Two beers — to be known as Eastern Pure and Eastern Tint — were released to the public during a special launch at the Humffray Street North establishment last night.

They are made by University of Ballarat micro brewery head brewer Peter Aldred, who has released the beer exclusively to the pub.

Eastern Station Hotel owner Scott McLean expects the beers to be a hit with patrons.

“It’s ours and I want the community to own it,” Mr McLean said.

“Everyone loves Ballarat Bitter, but it only comes around once every five years.

“If you’re a home brewer, you’ll appreciate this even more. It’s brewed to perfection — you are just not going to get any better.”

Mr Aldred said the Eastern Pure was an American-style pale ale, which is golden in colour and malty in taste, while the Eastern Tint was a dark beer with a chocolate flavour, enhanced with vanilla.

Mr McLean, who took over operation of the hotel at Christmas, hopes the exciting new beer deal can help “clean-up” the long-standing image of the pub.

He is planning a refurbishment of part of the hotel, including a decked garden area.

“We are trying to get away from that stigma of the topless bar,” he said. “We want to fix the image, but stay as a pub. We’ve got our feet in the door and we’re ready to start advertising.”

Mr McLean was busy with more than 50 guests at last night’s launch, which included students of UB’s brewing course.

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