Brewer Tim Thomas will be closing the doors of HopDog BeerWorks for the last time this Saturday, a few weeks out from the brewery’s seventh birthday.

READ MORE: Tim’s getting ahead in the brew game

It’s sad news for the region’s beer geeks, who clamoured for his left-of-centre brews like Abbey of the Dead (the one with the sugar skulls), Secret Santa (gingerbread) and Gose and the Pussycats (sea water).

Thomas said he put the brewery on the market 12 months ago, after he and wife Tess opened up Nowra restaurant Dog and Monocle.

But with no serious buyers, he decided to draw a line under things.

The reason to finish up HopDog was simple – there wasn’t enough hours in the day for a brewery and a restaurant.

“The main reason for wanting to sell is that it’s all me,” Thomas says.

“HopDog has always been that and there’s not enough of me to go around and do the things that need doing. I do brewing, packaging, sale, delivery – everything.

“We’ve got the restaurant as well now. That’s busy-busy and we can’t keep up with that – so that needs my help and attention.”

After a year of waiting, Thomas said having a closing date was “a comfort”.

While he mightn’t be making beer under the HopDog label Thomas won’t be giving up on brewing altogether.

“I’m still homebrewing and with the Dog and Monocle we’ve got plans to do contract brewing, small batch stuff for the restaurant.”