Feral addresses rumour brewery is on the move

An anonymous caller to Radio 6PR has sent plenty of tongues wagging about a future location for the Feral Brewing Company.

During Friday’s Breakfast Show with Steve Mills and Basil Zempilas an item on the program's Rumour File suggested Feral was “going to be relocating into the city from their operation in the Swan Valley” and that a brewpub would be set up “in the Scitech area in City West”.

The story raised some eyebrows at the Feral headquarters located in its production brewery in Bassendean.

But since around 50,000 people heard the throwaway line on the wireless and The Sip being a beer news website our team compelled to put the question to the Feral management crew.

And the response was quick from the Feral spokesman.

“Feral has multiple years remaining on its current lease of the Swan Valley brewpub site with options to extend,” he said.

“We also have multiple years remaining on the leased property in Bassendean where we operate our production brewery from.

“Outside of these two locations Feral has no other leases or property interests nor do we have any offers being considered for additional properties for our brewing or hospitality operations.”

Feral has been entrenched in its Baskerville location since it started in 2002 as one of the few craft breweries in WA.

It has grown into an Australian artisanal brewing institution and it was forced to set up a bigger Bassendean operation in 2012. And five years later it moved just down the road to an even larger premises.

The growth enticed Coca Cola Amatil to buy Feral, including the Swan Valley brewpub and associated barrel room, in late 2017.

The Baskerville brewhouse has been used as an experimental facility with Will Irving concocting a wide range of successful beers for a decade. Twice a year the venue delivers the hugely-popular Tusk Double India Pale Ale.

Perth is enjoying a spike in inner city brewhouses with the Northbridge Brewing Company, Blasta Brewing and Bright Tank Breweries joining the Old Swan Brewery and Generous Squire in establishing operations in or on the edge of the capital.

There are some buildings in and around Perth, including facilities in Osborne Park, City Beach, Victoria Park and Leederville, being considered as future brewpub venues by breweries.

Food and beverage operators throughout the Swan Valley district had reported recent falls in tourism numbers as putting a strain on business. Australian Brews News reported two months ago, a hop-on, hop-off bus service has helped boost the visitor rate since November.