The Botanic Hotel on the corners of North and East Terraces was built in 1876 by Richard Vaughan. Richard was associated with the East End Markets located near where the hotel was built. The hotel was a classical Victorian building, being compared to a tiered wedding cake, though the current hotel facade was completed in 1897 with the addition of the third story. The hotel got its name from the Adelaide Botanic Gardens which is across the road from the hotel. By 1980 the only breweries operating in the country were - Castlemaine Perkins, Tooheys, Tooths, Carlton United, Northern Brewing, Coopers, S.A. Brewing & the Swan Brewery. This was also a worldwide trend with England losing most of the century old breweries brewing beer to accommodate the local tastes. This trend was troubling lots of UK beer drinkers so they formed a group called CARMA (CAMpaign for Real Ale). CARMA tasked themselves with the near impossible job of stopping the small local breweries from closing and getting the larger breweries to make ales again. As the group started to gather steam, little breweries were started to supply beer to these beer enthusiasts. As these beers gained in popularity the trend started to spread worldwide, finally reaching Australia in 1984 Brewtech was formed in late 1983, purchasing the old Freemasons Hotel in Fremantle which they renamed to the Sail & Anchor hotel. A small brewery was installed onsite and brewing commenced in mid-1984. The company had immediate success with lots of small breweries popping up across Australia trying to emulate Brewtech's success. Trying to emulate the success of Brewtech in Western Australia, A small brewery was installed into the Botanic hotel in 1986 with the assistance of Coopers Brewery. The brewery was up and running by late 1986 with beer started to flow by November that same year. There was only 1 beer brewed at the hotel, Old Botanic Brew, which was on draught and in bottles for takeaway. The hotel was initially very successful, but by the end of 1987 it had waned in popularity and the brewery closed. |
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