Chris Shanahan: Beer writer Willy Simpson turns to brewing, mead making

Willie Simpson, beer columnist for our sister publication, The Sydney Morning Herald, and author of The Beer Bible, recently opened a brewery and meadery in Tasmania.

A few months before the opening I’d come across a gum-booted Willie lending a hand – and perhaps getting a few pointers from brewer Richard Watkins – in the cellar at Canberra’s Wig & Pen Pub Brewery.
At the time Willie said that he and his partner Catherine Stark intended to grow their own hops for their beer and to use local honey for their cider.

The dream crystallised with the opening of Seven Sheds Brewery, Meadery and Hop Garden in May 2008. It’s located at 22 Crockers Street, Railton, Tasmania, not far off the Bass Highway connecting Devonport to Launceston. You can get a birds-eye view using www.maps.google.com

If you’re heading that way it’s a short drive south of Devonport and could be a good starting point in discovering Tassie drinks and food. You can taste Willie and Catherine’s cider and mead at the cellar door and enjoy a tour of the cellars – and perhaps a look at the hops garden in season.
See www.sevensheds.com for more information.