Every story starts somewhere, and ours began in a dilapidated old shed in Brunswick West back in 2008, where Dan Dainton first tried his hand at the scientific art of homebrewing. Little did he know that those backyard dreams of beer being “more” - plus a little bit of arm twisting of the old man Kev - would lead to one of Australia’s most recognised and respected craft beer brands being established.

From the beginning, Dainton Beer has always been about brewing beers that are exciting, tasty and a little bit different. It was built on a belief that beer could be more. More tasty, more fun, more exciting and available to more people. So we set out to bring punters freedom of choice because beer drinkers deserved more.

In 2013, we released our first commercial brew Red Eye Rye - a beer that pushed the then boundaries of what beer could, and should, be. Dan was clearly onto something because, a few years later, that very beer went on to win a trophy at the 2018 Indie Beer Awards.

Our production brewery and taphouse opened its doors in 2016, allowing for a whole new level of experimentation. While our batch sizes might have grown a bit since the shed days, brewing innovative and exciting beers (that are a bit of fun!) is still right at the heart of what we do. In 2022, we opened our second taphouse in Croydon, Victoria at the site of the old Public Brewery. Allowing us to bring our big, bold and tasty beers to the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

With our amazing team of brewers, we have managed to pick up 50+ awards along the way, including twice winning the best in show award (i.e. Champion Craft Beer) at the Indie Beer Competition for the 3D and Cherrywood Smoked Rye Baltic Porter. Even more excitingly, we won Champion Independent Large Brewery of Australia (and Victoria) at the 2020 Indies awards. We must be doing something right!