Two Metre Tall Farmhouse Ale & Cider

Verdict

If you're weighing up a farmhouse brewery visit in Tasmania's Derwent Valley, Two Metre Tall sits in a different category from most Australian craft beer destinations. This is a working farm operation on the Lyell Highway outside Hayes, not a polished brewery bar with a curated tap list and a kitchen doing shared plates. If you came once and ordered something sessionable and left early, the better reason to return is to settle in for the long version of the evening: farmhouse ales and ciders that are designed to improve the longer you sit with them, in a setting that has no urban equivalent.

What It Is

Two Metre Tall produces farmhouse ales and ciders using estate-grown ingredients in the Coal River and Derwent Valley region. The approach is tied to the farm itself, with hops and barley grown on-site feeding the production. That agricultural grounding is not a marketing angle so much as a practical reality: the character of what's in the glass reflects the season and the land it came from, which means what was on when you visited last may not be on now. For a return visitor, that's actually the reason to go back rather than a caveat.

The address, 2862 Lyell Hwy in Hayes, puts it on a rural highway roughly between Hobart and the central highlands. Getting there requires a car. There is no public transport option that makes this practical, and the drive from Hobart is the kind of thing you plan around, not squeeze in. Factor that into the timing: this is a destination visit, not a drop-in. Booking ahead is advisable for any group visit; the setting is farm-scale rather than high-volume hospitality, so capacity is not unlimited. That said, the booking difficulty here is low by any standard, and turning up without a reservation outside peak periods is generally workable for smaller parties.

At Night

The late-evening experience at Two Metre Tall is shaped by its location more than its hours. A farm property on a Tasmanian highway does not carry the energy of a city bar at 10 PM, and that is precisely the point. If you're the kind of drinker who wants to close out a night with something complex and unhurried, the farmhouse ale format suits that pace. The aroma profile of a well-made farmhouse ale, earthy and faintly funky with the kind of brett character that develops slowly in the glass, tracks well with a slower evening. This is not a venue for a quick round before somewhere else. It is, however, a genuinely good reason to stay in Hayes rather than driving back to Hobart immediately after dinner.

For a return visitor specifically, the question is what's new in the production cycle. Two Metre Tall's range shifts with the farm calendar, so asking what's current when you arrive will give you more useful guidance than anything printed in advance. The cider program, drawing on Tasmanian apple and pear growing, runs alongside the ale range and is worth treating as a separate exploration rather than an afterthought.

Booking and Access

No phone or website data is currently in Pearl's records for Two Metre Tall. Check current operating hours before making the drive, particularly outside the warmer months when rural Tasmanian venues sometimes reduce their schedules. The address is 2862 Lyell Hwy, Hayes TAS 7140. A car is essential. For more on what to do around the region, see our full Hayes restaurants guide, our full Hayes bars guide, our full Hayes wineries guide, and our full Hayes experiences guide. If you're planning to stay overnight rather than drive back to Hobart, our full Hayes hotels guide covers the options in the valley.

For comparison points in the broader Australian craft bar scene, Timber Door Cellars in Geelong and The Crafers Hotel in the Adelaide Hills offer regional drinking destinations that share some of the same rural-setting logic. For city bars with serious drinks programs, 1806 in Melbourne, Cantina OK! in Sydney, Bar Lune in Adelaide, Bowery Bar in Brisbane, and Bar Leather Apron in Honolulu are the reference points worth knowing.