TWØBAYS Brewing Co

If you’re unfortunate enough to suffer from coeliac disease or lesser forms of gluten intolerance, you’re at least fortunate to be living in an era in which awareness is on the rise and gluten free options are becoming both more commonplace and higher in quality. And, if you’re a beer lover whose body can’t process gluten, you’re fortunate to have people like Richard Jeffares around.

He was diagnosed with coeliac disease relatively late in life; certainly, it was late enough in life to have developed a taste for craft beer. When your brother is one of the key movers and shakers in the Australian beer world, it would be hard not to, and Richard’s brother Steve is one of the founders of The Local Taphouse, GABS and Stomping Ground, a trio that adds up to a lot of tasty beer.

So, rather than accept his lot, he decided to do something about it and add to the small but growing number of gluten free beer options being produced in Australia. He took off around the US visiting as many GF breweries as possible in Portland, Seattle, Denver and Montreal, and found much to enjoy and inspire from brewers using millet, buckwheat and rice instead of the grains more typically found in beer.

Upon his return he set about creating TWØBAYS in Dromana, on the Mornington Peninsula. And the aim wasn’t just to start brewing GF beers but also to create a 100 percent GF brewery venue. Not only that, he wanted it to be a place where the beers and food on offer would be good enough that anyone – coeliac or otherwise – would want to come and enjoy themselves.

To assist him in doing so, he brought in Andrew “AG” Gow, an award-winning brewer who’d most recently been head brewer at nearby Mornington Peninsula. And, ahead of the brewery’s launch in 2018, they set about creating a lineup of beers they hoped would stack up against barley and wheat-based beers.

Call in and it only takes one sniff and sip of their citrusy Pale Ale to know they’ve hit the mark. Elsewhere in the core lineup there’s an IPA and XPA that sit happily where contemporary tastes are, while seasonal releases include a popular lime and coriander gose and more experimental beers, such as a mid-strength brewed with lentils.

Within months, they’d launched their first beers in cans and found there was demand from across the country, in particular from specialty beer retailers, while in winter 2020 there was a bit of a brewer swap as AG returned to his former brewery a short drive away and Kristian Martin moved from Mornington Peninsula to TWØBAYS keen to continue the policy of innovation and experimentation.

Indeed, over time, while TWØBAYS started from Richard's desire to create gluten-free beers similar to those he'd become accustomed to drinking, their willingness to play with a diverse range of ancient grains, not to mention lentils, has given them a lineup dotted with unique beers inquisitive drinkers won't find anywhere else.

As for the rest of the offering at their taproom, it also passes muster whether you need to keep gluten out of your diet or otherwise. Working with Senza, the TWØBAYS pizzas come with a hearty endorsement. My young daughter – diagnosed as a “classic coeliac” at three – had refused to eat pizza for years after too many disappointing experiences; one visit here and she’s a pizza believer again.

Completing the picture is the brewery’s location. The Dromana industrial estate where it’s located is fast turning into a pocket of deliciousness. Jetty Road’s home is a short walk away, as are the homes of Bass & Flinders Distillery, Jimmy Rum, a coffee roaster and more.

It’s a development that regularly sees visitors stroll from one to the next, sampling and gathering take home gifts as they go. And, reassuringly for Richard and his team, the beer lovers’ feedback on the beers have been as positive as Matilda’s on the pizza.

James Smith

Name
TWØBAYS Brewing Co
Address

1/2 Trewhitt Court
Dromana
VIC 3936

Phone
0435 820 991
Open Hours

Saturday: midday to 6pm
Sunday: midday to 5pm

Tours

On request


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

TWØBAYS Brewing Co Regulars

TWØBAYS Brewing Co Session Ale

Published November 24, 2021
TWØBAYS might stand apart from Australia’s craft beer industry thanks to their focus on purely gluten-free beer but one slight issue it shares with many is its location. OK, we probably shouldn’t say that about the Mornington Peninsula, given it's filled with glorious beaches and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in close proximity to Melbourne. But one issue it does face is the relative lack of public transport, which means the Dromana taproom needs a good option for anyone driving… Read more
Style
Gluten-Free Mid-strength
ABV
3.5%

TWØBAYS Brewing GFB Draught

Published September 15, 2021
Whether it’s beer made with lentils or a heavily-hopped IPA, the gluten-free brewers at TWØBAYS aren’t afraid to brew across styles. But it's this beer, GFB Draught, that seems to have caused the biggest stir when added to the brewery’s core range in September 2021. It's part of a new range of more easy-drinking gluten-free beers (or GFB for those wondering where the name comes from) and is a first for the craft brewery. Typically, TWØBAYS beers can be considered crafty in style and come… Read more
Style
Gluten-free Australian Draught
ABV
4.2%

TWØBAYS Brewing Co Lager

Published April 29, 2021
There's been growing interest in lagers in the craft beer world over the past few years – we took a look at their renaissance in this article and are featuring pale lagers in our second blind tasting of 2021. And now gluten free brewers TWØBAYS have added one to their core lineup. In terms of specs, it's based around Pale and Vienna varieties of malted millet and lesser-seen European hops Saphir and Premiant. More importantly, however, how does it go as a lager? TWØBAYS have been doing a fine… Read more
Style
Gluten Free Lager
ABV
4.5%

TWØBAYS Brewing Co Red Rocks GF Red Ale

Published September 2, 2020
For the most part, when it comes to innovation in beer these days, column inches, podcast chat and social media noise are dominated by the big, the bold, the hoppy and hazy, the sticky and sickly. Yet there's innovation going on in so many other areas too, and while alcohol free or gluten free beers might not be as attention-grabbing as the latest beer from a hype brewery to sell out in under ten minutes, they play an increasingly important role in beer's present and future. And when it comes to… Read more
Style
Gluten Free Red Ale
ABV
5.0%

TWØBAYS Brewing Co No Man's Land XPA

Published January 17, 2020
It's fair to say TWØBAYS head brewer AG likes his hops. Certainly, he's been adding them in greater volumes to many of the Dromana brewery's beers than any other locally brewed gluten free beers we've tasted and that's the case here with the No Man's Land XPA. While the can talks of its citrusy character, aroma wise it's a deeper, danker form of citrus than their juicily orangey pale but no less hoppy. There's a touch of edgy tropical hops there too, particularly to taste, while it's got a touch… Read more
Style
Gluten Free XPA
ABV
5.0%

TWØBAYS Brewing Co Pale Ale

If you sampled any of the many hoppy beers released by Mornington Peninsula Brewery in the first few years of their existence, you'll be aware they knew how to play with hops. At the helm for those first few years was Andrew Gow, who took a brief hiatus from a lifetime of brewing before returning at TWØBAYS. Clearly, it didn't take him long to work out how to get hops to sing when playing with gluten free grains either. In fact, if you wanted evidence of how well the Dromana operation is making… Read more
Style
Pale Ale
ABV
4.5%
Bitterness
20 IBU

TWØBAYS Brewing Co IPA

The second of TWØBAYS beers to make it into cans to be sent across Australia – and one of two beers you'll always find pouring at their brewery taproom – is the IPA. Like the beer it joined in cans, their Pale, it's a showcase for hops, in this case Mosaic and Simcoe. Unless my memory fails me (and it was a loooong time ago), I'm pretty sure the first ever single hop Mosaic beer I had came from the hands of TWØBAYS brewer AG when he was working at Mornington Peninsula Brewery. I recall it being… Read more
Style
Gluten Free IPA
ABV
6.0%
Bitterness
46 IBU

TWØBAYS Brewing Co Specials

TWØBAYS Brewing GFB Ginger Beer

Published February 6, 2023
Welcome to the age of ginger beer. Sure, both the alcoholic and boozeless versions of ginger beer have long had a presence in Australia - Queensland we’re looking at you in particular - craft breweries appear to be approaching them with gusto. Take the most recent GABS Hottest 100, no less than six made it into the countdown which suggests that not only are they being made but embraced too. The gluten-free maestros at TWØBAYS Brewing have brought their own into the world, with the limited-release… Read more
Style
Ginger Beer
ABV
4.0%

TWØBAYS Nectaripa NZ IPA

Published September 28, 2022
New Zealand’s Nectaron has become a much-loved hop for brewers on these shores and beer drinkers have steadily embraced it too. Now thanks to TWØBAYS, those who can’t drink gluten can enjoy a taste of the hop, with the brewery launching Nectaripa. The NZ IPA also features Nelson Sauvin and Wai-iti hops from across the ditch and the brewery says it’s their boldest IPA to date. Bold is certainly the word that comes to mind, with Nectaripa providing quite an intense hit of stonefruit, white… Read more
Style
Gluten-free IPA
ABV
6.2%

TWØBAYS Mandarin Rice Lager

Published March 16, 2022
Rice lagers aren’t exactly new and there have long been readily available mainstream offerings but in the craft beer industry anyway, they have been enjoying some extra time in the sun recently. Typically, such beers use a substantial amount of rice in their overall malt bill to dry them out and ensure they’re particularly lean or fresh, with the rice added as an adjunct alongside barley. You won’t find any of that grain in the Two Bay’s rice lager (or any of their beers for that matter),… Read more
Style
Gluten-Free Rice Lager
ABV
4.4%

TWØBAYS Brewing Co Margarita Sour

Published November 24, 2021
With a variety of gluten-free malts at their disposal, it seems there isn’t really a style of beer that TWØBAYS won’t approach. Their limited release roster for 2021 has included tins of stout, red IPA and a hazy pale – all of which you’d be hard-pressed to pick as being gluten-free beers. As the end of the year arrives, the brewers have set the scene for summer with Margarita Sour, a beer brewed in collaboration with Olympic long jumper and Coeliac Australia ambassador Brooke Stratton. The… Read more
Style
Sour
ABV
3.8%

TWØBAYS Brewing Stargaze Hazy Pale

Published September 30, 2021
Having been diagnosed as a coeliac in 2015, one beer trend that Richard Jeffares has largely been missing out on is hazy beers. Fortunately, when you own a brewery dedicated to creating gluten-free craft beer, you’re in a position to solve such issues. Having brewed a few larger hazies for their taproom, in spring 2021, TWØBAYS wanted to send GF haze and tropical hops a little further by canning Stargaze Hazy Pale. It's dry-hopped with Mosaic, Strata and Ekuanot, a trio of hops which provides… Read more
Style
Gluten-Free Hazy Pale
ABV
5.0%

TWØBAYS Brewing Big Red

Published August 5, 2021
TWØBAYS have unveiled their latest seasonal and it’s one that’s quite perfectly suited to the season too. For one, Big Red is a red IPA, which makes it the kind of beer you want when the days start to warm up, even if the mornings and nights are still quite brutally cold. But secondly, these words are being written on IPA Day, with the beer's release timed so that anyone who can't enjoy gluten can still enjoy a crafty IPA on the first Thursday in August. Visitors to the Mornington Peninsula… Read more
Style
Red IPA
ABV
6.0%

TWØBAYS Brewing Co No Doubt Stout

Published June 15, 2021
Fresh from receiving a gold medal at the 2021 Australian International Beer Awards, TWØBAYS Brewing's No Doubt Stout received a national release at the start of June. But the gluten-free brewery says that beer goes back further, with their fans long calling for such a dark drop to help them survive winter's bite and which they could enjoy without any doubt they'd be drinking down any gluten. No Doubt is a particularly fitting name for the beer given that when you try it, it certainly looks and… Read more
Style
Stout
ABV
6.2%

TWØBAYS Brewing Co Pulp Fusion

Published November 8, 2020
I recall hearing it said many times earlier on in the life of The Crafty Pint: that there was a beer out there for everyone, some people might just not have found theirs yet. The idea was to highlight how much more there was than the Aussie lagers that dominate the nation's consumption habits: fruity, hoppy, dark, sweet, funky. There's only become much more "much more" in the intervening years to the point there are now locally brewed indie beers for those who don't want alcohol and locally… Read more
Style
Gluten Free Passionfruit Sour
ABV
3.5%

TWØBAYS Brewing Co Breakaway Summer Ale

Published January 16, 2020
As the canned offering from gluten free brewery TWØBAYS grows, it appears to be doing it in increments, offering up a scale of hop forward beers of slightly different ABVs and subtly different natures. Moving in at the lower end of the booze scale is Breakaway, the summer ale introduced in late 2019. If you wanted to distil this down to two words, "light" and "delicate" might do the trick. It pours a very light pale colour with a light haze. Delicate citrus and pineapple aromas… Read more
Style
Gluten Free Summer Ale
ABV
4.0%

TWØBAYS Brewing Co Gose Against

Published November 15, 2019
After receiving a positive reception when it appeared in the brewery's early days at the end of 2018, Gose Against returned to the TWØBAYS taps as summer 2019/20 approached. A gose featuring not just the salt and coriander of the Goslar originals but a dash of lime too, it's certainly a beer with warm weather drinking in mind. Very pale and relatively light on the palate, each of its non-traditional ingredients is clearly detectable, with the salt contributing to a refreshing finish in a beer you… Read more
Style
Lime & Coriander Gose
ABV
4.6%

TWØBAYS Brewing Co Experilentil

There arguably can't have been a better time to enter the world as a gluten free brewer. Not only is their greater awareness of coeliac disease and gluten intolerance, and thus more options and ingredients to play with, but brewers are laying their hands on all manner of ingredients in the desire to create something new, ancient grains, odd adjuncts and all. As an example, this mid-strength from TWØBAYS was one of two separate lentil-based beers I tried from Aussie brewers in the space of a month… Read more
Style
Lentil Beer
ABV
3.7%