Welcome to Van Dieman Brewing

Van Dieman Brewing is an independent brewery, established in 2009, located on a family farm in Northern Tasmania. We combine the passion of agriculture, with the artisanship of fermentation to create our take on a broad array of stylistic beers and modern interpretations of farmhouse ales. We incorporate our natural surroundings and local agriculture to uniquely convey a sense of origin, time, place & people - the liquid summation of “terroir.”

Founder and Head Brewer Will Tatchell transgressed into the brewing world as a distraction during University years, whilst studying Agricultural Science, and retrospectively saw the brewing industry as an extension of the primary industry he'd grown up within. Upon completing University, he sought further experience in the brewing sector and travelled to the United Kingdom to immerse himself within the history rich brewing sector. Returning a number of years later to initiate the beginnings of the brewery in 2007 which was, by necessity, a labor of love. The demand for hand-made, small batch beer was not what it is today. But those first kegs of our Ragged Jack Pale Ale we proudly delivered to local pubs and restaurants found a market that was receptive to flavourful, locally brewed ales back when bland, generic beers ruled. It turns out we were onto something. Though our lineup of beers has grown, the way we brew all of them – always keeping quality and consistency in everything we do – remains the same. That artisanal spirit that Van Dieman was founded on continues today; brew excellent independent beer every day.

Our focus in recent years has evolved into a holistic on-farm approach heavily influenced by the Farmhouse ales originating in the agrarian borderland shared by France and Belgium, which are less of a style and more of a loose branch on the beer family tree. The humble origins of these beers meant that they were brewed with whatever ingredients were on hand. When farm owners needed to provide nourishment and compensation to seasonal farm workers, beer was an obvious part of the package, since they were already growing many of the ingredients. The rustic nature of making beer in a more primitive and authentic environment drives our process. It hosts peculiar and expressive organisms that represent a model of beer that spans a gap in brewing prehistory. This form of brewing resists adherence to any style guidelines because the beer’s profile can be as varied as the imagination: bold or mild, light or dark, sweet or bitter. Creating distinctive, unique flavors and giving the natural process full credit is at the heart of farmhouse brewing. A blend of yeasts is required to achieve the desired character, where a chorus of microorganisms creates fruity, spicy, and peppery flavors and aromas. No preservatives, filtering or pasteurization ensure that fine flavors and delicate aromas are preserved.

Our dedication to this approach of brewing borders on fanatical. We're creating totally unique and completely brewery grown, single-origin beers, we've dubbed as Estate Ales. By utilising grains and hops grown on the brewery farm and subsequent processing on-site, a spring-fed water source, and foraging the countryside for wild flora and indigenous wild yeasts, we are returning to how local farmhouse brewing existed in a previous life, back to its agricultural roots. This concept excites & passionately drives our focus day to day from a brewing operations perspective and also on-farm decisions for brewing purposes. The ability of being able to actively control, influence and manage the entire process from ground to glass is incredibly rare in any industry these days, and something we're inherently proud and protective of. We’re brewing from the ground up.