Bremer Bay brewer keeps spirits up as pub closes four days after it opened

More than three years in the making, Bremer Bay’s new pub opened for a grand total of four days before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the doors shut. A project of passion for Zane Mitchell, who has an earthmoving business in town, he has not let the awkward timing get him down. “It can’t be helped. It’s one of those things and it’s just how it’s turned out,” Mr Mitchell said. “We’re trying to get hold of some bottles now out of Perth so we can put beer into bottles and sell takeaway. “We’ve been brewing beer for quite a few months.” For now, Bremer Bay Brewing Company is offering takeaway beers — a golden ale, cream ale, brown ale, red ale and a porter. But the takeaway experience does not do justice to the venue’s nautical design. The bar is a replica of Albany’s first fishing boat, a clinker-built boat built to scale and named Seadragon. The beers taps are all fishing lures, donated by Halco in Fremantle. There are portholes on the doors and conversation pieces on the walls, including old Seagull outboard motors and a vintage surfboard used by Mr Mitchell’s father. “It’s all themed around the ocean. It’s either boating, fishing or surfing,” he said. “You’ve got older things hanging around that the older guys can talk to the younger guys about.” Mr Mitchell said he had wanted to brew for years. A trip to craft breweries in the US had convinced him to chase his passion. “We thought Bremer Bay was ready for something else,” he said. “For a long time Bremer didn’t have anything — now it just needs a little bit more. “We have good local support and it gives tourists a reason to stay in town another day.”