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Brewing In Paradise
403 Plays8 days ago
“The ethos was trying to provide that cultural shift and be a catalyst for that.”
What’s it like brewing beer in paradise? Or, more precisely, in Exmouth: gateway to the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area that’s home to awe-inspiring, barely-populated beaches and an abundance of glorious wildlife that can make it feel like you’re living in a David Attenborough documentary.
We sat down with Pete Firth and Justin Fuery, respectively co-founders of Froth Craft Brewery and Whalebone Brewing, to discover the answer to that question (unbearably hot in summer, for one) and more.
They opened their breweries in the same year, 2017, in what was then a far sleepier town than it is today, and have helped change the culture to the degree that Exmouth – despite a permanent population of just 3,000 – hosts more live music than any WA city or town north of Perth.
As well as delving into their backstories, the ethos driving each brewery, and the different paths they’ve taken – Froth now operate multiple venues; Whalebone sell cans across the state and have launched Ningaloo Distillery – we explore the challenges facing such businesses in far-flung regional locations, how they built, maintain and continue to expand their audience, the huge boost COVID brought to the region, and the rise of beer tourism.
Ahead of the main chat, Will and James look forward to this week’s Grainstock in the Riverina and discuss a trio of new articles: the sixth instalment of our Beer By Design series; the impending launch of Ripple Brewing; and the first beer in Australia brewed with a new yeast strain. Mid-show, you'll hear from Mogwai Labs and Kicks Brewing on brewing festbiers too.
We’re always keen for feedback on the show, which you can provide here, as well as nominations for the Bluestone Yeast Brewery of the Month and Have You Done A Rallings? celebration of the country’s good beer citizens.
Start of segments:
- 11:20 – Pete & Justin Part 1
- 28:07 – Mogwai & Kicks Brewing
- 34:47 – Pete & Justin Part 2
To find out more about featuring on The Crafty Pint Podcast or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact craig@craftypint.com.
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Transcript
Recording Remotely: The Podcast Challenge
00:00:05
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Crafty Pine podcast. I'm Will. I'm James. Good see you, Will. Although i feel you've ah sort of done me a bit of a dirty here. I was looking forward to our first recording back together in the same place, but you've obviously become so attached, so wedded to doing these recordings remotely that yeahre you're you're keeping me at at arm's length for another week.
00:00:27
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't really have to leave my house much over the last three months and I've decided that's the way I like it and that's how I'll live my life from now on. Excellent. I thought maybe it was sort of a fear of the impending sort of um intense exposure when we have the five or six hour drive up to Grainstock later in the week.
00:00:45
Speaker
Oh no, that that should be fun. Looking forward to seeing a lot of people at Grainstock. This episode will go out the morning of, I'm sure. I think they've promised that they'll be playing the podcast on those buses that are going from the capital cities. So yeah, enjoy listening to us on the way.
00:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, on repeat. um Yeah, no, it should should be fun. ah yeah but but By the time yeah this goes out, we'll be pretty much on our way to to the Greenwoods Farm and then on ah off up to the Witton Malthouse.
Ripple Brewpub: A New Community Hub
00:01:11
Speaker
And next week's show will feature a number of interviews recorded at Grain Stock, which for those that don't know, um is sort of Voyager Craft Bolt curated festival bringing together the brewing, distilling and baking worlds, which proves it should be a lot of fun.
00:01:28
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. i can't wait. And James, you may have left WA last week, but we've got a WA story on the site. Yeah, that's right. um Guy sent over an interview he did with ah Joel Nash, who a number of people many people in the WA beer scene will know.
00:01:43
Speaker
um He's brewed at a number of places over the years. and Most recently, he was the head brewer at Innate Brewers, um based close to Fremantle. His new operation, Ripple, is in Beaconsfield, also near Fremantle. It's a concept that he's been working on for a number of years.
00:01:59
Speaker
um It was set to open, he hoped, this weekend, which was well i was thinking when we put the article out yesterday. It's been pushed back a couple of weeks by, i you know, the usual delays that come in this close to opening for breweries. um But, yeah, he's looking to create, you know, a sort of welcoming all-comers neighbourhood brew pub. He's someone who's got, you know, guess a lot of runs on the board um for beers and stuff he's done throughout the WA beer scene.
00:02:24
Speaker
um So it looks like a real fun addition to the WA beer scene opening in a couple of weeks' time. Definitely, I was very excited to see joel's nash Joel's name on the site.
Marketing New Brews: Mick Wuss's Insights
00:02:34
Speaker
I hadn't heard from him in a little while.
00:02:36
Speaker
Now you know why. Yeah, he's been too busy. And another story we run this week yeah by Mick Wuss is on ah marketing. It's the latest in our Beer by Design series, looking at that you know what brings a beer to life that isn't brewing or anything like that.
00:02:52
Speaker
ah So yeah, he spoke to the team at Black Flag and Young Henry's about... the step-by-step sort of process breweries have to go through to launch a new beer and how they think about it, how they think about video and all those kinds of things that are, you know, add add to the complexities of um making sure people might actually buy your beer.
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah, well, that I think is it's the sixth in the series. and Originally, we conceived as a six-part series, but I think it you know may well continue.
Innovative Lager Yeast by Fermentis
00:03:18
Speaker
I guess the whole idea was to sort of break down all the things that go into the beer that aren't the beer the liquid in your can um or the liquid in your bottle. um And yeah, I think it's fairly involved and um i think detailed insight into all the other aspects aside from brewing and you know that go into...
00:03:39
Speaker
Go into getting, I guess, making, you know, decals look so good and and making fridges and bottle shops that look so appealing. Yes, and um you know more directly on brewing is a story I've also been working on with the team at Fermentis and also co-conspirators. So Fermentis have a new strainer yeast out, as age forty five It's a lager yeast, but quite interestingly, is it it um it pushes out a whole lot of that word we love, biotransformation, out of hops. So
Matriarch Day: Competitions and Events
00:04:06
Speaker
it can really promote those tropical, juicy, intense flavours while still being a very neutral yeast that, um yeah, so allows brewers to have
00:04:15
Speaker
punchy, hot forward lagers or cold IPAs or maybe brew their IPAs with lager yeast, which is all sort of territory I really love covering and have for the last couple of years. I think it's a really interesting space that a lot of IPAs maybe don't use ale yeast anymore and um what brewers do with them as well.
00:04:34
Speaker
Yeah, and I guess the reason you've spoken to Dion and Co Conspirators is ah they're the first brewery in Australia, we believe, to to use this yeast. It's going to be, and the beer it's going into is their Experimental Matriarch, one of five variations on their matriarch, Nipah. They call the, is it the original Lady of Haze, ahead of Matriarch Day this weekend at their Brunswick Brew Pub.
Hop Pack Live Stream Event
00:04:57
Speaker
If you remember our beer club, the Crafty Cabal, we're offering um a number of mixed packs of this year's Matriarchs as well, although the competition does close this Saturday, October the 11th as well. So jump online at craftycabal.com if you would like to win one of those packs.
00:05:13
Speaker
And talking all things hops, that'll be us in a few weeks when we ah chat with crew at HBA and Rocky Ridge for a live stream, ah working through the It's the Vibe of It pack that Rocky Ridge has brewed with a number of different ad ah HBA varieties of hops.
00:05:29
Speaker
It's an awesome chance to taste them all at once. We'll be live streaming from 6 p.m. out of Humdinger Studios, where we yeah who we worked with on the Hottest 100 countdown. And, yeah, that'll be a lot of fun. So hopefully a lot of people tune in. You can go to – we'll have a link in the show notes and you can
Daylight Saving Time in Australia
00:05:45
Speaker
save the show. So we'll give you a nice little notification when we're about to go live.
00:05:49
Speaker
And obviously 6pm Australian ah so know i it's straight Eastern summertime. are we on dinner yeah Daylight time it is. ah ah You can spend your whole life studying that ah daylight savings map map where Australia goes from having like three time zones to 84 somehow. and And it's just impossible to keep abreast of it.
00:06:09
Speaker
Well, that's what i's going to say, is because we're now of an hour apart from, you know, Queensland, where a couple of our writers are based.
Frothcraft & Whalebone: Founding Stories
00:06:14
Speaker
hadn't realised until we were making our way back from the West Coast recently, there's actually then a sort of, you know, you have the half an hour difference between us and South Australia, but then there's a little stretch, know, you have in WA between, you know, once you get halfway across there to SA, where there's a 45 minute difference between SA and WA.
00:06:33
Speaker
And I may have scheduled a few social posts and got a few things wrong over that period of time because different different things were we're um moving at different times. So um yeah, 6pm Australian daylight time, but Eastern daylight time, you just sort of work it out yourself from there.
00:06:53
Speaker
Yeah, it's a good time to drink some beers anyway on a Thursday afternoon, wherever you are. Exactly. um And I guess ah on this week's show, which was one that I recorded whilst on the road um when I was in Exmouth, not Exmouth as I um referred to it and the in the start of the interview. Pete and Justin from Frothcraft Brewery and Whalebone were too polite to pick me up on it at the time, but I've since learned it's Exmouth.
00:07:18
Speaker
um So they are two of the founders of the two breweries that you'll find in Exmouth up there. out on the Ningaloo Reef. Both opened in the same year. I think they both had started planning unbeknownst to each other, despite there being some sort of friends, sort of connections and business connections in in the background.
00:07:35
Speaker
um And just here i sat down with them to have a chat about, you know, um i guess why they opened the brewery there, what it's like brewing in paradise. you I guess beer tourism more generally, how they've gone about publicizing the business.
00:07:48
Speaker
um And I guess, you you know, the the difference that events like COVID um actually made it in a positive sense to them over the years. um So yeah, I sat down with them at the brew pub Froth in at the center of Exmouth a
Cultural Shift in Exmouth
00:08:02
Speaker
few weeks ago.
00:08:03
Speaker
Yeah, it's a great chat. It is a busy brewery, so there's a bit of noise bleeding over, but it's it's a good one to watch as well because you can really see everyone enjoying the time. It it really captures the spirit of the brewery. Was it like a Saturday or something? or No, but I think it was we were always busy.
00:08:20
Speaker
Towards the end of peak season there, and I did sort of say to Pete, oh, you know, we'd like a quiet area to sit down for the chat, but at the end of the day, there isn't much of a chance of a quiet area. I think it was like 3 p.m. or something during peak season there, and both those breweries, we visited both them while we were there, you know, they're pulling a good crowd that time year, and as you hear through the chat, you know,
00:08:43
Speaker
pulling a bigger crowds year round within reason. You still have some times where not many people go to that part of the world because it's so um you know intensely hot or wet. so um There's also, if you're watching on YouTube, there's a minute or two where the vision on on that those guys goes a bit out of focus. We've no idea why, but um you can still hear what they're saying.
00:09:02
Speaker
um So yeah, that's up after the chat. And if you love either of those two Exmouth or Exmouth breweries, you can shout them out or you can shout out any brewery you love and tell us why you love them with our Bluestone Yeast Brewery of
Sustainability in Brewery Operations
00:09:15
Speaker
the Month.
00:09:15
Speaker
Just go to craftypint.com slash bluestone. And also, if you know someone out there who's gone above and beyond to do anything wonderful in the beer industry, maybe organize a fundraiser, helps people out of a pickle, or they're just great supporters of craft beer, you can nominate them as a good beer citizen in our Have You Done a Rallings campaign.
00:09:34
Speaker
ah Just head to craftypint.com forward slash Rallings, R-A-L-L-I-N-G-S. So after the break, we'll join and Pete and Justin. And then in the middle of the show, we'll have our latest nice examination of brewing beer styles with Mogwai yeast.
00:09:50
Speaker
um Before we get to that point, though, Will? If you enjoyed the show, make sure you like, a subscribe or leave us a review. It really helps other people find the show. Cheers. Cheers.
00:10:03
Speaker
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00:10:27
Speaker
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00:10:41
Speaker
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00:10:57
Speaker
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00:11:11
Speaker
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Festbier Brewing Techniques
00:11:22
Speaker
justin welcome to the show how are you going um now we're in what i have become to regard over the last few days as pretty much paradise this part of the world i've never been up here before um but if you're an initiator you haven't been to eczemath or the ningaloo reef area do you want to tell us a little about this part of the world we're in but World heritage listed part of the world is pretty amazing. um
00:11:44
Speaker
got Super biodiverse in the water right up there with the Galapagos fringing coral reefs you can get off the water and swim with anything from rays to dolphins to sharks to dugongs to it's insane and you've experienced that with your son and everything here i think um but yeah i'd say most people are here for the surroundings and what we've tried to do is bring them something to do after they get off the boat and come back into town yeah anything like to add to that justin you know oh no it's yeah the world heritage was a huge thing for for the region and that was 2015 think so somewhere about that and um made a massive difference to the tourism of the uh of the town yeah yeah No, it's quite remarkable. we We've moved down to a little beach site now and yesterday got up, did a few hours work and then swam with some dolphins and rays for a while then came back, did a bit more work, then went and fished and like every new bay you go to, it's just like, this is, my wife was listening, she goes, this might just be the best place in the world. And this is on the back of us going through the Gid River region and, you know, bungles. I guess you can it's just more relaxed and more beautiful. It's pretty impressive. Yeah.
00:12:48
Speaker
And so what was your, of your sort connection to here before starting a business? Well, you guys went, well,
Tourism and Community Engagement
00:12:54
Speaker
it's pretty funny story because we, we both opened our breweries in the same year, 2017. These guys actually beat us to the punch.
00:13:03
Speaker
We had an inkling, more of it is a small town, so you might hear rumors, but when we went to look at domains and then we saw that someone registered with brewing and stuff like that, we're like, ah, Paul and Justin are doing something. Okay. Oh, did you know each other? Get your gear together. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I guess maybe probably, um, other half whalebone and one of the thirds or cause Tyler had actually had this site worked in the kitchen. Okay. And then Paul, other half whalebone was, had a restaurant here yeah and Tyler was in the kitchen with his missus out on the floor and they both got sponsored.
00:13:35
Speaker
Oh, so Tyler was living, working here because he's from States, is that right? He's from Canada. Yeah, yeah, from Canada. Well, sorry, Tyler. Please forgive me. I've made that mistake before. yeah, yeah. All the big IPAs and all that stuff. That's all his. For sure, yeah. But yeah, so they, yeah, small town. So we hadn't known each other. And then, yeah, it was a big change for, I guess, the fabric and hospitality nature of town. what to come and expect in a really remote location. And what was here before in terms of hospital, I'm assuming there's just like, there would have been a couple of bars attached to hotels. Okay. Yeah. This was originally a house, then it was a VHS video store and it was two different restaurants and that was us, but you wouldn't recognize it. Yeah. Yeah. Town's changed quite a lot. And I think these two breweries opening in the one year was a huge catalyst for spurning especially in the music side. Definitely cultural change. Sure.
00:14:24
Speaker
Well, I guess, you know, you you're in different parts of town. I guess there is ah an arts and music thing but and, you know, fresh local beer or whatever. But, you know, do you figure there's a good differentiation between the two businesses or, you know, how you work together? It was, um, yeah, it's kind interesting actually. We complement each other, I think, in a way. Yeah. Um, we were actually wondering how it was going to work when we first opened up. Well, I guess we thought it would work enough that we used the same carpenter.
00:14:53
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. That's the bloke we were talking about before. Yeah. If he was rich, he'd be eccentric. So he's not, he's, hey, Eric. Um, no, he's a legend, but yeah, different nuances to each place, I guess. yeah Um, and, and different vibe but that compliment each other. I wanted to look before this, I don't know what the stats are gonna ask the chat GPT, but yeah, on two breweries in a town of a resident population of 3000, they can't be.
00:15:16
Speaker
many in that. yeah like that's That's quite... Well, yeah, they talk about, you know, oversaturation and, you know, it's two breweries, but I guess it's the transient population must be vast anyway, so... It is quite huge, yeah. And for us and for you as well, I mean, that the turning point was COVID. As soon grab COVID hit and we were in that flux where all the borders were shut, and everyone was forced to come up here. Yeah. God forbid were forced to come up here. Yeah. Uh, that really turned, that turned the business and it was, it was, it was sailing after that and and we were on the map. And was that because more people then went back home to other parts of WA and had this connection to
Seasonal Market Challenges
00:15:56
Speaker
this brewery that they'd maybe not had a tough one before? down the flag The whole town. They put it on the spotlight. A lot of stuff cascaded from there, I reckon. Oh, so even though it had the the world fame, you know, I guess the famous but around the world, you're saying that it didn't necessarily have the same cachet locally? don't know if it had that world fame that it seems to be growing towards. It's the smaller Byron Bay now. But in terms of its attractions, it wasn't as well spotlighted as what happened after COVID. Okay. That was that was pretty crazy. But yeah, everyone went on the ScoMo surf team, we called it. i a mate Made up stickers because everyone took out a superannuation.
00:16:31
Speaker
yeah Went to BCF. They'd never been camping there before. They bought all the gear without any idea and went up north. There was nowhere else to go. like it never rains here and you could have been selling umbrellas and made a fortune. It was crazy. No one nor was prepared for it. Grease traps were overflowing. they They didn't know how to like, yeah, it was, it was, it was a crazy period and we were primed. It was like the perfect time to have started when we did, even for craft beer in WA, we've seen so many brews happening now for us to start in 2017, same time as Beer Farm, Rocky Ridge. Yeah. It was because WA was a little... Apart from, you know, you had the you know, the big big names, like, yeah or early names of the bootleg, you Feral, Last Drop, Little Creature, Nail, what have you. But it did feel...
00:17:18
Speaker
as someone based on the East Coast, that WA's craft building really kicked off a bit later, but probably it would have been that sort of 10 years ago that so suddenly you got some city brew pubs and suddenly you got a few more openings.
00:17:28
Speaker
yeah So what was it like for those first three years before COVID then? Was it very sporadic? Was it very seasonal or survival? It was a totally different market. It was, yeah, it was, Exmouth's a very seasonal place. So you and you've only got like five months maybe.
00:17:42
Speaker
And on the fringes of summer, it's hot and cyclones and you've only got that, yeah, very small. window and then and the numbers are
Live Music and Cultural Impact
00:17:51
Speaker
well well down. i mean you still get people coming in so 3,000 people normally normally and that bumps up to 15 to 20,000 during the season.
00:17:58
Speaker
Now it's a lot longer, the season's a longer, um similar numbers probably more, more numbers coming up here and it's bigger. It goes from March all the way through to almost November now.
00:18:10
Speaker
This is more pie, more share of the pie to go around. yes I think everyone was so excited to have a different option in town. I don't think i I know. Yeah, for years working at another establishment in town. Yeah, and just hearing from everybody, oh dude, we'd love somewhere else to get a beer. um And then two popped up and people were just, just flopped to them. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. And what about the sort of um ethos, what was what was the yeah sort of the guiding principles for Froth when you were approaching opening day? What was, you apart from giving Exmouth somewhere fun to go, was there... Trying to work out how the Meccano set of a brewery that we bought from China works out the back.
00:18:48
Speaker
Aside from the the logistical side of things, did you go, this this is our vision for Froth, which has now obviously led to to other you know another brewery, another venue as well. Did you have sort of like, this is what Froth is going to mean? I didn't think it'd go beyond here as as well as what we could. i always thought there was a ceiling in in town, so to speak, but we're always been adding on and that off season is the chance to improve and same with whalebone. They're very different ah sites and offerings than what we originally started with. and We opened in Feb and it wasn't until July when we had our beers on tap. Okay. Then it was two and we were so excited to get four on tap.
00:19:21
Speaker
Oh my God. Like you look back through the footage and it's insane. You think now the standards of a brewery opening now, so much higher than what we were back then. I think this is very remote X mouth at the same time. So we've we've learned a lot and I appreciate the fact that everyone's expectations back then weren't as high as what they were now. think there's way more pressure in opening something.
00:19:40
Speaker
even if it's regional now than what it was back then. And then we, yeah, just refining and tightening stuff. The ethos was trying to provide that cultural shift and be a catalyst for that. i big And music and events and and stuff is what we both thrive on and providing more stuff. into I think it was also because we were living in town in a place where we loved the surroundings. We wanted to get that cultural...
00:20:03
Speaker
complimentary, you know, lifestyle that just like wasn't there from the other establishments. You hear that from so many brewery owners and i maybe other people who've started businesses in some form of entertainment. It's basically like we wanted something good locally and no one was going to do it. It's like, well, we've been around every other option in the room.
00:20:22
Speaker
Guess it's up to us to do it. So yeah. Yeah. And in in a regional place where perhaps, you know, it's hard for local government to provide, it it does sometimes take local businesses to provide that impetus for for change, whatever it is. yeah I was amazed, I have to say, when I saw where your location was, because the image that I always associate with Froth, Exmouth is the DJ playing on the roof. So I assumed you had to be sort of away from any sort of you know urban infrastructure as i opposed to playing over the back of Ray White's. you know
00:20:52
Speaker
Now we're we all very well familiar with our neighbors and bringing over roses and chocolates after gigs. yeah it's It's all I'm saying. and This is originally reefed and there's there's no trees and fodder. any base just carries. So you're in a town where it's such a unique nugget.
Whalebone's Journey from Homebrewing
00:21:09
Speaker
North of Perth, nowhere else does as much live music but as here. Broom doesn't.
00:21:14
Speaker
Yeah. Cowberry doesn't. Coral Bay doesn't. Geraldton doesn't. It's way bigger. But all the neighbours will hear stuff. So everything has that 10pm curfew because all our venues are outdoors. You don't find many places that have a full dance floor at 7.30pm. That's just, that's quite weird.
00:21:29
Speaker
Most places they have the dinner service, you know, Australians need a couple of beers. Yeah. here are the Latin Americans and everyone else will help with that. But like it's, it's a real unique nugget and definitely that 2017 was a tipping point to help that come about.
00:21:43
Speaker
It's pretty cool. Um, yeah. and What about you guys at Whalebone? What was your, you know, what, what was the vision for Whalebone? And I know you said that things have changed and yeah evolved over time, but you know, Oh, look, we've,
00:21:54
Speaker
Yeah, it was a funny start for us because my business partner is Paul and he's a chef and pretty much owned and cheffed at the best restaurant in in town at the time, was called Whaler's.
00:22:05
Speaker
Yeah, and he's getting a bit tired of it. It's pretty hard, pretty hard yakka. And I think that was kind of his vision was to try and find a way out of out of that. That was here. It used to be here. and indeed They lived in what is the one of the dry stores. There you go.
00:22:22
Speaker
So, yeah, we used to make, I think we both started off as homebrewers. Tyler's homebrewer, obviously, and I was the homebrewer at the time. A famed Canadian Tyler. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, and we...
00:22:35
Speaker
but Basically, um made him my mate of mine dared me to open a brewery. found a brew kit up down on Gumtree and we took the plunge and bought it. And I had a business here that was making, um manufacturing steel and I had a shed there and we sort of dumped in there and started making beer. And you made the beer from the start all the way through? Yeah. um Actually, yeah I get a bit of a tear in my eye when I think about it because um the locals really put up with some pretty ordinary beers to start with. Mate, expectations, when there weren't any. Very forgiving, very forgiving. It's wet and it's in a glass. God bless them. They really, they really yeah, came and suffered through it.
00:23:10
Speaker
And, you know, i used to get that feedback, active feedback quite a lot. Yeah, it's true. From locals, but that was pretty funny. And I've been at a good time. Yeah. Yeah. I've been at a good time. Three years to sort of do all the tro of the trial and error before the flood came, you know? Yeah. Literally. Yeah. Oh, but it was, it was in demand at the start. Like it wasn't like there, it was, you but it was just more seasonal as just as I was saying, I think like. Yeah.
00:23:34
Speaker
People loved it too. I mean, they're just sick of drinking the same stuff on the taps here, you know, line notes and stuff. It's just, yeah and that's why we started the brewery. Another reason why we started, because I wanted, I like going to a pub and buying a nutty brown ale you know and like i was reallympressed actually I know you had the hazes and stuff on there, but you had a two or three darker and more English sort of traditional style beers on. You want to go to a pub and drink different beers. Especially these guys. They've got heaps of beers. I haven't that many taps. so which I wish I could put some more stuff on. but um Yeah, that's what you want. think your distribution limit, like you've got to...
00:24:10
Speaker
Yeah, we're not punching anything in cans, so maybe there's more tank space to put stuff out. It's just great to be able to go to a pub and say, yeah excellent, I want i want to try that, something different. for so Yeah. And you're saying that the the both venues have changed but over time. what What was yours
Exmouth's Evolving Cultural Landscape
00:24:24
Speaker
like now? because did Did you have the stage there from the start? Did you have the two kitchens or all those things sort Oh, it's changed quite a bit. um Yeah, we've got a roof there and stuff. The other thing that's really good about this area is it doesn't rain very much. Yeah. And you can really be like, really get into the outdoor venue atmosphere. and yeah you dine under the stars.
00:24:45
Speaker
it is a pain in the ass when it does rain, but, um, But not so much for you anymore. Oh yeah. it still done't Not so much, but yeah, it is. Heaps more cover. Yeah. For us, it's just, you know, that section. Yeah.
00:24:56
Speaker
Um, yeah, no you guys changed. Yeah. Yeah. We've got more table and stuff and there's leaps of room for people to spread out. And i think what people like, you know, to just come in and just wear thongs and yeah bring your dog or. yeah I don't think they'd recognize either venue from what the original incarnation was.
00:25:13
Speaker
And you still adding to them both now? Is it, are they still organic beasts that, you know, over time? We are still adding, believe it or not. Yeah. That that area went in a year and a half ago and the one opposite went in last year. Okay.
00:25:24
Speaker
Just to get more bums on seats. Yeah. And just, just improvements. Like, think it's a constant, yeah, ADD version of like, already I was like, oh geez, they should tighten those festoons. What they doing around here? No. I've spent whole crew across moment, you know, in good beer week and various things are going, okay.
00:25:40
Speaker
This is the last new thing you need to do. Once this is done, just focus on the stuff you're already doing. The account tells us all the time it'd be great to keep some this money, but it's more like... Then you get about three months out from the next thing coming up and your brain's going, oh, so no. Stop. It's like, yeah, hear you. I hear you.
00:25:56
Speaker
When talk about live music, so is it sort of local artists, sort of cover bands, or do you get to get touring bands to come through? yeah yeah okay Yeah, they've got a bigger capacity, so they'd have that scope for bigger ones. We put on stuff in the park for bigger acts, but um yeah, but I think it's a real platform for local artists as well. It's pretty cool. Yeah, you can jump in a car and...
00:26:15
Speaker
or Plan your holiday, for winter and you know, you you can know that XML is going to give you some gigs. Oh yeah. yeah Yeah. Way more than anywhere else. You see people on their tour posts, so it'll say in north, they say WA tour.
00:26:27
Speaker
In two weeks it'd be eight shows and it's just in and around XML. Where you're staying at the caravan park, they do shows and cafe will do gigs in the morning. like That's 2017, you have three gigs a year back then. So, so you've had ah all the gigs here or has the, like the community has the sort of, I guess the nightlife or the hospice of the culture changed around to you guys as well. Oh, so you actually driven a wider change.
00:26:49
Speaker
Yeah. that's it clearly Yeah. Yeah. Compared to what the, what it was back then for sure. Wow. Definitely appetite for it now. Which I guess can benefits you and as well. like Even if there are more good places for people to go to, they're still going to look for somewhere to get a good beer as well. Yeah, both venues, I think, I know we got a grant for some music gear. I don't know if you guys did, but people come in there, they're stoked with the production quality of what you get in the middle of the desert. always tell the story where an ex arrived, know what year she came in here, like 2012 or something.
00:27:18
Speaker
But anyway, she flew in and not that much different now. You fly into an airport and it's 40 k's away. She went into the middle of town to that bakery and asked them where the center of town was. Because it's just like, where, where the hell are you? And so people have that feeling when you're driving for so many Ks and then they come to these venues and there's sound text, there's proper production, really good treatment for artists.
Tourist Attraction Strategies
00:27:38
Speaker
um Yeah. And that goes long way. And turtles. Yeah. And floodable ones too. thank yeah Awesome. ah that's That's great to hear out the backstory and i guess the, you know, the have have business evolved. I'd love to have a chat about, I guess, you know, what you year think works to yeah build a regional tourism business. So we'll take a quick break and then come them back and have a chat bit more broadly about that.
00:28:02
Speaker
Cheers.
00:28:08
Speaker
Hey guys, it's Craig here and we're back with another episode of our Breaking Down Beer Styles with Mogwai Labs. I'm joined today by Josh Allen, as always, from Mogwai. Josh, good to see you.
00:28:20
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Thanks for having us. And we've got Brendan Ibbett here from Kicks Brewing in Marrickville. Brendan, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having us. guys good to see you we're chatting all things beer styles today we're coming up to Octoberfest that wonderful wonderful time of the year when beer is king and of course there's one style that comes to mind which is the fest beer now Josh you have an innate knowledge of all things beer styles tell us all about the fest beer what's what's the background what's it all about
00:28:51
Speaker
Rice, well, yeah, look, it's ah it's a beer style that really doesn't even need an introduction. It's a beer especially brewed for Oktoberfest, right? And um I actually wrote down a ah list of ah some of the classic breweries that are, you know,
00:29:07
Speaker
bringing this beer into the world. And look, there's some big hitters here. Think
00:29:20
Speaker
Absolute monsters. it's um It's like the Australian cricket team batting line-up from the late 90s, early 2000s, you know, with the Wall brothers and Matthew Hayden and that. But, no, but in all seriousness, like...
00:29:33
Speaker
big When we think of German lager brewing, we think of these big big breweries are from the Munich and Bavaria area. um And in terms of the actual style itself, Fesbier, we just think of it as a yeah slightly bigger version of Hellez.
00:29:53
Speaker
So sort of floating around that 6% mark. um And the reason for that is that it's a beer that is brewed for celebration and for an event. So you you spike up the alcohol a little bit just to get people a little bit more merrier, right?
00:30:07
Speaker
So it's a big golden beer and it really just wants to put emphasis on the malt profile but other that the brewers are using in that beer. And, mate, I'd imagine, you know, the yeast plays a big part in in that kind of lager. You want something, what, clean, attenuated? What's the story here?
00:30:24
Speaker
Yeah, look, ah so the the style that we really wave the flag for for this style of beer, and Brendan's been using it for for a while now and doing really good things, is our Mog 212 Fest 2 strain.
Exmouth's Unique Tourist Appeal
00:30:40
Speaker
um And I guess to get a better understanding of this strain, so it does come from a ah famous Bavarian brewery, is if we compare it to the the classic German workhorse strain 3470. So our Fest 2 strain will, it's going to bring more roundness, ah more full body, more mouthfeel, and really bring out that, I guess, like the malt body of a beer compared to something like a 3470. So when a brewery is making ah a Fest style beer where they're probably using a lot of Munich beer
00:31:20
Speaker
or Vienna malts, it's really going to hero that stuff and bring it out. So then if you're comparing that to other lagers that you might have on tap at your brewery, it's really going to stand alone and be a ah fest beer.
00:31:33
Speaker
Yeah, nice. Fantastic. And Brendan, tell me, how are you guys, well, first of all, celebrating Oktoberfest? What have you got on the calendar? Yeah. Yeah, look, we um we don't get too wrapped up in some of the the fun sort of stuff on the side. We focus on the beer, really. So for us, it's kind of just putting on putting on some fresh German beers at this time of year and and making a bit of ah you know a bit of a thing about it. So um last year, we were we were kind of surprised at just how many people came in for the Oktoberfest weekend and at how quickly.
00:32:04
Speaker
The first beer we brewed went, and so this year we um we've got more of it and we're we're kind of you know ready to go. and fresh Another fresh batch with some lessons learned and and i looking forward to it.
00:32:15
Speaker
Yeah, fantastic. And tell me, what what were those lessons learned? So you've you've gone from kind of version one of the fespie to version two now and same yeast in both batches. What's what's been going on there?
00:32:26
Speaker
Yeah, same yeast in both batches. And we've really embraced this yeast strain as our house yeast strain for all German lagers. So We've been using it so I think that the first time was just before we did the Fespe last year, but we typically use it for our Hellas, which has become almost core range. We're not a brewery that does a core range.
00:32:48
Speaker
But almost core range because it's the beer that just about anyone who walks in the door will happily drink and and um and session. And people who are craft beer fans, people who are, you know, more macro beer drinkers will will absolutely love that thing typically. So, yeah, we've been we've been playing with it for for a while now um and so sort of are familiar with the strain and and how it performs and, you Yeah, we love it in all the styles. Like I think it's fantastic in the Hellas, which is, you know, typically sort of a mid-fours beer for us.
00:33:17
Speaker
um We're using a German Pilsner with a bit more amped up character and a little bit more bitterness and it works really well. um And as Josh said, it just sort of has a way of amplifying the malt character, even with just a Pilsner malt base.
00:33:32
Speaker
it'll it'll still bring out kind of a ah depth that you don't necessarily get with other lager yeast. So, um yeah, that's that's that's kind of us and and the journey we've been on with it. We love it.
00:33:43
Speaker
um And, yeah, the Fest beer for us, really what we've been trying to do is just get as close as we can to, you know, what you'd expect to to get in Germany and um and hitting, you know, ah kind of low sixes percentage-wise beer that's supremely drinkable.
00:33:59
Speaker
pretty to Pretty to look at, but kind of dangerous in that the 6.3 will catch you out if you're if you're not careful as well. So drinks drinks a little bit, just a little bit bigger than our Hellas at kind of 2% lower So it's a fun thing.
00:34:15
Speaker
Yeah, fantastic. Well, you never know, Brendan. We mentioned those names at the start, Polanov and Erdiger, and it could be Kix Brewing up there next time. You never know. Kix Brawl, yeah.
00:34:26
Speaker
We need to really to Germanize it somehow, but yeah. That's it. Well, fantastic, mate, and good luck with the Oktoberfest and, well, the beers, the beer lineup for this year. And thank you so much again, guys, for joining us, and we'll stay tuned for another episode soon.
00:34:49
Speaker
Welcome back guys. um Now to sort of establish we're in one of the best known tourist destinations in Australia, so it'll be coming that way. um But we're also a long way from everywhere. So how did you set about sort of bringing people through the doors once you opened like pre the COVID thing, you know, what was the appeal that you had back in the back in start?
00:35:07
Speaker
um I think for us it was just ah laidback um easy going area um likely craft a beer, um easy drinking oh easy drinking beer and and pretty so pretty basic food, but it was tasty.
00:35:20
Speaker
um Yeah, and it just kind of manifested from there. Yeah, how about you guys? Um, yeah, in terms of trying to help with tourism as well, we played more of an active part then than what we did now. Cause I think both, but especially in Frost's perspective, it was a lot of like, what, what, what is the local tourism body doing? What's Tourism WA being members, the Australia's Coral Coast, we did a lot with them.
00:35:44
Speaker
Um, and then now that momentum has gathered, I think that's kind of what you were saying as well, that, um, it wasn't a case of trying to bring locals through the doors and locals to the VA. Yeah, we to get them first, but it was always very much. You got to get Tories coming in at a way. If you don't have the locals and people asking someone at the shop, where should I go? Or, you know, they're on that.
00:36:02
Speaker
that tour or whatever it is. but um And the locals sustain you during summer months really. You've just we got to have that sort of turnover and churn, your staff and yeah um there's no one. It's a ghost town
Expanding with Community Focus
00:36:12
Speaker
here. February is a ghost town. And did you have like contacts with the relevant bodies? Oh yeah, sure. And so you know you you were having those conversations before?
00:36:20
Speaker
Definitely. yeah ah Yeah, we reached out. Gascoigne Food Council now. It's a huge thing now, the Gascoigne Food Trail. yeah Yeah, that food festival in August that goes up a lot of the coast, which is cool. Yeah, there's different tourism initiatives I think that are working yeah a bit better. It's just so remote at the same time. yeah Like we've seen stuff, you know, be attempted, but it's also the distances between places make it really hard to link up things with big production or festivals or stuff like that.
00:36:49
Speaker
So, um, that point before about the local businesses trying to provide something that local government doesn't, Exmouth does that because the council only have now gone back to putting on a festival where it was before it was like, sweet, we got two breweries, you guys chuck stuff on. That's, that's awesome.
00:37:05
Speaker
Um, and yeah, but the tourism is just really, there was a, um, an eclipse a couple of years ago and, and that really put Exmouth on the global mound. um Yeah, got we got some solar eclipse and there was... Celestial assistance.
00:37:19
Speaker
First it was COVID on, you know, been dark dark side assistance and then, you know... And that's another dark side assistance, an eclipse, yeah. That's right. And what about how did those conversations go? Like did... Because I guess it would have been a new concept to the people you were dealing with in tourism up here going, hey...
00:37:36
Speaker
We're opening a brewery, small brewery. You're going to make these like really different beers. Can you help us bring people up here? Yeah, there's beer tourism now yeah in that sense of wanting to travel to a place.
00:37:47
Speaker
And to travel to a place means it's 100Ks to the next turnoff. but Because there's there's there's local craft beer to go and try. And and that's awesome. They weren't doing that before. um Not to say toism tourism was always a massive part in the biggest industry here.
00:38:01
Speaker
Yeah. But... Yeah, I'm under no illusions. I mean, if you're to start a brewery up, um I reckon you need to find a spot. Yeah, you're you're really close to something people want to go to and you know, the reef is yeah is what people want to go to.
00:38:15
Speaker
And we both benefit from people coming ah here for that. Yeah, for sure. And they spend a day on the reef and they want to relax and talk about it. and show photos of what they did and they come to either one of our venues and do that so hopefully both venues i think so i think it'd be weird on like because a four-day stay i think is the standard um you know itinerary for someone And without sounding facetious, I think it would be weird on that four days if they didn't visit these these two.
00:38:41
Speaker
um I'm looking around the audience here today and I'm seeing people I've seen at Wellbone the last few days. So yeah, it's it's it's they do it. It's pretty funny. That's great. And what about sort of, um you know you know, both now eight years in, um what have you found sort of key to running successful brew pub slash tourist destination offering? know, is it...
00:39:00
Speaker
Is it the beer that brings people in? Does the food have to be good? Does it have to be the feel of the venue? Is it the live music that you put on? Is is it marketing? like what what what what what What have been the key things that you've realised over the years that's that's the key drawcard or those are the key drawcards? I think all of the above, but it's been tweaked a bit.
00:39:17
Speaker
but I know for a bit Paul wanted music every night at Whalebone. yeah Every night. yeah no That was that it's awesome. But it's hard to sustain. And keep the variety, I guess, without, you know, the same artists on all the time. um And we've definitely tweaked our offerings.
00:39:31
Speaker
And yeah, we keep trying, trying stuff. All of the above to that, and i don't know, we've got a little bit of, we want to appeal to every demographic up here because you do get that. Whereas it's not a big enough population that you can be like, we just target 30 to 50 year olds or all that. So I think your offerings need to be across the board. Yeah.
00:39:52
Speaker
And yeah, we've got pride in what we do and how the place looks and and that also affects. Back to what you're saying about that cultural idea of you want to, I want to have a place that I would like to go to and and drink at myself.
00:40:04
Speaker
Um, and, and then everything should shine through like that, I guess. And you have to keep sort of pushing the message out through tourism channels more widely or is that kind of handled for you now and that as soon as people get here, they are told somehow that you guys exist or yeah oh is there a responsibility on you guys? and Less advertising. We don't do any. marketing <unk> or it may be less Yeah, less, think. I think it's just word of mouth now. Yeah.
00:40:29
Speaker
yeah Oh, locally, this yeah, there's still you you've got a better presence, like at the airport, so you guys, um and the distribution of cans. Yeah. We're not doing that, but then I guess we're in the centre of town, if people know this is the centre of town. um There's a few shops at least, and you do sort of you know, as you walk through, it's like,
00:40:46
Speaker
brewery up at the, you know, i yeah you can see, you can see it from a few different, you know, approaches. Approaches. Yeah. But, um, no, definitely it's just become, become more, I dunno, institutions or part of the fabric, I guess.
00:40:59
Speaker
Yeah. um Um, it definitely wasn't at the start. Like we had to push that way more. It was really hard at the start. this year it was so Maybe you got a different perspective because you're a bit out of town, so yeah needed to work.
00:41:11
Speaker
Yeah. Did you put on, you know, with the curtsy buses going to the hotels or anything like that? Oh, thought about we just, yeah, gritted our teeth. We both had our own jobs at the time as well. so Yeah, crazy.
00:41:22
Speaker
but um Tell people to get on a bike. It's a perfect town to do that. Yeah. Karratha, I know that Northwest Brewing have a shuttle bus. Makes total sense. It's too far for people to walk or ride, but. It's down.
00:41:34
Speaker
Everything's pretty close. Well, I've not been here in the hottest times of year, but there seems to be a nice breeze the whole time as well to take the edge off things. So, you know, how hard does a brewery get in summer? We were reading something saying, oh, if you are going to do any that, know, hikes, you know, along the reef in summer, it can hit 50 degrees on high. It's like, really?
Future Ventures and Growth
00:41:57
Speaker
Like, I guess maybe that's the heat of the ground.
00:41:59
Speaker
adding to but that does sound pretty unbearable. Well, it'd 40 in Coral Bay because it doesn't have a dividing range that blocks a lot of that sea breeze coming in. We just get the air that's already passed over land to get into town. Okay. But then it means the Exmouth Gulf is offshore and it's like... And what is it like in the brewery and in the height of summer then? Oh, it's hideous. Yeah, Tyler's like a bear. in In winter, he adds all these pounds.
00:42:19
Speaker
Summer, he's this lean machine. Rips. Brutal, it's brutal. yeah But you know you're not brewing as much either. as so Yeah, it's quite true. yeah and um what about yeah You've now got the three and the two breweries and three venues, so it's was that always part of the plan or was that something that came going, things are going well for us up here, but I'm based down in Perth?
00:42:42
Speaker
Let's take it down here. How did that come Yeah, when the first opportunity came in 2018 to do something outside of here. We we really seized that without doing enough due diligence and thinking it through. And then it's come about to be to be good. um Burberry is WA's second biggest town and it never had a brewery.
00:42:59
Speaker
yeah Which is kind of bizarre when you think how many are south of that and how many are now so yeah on the way between there and Perth. And yet you had this big town. and Totally. Yeah, and that's, that's within that timeframe we were chatting about, about how much has changed in the local scene of WA and Craft Beer.
00:43:14
Speaker
Um, and then, uh, then the one in North Beach, we we just jumped on that. That was only a few months from when it was came to be as an opportunity, just purely based. We knew that was a great location that we wanted to do it.
00:43:25
Speaker
We knew this one, Bunbury were like, that's an opportunity. Let's just seize it. make it work and then um and then it has and but whereas the north beach one we're really lucky to be where we are there so and did it help having this place up here and get the others off the ground like like we enough people had been here and does it help drive people up here having that presence down there yeah yes yeah yeah Um, yeah, I definitely think there's cross promotion between them and but people come in, it's obsess about visitors, like they're here on holiday.
00:43:53
Speaker
You always, I think visitors always comment on how everyone's smiling around town. I've been living in Perth for a bit. I'm originally from there, but it's a city. You're not generally just smiling and waving to to to strangers, right? Yeah. Here they're just people you haven't met yet. Unless you're putting a trolley around the city centre. Not so happy. um But not saying that it isn't a friendly place, but it's not a small country town and people here are yeah on holiday and in the water and the atmosphere, everyone is so friendly. So they've got good memories attached to that.
00:44:22
Speaker
And then going and starting something somewhere else, it can yeah can definitely build off that. I think we try and, yeah, we should leverage that that more to be honest. And for you, is it a case that you've got products in packs, is that your sort of external marketing as well to sort of let people know you're here? ah Yeah, I scratch my head about it every year and thinking, why am I doing this? I've come this far now, got to keep going. Well, that's pretty much what we did. we actually got a grant based on that.
00:44:49
Speaker
um We wanted to package our beer and and that was our type of marketing. Send it to Perth so that people who come to Exmouth and go to do our venue. When they go back to Perth, they get that nice feeling. I had a great time Exmouth. Yes, i'll I'll buy a beer. And it's just kind of that kind of feel.
00:45:06
Speaker
um We both had the October can seamers for a bit. I look back at that and I'm like, that was just was pretty funny so labour intensive. That's what we were using during COVID so we could do home deliveries and stuff.
00:45:19
Speaker
was like, It's manual. Yeah. So insane. But I don't know, you go fishing and you want to have beers in your esky and it's cool that there they're local at the same time. We didn't even bother putting labels because that was just a can roll. i like We had that for a bit and then we're like, no, screw this. Just write what's on it.
00:45:36
Speaker
but So yeah yeah, packaging was a necessary evil. um And now we're still doing it and we're thinking, oh, should we continue with it? But yeah, it still creates employment.
00:45:47
Speaker
Yeah, we've probably got enough regular clients out there. If if you didn't, they'd be like, well, we want more of your beer.
Logistical Challenges in Exmouth
00:45:53
Speaker
Yeah, and it's stopped a lot of places. as I see it on heaps of shelves. What about the challenges, hitting us a little bit before in the conversation, there's things like, you know, attracting or keeping good staff when you're sort of this far, you know, we hear those sorts stories even in the high country or, you know, working with the ebbs of flow of seasonality and stuff like that, you know, ah they're sort of one of, the key challenges you face as a regional business and have have you learned to manage that over the years? cu i mean, you guys were a phenomenally well staffed the other night, but I'd imagine you must bring a few of them in for just a few months at a time. Combination is the biggest obstacle we've got. Without a doubt.
00:46:25
Speaker
and you really you can't really attract the the best people without having somewhere to live yeah and you know they don't want to come here and go through the rigmarole trying to find something while they're competing with all these people paying their holiday prices for accommodation a couple of years ago we had guys working on a venue and they're living in their car in our in our yard and you know that wasn't sustainable um yeah it was just diabolical and it's still a a little bit like that but people just sort of you know, ferring their way into different houses and you know, it's, it's crazy. It's crazy. Yeah. The housing crisis is nuts.
00:46:57
Speaker
Yeah. And would would you have like twice as many staff at peak season to off season? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. took Two and a half. do you get some to come back going, well, we'll come and do six months and we'll go back. Yeah. They do a kind of a loop, Margaret River, now it's like the perfect flux.
00:47:10
Speaker
Sounds like a great line. William, do you want to move into a, know, a Dwarfstil or something like that? The fact we've got the other ones kind of helps. We can try to send staff to between seasons. Yeah.
00:47:21
Speaker
That can help a bit, but again, they need somewhere to live. Yeah. mean, it's just. and what about sort of logistics as well? Like youre having to bring ingredients a long way to get here. And I guess, you know, when you're sending your cans, like you're sending them a long way as well. you know did How do you factor that Because the industry is pretty price sensitive at the minute, you know? Yeah, it's fine.
00:47:42
Speaker
Yeah. It's pretty remarkable what we can achieve, to be honest. I mean, we've got two, well, three freight companies here, but two main ones and they're coming up twice a week. um expensive yeah but we get stuff on time only a few times that get stuffed around but yeah it's pretty good yeah i've said that i guess with the um you're still yeah 15 16 a pint so you obviously find i guess if you're selling over your own bar finding ways to put it at a price that isn't going to scare people we're cheaper than perth yeah on average we're cheaper than the places in perth both of those venues that's
00:48:15
Speaker
It's kind of crazy. Was that down to rent potentially? or What's that? Should I put our prices up? I don't know. Once I've left. People to stay and have sessions and yeah like, don't know your perspective, but for us, it's a sweet spot. I think for us, yeah, similar. We just like to have something that's affordable for our family. Just come out and, you know, dad and mom have a pint and a pizza and it's a hundred bucks.
00:48:39
Speaker
Yeah. And it's it's pretty good. Yeah, and it's tough if you're paying for it a lot of dirt somewhere and it's 60 bucks a night and you're trying to get around the country and stuff. It is an expensive town. Super nice, but yeah.
00:48:50
Speaker
Well, you just saying you're paying $2.90 for a tank of diesel up in the territory. That's hard to get. Oh, $2.95 a litre it was, yeah. It was past the territory and past the give as well, yeah. And it was like, yeah, two something, but you kind go, oh, that's cheap.
00:49:03
Speaker
Doesn't leave any money for bigger. That was like the peak, you had the peak of the worst times back in Melbourne. um But, you know, You do these things to come to these places. and Yeah. But flights aren't comparatively cheaper. Yeah.
00:49:14
Speaker
It's cheaper still to drive than to fly. Which is great. Yeah. I just think we don't need to drive back. just Just stay here until it hits 40 degrees. Then we'll bugger off. yeah You're hitting us both up for jobs after this. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
00:49:27
Speaker
Oscar, in terms of like what's the future look like then? You've obviously, both businesses have changed and evolved a lot over the first eight years. um You've obviously opened two more venues. You guys got into packaging, whatever.
00:49:38
Speaker
What do you see the future being for Froth? um Good question. We're debating over a fourth installment now. We're just trying to do what's right for the business as such and keep going on a trajectory. I think that cross promotion is good, trying to become a bit more known across the state, but without doing it via packaging.
00:49:57
Speaker
So it's a bit of a different model to a lot of what other people have done. You look at the East Coast and how many periods have gone under and everything because packaging is just as tough and it's, um yeah, you're looking at 110 grand including a car for a sales rep in Perth and it's like... It's lot beer. It's a lot, yeah, yeah, it's ah it's a lot. So we're happy with the Brew Pub model that we've we've got um and just Tap House model those numbers as such. Where's number four?
00:50:23
Speaker
Geraldton, they put it in the paper the other day as a sure thing. They've loved it twice, thank you, um with before it's locked in. Should have done my research before we came and sat down today, but you know the beach was calling.
00:50:33
Speaker
No, that's all it's all right. But um but yeah, that it isn't locked in yet, but um that's another perspective spot. That's got a brewery there Batavia. But um yeah, I don't know. think there could be scope. In terms of where Froth's going, I don't know, maybe a bit better life-work balance for the directors. Try to get out and do everything you said you did yesterday a bit more. no Personally, i probably probably guess. i I think we're refining things a bit better in terms of procedures and procedures.
00:50:58
Speaker
as we we just keep learning in yeah as we go. So I'd like to think that it's a better experience people can have over the years as they keep going on. ah Well, good luck to Geraldton. Look forward forward to... It's not locked in....till around the opening. Yes, I was saying good luck if it happens.
00:51:11
Speaker
If not, wherever it ends up being the fourth venue. And what about you, Justin? Are you keeping well done very much, Exmouth? We are completely opposite to have to be here. where we We are. There's no way in the world we're going to open up another venue. yeah Yeah.
00:51:26
Speaker
Yeah. We're finding it hard enough just to do one. Well, you're traveling back and forth to Karras. Yeah. yeah so I'm still involved in the business and we we just recently opened up a distillery side as well. so Yeah, just honing on the business and tinkering with it, making it little bit more source efficient. So... <unk> Tell us about the distilling side of things. Where did that come from? Was that your idea to do that? or just then Yeah. um Kind of wanted to do it since day dot, but obviously cash flow and things prohibited that. and yeah i've always loved gin um and it was seemed like a bit natural fit um for us and yeah i love making spirits so it's kind of beer and beer and spirits go well together because yeah all the spirits have to start with beer pretty much with alcohol so yeah it was good and i've enjoyed enjoyed it and georgia and it's been going really well
00:52:15
Speaker
And he said it's not well owned distilleries, is it? No, it's called Ningaloo, it's a different business name, Ningaloo, but it's yeah under the same um envelope and license. Ningaloo Distillery, it's called. And is that is that locally focused or are you selling that widely across the state as well?
00:52:29
Speaker
Pretty amazing actually. We get people buying all over Australia because we're online. So we're sending cartons of grog. There's a lot of ah closet alcoholics out there.
00:52:42
Speaker
buying cartons of Grog Tasmania, and Queensland, New South Wales. it Yeah, it's pretty amazing. And it's something that's so easily shippable. It should be a kickback for tourism or something in that. Because, you you know, that is huge what you're doing in sending a product that showcases the Ningaloo. Yeah, we sort of... Yeah, thanks for that. Remember that for next time. No, no. We've...
00:53:03
Speaker
Definitely target that with our labelling. All our labels for our different products have got stories about the Turquoise Bay, ah you know, in the termite mounds even. so yeah, there's a little bit of Ningaloo in every one of the bottles. So it's pretty it's pretty cool.
00:53:18
Speaker
um Yeah, in the business itself, we just keep on expanding and adding stuff to it, which is a real pain because every year we think, nah, let's not do anything else. We don't need to do anything. Just keep the money in the bank. Yeah, it'd be nice, but there's always something to do. So yeah.
00:53:30
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, well, you know, it's nice to keep yourself busy as well. So, yeah, as I'm doing on this, you know, allegedly holiday with the family. But I know you've got to get back and and finish today's brew. So thank you for joining me. It's been great to chat. and We'll let you know when this is show's going out. And, i'm yeah, thanks for having me.
00:53:47
Speaker
Awesome. Cheers.
00:53:52
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.
00:54:06
Speaker
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00:54:22
Speaker
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