Van Dieman Brewing began as a leap of faith by founder Will Tatchell in 2007.

That was when Will departed Tasmania to take up a brewing job at Guinness in Ireland. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite turn out as planned. While traveling through Nepal with his dad, Will found out that the job had gone. He continued on to the UK undaunted, sending emails to more than 100 breweries. He ended up in a brewery at Milton, in the university city of Cambridge.

Having immersed himself in the British brewing industry, Will returned to Tasmania a few years later armed with skills, knowledge and experience – everything he needed to establish his own Tasmanian Brewery company: Van Dieman Brewing.

Today, Van Diemen Brewing is based just outside the historic northern town of Evandale. Its state-of-the-art brewery is surrounded by English oak trees over 100 years old, as well as rolling paddocks that produce beef, lamb and, occasionally, beer-fed pork. Will’s commitment to excellence, combined with traditional ale recipes and only the finest natural ingredients – no additives or preservatives – means great Tasmanian beer.

Van Dieman Beers

Today Van Dieman brewing produces 4 core beers:

Ragged Jack Pale Ale

Ragged Jack is a hoppy pale ale inspired by the beers we love to take with us on long hikes and bike treks with one end goal, tantalizingly hoppy refreshment. With a malt bill consisting solely of our pale malt, Ragged Jack remains bone dry with a joyous background of simple bready and biscuit-like notes.

Its Galaxy dry hopping creates a melody of balanced tropical and juicy flavours that jump right out of the beer, only to be followed up with equally intense hoppy notes of apricot, guava, mango and passion fruit. While low in body, the hops used create a resinous mouthfeel keeping this beer refreshing yet deceptively small. Ragged jack is exceptionally easy to drink, with a relaxed malt depth, unearth this beer regularly for maximum satisfaction.

Jacobs Ladder Amber Ale

Hops get all the attention, but Jacobs Ladder turns its nose up at the spotlight seeking hop character and instead pays homage to the hard working, behind the scenes effort of the malts. The crystal clear copper hue can be attributed to the Shepherds Delight malt, whilst Crystal malt embodies the beer with much of the malt aroma.

Throw your nose into the headspace of the glass and a bready malt character, dark fruit aromas and a hint of autumn spice immediately hit you. Backed up by five different malts that punch out a superb malty body and soft bitterness from subtle modern hop additions, it’s a beer to be celebrated for its subtleties and hard working nature, which coincidently honors its English heritage.

Stacks Bluff Oatmeal Stout

We developed this Oatmeal Stout with loads of rich cocoa, creamy espresso and toasted malt notes. Balanced superbly with a full body mouthfeel through the use of rolled oats, and to accentuate the oatmeal sweetness, we added in a small amount of genuine vanilla pods late in the boil, which in turn helps cut through the rich oatmeal laden body to help transform what could be considered a dessert beer into a sessionable inky black elixir.

Its silky velvet-like body aides in draping the subtle vanilla sweetness from the front to the back of your tongue, only thinning out as the espresso character hits the palate, inducing just the slightest amount of salivation, helping this creamy dark bomb wash clean and keeping it incredibly drinkable for a stout that is darker than an approaching southerly front. Enjoy this while soaking in the sun's rays at your favourite swimming hole or hunkered down by a fireplace as the frost settles outside on a winters night.

White Hills White Ale

Our take on a traditional a Belgian Witbier, a refreshing, elegant, tasty, moderate- strength wheat-based ale. The grain bill is about half malted barley and half raw wheat, with around 5% rolled oats added to increase mouthfeel. Full of body, flavor and aromatics, it has a mellow sweetness and a light, balancing tart edge.

We’ve tactically deployed fresh orange peel and coriander seed to deliver an effortless thirst quenching fresh flavor with a bulging bouquet of coriander and citrus. Sports a meringue-like head when poured and a full golden, hazy appearance when the yeast is preferably roused from the bottle. A great pleasure anytime, providing a little taste of summer, all year round.

Also along with an assortment of limited release & seasonal variants.

A good guide to Van Diemen’s range is available here.

Van Dieman Brewing Fact

In addition to the on-farm spring water we use to brew with, a hop field has been established allowing us to hand harvest a crop each year for addition to a seasonal harvest ale.
Over the course of the next 12 months we plan on planting a barley crop adjacent to the brewery, to malt our own grains, continue to develop and add to our barrel-ageing program and sustainably grow the business, focusing on maintaining our high quality standards and level of consistency.