Cascade Bar - Hobart

After about 75 minutes drive from Ross, we were there: Hobart - the heart of Cascade. Nestled in a beautiful bay, and surrounded by stunning bush, Hobart is a fantastic place for a brewery to be located. Although the history of the Cascade Brewery is to be found elsewhere on this site, it was the brewery that drew us like Slops to the barbed wire.

First however we drove up Mt Wellington and, with a Cascade in each hand, had a wander around the top. It was bloody freezing. There were gale force winds coming from one side of the mountain, while the snow encrusted lunar formations made walking difficult. The AustralianBeers.com team in particular was having a hard time. Wild Man however, was in his element. 

"Do you see the way those clouds are coming in?", he screamed in the wind. "If we stay out here much longer there's a good chance our beers will freeze, we will get lost and we will die of exposure over the next 2-3 hours".

"Great", we said, sipping our beers while we still could.

Wild Man then proceeded to attempt to clear some room in the snow and freezing water to build a fire. This was too much for us, and we retreated to the car to turn on the heater and finish the remaining beers.

Two hours later we were awoken from our drunken stupor by a desperate tapping on the car window. It was Wild Man, and he looked cold and miserable.

"Here, get this into you idiot". We gave him the last remaining beer, and signalled for the designated driver to take us to the jewel of this place: the Cascade Brewery.  

Gazing upon its splendour with some fresh Cascade to go with the occasion we were reminded of the immortal quote of Julian Thomas in 1895:

Surely the Cascade Brewery is more beautifully situated than any brewery in the world. … Massively built of granite, four and five stories high, the brewery only wants towers instead of chimneys to play the part of a castle.  The pillars of the gates leading into the brewery are surmounted by imitation casks hewn out of stone.  They bear the date of 1824, the year the new wing was erected.  This date takes one back to the ancient history of Victoria.  It is almost bewildering to think that when the site of Marvellous Melbourne had been untrodden by white man this massive building was erected.  But the Cascade Brewery was built, not for a day, but in the old solid European style for many generations.  I dare say it will be standing a hundred years hence, its pale ale as popular a drink as in these days.

And indeed, on this date some 107 years hence, the Cascade Pale Ale was still popular with the team, as were the other beers we consumed in the Cascade Bar in the brewery (including the delightful Cascade Special Stout and Cascade Premium). 

Take a break from drinking like the author of this article did - Read why and how in his book Between Drinks: Escape the Routine, Take Control and Join the Clear Thinkers