Good news brewing at old bush printing press

By HARRY CLARKE

HOLD the front page – there’s good news brewing at the site of an historic country printing press.

A group of teachers in Chinchilla, whose friendship was formed on their shared love for a cold beer and their passion for micro brewing, is going into business in the hope of building on a tasty new tourism experience in the town.

Chinchilla State High School teachers Brian Hobson, Glen Ivers, Steve Johnson and Brad Hubbard, along with their spouses and the Hubbards’ daughter, Goondiwindi-based teacher Emma Hubbard, are converting the former Chinchilla News printing press building into a micro brewery.

The group initially formed as a beer brewing social club based in a vacant convent building next door to the local St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School.

As the beer flowed, soon came the idea of taking their social hobby further.

“Word gets around among teachers, and teachers aren’t shy to get around a beer on a Friday afternoon,” Brian Hobson said.

“I’ve been brewing for quite some time and it’s probably been a bit more than a hobby. I teach it as part of my chemistry course. Fermentation is a part of organic chemistry and during Covid the production of alcohol for hand sanitiser was a talking point.

“I’d become aware of a school in Brisbane that was offering a Cert 3 in malting and brewing for students in Year 11 and 12. I talked it over with our school principal and we got a little excited about doing that in Chinchilla.

“So those kinds of ideas were fermenting at the time.”

The beer flowed further and the idea escalated into setting up a microbrewery and public bar venue, where the beer swilling educators could make a dollar selling craft beers while also teaching students and beer enthusiasts the art of brewing.

The for-sale former Chinchilla News office was the ideal location.

“When you can make something that is your own, there is a sense of achievement and pride with that,” Hobson said.

“I can’t build, I can’t cut timber straight or make walls and all that sort of thing, but I think I can brew a decent beer. Steve has a background in running cafes, and he and Brad know how to use tools.”

The teachers have spent the school holidays gutting the former Chinchilla headquarters and converting it into a microbrewery and bar.

Their plan is to maintain the newspaper printing heritage within their venue, through the brewery’s name and the venue’s decor. Defunct printing press machinery remains inside the building and they plan to keep it as a feature of the venue.

“We want to bring people into Chinchilla. We’d love to maintain that heritage of the Chinchilla News and the history of what this building was. It’s kind of a happy marriage of those two things,” Hobson said.

Incidentally, the teachers’ project isn’t the only micro-brewery being established in Chinchilla, with the construction of Charley’s Creek Brewing Co also underway on the other side of town.

Glenn Ivers said the two local breweries would compliment one another, as opposed to becoming competitors.

“I think there’s room for everyone,” he said.

“It’s odd to have two breweries operating in a small town, but I think it’s a positive thing because people might tour out here and been keen to go to couple of different venues. If people are into brewing then they’re going to come and have a look at both. 

“I think we’re ideally located because people can come here and have their micro brewery experience and then go on to the other brewery, or walk across to the pub.”