes
VIC 3922

Phone
(03) 5952 5274
Open Hours

Wed to Fri: 4pm to 9pm
Saturday: 11.45pm to 9pm
Sunday 11.45 pm to 4pm

Current Cabal offers

Schooners For Pot Prices


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

Ocean Reach Brewing Regulars

Ocean Reach Pilsner

Published October 3, 2022
The style’s origin might go back to central Europe, but a pilsner can be the perfect companion to Australia’s beaches. That’s certainly the case of Ocean Reach’s Pilsner which was added to their core range in 2022 and replaced their Draught. Its arrival followed local requests on Phillip Island for such a beer and with craft lagers on the rise, the brewery felt a premium pils was the right fit for the small brewery. The beer features a malt bill of nothing but pilsner malt and was hopped… Read more
Style
Pilsner
ABV
4.8%

Ocean Reach Pale Ale

Pale ale has come to mean many things over the past decade or so, but when the local market started moving away from those inspired by Coopers Original Pale Ale it was towards those like Little Creatures Pale, in turn inspired by Sierra Nevada's classic. And it's in that space that Ocean Reach's core range pale sits. Bordering on copper in colour, there's a solid hit of caramel malt while the hop character is of that classic US citrus and earthy pine nature. There's a pretty firm bitterness in what's… Read more
Style
Pale Ale
ABV
5.0%

Ocean Reach IPA

When the Crafty team bumped into Simon and Alex Bismire just before the 2021 Australian International Beer Awards were about to kick off, I remarked that their core range IPA had been my pick of the beers when we'd shared their entire lineup at a team tasting a week or two earlier. Two hours later, we all learned the awards judges agreed as "the pink one" became one of two Ocean Reach beers to pick up a gold medal on the night. It's an IPA that takes elements of classic US IPAs and updates… Read more
Style
IPA
ABV
6.4%
Awards

AIBA 2021 – Gold

Ocean Reach Porter

You don't see a lot of porters in Australia, or indeed anywhere, these days. Most appear as short run winter seasonals, but Ocean Reach have one in the year round lineup. And it's an approach that clearly works, allowing them to hone the beer to the point it picked up gold at the 2021 Australian International Beer Awards. There's plenty to get stuck into from the off: nutty, burnt caramel, a fruitiness that could be described as figgy or chocolate laced with berries – a slice of Black Forest gateaux… Read more
Style
Porter
ABV
5.3%
Awards

AIBA 2021 – Gold

Ocean Reach Brewing Specials

Ocean Reach Artist Series: Synth Blossoms & Redshift Horizon

Published May 12, 2023
Ocean Reach weren't the first, and haven't been the last, to embark on an Artist Series. But their chosen partners have certainly turned out results that tickle the fancy more than most at Crafty Towers. Before we get to that side of their vaporwave-inspired duo with Aidan Howes, whose work has also appeared on beers from the likes of Black Hops, Mountain Culture and Sunday Road, the beers themselves... With Synth Blossoms, they return to a style they've played with a few times in the past, and one… Read more
Style
NEIPA & Double Red IPA
ABV
7.5% & 8.8%

Ocean Reach Pine Lime Sour

Published April 14, 2023
The age-old combination of pineapple and lime is the kind of flavour that always transports me. To where? Straight to Inverloch and the post-swim ritual of buying a Splice with money that wasn’t mine. If you wanted to create a blissful beachside memory of your own, Ocean Reach's Pine Lime Sour seems like a good way to go about it and better yet, it was made near a beach right by those of my own childhood memories. The Phillip Island beer brings an inherent zest thanks to the combination of pineapple… Read more
Style
Sour
ABV
4.2%

Ocean Reach Brewing Rollin And Tumblin

Published March 31, 2023
They brew a lot of West Coast IPAs at Ocean Reach so you might think they’d have to search far and wide for inspiration. But Rollin and Tumblin is a beer that looks close to home, with the can design drawing on a local surf break near Ocean Reach’s home, which itself inspired the Phillip Island brewery’s logo. The recipe design meanwhile, takes Citra Cryo, Vic Secret and Galaxy hops and wraps them in a slightly chewy malt base with gentle waves of biscuit. Those hops bring out pine, a tropical… Read more
Style
West Coast IPA
ABV
6.0%

Ocean Reach x Free 3D Hands Kinetic

Published March 22, 2023
Ocean Reach and Free 3D Hands have again joined forces to deliver a hoppy hit for an important cause. Their joint fundraiser has already helped raise some $22,000 for the charity, whose story you can read here. And now the two Phillip Island outfits want to raise further funds and have gone back to the deep well that is delicious hops to do so. Once again, all profits are going straight to helping those in need, with the focus this time on kinetic arms to assist with mobility. Like its predecessor,… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
6.25%

Ocean Reach Dream Lover

Published February 16, 2023
As far as timings go, this feels like a fitting beer to be out so close to Valentine's Day. Whether they’re awake or in a deep sleep, Ocean Reach seem to always be dreaming of hops. In the case of Dream Lover, their method of choice for the oat cream IPA are Citra Cryo, Zamba and Talus. Together, they bring candied tangerine, fresh orange juice and pineapple with floral undertones. Combine those vibrant hoppy notes with a lush and creamy base and you have the kind of beer that could make even… Read more
Style
Oat Cream IPA
ABV
7.0%

Ocean Reach Brewing Little Wing

Published January 12, 2023
Ocean Reach Brewing released plenty of cracking IPAs in 2022 and it looks like they plan to keep those hops flying in 2023. Their first release for the year is Little Wing; a session IPA that might still be a full-strength at 5.6 percent but isn’t as big (in terms of either booze or can size) as many of the Phillip Island brewery's recent releases. Little Wing takes its name from the Jimi Hendrix song and like the tune, it’s a melodic and easy-going ode. Here, those lyrics are replaced by the… Read more
Style
Sessions IPA
ABV
5.6%

Ocean Reach Cosmic _Dip

Published December 19, 2022
They have a knack for making IPAs at Ocean Reach and to celebrate turning six, they’ve naturally marked it with another. That birthday beer is Cosmic _Dip, a 6.4 percent ABV IPA that makes the most of dipping hopping and while the space-age, trippy can might suggest that drinking it will send you to a place spinach seems to take you to, the technique is really a little more straightforward. Effectively the brewing method takes away less desirable myrcene qualities of hops and leaves behind the… Read more
Style
Dip Hopped IPA
ABV
6.5%

Ocean Reach Witch Doctor II

Published November 30, 2022
First released in 1958, Witch Doctor’s (the song, not this particular beer) appeal surely outlived what anyone expected at the ti,e. The nonsense tune was a number-one hit when released but those wild lyrics might be better known to you from the cover version and even weirder music video by the Cartoons (which is a useful reminder that the 1990s remains the most disturbing decade when it comes to pop culture). It’s a true earworm that sticks around long after the song finishes and although it’s… Read more
Style
DDH IPA
ABV
7.9%

Ocean Reach Cosmo Seawater Kolsch

Published October 28, 2022
THE BEACH! You smell like the beach. That’s my idea, they stole my idea. I could have been a fragrance millionaire Jerry. If you’re wondering what you just read, this clip is a good place to start. But while we wouldn’t go as far as saying Ocean Reach stole Kramer’s idea, his thought process certainly served as the inspiration behind their Cosmo Seawater Kolsch. Although gose might have a monopoly when it comes to salt in beer, it seems making the drink of Cologne was too good to resist… Read more
Style
Kolsch
ABV
5.1%

Ocean Reach It's Time

Published October 3, 2022
Ocean Reach tend to seek inspiration for limited-release beers from the worlds of music and art and it’s safe to say It’s Time reaches new heights. OK, so maybe not everyone feels that the song which accompanied Gough Whitlam’s 1972 election campaign was a certifiable banger - and it feels like this beer might be referencing another tune entirely - but that’s the initial thought I had when seeing the can and I’m sticking with it. What isn’t up for interpretation is the fact that It’s… Read more
Style
West Coast IPA
ABV
6.5%

Ocean Reach Kick Starter, Rode It Hazy Galaxy & Comfortably Numb

Published August 9, 2022
Life can be pretty quiet on Phillip Island during winter but even the coastal community isn’t safe from the speed of the modern beer world. Indeed, Ocean Reach Brewing have been keeping the new releases coming with a pretty brisk pace in 2022, with these three out in quick succession. Kick Starter is a coffee milk stout made with cold brew coffee, where a mix of rich berry and fig start wafting out of the can as soon as you crack it open. Those rich fruits share the limelight with roasted hazelnut… Read more
Style
Coffee Milk Stout, Hazy IPA & Barleywine
ABV
6.5%, 7.0% & 11.4%

Ocean Reach One Vision

Published July 6, 2022
They’ve brewed countless hazies, many West Coasts and picked up an AIBA trophy for their Journey Home Black IPA. Clearly, Phillip Island’s Ocean Reach have a lot of love when it comes to brewing with hops and their One Vision sees them channel Mosaic, Talus and Centennial hops and Queen into one hazy double IPA. Even though it’s called One Vision, you won’t find a singular note here, with the beer instead moving between mango, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, coconut and underlying pine and… Read more
Style
Hazy DIPA
ABV
8.0%

Ocean Reach Artist Series: The Ninch & Gippy

Published April 29, 2022
Ocean Reach’s Artist Series sees the Phillip Island brewery let different artists take control of how a beer releases will look, with these two the work of Jake Ross. Both beers in the series have been inspired by two parts of Victoria that hold a special place in Jake’s heart, The Ninch (Mornington Peninsula) and Gippy (Gippsland). Each release in the series comes in 500ml cans too which not only gives each artist quite a large canvas to showcase their talents but also means there’s more beer… Read more
Style
Hazy Triple IPA & Chocolate Fudge Stout
ABV
9.3% & 7.9%

Ocean Reach Helles Good

Published April 29, 2022
Helles Good is a lager designed for life’s simple moments which, given Ocean Reach’s Phillip Island location, can often be a bit centred around the beach. With the cans decorated by the island’s iconic little penguins, it’s fair to say Helles Good achieves its goal of promoting good times before you even crack open a tin - how can you see penguins and not immediately be having a blast? The beer itself has a touch of sweetness to the body that sits somewhere between bread and dry biscuit which… Read more
Style
Helles Lager
ABV
4.8%

Ocean Reach Brewing & Free 3D Hands Bionic

Published March 28, 2022
“I want something that will punch you in the face." Beers brewed to help raise money can at times be quite sessionable and often seem to sit around the 5 percent ABV mark and sit under the banner of pale ale or lager. Coming from an entirely different direction is Ocean Reach’s Bionic West Coast IPA, a 6.25 percent ABV beer sold in 500ml cans and quite bold in its display of hops and bitterness. You can read the full story on the Phillip Island brewery’s important collaboration with Free… Read more
Style
West Coast IPA
ABV
6.25%

Ocean Reach Dreamy Daze & Goldie Saison

Published March 7, 2022
Given they brew on an island (well, a smaller island than most other Australian breweries anyway...), Ocean Reach have no shortage of opportunities to really understand what beers work after a long day in the surf or sand. With two quite different limited releases, the Phillip Island brewer seem to have captured those lessons, even if one beer takes the mind to the Tropics and the other is inspired by fuel for farmers. Dreamy Daze is a hazy pale ale that’s soft and fluffy but still quite dry and… Read more
Style
Hazy Pale & Saison
ABV
5.0% & 4.8%

Ocean Reach West Coast IPA & NEIPA

Published December 20, 2021
After more than six months, Ocean Reach’s Artist Series is back with another two twists on IPAs and further collaborating with artist Joel Ebsworth. For the end of 2021, we see two creatures battle it out - presumably in space - in one of the greatest rivalries known to beer: West Coast IPAs versus NEIPAs. There are two advantages to the beers being released in two 500ml tins too; it provides ample space for Joel’s artwork to be showcased, while also means if you buy both of the beers, you’ve… Read more
Style
West Coast IPA & NEIPA
ABV
7.8% & 6.0%

Ocean Reach Draught (RETIRED)

Published November 25, 2021
Their core range IPA might have won AIBA gold in 2021 while their stock with pointier end crafties has risen on the back of higher ABV hazies and oat creams, yet Ocean Reach remain a brewery with a base in the town of Cowes on Phillip Island. Tastes might be changing pretty much everywhere, and Cowes does a good trade in tourists too, but regional brewers know they need something to satisfy everyday requirements, which presumably is where Draught comes in as the newest member of the Ocean Reach year-round… Read more
Style
Aussie Draught
ABV
4.2%

Ocean Reach Coastal Palooza

Published November 25, 2021
The book-balancing side of Ocean Reach might have led to the decision to add the mainstream beer-mimicking Draught to their core lineup ahead of summer 2021, but the brewers-just-wanna-have-fun side ensures they're keeping the needs of IPA fans sated too. In this case, it's with Coastal Palooza, an IPA featuring an all-American hop lineup of Cashmere, Idaho 7 and El Dorado and an aspirational label for anyone desperate to escape to the coast this summer. Given it's a straight hazy rather than an… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
6.8%
Stockists

And other Ocean Reach stockists

Ocean Reach Love Rollercoaster Oat Cream IPA

Published November 5, 2021
I still recall the first time I popped into Ocean Reach's taproom in Cowes for a chat with co-owner and head brewer Simon Bismire as he juggled all the roles you'd expect of someone in the early months of establishing a tiny business. There was variety in the beers on offer, but all within a reasonably traditional range. Roll forward a few years and Simon and wife Alex are hiring reps interstate, working with artists on their labels, and making a name for their hazy IPAs. It's almost like the past… Read more
Style
Oat Cream IPA
ABV
7.0%

Ocean Reach Grapefruit IPA & Hazy Pineapple DIPA

Published August 17, 2021
For August 2021, Phillip Island’s Ocean Reach Brewing have been combining fruit with hops that tend to conjure sensations with a close association to fruit, which, as I write these words, has my mind wandering to this classic Simpsons clip. Grapefruit IPA is a returning seasonal and combines fresh ruby grapefruit with America’s Amarillo, Azacca and Citra hops for a pithy punch that’s heavy on the grapefruit but also provides a broader coalition of citrus in the shape of orange and tangerine.… Read more
Style
IPA & Hazy DIPA
ABV
7% & 8%

Ocean Reach Rode It Hazy

Published June 1, 2021
As inspirations for beers go, this is something of a longbow – the Ocean Reach team opting for a play on words to the Ginuwine track Pony plus a hop riding a pony on the labels. As they explain, it's "a subtle reminder not to take things too seriously – even when it comes to drinking beer." The beer itself is the latest in a stream of hazy IPAs and NEIPAs from the Phillip Island crew, one that puts Aussie hop Vic Secret front and centre. Looks wise, this is properly turbid peach juice… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
7.0%

Ocean Reach Coffee & Bun

Published June 1, 2021
For the 2021 series of GABS festivals, Ocean Reach set out to recreate the experience of morning tea: combining elements of creamy coffee and a slice of bun in beer form. In doing so, they opted to create a white stout (a beer with the aroma and flavour characteristics of a stout but without the dark brown / black shades derived from darker malts. Instead, in went roasted coffee beans, cacao nibs and vanilla bean for the creamy coffee, with a sprinkle of cinnamon, lactose and toasted coconut bring… Read more
Style
White Stout
ABV
6.0%

Ocean Reach Artist Series: Oat Cream IPA & Sour IPA

Published May 7, 2021
Ocean Reach's Artist Series kicks off with this pair of IPAs that stems from when head brewer Simon Bismire first met Joel Ebsworth back in 2019 at Cottonmouth Records in Sydney. It took until 2021 for the latter's art to appear on the former's beers, bringing, among other things, a penguin manning a spaceship to the party in a manner that reminds me of the incredible underwater episode of Bojack Horseman. Oat Cream IPA comes double dry-hopped with Citra and Azacca, pale yellow and pretty darn hazy.… Read more
Style
Oat Cream IPA & Sour IPA
ABV
Both 7.2%

Ocean Reach Lager – RETIRED

If you're going to bring brewing to a part of Australia where it's never existed before, you're going to want to make sure you've got beer on offer that will appeal to those who've yet to encounter craftier styles. After all, you still don't have to travel too far from the major centres to find sizeable towns and cities where even the local breweries struggle to get support from their peers in pubs and bars. Enter Ocean Reach's core range Lager: deep golden with a little haze, some honey sweetness,… Read more
Style
Lager
ABV
4.6%

Ocean Reach Strawberry Gose

People's palates pick up flavours and aromas in different ways, but fruits can come across in varying manners when dropped into fermenters. With Ocean Reach's Strawberry Gose, the initial impression was of overripe watermelon rising from the hazy blush-hued liquid. Over time, the underlying bready sweetness in combination with a strawberry flavour that's almost jam like in its sweetness had us picturing scones or a Victoria sponge, albeit with a little bit of tang from the souring bacteria. James… Read more
Style
Strawberry Gose
ABV
4.6%

Ocean Reach Tropical XPA

Full disclosure: we share the same graphic designer as Ocean Reach so we may well be biased, but with their Tropical XPA it's worth mentioning the outside as well as the inside. Why? The label design made the top ten in the inaugural GABS Can Design Awards in 2020. But what of the beer lurking inside? Ours poured with a big head that soon dissipated to leave a beer with low carbonation in which a fair smorgasbord of fruits wallow: there's strawberries and red berries to taste, as well as riper, sweeter… Read more
Style
XPA
ABV
4.3%

Ocean Reach Witch Doctor NEIPA

As the years have passed since Simon and Alex poured the first beers at their Cowes brewpub, more hazy IPAs and NEIPAs have made their way into Ocean Reach cans, among them Witch Doctor. This one is tagged a NEIPA and comes with the requisite cloudiness of the style, while stewed fruits of a peach / nectarine nature contribute a soft, fruity sweetness, with a little hop grip lurking in the murk. James Smith… Read more
Style
NEIPA
ABV
6.9%

Ocean Reach Hazy Pineapple IPA

Hazy – yes, with a pale golden hue and a lingering white head. Pineapple – check, of the sweeter, stickier sort. IPA – sure, thanks to the breakfast juice like grippy hit that joins the party late on. But there's more going on with Hazy Pineapple IPA too. I picked up lemon citrus and a meringue / sponge cake like sweetness. Not that it's like a lemon meringue pie IPA, just that there's more than just pineapple at play here. James Smith… Read more
Style
Pineapple IPA
ABV
6.0%

Ocean Reach Raspberry Saison

Given some of the Crafty team tasted an array of core range and limited release beers from Ocean Reach at the same time while preparing this listing, there was a temptation to see Strawberry Gose and Raspberry Saison as something of a twin set. But, aside from the at times intense way in which those fruits come across, they're pretty darn distinct. Here, there's heaps of lolly like berries on the nose with a growing, funky, almost rubbery farmhouse underbelly. The yeast does more than that too, with… Read more
Style
Raspberry Saison
ABV
4.0%