One man's craft brewery dream is being built in an understated corrugated iron warehouse on Alexandra’s Boundary Rd.

Station Brewing, the brainchild of Grant Radka, is not open quite yet, but he is aiming for this summer.

The equipment inside the warehouse will be used for the smaller quantity brews and was bought from Nelson’s Founders Park Brewery (also known as Park Life)

The building is being renovated, prior to gaining the building consent needed for the off licence to be issued, and then the business can open for beer sales.

The father of 21 month old twins is a yard manager at Placemakers, but brewing is his true passion.

The copper tanks are being polished by hand by Grant, he plans to bring them back to a full gloss appearance

“I’ve always thought a brewery would go well here and become a part of local pride…I want Alex to have a congregation point for young families, maybe with live music in the future too.”

The former head brewer at Olivers spent two and a half years at a large scale commercial brewery in Samoa honing his skills, and returned to Central in March 2020.

“[In Samoa] I had to be super disciplined, it was a challenging environment and a professional development opportunity; a brewhouse in a third world country…including dated equipment in the bottling line.

The front of house area at Station Brewing is taking shape, with a design aesthetic of rustic keg seating and new timber combined with recycled materials

Grant said he wanted to have Station Brewing up and running in August 2020 but “Covid-19 really put the brakes on things”.

His vision for the warehouse is to have beer production as part of the experience for visitors and for it to be family friendly, with a beer garden and kids zone. 

“I hope to have eight 36 hectolitre fermenters down the middle to practice a German brewing method called krausening.”

The brand’s first brew, a Pilsner, was on offer at the Blossom Festival and Grant said it was well received by festival goers.

The Boundary Rd warehouse used to be an auto wreckers and then a juice factory prior to Grant taking on the lease

He plans to offer other types of craft beer too, including an IPA, hazy IPA and darker ale. 

Choosing a name was “agonising” Grant said. He opted for Station Brewing to connect to the sheep stations that kept Central going afloat when the gold rush ended.

Grant said Ophir’s Gary Stewart was owed a “big shout out” for his help on brand and logo design. 

For now, you can ask for Station Brewing’s beverages at Olivers, and look out for them at the Clyde Wine and Food Festival.