Spotlight on: Carlton Brewhouse

You’d be forgiven for not associating a brewery with a day of productivity and learning. When most people think of a brewery, they think exclusively of the golden elixir. To be fair, the Carlton and United Brewery is still producing 900 bottles of beer per minute. But it’s also home to the Carlton Brewhouse, a stunning heritage building that can host delegates for conferences, meetings or events.

“It’s a different space, it doesn’t have the usual corporate feel. And that’s what I think our clients love about it,” says Deb Fife: events, sales and tourism manager for Carlton Brewhouse.

It’s the perfect combination of stimulating and quiet.

“A lot of our business is repeat business. People like that it’s an interesting space, but also a blank canvas for creativity to flow. We can put up butcher’s paper on the walls for delegates to get up and unleash their ideas upon,” says Deborah.

The natural light and modern facilities also tick a lot of boxes for delegates. And being so close to the city, its convenient location contributes to this venue setting itself apart from the usual corporate offerings.

Even the lunch offering is in a league of its own. While you could stick to the more traditional buffet style menu, you’d be hard pressed to find people willing to turn down a gourmet barbecue, matched with some super fresh brews. And with 10 different beers being rolled out every day, there's a lot to choose from. 

It may be a surprise that it's a great venue for conferencing, but it's no surprise it's a popular choice for corporate events like product launches and, of course, the annual Christmas party...with a difference. Of course there's plenty of cold ones to go around. Beyond the ale, though, is beer pulling competitions, trivia, and themed events.

The best feature of Carlton Brewhouse though, has to be the brewery tour. You can even add a tasting to the tour to ignite all your senses.

Nothing breaks up the day like going on a tour based around beer - how and where it's made, seeing it being made, and sampling the final product.

Guests follow the utopian 'River of Beer' which winds through the majestic building and the active brewery, or part of it. To tour the entire site would take awhile, seeing as how it occupies a land size approximately five times the size of the MCG. It makes sense - you need a lot of space to produce 2 million litres of beer per day!

So, even if you don’t learn anything at the conference, you’ll have a bevy of fun facts that will go down a treat the next time you’re at your local.