In the backstreets of Collingwood, neighbourhood pub Molly Rose Brewing is resetting the tone of the venue it first opened with a simple goal: make it feel like a local again.
The brewery has rolled out a refresh across the space, food, and drinks program, bringing the venue back toward a more casual, beer-led environment after it drifted into restaurant territory over the past few years.
Founder Nic Sandery describes the new approach as “Collingwood beer hall chic.”
“At one point we were starting to feel a bit too much like a restaurant,” Sandery says. “We’ve brought it back to something warmer, more relaxed and more us. We want Molly Rose to feel like a place anyone can walk into and feel at home, beer drinker or not.”
Inside the brewpub, the changes lean into that communal atmosphere. Long tables have returned and the venue has relaxed its approach to group bookings, allowing parties of up to 20 people to book in without minimum spends, fixed packages or set menus. The idea is simple: turn up, order what you want and stay as long as the night lasts, with a late-night bar menu available as the evening rolls on.
The food offering has shifted as well, with new Head Chef Sam Field steering the menu toward European beer hall-style dishes with a Melbourne spin.
Field began cooking at 13 in a country pub in Chichester before moving through fine dining kitchens in the UK. Since arriving in Australia in 2021, he’s worked with chefs including Nick Blake at Noosa Beach House and most recently Peter Sheldon at The European in Melbourne, where he was part of the team that secured the venue’s first chef’s hat.
“There’s so much care and hard work that goes into brewing,” Field says. “My goal is to use our menu to highlight that, to create dishes that sit naturally with the beers and make the whole experience feel cohesive and delicious.”
The drinks list continues to centre on beer brewed onsite, with the lineup rotating through seasonal releases, small-batch experiments, and collaborations. But the program has widened to reflect more of what the team produces in-house, including spirits distilled onsite and a cocktail list built around those products.
The distillery side of the operation produces small-batch gins and a range of house-made liqueurs, including strawberry vermouth, banana bread liqueur and pastis, which appear across the cocktail list alongside local wines and non-alcoholic options.
“We’re brewers first,” Sandery says. “But great hospitality means having something thoughtful in the glass for everyone.”
To mark the reset – and the addition of Flash Pale Ale to the core beer range – Molly Rose will host a Backstreet BBQ on Saturday 14 March from 2pm to 6pm. The afternoon will feature $2 pots of the new pale ale, a sausage sizzle, music, and drinks in the brewery’s laneway.
For Sandery, the direction is less about reinvention and more about getting back to what worked in the first place – a brewpub where drinks, food and conversation all happen at the same table.