Craft breweries have quite a history when it comes to creating beers with local bars, restaurants and bands but partnering with history itself is a rather more novel concept. However, The Patron – a new mid-strength member of Hop Nation's core range – is a beer that looks to put history front and centre.
It's a partnership between the brewery and the Footscray Historical Society that's been driven by Scott Thompson (no, not this well known one from the Melbourne beer world), whose love of local history and his local brewery beer spurred the beer’s rise.
“My goal was to get the historical society better connected to the new families moving into the neighbourhood,” Scott says. “There’s a lot of younger families coming in who have a keen interest in the area but don’t necessarily know the society is around.”
At 33, Scott's comfortably the youngest member of the Footscray Historical Society; in fact, you’d be safe to assume he’s quite a bit younger than most historical society committee members anywhere. He's also part of the Footscray's recent influx of young families, having moved to the area in 2014.
This year, the society is also celebrating a milestone – its 50th jubilee – so, eager to raise both money and attention for the community group, Scott (pictured above at the brewery) reached out to Hop Nation.
“I thought a beer collaboration would hit all of those targets at once,” he says. “[Hop Nation] shouts history and Footscray.”
Located near where the Maribyrnong River meets the Yarra, Hop Nation’s warehouse home is part of Footscray’s long and oft-referenced history as a working-class suburb. Though the building’s exact history isn’t known – the historical society volunteers are working on that – Footscray by the Maribyrnong was an essential part of Melbourne’s transformation into Australia’s largest centre of manufacturing during the second half of the 19th century.
“Within the committee, we’ve got a good idea of that area down there,” Scott says. “It’s certainly been around for a very long time and is part of that 1870 to 80s flourishing of industry.”
Many of the companies that called Footscray home well over a century ago were considered “noxious trades”. It was an industry that included heavy manufacturing and much involved undesirable by-products: abattoirs, tanneries, even candle and soap makers.
“People have long looked down at Footscray and the West as it was this industrial part of the city they didn’t want to know too much about,” Scott says. “But, at the same time, people were taking a lot of pride in these noxious industries because they created really good working-class jobs."
In an era without Medicare or anything in the way of a social safety net, employers often dug deep to support both their own workers and the community around them.
“What emerged in Footscray in this time period was a bit of a golden era, where you had the owners of these factories and these businesses living side by side – maybe in a nicer home – but still alongside the workers,” he says.
For the design of The Patron, the historical society and brewery drew inspiration from James Cuming, the founder of one of Australia’s first fertiliser companies, who served on the local council and became a patron of many of the local institutions, including the Footscray Football Club. The image that adorns the can is the work of local artist Alejandra Diaz and is based off a photo of the philanthropist. Though James Cuming left a significant mark on the history of the area, there were many other leaders who shared his ethos.
“It’s symbolic of the whole group of community leaders,” Scott says. “They were known to take care of people that were down on their luck.”
Hop Nation co-founder Sam Hambour says the decision to partner with the historical society – one that echoes the origins of Young Henrys' Newtowner beer – came naturally to a brewery eager to promote its Footscray credentials.
“From a community point of view, it’s great to do something like this and everyone in the area benefits,” Sam says.
“We all say, 'Drink local' all the time and that’s all about there being something in your area to be part of and be proud of. [The historical society] putting in their spare time to educate people about their area is on the same spectrum as popping down to your local brewery.
“People come to our brewery to have a beer in the same way people go out to have a coffee; it’s a place to meet and have a drink.”
The Footscray Historical Society’s Jubilee will take place at Victoria University, Metro West, in Footscray on October 21. Details here. You can read about The Patron here.
Will Ziebell is a history graduate who knows more about The Wire than he does about beer. He was awarded the AIBA Best Media trophy for 2018; HBO have told him to please send his fan mail elsewhere. He can be found on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
The beer(s) or moment(s) that turned you on to good beer:
Spending time living in the UK (and backpacking across Europe) when I was 21 certainly gave me a better understanding of the beer and different styles of the world. But I'd say it was a holiday to the High Country a little while later when lunch and a tasting paddle at Bridge Road Brewers created an obsession with Australian breweries and locally made beer.
You've got three beers to turn someone else on to good beer; what are they and why?
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Boatrocker's Miss Pinky: It's a raspberry-packed Berliner Weisse that neither looks or tastes the way many people conceive of beer.
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Bad Shepherd Hazelnut Brown: A luscious mix of chocolate and hazelnut that can appeal to the sweet tooth within us all.
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Stone & Wood Pacific Ale: As the father of my oldest friend once said to me: "It's the perfect refreshing pint that smells like they've loaded it with the God's herb."
The last beer you enjoyed:
Garage Project's DFA while sitting at the bar at Miss Moses as the sounds of The Rolling Stone drifting in the background.
Three things that represent you:
- Bruce Springsteen
- Ken Burns
- The State Library of Victoria
