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Year In Beer: ACT & NT
385 Plays1 month ago
The final episode of The Crafty Pint's Year In Beer 2024 series is a double-header with a triple dose of guests. After completing the full set of states, it's the turn of ACT and the Northern Territory.
There have been notable anniversaries, not least in the capital with both BentSpoke Brewing and Page Bottler marking ten years in 2024, plus expansions, acquisitions, new openings, and the roller-coaster tale of Tumut River Brewing Co – one that's ended on a high with former staff now the new owners.
Joining us to cast an eye over the past 12 months are Mat Farrington, Tim Rasheed and Kyle Pearson.
Mat is the founder of CanBEERra, which he launched nine years ago to capture the goings-on in the beer world across the wider Canberra region. As well as offering insight into some of the newer operations, he's been mighty impressed with Cypher Brewing and their weekly tinnie releases of the past 12 months, plus the manner in which both To All My Friends and Herbert's at Evatt have shown how to operate as top-notch craft beer venues.
Tim opened Page Bottler a decade ago and now crams more great beer per square metre into his store than you'll likely find anywhere in Australia. He brings two decades in booze retail to the table as he offers his thoughts on where the local / indie beer world sits and how breweries backing their own identity rather than overreaching is the way to go.
And Kyle is the driving force behind Alice Springs Brewing Co and, as of a few weeks ago, the new owner of Beer Garden Brewing in Port Lincoln. He reflects on 2024, in which the brewery enjoyed the triumphant launch of their Territorian sub-brand and have put down deeper roots locally, as well as the reasons behind buying a second brewery 16 hours' drive from Alice. He also casts an eye over 12 months in which all of the NT's brewers have enjoyed successes, including One Mile's huge Territory Bar-BQ Festival in October, despite a drop in tourism.
Start of guest segments:
3:50 – Mat Farrington
17:30 – Tim Rasheed
28:18 – Kyle Pearson
The Crafty Pint's 2024 Year In Beer series is proudly presented by Mogwai Labs, leaders in liquid yeast solutions. For the perfect pitch every time, visit mogwailabs.com.au.
Relevant links:
The Crafty Pint's Year In Beer 2024: The National Picture: https://craftypint.com/news/3646/year-in-beer-2024-the-national-picture
CanBEERra: http://www.canbeerra.com/
Page Bottler: https://craftypint.com/bottleshop/1106/page-bottler
Alice Springs Brewing Co: https://craftypint.com/brewery/544/alice-springs-brewing-co
To find out more about supporting the show or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact craig@craftypint.com.
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Transcript
Introduction and Farewell to CraftyPump 2024
00:00:05
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the CraftyPump podcast. I'm Will. I'm James and time for our final podcast of 2024. So again, thanks everyone who's been listening in since they started back in, I think it was July. Feels like it could have been BC to be honest, but I think it was July.
Beer Scene in ACT and Northern Territory
00:00:20
Speaker
um I knew the final of our year in the year 2024 roundups as well, um ending as we always like to with the territories, and with ACT and Northern Territory.
00:00:30
Speaker
um First up we're having a chat with Matt Farrington of Canberra. He's been documenting the beer scene brewing and venues and all that kind of stuff around around the capital and the south coast of New South Wales for a number of years. He's effectively our man on the ground so I'll have a quick chat with him to see what he's made of the year and then we'll worry off after that.
00:00:49
Speaker
to Paige Bottler, which has been around for 10 years. Awesome bottle shop in Canberra. And we're going to chat to Tim Rashid, really smart guy. I've never actually chatted with Tim before, but it was such a lovely conversation to to really dive into the industry. Just knows so much about it. And yeah his passion for craft beer, I think really shines through. yeah Yeah, well, he's had 10 years, as he said, in Big Box sort of retail before moving to Page Butler. It's a very small store into which they cram a huge amount of stuff and just, you know, great spirits. So they celebrated 10 years this year, as did Ben Spoke, which we touch upon and the chat as well.
Kyle Pearson on Brewing Challenges and Expansion
00:01:21
Speaker
And then um and then I guess there's only one person we can speak to this year in in the Northern Territory was Kyle Pearson from Alice Springs Brewing Co. Not least because he's now going to be a twin state brewer. He's going to he's taken over yeah another brewery.
00:01:36
Speaker
Yeah, so of course, yeah, hopefully readers would have seen the news that he took over the beer garden brewing down in Port Lincoln. yeah um So that's a really interesting part of the conversation. But in general, just the growth of Alice Springs Brewing has been really exciting to watch from afar. I think it's it's obviously, it's a tough, tough economy there. There's a lot, it's on the news for all the wrong reasons. It's a really tough place to be in the alcohol industry. but Kyle still found a way and sort of navigated through a lot of things while keeping a really authentic brand. Yeah, well I think he's had to, you know, and change the direction of the business of a few times depending on what's been happening, whether it's been lockdowns, whether it's been changes to the laws in or on the territory. But, you know, and even in this conversation he talks about how he's changed things over the past year. um But yeah, it's pretty amazing to think that, you know, it's the first person to open a brewery now in the Springs and now has taken one in Port Lincoln figuring he can do six months in each. Yeah. And sort of switch back and forth.
00:02:31
Speaker
um and yeah he has a chat about what's been else been going on in the Northern Territory scene this year um and he's always always good fun and you might hear a bit of noise in the background from some of the brewery expansion or repair work I think it's just day-to-day brewing maybe I'm not too sure but you know it's a working brewery there's a bit of noise yeah these things happen um But yeah, don't forget to like and subscribe, sorry I've taken taken that away from you, they will, but don't forget to like and subscribe, rate and review wherever you listen to or watch the podcast. um And we'll be back from mid-January, back to weekly podcast at that stage though.
New Podcast and Event Announcements
00:03:05
Speaker
um One thing we should point out is, I guess a week after that, weeks after that, we'll be hosting the Gabs Hollis 100 countdown. We'll be doing a live stream, live podcast for a few hours in the day.
00:03:16
Speaker
um Aside from that, I guess, happy new year and see you in 2025. Cheers. Cheers.
00:03:26
Speaker
The final episode in our year in beer series is presented by Mogwai Labs. Having just expanded their production facilities, Mogwai are able to work with you to create custom yeast strains for your beers. That includes biobanking services to keep your house culture safe and the supply of a fresh pitch whenever you need one.
00:03:45
Speaker
Check them out at mogwylabs.com.au. Matt, welcome
Trends and Notable Breweries in Canberra
00:03:50
Speaker
to the show. How's you how's your year been? i It's been great. Thanks. Thanks for having me. The year MBA has had had so quite a few things going on. um I've not been as engaged as much as I'd like, but yes, I've caught every opportunity.
00:04:09
Speaker
yeah I was going to say because you've been running Cambia for nine years next year, so if anyone knows what's going on, I guess in the ATC region and I guess the New South Wales south coast like Canberra by the sea, I guess you'd you'd be the person that would know and I guess you've seen a lot change over there at that time as well.
00:04:25
Speaker
i ah I mean, everything's changed really over the last sir nine years. ah At the start, Canberra was ah born out of trying to keep track of maybe a dozen or two taps in three or four venues. And um ah it started with the yeah lofty goal of trying to share tap tap listings and everything going on manually, but it's ballooned. For sure. And and in in terms of 2024 in that region, any sort of stand out moments, any sort of breweries that have caught your eye, any any sort of trends over the past 12 months that have um yeah caught your attention? Some of the biggest stories from 2024, the first one that comes to mind is the journey that
00:05:19
Speaker
Tumor River Burinco have been on. um they They opened a tap house in Kingston, ah near the Kingston foreshore in Canberra back in April, ah looking for another opportunity for revenue after quite a few setbacks.
Revival and Innovation in Local Brewing
00:05:42
Speaker
Tumored open their Kingston tap house and um unfortunately that's that that didn't help. They went into liquidation in in September and now just recently very very good news ah with Michael and Mary the new owners and they're back running again focusing
00:06:10
Speaker
locally. um You know we we spoke to Michael and Mary just before they ah put the announcement out to the wider world while they were still, you know, and I think just as they sort of signed i paperwork and there was definitely a lot of excitement about that. I think you know what we found actually over the last couple of years is while there might be this sort of general ah interest, whenever the sort of bad news comes out, people are still you know desperate and looking for those positive stories in the in the beer industry. And I think that was that's been a really good one. And yeah Michael and Mary seem full of beans about the the prospects for the for the reborn brewery as well. Yes. And i'm I'm hopefully going to get there in a few days, going to be Christmasing with the family in the region. It'd be great to check in and see how they're doing. Yeah, great. um
00:06:58
Speaker
Now, Cypher, I guess, is another story for 2024. This year they launched into a i pretty um ambitious sort of plan of weekly releases of ah some pretty sort of bleeding edge beers into 440 mil tinnies and they've they've they've kept up that that program and the quality of of those beers hitting the tinnies. It's just been fantastic, as good as anything else available really. The the um
00:07:43
Speaker
The focus and I think the strength in there has been the hazy, hazy doubles and triples and Oak cream, OPAs and so on. They they also hosted a dark beer festival in winter. um I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm very much a fan of the dark beers and they had, uh, who, who, who was their capital then spoke ale, Mary Rube Goldberg brew machine, dangerous ails. Yep. Uh,
00:08:13
Speaker
Bearded Bro Brewing, who who I can talk about a bit more later, ah Brewdog and Hawkes, and yeah, just a nice, yeah fantastic selection of dark beers on tap there. And like they've hosted um the ah local amateur brewing club, cam Canberra Brewers, for some brew days as yeah as well. So a lot of engagement with the local region and the local beer scene too.
00:08:43
Speaker
Yeah, that's great.
Celebrating Milestones in Canberra's Beer Scene
00:08:44
Speaker
Now, um I know there's been a couple of notable 10-year anniversaries this year. We're actually chatting to Tim from Paige Butler. Um, uh, later in the show. So we might skip over his 10th anniversaries, but I guess it would have been pretty big one for the, I guess, to the, the capital's best known brewery turning 10 this year. I'm sure you, you would have got along some of the celebrations with the rich and Tracy. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. It was, it was a huge event. They blocked off the streets, uh, bands, uh, a few announcements and thank yous and, um,
00:09:20
Speaker
ah from From the beer side, there were a couple of great tinny releases around that. The they expectation of a descent beer, well, that that didn't happen. Instead, we had a cluster, instead of a cluster eight, a cluster 10, and a huge Huge favourite of mine, ah Dick Tracy, American Brown, made it into Tinney's. yeah this that Was that their first brew? That was that was their commissioning brew, wasn't it? Sort of a bit of everything thrown into the mix. ah Well, I'm um um not sure about
00:09:59
Speaker
a bit of everything, but, you know, that the their American Brown is that that close to a black IPA. And I'm a fan of black IPA. So you're here for it. Yeah, I'm I was delighted to see that in tinnies. We've also had Cupid Craft Brewarts with their 10th anniversary.
00:10:19
Speaker
um I'm trying to think of some other anniversaries there. We got Brew Your Own at Home, which is a homebrew and more ah shop here here in Canberra. It's a bit of an institution. I think everyone who's in the amateur brewing scene and most of the ah commercial breweries, brewers locally have been through there and can can maybe point at them as being part of their origin story. that They were celebrating 30 years. and Wow, that's impressive. And just going back to Cupid Craft Brewers now for people who don't know
00:10:56
Speaker
and or so That was their old name, I guess Cupid's Estate, the beer's coming out of there. um That's in Alladulla, so on the south coast, are part of a winery. um And yes, so a pretty beautiful place to visit.
Emerging Venues and Trends in ACT
00:11:10
Speaker
Oh yeah, yeah it's a fantastic setting. yeah and i've known I've known Liam from his days pre-Cupid's and called him to see him there last year. He's making some making lovely beers and yeah they often play around with with the wine, you know the options of the wine as well. So yeah, happy happy birthday to them as well. And what about ah any sort of notable new arrivals on the scene this year, whether that's you know new brewing companies or new venues or and anything that's caught your eye?
00:11:38
Speaker
Well, on on on the venue front, I've been, although not new, I think they've just reminded us what what a really good um indie beer advocacy Taphouse can be like. Herbits and ah as as they seem to be called now, Tampf.
00:12:01
Speaker
um warm spraying calling themselves To all my friends, a load of their and content on social media has been popping up in my feed and you can see there's been a sort of change, but I love it. like it It is very engaging and it's been you know great to see. It's always been a great venue with amazing pizzas, you know regular rotating taps, like knowledgeable staff or whatever, but it does feel like they've been yeah going anew at their way of engaging people and and educating people as well.
00:12:29
Speaker
Yeah, well, Paul, ah the the the owner, the he he's a brewer himself. you You can on rare occasion find his bung and door brewing co beers on on tap, but he loves nerding out and really engaging with the brewers ah that he he has on tap there. He's he he he's taken that knowing knowing what you're selling to to the next level. ah they've They've got a YouTube channel and um
00:13:01
Speaker
ah you know skipping to new breweries on the scene briefly, yeah we've got Ambush Brewing and he's he's been working with them on trying to refine a beer as their main sort of happy hour um ah local fresh beer that that that they have on tap all the time. It's, Herbert's, they they celebrated for years and I've
00:13:33
Speaker
I was looking back at some of the beers they've they've had on and they they probably win the award for the most local region breweries on tap. Tell me a bit about but about Bearded Broast. Is this another new brewing company that's launched in 2024
Impactful Launches: Bearded Bro Brewing
00:13:51
Speaker
then? So that's a chap called Jeremy Burton. His his his beard did soft launch ah at a ah Mexican tuckerier in Queanbeyan. So that was back in April.
00:14:05
Speaker
yeah he his His tap takeover at Herbert's, he had six beers on tap. It was was was packed. Well, until we're talking about what what to look out for, you know what should people will be looking out for from the beer scene in the wider Canberra region in 2025? Or perhaps, what would you like to see? you know It's been a challenging few years for the beer industry across Australia. and you know and Maybe you've got some thoughts on what you think thing you'd like to see next year.
00:14:35
Speaker
Yeah, look, that's a that's a difficult one. I'd i'd like to see, in in a funny way, I'd like to see no change. Seeing the closures and the struggle of recent years, what I'd what i'd like to see is ah everyone who's having a go now just just just really settling in, cap keep keeping the quality there. and ah doing well. Oh, I forgot somebody. Snowyway Brewing Co. Snowyway Brewing Co. I'm not sure whether you've covered it, but um so so back in August, the banjo, Patterson Inn, up in Jinderbone, Dom Lumsden there who's who's the brewer. i I think this ties in with Chuck Hahn's change of status with Lion and so on but but but basically the Banjo ah had had the opportunity there to get some more autonomy and we've rather than them brewing the Cozy Pale and a couple of seasonals up there um under
00:15:50
Speaker
and under that branding, they they they now have their own inie indie It does mean Jindebein now has has has has two indie in indie bro is ah breweries there, obviously, Carl's, Jindebein Brewing Co., the other one up there. so know Well, that's great. I appreciate you taking the time to have a chat and you know casting your eye back over the past 12 months, um which sounds like it's you know for for the challenges that you might have had there back so it sounds like it's been a pretty positive one. um And yeah, here's to a great 2025 for the Canberra region and and for you and Canberra. Indeed. Thank you Australia's leading provider of liquid yeast cultures for craft brewers. And the good news is that they've recently expanded capacity to meet demand. Josh and the team have built an incredible library of yeasts, including classic styles from across the world, mixed fermentation wild yeasts and even Australian cultures foraged from native plants, flowers and fruits.
00:17:00
Speaker
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Sponsor Highlight: Mogwai Labs
00:17:22
Speaker
That's M-O-G-W-A-I-L-A-B-S dot.com.au today.
00:17:32
Speaker
Tim, thank you for joining us. Thanks very much for having me, guys. um Tim, do you want to give some of our guest listeners or viewers a bit of a potted history of your involvement with beer and and and the page bottler?
00:17:44
Speaker
Yeah, so the page bottler, we've just tipped over 10 years of of trading in November, which is a massive milestone for us. um Previous to that, i was I was in beer as well for 10 years before that. So I've been selling beer to the masses for for a little bit over 20 years now.
Page Bottler's Insights and Celebrations
00:17:59
Speaker
And um yeah, it's it's it's my passion. It's you know it's something that we we think we do really well here. And we've got a really supportive bunch of customers that seem to enjoy it too.
00:18:10
Speaker
Yeah, and you and you really cram a heck of a lot into a small space there. That that was what what blew me away when I came in. like the the the they' sort of The variety per square inch of in that store is quite remarkable. Yeah, well, we've got 74 square meters to work with. and um My OCD doesn't allow one single gap. So we we make sure that everything is chopped in as much as we can. I think we found a really, you know, niche sort of point whereby we've got enough beer to to satisfy, but not too much that we've got date issues or anything like that. So, you know, it generally fluctuates from about 350 to 500 unique beers, depending on how things are set up and aligned through our shelves.
00:18:51
Speaker
Yeah and in terms of your focus, um is there strong focus on supporting your like local ACT in regional brewers or are you picking stuff up from all over the place? Look, but from all over the place and and you know when we first started off you know, it was a lot of imported beers, a lot of American beers that were coming, you know, I'm talking IPAs in 650ml bottles and, you know, they were six months old but we didn't know the difference, you know, nobody knew what a really good fresh ah IPA should taste like and and over the years we've gone more away from, you know, the the the bigger brands, the the multinational owned brands and just trying to focus our energies on on the smaller independent
00:19:30
Speaker
Local, obviously, south coast is big for us. um But we're happy to to to sort of stretch our legs and go all the way from you know from the Kiwi beers, the occasional beers from forward hops from the states, sometimes some stuff from Canada, but yeah predominantly, yeah I'd say 85% of it's Australian independent.
00:19:49
Speaker
Yeah, and yeah and and talking about ticking over 10 years, you had a bit of a bit of a party not long ago. had it added that you You took over the whole sort of shopping precinct. where you Yeah, we did. So we've we've been doing this, um you know, I mean, every year apart from the Covid lockdown years, where we'd like to have what we call a car park party. we um We set up a whole bunch of tables at the front and a barbecue and you know Just let people try all these beers that ordinarily they may not want to you know pay the $15 or $16 a can for the privilege of trying. So we put it on. It's a free event. We've got a really, really supportive our customer base who will um you know make sure that they leave with something. They know it's a free event. They know that these things aren't um'm totally free to us. So they'll buy something to to support us along the way and and support the breweries that have turned up.
00:20:37
Speaker
And Tim, more widely, I mean, how's the year felt? Obviously, it's been a pretty tough one for a lot of people for a range of reasons, but how's it look for you? Look, it's been tough. um It's been very similar to last year. They've both been pretty tough for us. um You know, I sort of had a ah pretty strong opinion that things would be tricky coming out of COVID and and I didn't quite anticipate it going like this. But it's probably in my 25 years of of retail, um but the toughest, most unpredictable conditions I've ever seen.
00:21:08
Speaker
Yeah. and and And in terms in terms of, you know, have you seen sort of buying trends change as a result? You know, have people been obviously spending less, but maybe spending differently as well?
00:21:19
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, they're going more for, and and this is just a general sort of um feel, more of the value cases. You know, we've got half a dozen cases we can sell for, say, sub $70 for a 24 pack. They're obviously very popular to fill the fridges up. um But again, we're still selling, you know, the the the mountain cultures and the one drops of the world. but They're still working. So there's still people that are wanting those. They might have you know previously bought four and now they buy two.
00:21:46
Speaker
um So it is still a pretty broad spread. um You know, and obviously where I think we've lost our ah a little bit of our income is is from everything else other than beer. You know, our wine sales have dropped off a bit. Our glass bottle spirits have dropped off a bit. Beer has remained strong. It's just unpredictable. Yeah. And in terms of the this of the the wider and Canberra scene, any one of them that you think had a particularly sort of standout year or any beers that have come out locally that have blown your mind?
00:22:15
Speaker
Yeah, well, look, there's there's one. um And ah you know this this is sort of a surprise to me because um I think Cypher Brewing have been the one that i've I've really been super impressed with. We've got great relationships with Benspoken Capital and and they're known for just banging out consistently great beers. But Cypher, I wasn't totally sold on them, if I'll be honest. I'm sure they won't mind me saying that when they first came to market. I knew they were making good beer. I just didn't really know where they were going to fit in our Benspoken Capital dominated ACT.
00:22:45
Speaker
um Since then, they've really found a rhythm. They're bringing out a limited release every week. um they theyre they're big Their IPAs are some of the best IPAs, I think, being made in the country. Some of their limited releases, I know there was one that's coming to mind called Hatching Scains, which was a hazy triple IPA. And it was you know it was incredible, as good ah as any of the breweries are that make that kind of beer in Australia have done. So um I think they're coming up really well. um There's a couple of venues in my local area, I think to all my friends, ah do a great job. Herberts are doing a really good job, always really great tap lists, good food, fantastic service, trying to sort of um you know point out the things that I'm obviously not aware if their ah their financials are telling a different story. But for me personally, I think they're doing a really good job.
00:23:35
Speaker
And what about in terms of more widely trends or anything like that you've seen from breweries across the board that are exciting you or interesting you? Yeah, I mean, I'm liking the idea of breweries sort of going back to a few more old world European style beers. Classic traditional. I'm not talking about hoppy pilsners and things like that. I'm not talking about putting a spin on things just for the sake, but I'm saying a traditional Czech pilsner. There's a few breweries doing a really good job of that.
00:24:01
Speaker
um You know, it may not be the most exciting, but I think that potentially could be where some breweries can put things out of a little bit of a lower price bracket and um you know touch a few yeah you know brownie points with the customers on that barf. And I guess you weren't the only beer business in in ACT to have a 10th birthday this year. Was there a bit of a noise around Rich and Tracy? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, now you know, a big shout out to Benspoke. They were probably the the brewery when they first started canning the Barley Griffin and and Crankshaft and we were one of the, I think it might have been 10 outlets throughout Canberra initially and we were one of the 10 outlets chosen to retail them. It sort of gave us that
00:24:44
Speaker
you know, legitimacy as ah as a crafty bottle shop. You know, we were a very young man and the shop was a bit of a mess, bit of a dog breakfast, but um that that and and you know that was massive for us and and has continued to be a powerhouse in my store.
00:25:02
Speaker
And looking ahead, so mean obviously you know we're looking for, you know I guess, uptick in the wider economy, but in terms of and and any sort of specific stuff you're looking forward to for 2025 on a you know local scene basis.
00:25:16
Speaker
Look, I mean, start me off with an interest rate cut or two in Feb, like we're talking, and I think everybody will have a better time. You know, 2025, I mean, i I think I'd like to see, you know, from from what I know here at the coal phase, per se, I think breweries just need to really back their own identity. um You know, I've seen an influx of hard sodas and hard lemon based beverages. I just don't think that that's the way to go. I don't see it. I don't see why. why you know because somebody has a good idea, everybody has to do a stacks on the mill type of operation. So backing what you're good at and and you know don't over overreach. I don't think every beer that a brewery makes needs to be put into a can. In fact, I would go to say that some breweries and the way forward for but new or newer venues would be to to not can much at all and and really work on your home base, which is your brew pub to be yeah your main source of revenue.
00:26:13
Speaker
yeah Yeah, good stuff. And and and I guess with 10th birthday out of the way, a more sort of, you know, normal year for your pavement, those sort of big celebrations. Well, still we'll still aim to do. We did two collaboration beers throughout this year. We did our usual winter one with Ross at Bacchus. So we've got to come up with another idea for a big pastry stout for 2025. He must have done pretty much every idea for a pastry stout by now, Bacchus. He's about 30 a year.
00:26:41
Speaker
It's becoming more and more difficult to come up with an idea. um We did Tiramisu this year, um which was fantastic. I mean, everything that Ross does in that in that space is is phenomenal. And we did a yeah an Oak Cream IPO with Jarvis Bay called The Gimme, which was a big, big success. So we'll we'll probably aim up to do something with them again. We might cook something else up again. Who knows? um I think next year, for for us personally, it's just about sort of um trying a few new things. I don't know where that's going to look. I think we're we're really keen to get our Saturday afternoon tastings back on deck with Harry. um I think you know nothing substitutes for for getting that liquid on the lips in order to drive sales. So that kind of thing, particularly while the weather's okay. um you know i'm I'm not really sure much further than that. We'll just see how the economy's holding up. That liquid on the lips sounds like it's probably a line that
00:27:33
Speaker
predates your page bottler day as well. Sounds like a rare headline. It's been around for a while. I mean, um um ah you know, I was a a store manager at one of the big box ah shops here. They're locally actually all three of them. And that was a bit of a term we had because it was it was such a massive part of everything that we did there. And so, you know, in the beer world, we're talking about some pretty expensive beers and and people might want to have a dip at something that they're not totally certain of if the cost is $15 a unit. So if we can and inspire them in some way and then crack a few open and Harry can you know guide them on that journey. I think it goes a long way. Yeah, great. Fantastic, Tim. Well, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks, fellas. Thanks for having me on. Cheers. Thanks, mate.
00:28:21
Speaker
Kyle, thanks for joining us. No worries, boys. Thanks for having me. And do you want to just ah tell listeners slash ah viewers where where you're joining us from? Yeah, no worries. My name's Kyle Pearson and I'm joining from Alice Springs Brewing Code in sunny Alice Springs. and as it said what what What are we talking this time of year? Are we talking like, you know, 38 degrees and every every day and, you know, get get through it kind of time of year? Yeah, it's like it's actually, it's been threatening to rain here for a while, so it's like 39 and muggy, so it's pretty horrible. But, you know, this is when you get your value out of your pool at home.
00:29:00
Speaker
and So yeah, but not very nice weather here at all at the moment. Yeah. And for those who might not have sort of you know and heard or read about your story, what what's, you know, what's your, I guess, your involvement with beer and hospital over the years and how did you end up, you know, setting up Alice Springs Brewing Co.?
Kyle Pearson's Journey in Hospitality and Brewing
00:29:16
Speaker
Yeah, sure. I mean, I've sort of worked in the hospital. I have worked in hospitality my whole life. So I sort of, you know, if I wasn't on the stage,
00:29:23
Speaker
playing music, I've worked on doors, I've picked up glasses. and yeah Since I've owned venues, I've cleaned a lot of toilets. But yeah, yeah it's sort of always sort of been you know where I've worked my whole working life. ah I spent six years with CUB on the road as well, so up here in the Northern Territory and then also down in Ballarat for 18 months and then I decided I still had a Victoria, so I came back to the territory. But yeah, vi vic Vic was sort of home and then, yeah, I moved here to Alice 21 years ago. So other than that 18 months, I spent a better part of 20 years here in Alice. and
00:30:04
Speaker
The brewery sort of came about, I'd always home brewed when I had you know time and space. So it started when I was about 17. Me and a mate worked out we couldn't buy beer from the bottle shop, but we could make it in his dad's shed. So I don't know if that's, you know.
00:30:19
Speaker
no that's this is one I'm sure there's a statute of limitations. like After a certain time has passed, you can't you can't be you can't be charged, so you should be fine. Yeah, well, we weren't selling it if the ATO's listening, but we were just, yeah, just making it and just, you know, that typical, just putting away too much sugar in, exploding bottles, <unk> making yourself sick.
00:30:40
Speaker
yeah Yeah, I'd been working um in around gaming, around poking machines and just hating life and coming from live music and all that just was quite a soul destroying time in my career. I spent around five years around gaming machines, but I got paid very well. So I had a bit of cash and sort of be of a turning point.
00:31:02
Speaker
in my career and you know we were going to potentially leave Alice but we decided to stay. My partner chase you know so decided to chase her career and I decided I was going to open a brewery. There's probably a little bit more pretext of that. I had spent about five years researching and going to every brewery and distillery that i that I came across so you know I had sort of been planning it for a long time but Yeah, I just you know couldn't believe no one in Alice had done it. I saw a pretty big opportunity there, but I think about three months in I worked out why no one in Alice had done it. It was a hard road. And in terms of um the year, like yeah obviously it's been a big one because you've looked outside of Alice. Yeah, we um we we had another venue on the radar for a little while and we had been looking in Darwin to the point we put a couple of offers in on a
00:31:55
Speaker
venue up there, but it didn't eventuate. And then we went on a holiday around WA. So ah Sarah and I hooked up the camper trailer and drove around WA for six weeks and came up in, you know, a brewery in Port Lincoln came up in my Facebook feed, which I had seen come up before. We had sort of pondered about before it came up. I said to Sarah, we should just divert our trip past Port Lincoln. And she said she already knew why, because it'd come up in her Facebook feed as well.
00:32:24
Speaker
she have But yeah, we we we did divert down to Paul Lincoln and had a look at Bea Garden Brewing and just recognized, you know, really great venue, probably been on some hard hard times, you know, and some tough, you know, there's been some tough things that have happened there for the previous ownership, but you know, really good opportunity for us. And yeah, we bit the bullet and we took over there last Monday. So first week of trade last week.
00:32:52
Speaker
and And what was the appeal for you? I mean, was it, obviously you were looking to expand within NT. I understand there's been some sort of changes in regulations as well within the, within the NT as well as I guess, the more um widely publicized challenges you faced with Alice. Was it a case of going, we want to sort of spread our risk or just spread our wings? probably something in dawnned i mean i was driving around ah you know being down this path we're going to go and try and open a business in Darwin and we'd have two businesses in the same off season so one of the appeals of Port Lincoln is you know their their season kicks off you know pretty much end of this week when school holidays start so you know they're really busy in summer and and here we're we're probably on the wind down so there were some sensibilities around that and then the other thing was as well it's just that the bones of of beer garden are amazing you know the work that's been put in there by the owners over the years just unbelievable amazing building
00:33:42
Speaker
And it just had, it's not Alice Springs Brewing Co, but it just has some similarities, even like Port Lincoln's like Alice Springs by the beach almost. And test testament to that is that pretty much everyone from Alice Springs moves there after they retire. So there's a big, there's a big contingent.
00:33:58
Speaker
of Northern Territory expats there as well. so um you know We knew there was a bit of a support base there. um yeah you know there's There's lots to like about Paul Lincoln. It's an amazing place. you know It's still quite remote, so i'll never you'll never see me living back in the city again. so it's probably you know close enough to the good things and then far away from the bad things that I hate like traffic and people. you but Switch all the deadly animals of of the earth the Red Center for sharks so you know you're still maintaining that level of you know natural danger as well. Yeah 100% it's crocs or stingers or sharks so you've got to be careful where you swim but
00:34:39
Speaker
South Australia, it's quite close to us. A lot of South Australian people are in the Northern Territory, so it kind of makes sense on a number of levels to do it. Just really excited to see what we can take from here in Alice and build on what they've done down there. I think there's lots of opportunities.
00:34:59
Speaker
and And in terms of Alice, like how how's the year gone for you, I guess, like locally in terms of the brewery? I know, was it last year that you completed, I guess, the expansion or at least taking Alice Spring Brewery in the restaurant side of the business and expanding that? So how's that sort of evolved over the course of the year?
00:35:17
Speaker
Yeah, look we've had a really good year here at Alice Springs Brewing Co. Obviously if you Google Alice Springs, you're not going to read a lot of positive stuff and as a result we've seen a massive downturn in tourism. There's a lot of hard work going on here to try and restore that because and and I think word of mouth is key to that and there's people coming all the time and having positive experiences and talking about it so it's not just what you see on on Facebook but yeah look that've we've sort of had to adjust our business as a result so we're very local focused now you know we sponsor about six sporting teams so we've built a really strong base around the locals and that kind of came out of COVID it was something that's been a bit of a slow build and now that we've got the venue right we're just really seeing you know the locals utiliz utilizing the venue they're not letting the tourists kick them out so much tourist season because that's what used to happen the
00:36:06
Speaker
we'd get so busy with tourists that the locals would probably stay away. But but they're they're sort of, that's they're quite territorial in the place now so yeah we've got a really strong local trade. The tourism is still a focus for us but it's a bonus more than our bread and butter and it kind of has to be.
00:36:23
Speaker
um But yeah, really strong here here. The other thing we did as well, we probably stopped shipping out of the territory as much and started focusing on here in Darwin more. So we've got a rep on the road. Lois, who's an absolute legend, she's on the road up there three days a week now and she's just kicking massive goals in Darwin. so We also released the Territorian brand, which is basically a very easy drinking lager. And we've just seen massive uptake of that here in the territory. And we only sell that in the territory. So, um yeah, we've we've had some really good wins this year. It's been good. And what about, ah you know, I know you're close with a couple of the breweries in Darwin. Like, are you able to talk about how how you think things are going, I guess maybe more across the board for brewers like you?
Resilience in Darwin's Brewing Scene
00:37:09
Speaker
Yeah, I think Darwin had, we probably had a better year here in Alice than they had in Darwin. I think, you know, they struggled struggle with tourism as well, but, you know, even watching what goes into the the majors, what we sell into the majors, like with stronger results here in Alice than up in Darwin. So I think they they definitely had a tough year. I think, you know, you want to talk about people have done some amazing things like Adam and Kylie, Kylie diagnosed with breast cancer. um You know, they've they've actually had a ah really, really good year.
00:37:38
Speaker
um you know Kylie has been given some green lights recently which is amazing but you know Adam on top of all that and the struggles he's gone through he's actually managed to grow his business put new tanks in go and find new business you know Brownie at Beaver he's done some amazing things as well he just you know he's just got such a community around here his brewery like just you know you go there on a Friday night and every single bloke and we and lady as well he's wearing a beaver shirt so he's got this like vibe of loyal fans so he's just done an amazing job at building a community and then
00:38:11
Speaker
And one mile as well, ah you know ten they've hit 10 years this year. They put on a massive barbecue festival up there. They had Spiderbate play. you know So they've done some you know really good things as well in their 10 years. And they've also launched a spirit brand. So the existing guys have done really well. There's a couple of new colors. One newcomer in particular is Ryan at Darwin Brewing. He's he's finally got his taproom off the ground and you know it's been a long journey for him and he's had quite a few you know hurdles he's had to jump over. so yeah he's He's finally got his tap room open, seeing some good results there as well. I think you know it's a tough market and it's a tough market nationally but um we are seeing more and more support for NT breweries and and you know that's awesome to see.
00:38:56
Speaker
yeah what What about this thing we've discussed in the past, the the world's longest brewery trail? Is that is that something that's still still ah you know on upcoming or on the go? It's got longer because Paul Lincoln's on it now, so we've added another 1700k leg.
00:39:13
Speaker
ah Yeah, I think that's something with with the sort of downturn in tourism, you know, we definitely, you know, probably people don't know what we're talking about, but we we floated the idea about doing a brewery tour from Alice Springs to, there's a brewery in Dalmar, we've got Gary there at Dalmar, he's still in front of you up off the ground, but, you know, doing a brewery tour from Alice Springs to Darwin, so it'd be like the world's longest
Creative Expansion Plans: Alice Springs Brewing Co.
00:39:37
Speaker
brewery tour. i' take you Yeah, it'd be some good 10, 12, 14 hour drives in between stops, but you have plenty of time, you know, just have your two standard drinks and and drive on, or you'd be scared by the time you got to the next one, so. But yeah, the I think so stuff like that's fun. You know, I think we went from trying to pull jokes on a grand scale to surviving a little bit this year in the territory, like probably everyone did. So yeah, I think that's something we could definitely rehash in the future.
00:40:06
Speaker
Yeah. And um what about some stand-in ideas? You mentioned that, you know, the, the, the territory and, uh, range, you know, looking at one way, you, I know you certainly last year, you you'd up to your limited release program. Is that something that's continued? I think I believe there was a, another release in the that's not a knife. This is a knife series as well over the course of the year. Yeah. We put out, this is a spoon and that's cause we kept, I mean, we're always going to do it, but we're getting grief that people thought were, it was a crocodile Dundee reference. It was absolutely a Simpsons reference. So telling us we weren't saying it right. Uh,
00:40:36
Speaker
but Yeah, Benny and the boys in the brewery, we actually went up to four. We had a brewer here, Kevin came from France this year and did 88 days with us. So ah we had four guys in the brewery this year, which just allowed us to really get back to, you know, doing some, having some fun out there and not just smacking out our core range all the time, which is kind of.
00:40:54
Speaker
We've been stuck in that mode a few times, you know, by tank space and then by time. So, you know, we've got our three full-time guys out there now. You know, they're always coming up with stupid ideas. And, you know, we did a salty plum beer this year. We did a luxe beer this year.
00:41:09
Speaker
um dear ah so
00:41:14
Speaker
You're not going to put a guy that's going to go, no, no, no, that's too stupid. You'll you'll be like, what daft name can we give this? Yeah, or that's not stupid enough. Well, you'll hear from me. But yeah, it's it's just what yeah we obviously love puns here. and you know We're probably going to make bad jokes to the point of offending people, which we do from time to time. But I think that's the territory way. We know our audience here. That's why you probably don't see a lot of it go outside of the territory or make its way into other states, just because maybe we we're scared that people won't get our humor interstate. so yeah ah the guy And we've got massive plans. you know Hopefully get back to you know one one seasonal month in the new year, especially when it quietens down a bit.
00:41:59
Speaker
Hopefully February, although it hasn't. I keep telling the boys when they all started, I said, oh, January, February will do nothing. There will be nothing to do here. And we've had some of the busiest weeks we've ever had here in December, so they don't believe me anymore.
00:42:12
Speaker
um That probably leads pretty nicely into, you know, what's what's sort of next for 2025. Yeah, we've got an expansion plan here at Alice, so we've just, I don't know, it's pretty, you know, this used to be a car museum, it's got three meta-high ceilings, it's, you know, one of the, this is like one of those lessons I had about building Burrenale Springs, it's the worst building I could have done it in from the brewery perspective, but probably the best venue I could have done it in, so um weve we've got plans there, I think they're I think they've gone into planning, but basically to add, you know, another half the size of the brewery on out in the back. So we're putting in some double length tanks and that's based off the success of Territorian. We just can't put that beer out quick enough. So we need to start doing some double brews. It'll give us some storage space. We just have no storage out the back. So we've got stuff sitting at, you know, cans sitting at transit yards and all over the place. So um yeah, there's an expansion planned for here.
00:43:11
Speaker
We still haven't discounted the idea of a Darwin venue. We've probably got our hands full at at Beer Garden for the foreseeable future and that'll that'll probably take up a fair bit of my focus at least and the and the team that we've got down there. but um yeah I think we'd love to have a Darwin venue. It just makes sense. you know We've got such such good support in Darwin. We'd love to take take the venue up there. but you know, given the last um the events of the last few years, you're always got in the back of your mind, like what if someone gets a cough again and we we all go into lockdown or, you know, and I guess, you know, financially, the world's not looking great to crash out at the moment either. So it's all these sort of things are done with, you know, a bit of hesitation. And I think you give to people giving things a lot more thought these days than they were in the past.
00:44:01
Speaker
Now also it's pretty exciting and I guess a highlight for you for next year is I'll be back with my family sometime in July. So you can look forward to a visit from me next year. Oh yeah, good, good. I'll make sure I'm here. Make sure you tell me you're coming. Make sure you're in South Australia for that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I might be busy that weekend. I don't know what weekend it is, but doing your hair again, I know. All right, Kyle. Thank you so much for joining us, Kyle.
00:44:29
Speaker
Yeah, no worries. Thanks very much for having us.
00:44:34
Speaker
The Crafty Pints Year in Beer series is proudly presented by Mogwai Labs, leaders in liquid yeast solutions. For the perfect pitch every time, visit mogwailabs.com.au. That's M-O-G-W-A-I-L-A-B-S dot.com.au.
00:44:55
Speaker
The Crafty Pint Podcast is produced and edited by Matt Hoffman. You can get all your beer related news and reviews on the Crafty Pint website craftypint.com and can stay up to date on future podcast episodes via our socials.
00:45:09
Speaker
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