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The Mighty Hunter Valley

Tasting Platter The Mighty Hunter Valley

The Mighty Hunter Valley

Originally a brick works that diversified into terracotta pottery for pipes and tiles, the site has undergone many changes while maintaining its heritage listing. Additions by previous owners included accommodation, a restaurant and a brewery, while maintaining a link to the past through its name – Potters Hotel Brewery Resort. The current owners Foghorn Brewery renamed it The Mighty Hunter Valley and upgraded and modernised the facilities.

Located five minutes from Cessnock or 20 minutes from Singleton in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, it is in the heart of wine country. Driving there takes you past many picturesque vineyards, most of which offer cellar door sales and tasting.

The five heritage listed brick kilns are an easy way to find the brewery as they can be seen from the road. After parking, we walked around them to take a few pictures before heading inside. Visible from the bar, the brewery has tours available, but not on the day we visited. Instead, we chose a beer tasting, buying a paddle each. You choose four beers per tasting depending on your preference.

We sat outside under a veranda to drink and relax. Deciding that we would have lunch there too, we ordered at the adjacent restaurant and had several more relaxing beers before eating.

We enjoyed going here, the beer was great and the meals delicious. The outdoor setting in the shade was relaxing and peaceful.

To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.

Cascade Brewery Tour Hobart

Cascade Brewery

Cascade Brewery Tour Hobart

How to Get There

Only a five-minute drive from Hobart’s CBD in the foothills of Mount Wellington, the Cascade Brewery Tour is a must for lovers of beer and cider.

The Cascade Brewery

Having operated since 1824, the Brewery is Australia’s oldest, and a tour is a history lesson as well as beer making. Originally a sawmill but converted to a brewery because of the mountain water onsite, the building is still in use. The dates on the front of the building refer to the extension made in 1927 when new equipment required more height. This is still visible in the façade, where the material for the lower three floor differs from the upper levels.

In addition to tours, the brewery offers meals and a bar in the old manager’s residence, where you can relax after the tour, or just enjoy a meal or drink.

The Cascade Brewery Tour

Several different tours are available depending on age (16 years old and over can go on the extended factory tour that we did). An all ages tour caters for everyone, but does not enter the factory, nor does it offer beer and cider samples afterwards.

A safety briefing and protective equipment (hard hat, glasses, gloves and hair net and fluoro vest) are given at the start of the tour. This not only ensures your safety, as your are touring a working brewery, but also keeps the beer making process safe from you.

Unfortunately, no photos are allowed on the tour, so the secret of Cascades beer and cider process is still safe.

The comprehensive tour follows the whole process from grain delivery to bottling, packaging and distribution. We found it all very interesting especially the brewing and malting part.

We also found out that all waste products are used either on site or as animal feed. Nice to know that beer is environmentally conscious, as well as tasting great.

There was also a look at cider production, which uses some of the apples Tasmania is famous for.

Finishing the tour is a tasting platter of four beers or ciders. As we had a platter each, we were able to taste all of the beers and ciders on offer.

Beer and Cider Tasting Platter Cascade Brewery Tour
Beer and Cider Tasting Platter

What Did We Think?

This was a fun tour that we really enjoyed. Seeing the whole beer making process and then tasting the product was great fun. If you are in Hobart, it’s worth doing.

To read other posts about Tasmania, click here.

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