The Brew

The Engineers-turned-brewers Shaking Up Melbourne’s Craft Scene

Read Time 3 Minutes

Posted 30 Jan 2024

By Vintage Cellars

Everyone loves the story of a quiet achiever. Someone — or in the case of Deeds Brewery, some people — who go about their business, kicking goals and doing great work without making a big song and dance about it.

It’s this approach Patrick Alé and David Milstein have taken with their passion project turned award-winning (and locally adored) brewery in Melbourne’s Glen Iris, Deeds.

What started as a mutual love of beer between mates evolved into a career focused on importing and distributing high-quality beers and ciders from around the world — something Alé and Milstein stuck with for 18 years before chasing their shared dream of running a brewery of their own.

With backgrounds in engineering, attention to detail and a propensity to innovate informed Alé and Milstein’s approach to brewing from the get-go. What they might have lacked in experience the pair more than made up for with their passion for creating the best beer they possibly could, starting with Double Time. A fresh, fruity pale ale, Double Time was the first beer Deeds produced in 2019, aptly named after their brewery that took double the intended time to build.

From Double Time stemmed the brewery’s core range of classic beers done Deeds style — six of which you can buy at Vintage Cellars. Think a lager hopped with Mandarina Bavaria for subtle mandarin notes or a pale ale boasting pineapple notes while being lighter on the alcohol. Go-to’s from the range include their Pre Game Pale Ale, a flavoursome pale, Half Time Pale Ale, a hop-driven citrus-packed affair perfect for (you guessed it) half time, Double Time Hazy Pale, the very first brew produced from their Glen Iris homeground. (Be sure to scroll the range here to find your very own fave.)

But as much as Alé and Milstein are invested in the intricacies of brewing and pushing the craft brew boundaries, at its core, Deeds’ ethos is simple. Really good beer made by people who love really good beer.