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We Are Family – Blackman's Brewery
404 Plays11 days ago
“Anything that’s happening in our area we try to be a part of.”
The Crafty Pint Podcast returns for 2026 in the company of Renn Blackman, one half of the powerhouse husband-and-wife team behind one of the sunniest and funnest breweries in the country.
The family influence at Blackman’s runs deeper than just Renn and Jess too: parents and others helped get the business up and running – quite literally when it’s come to knocking their venues into shape – and some are acknowledged in core range beer names.
They’re also big on community, sponsoring many causes and clubs, as well as partnering with events big and small throughout the Surf Coast and Geelong region. They’ve brewed beer for the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and you can now enjoy their beers at the Cats’ stadium – a major achievement for lifelong Geelong fan Renn.
As well as discussing the ethos that’s helped Blackman’s evolve to where they are today, Renn tells us how he and Jess first met while working a snow season, about their travels both within Australia and overseas, the genesis of the brewery, their decision to operate multiple venues before such an approach started becoming commonplace, diversifying, running fun events, and the secret (or not-so-secret) to making great beer.
At the start of the show, Will and James round up the stories we’ve published so far this year: the return of a Hop Nation founder to his winemaking roots; the launch of one hospo pioneer’s new venue; a bucolic experience on Phillip Island; and a new culture club in Tassie.
If you enjoy the show, please like, subscribe, rate and review on whichever podcast platform you use.
Start of segments:
- 18:44 – Renn Blackman Part 1
- 39:36 – Enter the Royal Queensland Beer Awards
- 40:40 – Renn Blackman 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
Introduction and Summer Catch-up
00:00:04
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Crafty Pine podcast. I'm Will. I'm James and welcome to the first show of 2026. Will, we've just caught up a little earlier for the first time in a few weeks. ah What have you been up to?
00:00:18
Speaker
I very much enjoyed my summer break. Enjoyed not having to have the deadline of this podcast every week if I'm honest, but it's great to be back at the same time. Well, only 48 of these to go and you can relax into next Christmas. Any beer-y adventures while you've been away?
00:00:33
Speaker
Oh, a couple. I was i was down Inverloch for a bit around around South Gippsland where my family's from and i a very much enjoyed Inverloch. Had like a pop-up park over the summer, which Shaq Bay Brewing, who are a new ah brewery. They don't have a brewery yet, but they're...
00:00:48
Speaker
very much searching for one. there's There's not that much industrial space in Inverloch as anyone who knows the beach town will be aware and Benderley Brewing from Warragul were also there. So it was it was cool to see the local council sort of embrace that. So um they're just pouring beers for a bunch of summer basically and in a park, really nice
Exploring New Travel Routes
00:01:07
Speaker
environment. kid friendly and all that kind of thing and another big one was when i got back to melbourne there's this new uh bike bridge that's opened up over the maribyrnong river uh these is all very melbourne-centric stuff sorry for outside listeners but basically it allows me to cycle from my house in brunswick to hop nation in footscray
00:01:27
Speaker
With only spending about 30 seconds on a road with cars I can i can get straight there all off-road It's a really nice ride and yeah, I think it's actually i imagine it's pretty good for Hobnation because they've never had foot traffic before and now they have a bike path basically going around the brewery There you go. the The West has been opened up to you Will. i'm How exciting. It's great. It's closer than I ever thought. And what about you James? um Yeah, um been on the road a little bit in the in the caravan. Spent some time on the surf coast as you'll see with our first guest of the year coming up later in today's show. Popped in to see a couple of the the brewers around the Torquay region. Checked out one of the distilleries on the Bellarine Peninsula, Bellarine Distillery as well. Had a lovely time with Russ down there. um
00:02:10
Speaker
I should have known already, but I learned that the name for the the tool that they stick into the barrels to make sure they get samples from all of different parts of the barrel is called the thief, which I thought was a nice sort of romantic bit bit of language to describe ah something when you are stealing from the barrels to have a taste of taste of whiskey before it's ready. Right, I've always loved angel's share, which is the the part of the whiskey that yeah goes over time. That's a beautiful phrase. We need to get more of those into brewing. Well, I do wonder whether the angel's share is partly down to the thief. But um so that was really nice. And then spent a couple of weeks on the south coast. The the first part was sort of hot and then a bit windy. Then we got ravaged by the the the the rains and the the winds that came through. so there's a Bit of damage to our setup but ah popped into w Ryefield Hops, who our guests on the podcast next week.
00:03:00
Speaker
I checked out a couple of local breweries there. I caught up with Matt from Longstocking Brewery who we'd last seen at Grainstocks. I had a chat with him while trying some of his beers. Popped into Humpback at the Tuthra Pub, which is ah all very fancy these days. um And also no beer involved, but also went to the Candelo country show at the recommendation of of Karen from from Ryefield Hops. So that was a day of wood chopping, champion vegetable animals, all that kind of stuff was very, very wholesome. So yeah, it's been ah been a nice break. So not not too much too much work, readying ourselves, raring to go for what should be another another big year in the world of beer and whatever else
Impact of Victoria Fires on Breweries and Businesses
00:03:39
Speaker
we get up to.
00:03:39
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And one big story that we were watching while we were on break and really feeling for as well was some of the fires that came through yeah Victoria recently. and and And they were all over the state. It was a terrifying day, the Friday, where they really kicked off. But in particular, the breweries of sort of central Victoria around Bendigo.
00:03:59
Speaker
uh uh castle main that that they were quite impacted because a basically the only cool cool store in the area which is an old apple cool store in a co-op uh in harcourt went up in flames and that took with it a large amount of stock from shed shaker rock and rangers brewing love shack uh cornella yeah cornella And Brewers Collective in in Bendigo. Yeah, yeah. yeah and And you know, it's going to take, who knows what will happen next with it. But talking to, so I was talking to Adam from Shed Shaker last week and he was saying just that cool store being gone is so devastating because they do all rely on it. It's not just brewers, it's winemakers as well who've lost past vintages and distillers and also of course, apple growers and potato farmers and all that kind of thing is a really bedrock of small business in that community. Yeah. And i think when you first spoke to people sort of,
00:04:47
Speaker
that first weekend on the Monday, of the brewers you spoke to were sort of keen to play it down and go, you know, we've lost product, we can come back, you know, let's focus focus on people who lost their houses. I think over time they have realised, you know, how significant the impact is on their business out and, you know, the future going ahead as well. So, um you know, there are a number of fundraisers. You've been talking to Adam about a collaboration that they're putting together.
00:05:06
Speaker
Yeah, we'll we'll probably have a story on the site by the time this goes out. Just waiting for a few more um things to be finalized in terms that collaboration, a couple of other things. But yeah, it's it's hard because they lost all their stock at a number of these breweries. So it's not like consumers can really help, beer drinkers can help because they can't buy beer. They they can buy t-shirts maybe and things like that. but Over time, ah you'd kind of hope that people remember this. I know we're used to it's a lot of things going on in the news in the world So people might move on from it quickly But once I stock is back that people can help I love Shacks one is a membership basically where it's it's basically you pre buying your pints and and things like that which is a really good way to do it is it's just yeah people have had to be really innovative because it's not like they've just lost tap room sales or anything like that they've lost the beer and they need the beer to pour through their own venues as well because that's how breweries make money yeah yeah well i'm with Shed Shaker they're obviously looking for other people's kegs to put on taps to keep beer pouring there as well um you were chatting to some of the other um Victorian breweries and other regions as well they've been impacted Yeah, and of course, I mean, it's it just basically all of Victoria was told not to be in national parks over a couple of days. So this is during peak january so travel season in January. This is when most people are on holidays. People like you, James, you have kids in school and a wife. He's a teacher as well. A lot of people are still out of Melbourne and and losing even just that one weekend or a couple of weekends. Like Midamida has had spot fires keep popping up around it. So Midamida...
00:06:36
Speaker
Brewing, I know I've been feeling it and things like that. Yeah, it's ah hard for a lot of people across the state. And I know with the storms, the winds and the floods and everything, it was across Victoria parts the South Coast, where we were chatting about it maybe last Wednesday, actually at Longstock and then going, oh, some friends of ours were staying in the the campground in Tarthra and they were like, oh, it's like, you know, you know war's coming something. Everyone's packing up and leaving whatever. we like, we'll be fine. come and Come and join us on Friday. And then on by Thursday night, we were like... Maybe we should have left as well. And, you know, there were a lot of places being evacuated. A lot of campgrounds were half empty, but ah which would have been fully booked otherwise. you've got imagine all the businesses down there will be impacted as well. So, yeah, another summer with a bit of yeah challenging sit circumstances for people. Yeah, it's interesting that there's unusual climate stuff going on. maybe i Hopefully people are looking into that. Yeah, yeah. You'd hope so. Maybe maybe maybe there's something we can do. um
00:07:26
Speaker
But yes, so I guess back to the other other sort of stories of the last
Changes at Hop Nation
00:07:30
Speaker
last week or so. You mentioned Hop Nation earlier. That was the first story we ran of the new year. um Bit of change change in the air. Yeah, well, I mean, so one of the founders, Dunk, has left the business. ah Everyone who's sort of experienced nation up close will know Dunk. quite a larger-than-life character. And and so he founded alongside Sam. And yeah, they've well, Dunk's basically decided to go his own way because he's moving to Tasmania to start a wine project. along with Sam they were both winemakers before Hop Nation and yeah it's always interesting to hear and to talk to people when this kind of thing happens because Sam bought Duncan out of his shares so obviously they've got to have a conversation about that one of them wants to sell their shares for as little as possible and the other one wants to buy the all by the other way around for as much as possible that sounds like a great deal for Sam but Maybe that's what they were trying to convince each other. And obviously someone wants to buy them for for less money. So, but you know, they, they worked through it in a pretty relatively quick way. It was only a conversation that didn't start that long ago and worked out how to do it. Um,
00:08:36
Speaker
You know, that they've very much been the the driving force at the brewery, the cans. If you buy them, they say, cheers, Sam and Dunk on the back of every can. So they'll have to, Sam wasn't quite sure what he was going to put there. He felt- Salmon friends. Yeah, i said Sam's quite, I don't think he's kind person who wants to put his name on there on his own. So maybe cheers, Sam and the Hop Nation team or cheers, the Hop Nation team. But yeah, it was,
00:08:58
Speaker
Yeah, obviously ah in a time when breweries are sort of moving and changing in every direction, it's it's interesting to talk to people who do it would come to a realisation and sort of work out how to sell part of a brewery because, you you know, you look at equity crowdfunding and they value breweries very, very highly and for a lot of money. Then you look at some of the liquidations. that we have and obviously those breweries aren't worth any money at that point so the reality is that a brewery is probably worth somewhere in between those two figures. yeah Yes I guess you know i wish Dunk all the best in his new venture. um you know Next time we make it down to Tassie um ah maybe we'll have to give him a few years to get some wine ready. But you know, we could check that out as well. um And I guess ah not so much sort change, but a a change in in in format for another Victorian brewery with Green Gully on Phillip Island, one of the smallest operations and I guess more more sort of distinctive operations um in the in the country, um not least because it's, you know, been founded by a man who once fronted a Melbourne based sort of hardcore band but um yeah you're having a chat to Luke Smith about what's
New Ventures and Openings
00:10:07
Speaker
happening at Green Gully. Yeah he's a very chilled out guy considering he used to be in a band called Screaming in Churches. yeah But yeah so Green Gully he's been doing pop-up sort of ah like people have been able to come in because of temporary license for some time basically since last summer and he's finally got the approval to open it up.
00:10:25
Speaker
full time or whenever he needs to. So he'll be open for summer holidays and all school holidays and long weekends. Phillip Island, again, it's um it's a massive tourist destination. He's, you know, doing things quite differently. He's focused on farmhouse beers and also more sort of unusual esoteric spirits and things like that. And he's got a hard iced tea that he's quite happy with and also just a non-alcoholic, ice a regular iced tea too. So yeah, he's kind of this tiny booze producer. And, you know, literally people will be able to visit, be on the farm, see see the neighbors cows walk by and he's also on hip camp, which so people can set up, pay for a campsite as well and that kind of thing. So it's a really- No need to worry about designated driver or taxis if you take that approach. Which there aren't many in that part of the world. So yeah it's um yeah, it's all the best to Luke. I think ah people will really enjoy it. having He's literally opening up a roller door, pouring beers. He can still can his beers when people are around, that kind of thing. And I know those summer pop-ups have been really popular because people like... It's a much more relaxed vibe than being right on the coast and things like that. so you can literally set up a picnic rug, chill out, bring some of your own food maybe and sit around. It's genuinely bucolic in in the paddock with you know animals making up making their way by. And I know one of our good friends from the Crafty Cabal, he's a big fan. He was included in one of the photos in the article and was very excited about that. So, you know, i think people that have been down there and enjoyed Luke's hospitality have very much enjoyed it.
00:11:55
Speaker
um And I guess looking across the best right back to sort of a bit of a Victorian Tasmanian double header on the um in the news we've been covering recently. ah You spoke to Joshua from Ferment HQ, which is the latest venture from Ferment Taz or Ferment Tasmania. You want to tell us a bit about that? Yeah, so Ferment Taz, it's been around since 2016. It was sort of founded, it's not-for-profit to really champion all kinds of culture and fermentation in Tasmania, of which it's already known. I mean, you know, look at Brunia Allen Cheese, past guests on podcast, like very popular, and obviously there's...
00:12:29
Speaker
I don't know, there's distilleries everywhere, right? There's tiny breweries everywhere, but they've for a long time been working to get their Ferment HQ off the ground, which does include a brewery. It's a small system, but you can also run classes on cheese making, learn sourdough bread making and all these kinds of things. So really brings that in. it i guess the idea is to really...
00:12:50
Speaker
champion and push and maybe accelerate if they can those small businesses that are doing interesting things to help put Tasmania on the map which it's already pretty well known for it is a gastronomy place to visit and the brewery it's you know five hex systems so small but lots of diversity in terms of fermentation space and the ability to do non-alcs and gluten-free so it's kind of breweries who might want to diversify into a slightly different product or experiment with a different beer but can't run it on their main system because they don't have the space or the time or things like that they can use this to trial a new beer and and get it out and yeah Josh is pretty excited he he actually discovered the project was happening because he saw it and he said he's the kind of weirdo who likes to read his local council minutes and things like that and he saw the development happening and as a budding brewer was like I need to get in touch with these guys
00:13:44
Speaker
Yeah, good stuff. um And I guess the the last one of of this week, I guess this will be run in the last week or so. um Another opening back in Melbourne this time. One that I guess we've been trailing for it probably for the best part of six months with our creating a venue seat series.
00:13:58
Speaker
um You've been following the story of Steve Jeffers, who people will know from the local tap house, stomping ground, original founders of Gabs, etc, etc. whose business originally going to called Happy Camper finally opened on January the 2nd as Huzzah. So um what what what were the insights he offered? Now he's almost fully open. Yeah, um well he was very happy that people are enjoying it, I think. i did have a look at the Google reviews... after I spoke with Steve, because I'm the kind of weirdo who spends a lot of time reading Google reviews and it is all very positive for the starting, which is good. Often there's a few kinks and things like that, but in terms of the food, they actually delayed it to get make sure you know the chef's had enough time to to get everything ready. He's hes stoked to be opened. um in in that part of Melbourne, which is historically a dry zone, there's not a lot of watering holes. He's put in bocce, pool tables and things like that. i think in creating a venue that people will stay in for a long time and, you know, have more reason to be there than to just consume alcohol or to have lunch and feel like, okay, we've eaten, let's go and let's go home. That that kind of thing. It's it's a really nice model that I think a lot of people are,
00:15:04
Speaker
uh going for where if you can really capture that audience and a different a broad audience and kind of give them lots of different fun things to do throughout the day you can keep them inside uh for it so yeah he's he's very happy to be open um he was still nervous right until the open he said he's never opened a venue and felt that it's right but you've got to do it at some point and uh yeah he's happily welcoming people inside now Excellent stuff. Good stuff. Well, and looking ahead, um the hottest 100 of 2025 Aussie craft beers will be announced on Saturday with all the changes that have taken place at Gab's over the last few weeks. We won't be doing any live stream this year, but look out for those on Saturday. See if Mountain Culture can make it Four from four and if your favourite breweries make it there. I know that Blackman's have been one of those that have been getting behind the the post, the pole again, all decked out in their juicy banger coloured shell suits. um So we'll see see how they go. And they're obviously our first guest of the year. um I caught up with Wren at their original written or home in Torquay just before Christmas. I'm hoping to get Jess as well, but as you can imagine, just trying to find a time that worked for me with family stuff at the end of the year, then with three young kids. Unfortunately, i wasn't able to get Jess as well, because I guess it's very much, ah you know, there's plenty of family run operations and breweries in the country. But there when I think Ren and Jess have been very much together the face of the business, um you know, they both brought, you know, immense talent and skills to the business.
00:16:34
Speaker
Other family members have been involved in many, many ways since the start as well. So had to catch up with you know, how they first got together, their sort travels around the world before they opened the brewery, how they, you know, they think they sort of, you know, why they've been successful. He keeps referring like moving at a snail's pace and doing everything very, very slowly, which has still meant they've now got three venues. Yeah, never looked like that from the outside. No, no, but they just feel they've always done very slowly. We talk about staff retention because they've had a lot of really good staff stick around for a long time. And also Wren, who's a lifelong Cats fan, being very excited they've got their beers at the Geelong Stadium. I searched it out. I went to one game the Geelong Stadium last year.
00:17:13
Speaker
ah um Like you, I'm a Pies fan, as you talk about in the chat, but it was another team playing. I went down and, yeah, it was delightful to be able to drink their beer at a stadium. It was really nice. It was, yeah, much better than what I had been drinking and barely any more expensive as well. So it's a great
Closing and Listener Engagement
00:17:29
Speaker
thing. Yes, that's coming up just after the break. um So welcome back. Enjoy the show and all the shows we have coming up for you over the rest of the year. um Will?
00:17:37
Speaker
If you do enjoy it, make sure you like, subscribe, leave us comment, tell a friend. All these things, they help other people discover the show. Cheers. Cheers. Attention brewers! Entries for the Royal Queensland Beer Awards supported by King Street and the Star Brisbane are closing soon.
00:17:55
Speaker
These prestigious awards recognise and celebrate the best beers in Australia. For brewers, it's an amazing opportunity to see where your beers stack up against your peers with helpful feedback provided by expert judges on every beer you enter.
00:18:09
Speaker
And if your beer is selected as the Grand Champion, you'll win a $5,000 Lion Bursary aimed at furthering your own knowledge and advancing the Australian beer industry. All entrants also get the chance to network and mingle with fellow brewers and industry leaders at the awards presentation.
00:18:26
Speaker
An evening you won't want to miss. Enter the Royal Queensland Beer Awards at rqa.com.au before Friday the 30th of January. And if you submit nine beers, you'll get 10% off all additional entries.
00:18:45
Speaker
Ren, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Well, and thank you, Torquay, for putting on a show for us. It's been the hottest day of summer so far, even though this will be going out a little bit later in summer. may all look got hotter by then. But Torquay, I pulled in. It's like a nice 27 degrees. A breeze has just come through as we speak. beautiful sea breeze Yeah, it was 42 degrees. I was driving through Melbourne earlier today, but here we are and you've given me, was this a nice, uh, uh, pine lime spliced sour, pine lime spice sour, you know, sounds today, well, it is delicious. So, um, yeah, great to join you. Shame Jess can't be here, but if you going to have three kids, then I guess, you know, yeah, someone' drop them yeah yeah totally. Um, but yeah, know let's start with that on the, on the family side of things. Like Blackman's is very much a family operation outside of just the name. So, I mean, if we go back to the start, like how did you and Jess first meet, I guess, even before the brewery was a thing. Um, yeah, so back in 2008, I think it was. Yeah. I'd been doing snow seasons. Um, and then Jess did snow season. In Australia? Yeah. So up at Mount Buller. Yeah. Um, so just finished uni. Jess was living in Torquay and she went up to Mount Buller and did a snow season as well. So we met, um, she was my boss in a bar up there. So. Still the case. Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, yeah. So yeah, worked together, lived together and fell deeply in love quite quickly. Yeah. Um, and then six months later we moved to Perth together. So our parents would have been like, Whoa. Yeah. Yeah. I think we thought you were going for a ski season and now we've lost you for 21. She was
00:20:09
Speaker
um And then, yeah, we went off over to Perth um and we, yeah, I got a job. I was going to study brewing over in Perth at edith Edith Cohen Uni and she was studying marketing. So I think, yeah, we both kind of enrolled in courses and we were like, let's move to Perth. um And yeah, I got a job at the Monk Brewery in Fremantle. She actually worked there a bit too, casually just in the bar. lot of people have been through the Monk, a lot of brewers, because of the size of the place and the fact that was relatively short-lived. I suppose it was earlier ones, but a lot of people have been through there. Was it Mal's days when you were there? No, was after Mal's. Justin Fox was my person I learned how to brew off, which was pretty cool. And we became pretty good mates. um but yeah so studying at edith cohen worked there um and jess and i used to just frequent the freemantle breweries like silent anchor and little creatures yeah and they were just like peeking out in those days they were just so good yeah was going to say most of it was going to be like when did beer enter the equation but clearly that was there as soon as you left the mountain it would have been yeah so back i think my kind of exposure to beer before that was just like high-end kind of lagers like thinking oh this is nice Like, think Blue Tongue. It was nice and crisp. Yeah, yeah. Like, Blue Tongue was one of my favorites. And then I think I bought some Gage Rose before I went up to the snow. Yeah. But I didn't have much of a beer knowledge then. Yeah. And then, yeah, learned as I went over there. And Little Creatures Pale Ale was a big influence. That was such a good beer. And just sitting in that venue, like, that was such a big part of, like...
00:21:34
Speaker
being in a brewery when you're right on the beach and just like a pretty amazing experience. The last, I guess, full normal episode podcast we did in 2025 was with Russell Gosling, head brewer there. I guess to mark their 25 years. And, you know, one things we talked about, you know, was how many, if you were to ask, you know, people,
00:21:52
Speaker
in the beer industry or just people, beer lovers who have been around a while, like what got them into craft beer. Like if Little Creatures Pale isn't number one in Australia, I'd be very surprised. It was such a good beer. Even their Bright Ale was really good too. That such a good beer. But yeah, great. And Free, what was it? Sail and Anchor was good too. That used to be such a good pub. You just get exposed to all the...
00:22:11
Speaker
great beers from all around Australia and like Feral and there were some pretty good ones back then that were just, yeah, shining. And then, so how long were you in wi Did you come, it straight back over here? were there two and a half years. um So worked at the market the whole time, just kind of got really some good marketing experience. She was at a few agencies in Subiaco. And then we decided to move to London, I think, after that. That's right, yeah. So we went there.
00:22:35
Speaker
Yeah, we just came home for Christmas and then went to London, I think. Her parents are like, they're not going she's not getting any closer to her turning home. Yeah, we got really far away then. Yeah. And then, yes, I got a job at Camden Town Brewery in London and Jess got a job. Was that jasper still Jasper's days at Camden Town? so that like that was 2010, I think. um And was that did the Aussie connection help there or you just went over and... Yeah, like I just got an interview and went in and sat down with Jasper and another guy, Trolls, who was the head brewer.
00:23:02
Speaker
guy from these from Sweden or something. Yeah. um But yeah, we i got I think there was two of us that like both got hired at the same time and it was like we were on a bit of a path of one was going to get fired and I luckily didn't get fired because the other girl, she just broke a hydrometer or something. Bad timing. Yeah, I was lucky. um But yeah, it was a really crazy fast-paced environment working there. like They went from...
00:23:26
Speaker
quite a small brewery to one of the biggest in that area very quickly. Well, I remember going you know over there. was the early days of craft beers rise, you know real rise here in it in the UK as well. And i I felt that it took a bit longer to really take off in the UK, maybe because it already real ale. When I went there, like, it wasn't kegged craft beer. It was just real ale or nothing really else. Yeah, and I wonder whether because there was access to craft beer, sorry, to real ale and even, like, you know, good stuff coming out from the content, that there wasn't...
00:23:54
Speaker
Here you just had Cooper's and then everything was lager. So there was more to rebel against. But I think when it did start coming through, Camden really stood out. you know I guess they had that mission to be big and and get acquired or whatever. But by putting so much behind a Heller's lager as opposed to a pale ale or an IPA, they really took a different approach, I think, to all the other craft brewers around London at that time. Yeah. But again, it wouldn't have worked in Australia at that time either, which is weird. Like it just weirdly worked for them so well.
00:24:21
Speaker
um And yeah, they they had a pale ale, like a Little Creatures pale ale, but that just didn't really sell. Like it was their lager that just sold so much of it. But yeah, we just lived there enjoyed Europe, traveled around lots on weekends. Mm-hmm.
00:24:35
Speaker
I learned lots about beer as well while we did that. But yeah, did lots of just awesome travel, which was fun. And when was, was there a moment where one or the other of you said, you've got marketing skills, I'm a decent brewer, we should do something about this? I think, yeah, kind of, or probably back in Perth, we used to talk about it, like how good a brewery would be, like back in Torquay, because Jess, ah I grew up not far from Torquay and Jess was living in Torquay before we met. Yeah. um Yeah. So we used to talk about it a bit then and probably during the time over there too. And yeah. Yeah. um and so when did that and was that the next step was it would you come out we came back to melbourne um worked at true south in black rock um and just again more marketing in melbourne or out that in where we first met i guess but yeah yeah yeah no so was after sam okay um but um yeah yeah so that was good worked there for probably 18 months i think
00:25:26
Speaker
And then during the time we were kind of looking at spots down in Torquay. want to kind of wanted to open something up small, like a little bar with a little brewery at the back. Um, and my boss at the time, Grant, um, said, we're looking at selling the brewing equipment.
00:25:41
Speaker
Uh, cause we're changing our business model and stuff, but would you be interested in buying the equipment, but still supplying us? So that kind of triggered that part of getting the equipment that we got to start with. Yeah. So we probably spent 12 months while I was sort of still working for him, trying to figure out how we got the finance and stuff to roll that. It was and the Newlands kit, wasn't it? Yeah. It's a really nice kit. Like these days, there's so much brewing equipment around that it's just like everything, but back then it was pretty special. yeah um And yeah, so managed to get a deal with the bank where we had a contract with True South to supply them beer for two years, I think it was. And it was quite a, quite a bit of beer, like it was between 20 and 40 kegs a week from day one. So we got the lease on this spot down here in Torquay. And then, um, yeah, we probably spent six months,
00:26:30
Speaker
refurbing it so my dad's a builder so he helped out quite a bit and Jess and me and my mum and everyone we just sort of got in there. Aussie timber went in and a bit of was that that part of the story as well wasn't it like a bit of reclaimed stuff? Oh yeah yeah there's all stuff out dad's shed but I think all the bar front is all just stuff he would have pulled out of an old house somewhere I'd imagine I forgot about that. Yeah, because even like if you look at it, there's like bits of like flecked paint from the old house. It was like floorboards, but it actually looks kind of cool on the bar. um Yeah, so we did that and then put the brewing equipment out the back from True South and then started making their beer open. At the time, you didn't have this area here. Nah, the landlords had this space, but we just sort of didn't. Yeah, we just had that half. yeah So half the space we have now. Yeah. And...
00:27:12
Speaker
yeah It still would have been maybe a bigger space than you'd envisaged at the first. It's a pretty sizable venue. kind of imagined it was originally probably like a 50 seat sort of bar. I imagine with just like a little brewery out the back, but kind of just timing worked amazingly. And we got this space, which was like a hundred seat venue and little beer garden out the back. So that was just that space at the rear of the main brewery building. And yeah, we started making beers and I think we launched with Reginald.
00:27:36
Speaker
ipa and yeah yeah family family names family names yeah yeah so reginald was my grandfather's name so ipa kind of suited his personality a bit angry and punchy and yeah bit of a character and then ernie was a bit more flamboyant and fun he's actually still alive so he lives in work does like ernie yeah he does yeah yeah what's it yeah it's tropical hazy now so true yeah yeah it's a gold nail at the stuff old over time yeah yeah Um, ah yeah, you brought a bit of WA with you in the kitchen ah in the early days as well. oh yeah. So Mitch from, uh, it was called Beersine at the time. He came over and launched our kitchen, which is amazing. Um, he made, yeah, really, really good food, beer inspired type food, but just sort of big hearty kind of yum, roasty stuff. Um, so that was great. That was a bit of a load off the shoulders, having someone good in the kitchen from day one, cause we knew that was such a big part of.
00:28:25
Speaker
what we're going to be doing, having food and beer it together. So, yeah. And did you, i mean, obviously you want to come to Torquay because it was like, didn't have a brewery at the time and you were both local, but did you envisage this region becoming quite like it is? Because obviously, you know, Bells Beach isn't too far away from here. You've got, you know, Salt Bruin down to Aries. There's been some others that have come and gone, but, you know, there' yeah there's certainly...
00:28:48
Speaker
Maybe it's like the rest of us Australia, around but it does feel like it's become a little bit of hotspot for quality local beer. Talking we've got three breweries now and we've got a Four Pines as well, which is a brewery as such as well, I suppose. um So it's pretty wild to think from when we started to now, was yeah, four breweries in a town.
00:29:02
Speaker
It's pretty crazy. um but no and and And how does it work? I mean, have have you got some different crowds like pulling? Yeah, totally. like Yeah. So like, I suppose... We're in a good, we're quite lucky where we are. We're in a pretty good street in the middle Torquay. Bells do a lot of bands and stuff and get like, it so I think everyone just sort of bar hops around the different breweries and offerings because there's so many good ones.
00:29:23
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. No, it's good fun. I remember coming down for the first Point Break Festival when you had this area of you. if you watch it to the right of me left of Wren is where they hold the outdoor part of their Point Break Festival coming down sort of having a fun day here and then going up to Bell's Beach afterwards and they had I think it was a medals cover band whatever by about half nine I was done I was in the swag across the road but it was just like it was nice to have that option to go I've had the festival the afternoon all within walking distance which is pretty cool yeah and there's Great Ocean Road now too yeah because they took over South West that's right yeah yeah so the Torquay Taphouse so it's Yeah, pretty cool up there.
00:30:00
Speaker
And they've got the bathhouse next door too, so you can have a bath at Anabey. Nice. Nice. um And there were I guess um this is the OG, the original ever-evolving Blackman's Home, but you've got to other venues now. There was a third you had in the city, which was you know which I think is now Bells Beach. They've got that place. Is that right? so Farm Dog have that now. Farm Dog, there you go. Bells moved out recently. Okay. But yeah, so we...
00:30:23
Speaker
Our second venue was a little Mallup street right in Geelong. Um, we had that for probably three or four years and then COVID came along. Because that was new area that was being developed as a hospital precinct. a pretty cool area. Um, it's just, uh, yeah, so we had that and then COVID came along, numbers dropped, Leask ran out and we were doing Grovedale, so the production brewery. So we just ripped the bar out and took everything over there and Yeah, ideally would have been great to have both because it was a pretty cool spot. yeah And it was a really good kind of tool for us early on to kind of market our beer and talk to people in that hospitality precinct and kind of get our beer more out there because there was just people there that probably didn't come to Torquay. So it was a good stepping stone for us. And then we opened Ocean Grove in 2019. So it's like a burger bar, 16 beers, just sort on the beach. It was not far from the beach. Yeah.
00:31:11
Speaker
ah Yeah, it's a good spot. and And was it always the plan when you started to have multiple venues or was that something that... Because ah I was looking back when I was said, you know, coming to these questions for today, was like, you were almost like becoming a multi-venue brewery before it became the thing everyone did. Like, you know, yeah I think you've always... in some ways flown under the radar as being like a very innovative and, you know, everyone's a high quality brewery, but like, you know, you've had multiple venues before necessarily was what everyone was doing. Yeah. um And they've all got different personalities as well. i mean, like how did you decide that Ocean Grove should be a burger bar, for example? I just sort of suited that vibe. It's over near the, like near the Ocean Grove beach and I think beers and burgers go pretty well together. yeah It's supposed to just be a casual, fun family environment and burgers are good with kids. yeah And a lot of our stuff we do too, we want it to be friendly with families. So,
00:31:58
Speaker
um But yeah, venue-wise, know, I think just because we were influenced by so much of the beer we drank early on had solid venues and could see working in them. It just held up the venue and...
00:32:09
Speaker
Yeah, made it work a lot better than just chasing wholesale stuff, which we didn't do a lot at the start. We were very venue focused and just sort of slowly snail grew the rest of it because we didn't have obviously the resources to just be like throwing money out there straight away. Yeah. And and how's it, how's it gone at Grovedale? Cause I mean, obviously the main thing that was easy production brood. Yeah. yes uber So we, yeah, we sort of brewed here till 20, 20.
00:32:31
Speaker
maybe two. yeah Um, and we, our volume had gone up quite a bit. so originally it was just planned set up just to brew for this venue really, and then do a bit of stuff and then it kind of grew and grew. So then we, yeah, we needed that space cause it was not ideal. We had forklifts in the driveway and trucks and like we were putting out a lot of beer for a very small little space. it was bit dangerous. So was good to kind of get that dedicated space in Grovedale where we keep brewing here for a while. Yeah. Yeah. So we brewed, um,
00:32:58
Speaker
Yeah, brewed up here only about probably 12 months ago. And then it was just sort of bringing all the ingredients down and washing the kegs at Grovedale. And it was just logistically, it wasn't making any sense. Like we're doing it for the fairy tale and the love. But it just wasn't. You could just get a little, you know, 50 litre single keg system out the back now just to technically we brew here. and that's what we might downsize what we've got because that's still sitting all at the back. Okay, yeah, yeah.
00:33:21
Speaker
But, yeah, just like to – you can fill 20 kegs in Grovedale quite quickly and just yeah get them delivered down here and it's bit easier. so yeah And what about, you know, are you looking for venues elsewhere or do you kind of think you're in nice size now? A pretty good size we're at.
00:33:36
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, because, yeah, with more venues comes more staff and everything. like i just And the rest of it might not work. Yeah, totally, yeah. And yeah I guess you've been – know, you are viewed as I think locally and outside of, you know – within the wider beer industry like a surf coaster talkie brewery um how did you go about sort of you know becoming accepted or becoming associated with the area and then have you managed to translate that to geelong whether through the venue in little malapur through the brewery i guess you know the pivot city range for people don't know pivot city it's their nickname for geelong like you know have you managed to sort of become associated with geelong as well over the over the years yeah totally like i think probably probably 60 70 percent of what we sell would be in geelong okay more so than
00:34:18
Speaker
Oh yeah, probably down the coast as well. And it shifts and changes depending on the season. Like now would be mostly coast and then rest the year would be Geelong. Um, we've got beer in the Geelong stadium now too, which is awesome. So that's been a really good way of, uh, normalizing our beer to people that might not have wanted to drink craft beer or independent beer. Um, so that's been a really good tool just to kind of say, Hey guys, you go for the cats, but, and you can also drink this beer too. like it's been Pretty good. So what' you have pouring at the stadium? I've got Mervyn, Juicy Banger, local Pacific Ale and ginger beer.
00:34:52
Speaker
Okay, so it hasn't been a case of going, let's put the Pivot City Lager in and hope, yeah? We did originally, but it didn't have as probably as much cut through as the Blackman's brands. yeah i would I'd love to be at the footy drinking Juicy Banger. Yeah, what ah what i in all the corporate suites, you can drink Juicy Banger cans. It's a shame I'm but um'm a Pies fan and the Pies never get to play at Skills Day. Yeah, but down you so that'd be great. i did yes That's awesome. And has that gone well for you? Like is the beer really pulling through there on day? amazing, yeah. Yeah, and it's sort of really translating. You can see it's increasing sales locally and stuff just from being sort of associated with the Cats, which is pretty cool. So if anyone managing other large stadiums out there, like just get rid of your big contracts or at least free up a few bars for some independent beer because it will go off. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. And then, yeah, the Pivot City brand as well. So the lager, I think it's our top two selling beer. So it sells quite well, especially on tap. So it's like a beer that we can get into pubs that typically might not look at our pale ale or our juicy banger. Is it based on the original lager you had or was it a complete new It's just like an Australian style, easy drinking, kind of crisp lager. Um, but it's just, yeah, a beer, I suppose it's a beer that people that traditionally don't want to craft beer, it's just a beer like what they've grown up drinking, like something that tastes normal for them. And there's nothing wrong with that. Yeah. That's what they want. If you know, if you, any, if there are any other brewery owners out there sort of,
00:36:15
Speaker
opening in a region that maybe doesn't have a local brewery? Like, are there any things that you did that you reckon really helped you become ingratiated with the community? Yeah, definitely. So I think associating yourselves with, like, um like surf clubs and footy clubs and kinders and literally anything, like, with us, if anyone asks us, we just say yes. like like So we just get involved with as much as we can because that's, like, for someone small,
00:36:39
Speaker
You have so much pull through with anything like that, or if you're a part of the surf club or a part of the footy club or whatever it is, because they all have these huge followings of like a couple of thousand people at all these clubs that they might not even know who they, a lot of them probably don't know who Blackmans are. But if we're suddenly at their footy club and they're like, oh, this beer tastes all right. yeah They might come down here and have a burger as well or a pizza and it definitely translates being yeah ingrained in your local stuff. And I guess and once they come in, they can see the place and it's like, oh, this is nicer than my, you know, big local pub or whatever. The food's good. Yeah, it's more friendly for the family. Music's nice. And, you know, it's oh, and then, then you know, and the everyone seems lovely. Yeah. And then know we do have like say a beer like Pivot City Lager or something like that that isn't your typical pale ale that they might not love drinking. Yeah.
00:37:25
Speaker
Other stuff too, we've probably done like, we've just tried to get involved in heaps of events like so the Cadell Evans Road Race, um, Surf Coast Century, just anything that's happening in our area, we just try to be a part of. Yeah.
00:37:38
Speaker
And who does that for you? you have someone in dedicating the team? Ah, we just said we had a guy called Woz, who's been a massive service to us for a long time. He's worked with us for nine years, I think. Yeah. Yeah.
00:37:48
Speaker
Long time. Amazing. He was so good. I assumed he was a lifer. When I saw he was moving on, i was like, wow, that's a big, big thing. Yeah, he's been commuting from Melbourne for a few years and it's just got a bit hard, which is fair enough. yeah um But he was dedicated to that for the probably the last couple of years. And he was a great frontman for, it I guess, if there was any partnership as well. he was like I guess everyone at Blackman's, I remember in the early days of like breweries getting onto reels and TikTok, you guys would always be fully committed to any bit, you know whether it was donning you know with the worst shell suits and getting it everyone dancing in the street or whatever. That'd be case Jess, like coming and saying, we're doing this now, guys. We'd all be like, no. And then like 10 minutes later, we'd all show up and make sure we were doing it properly. Yeah. No, but was I think Was was always very keen to get involved in that. Yeah, he was the most keen. Rick back in the day as well. Yeah, yeah now Rick was great too. Yeah.
00:38:33
Speaker
Nice. And I guess so yeah on this sort of the subject of people, like you've also retained a lot of really good people for a long time, you know, in key roles, yeah um which, you know, if you look at the beer industry, especially, you know, in repping or certain roles, there can be a lot of churn, like you'll move from job to job. um But you've you've retained people. Is it been a location thing or just think it's something about the culture of the place that people wanted to stay? Um, oh yeah, we definitely ah try and make it fun to be at work. Um, and we do like lots of, don't know, probably fun trips and stuff along the way. Um, and yeah, just, don't know.
00:39:09
Speaker
Try to treat people really good. I think that's our aim, I suppose. Yeah. Seems like a pretty good, pretty good, I guess, rule for life. Just sort of like, yeah, to be friends with people. Well, you were saying before, you're just not long back from Meredith. So it's like, don't be a dickhead policy. Yeah, yeah. Take that to work. It's a pretty good motto for life. It is. Nice. right. Well, that seems like good point to take a short break and then we'll come back have a chat more about the beers and the trophies over the years. But yeah, see you shortly. Cheers. See you soon.
00:39:37
Speaker
The entries are for flying in for the Royal Queensland Beer Awards, supported by King Street and the Star Brisbane, where winning a medal or a trophy can really benefit your brewery.
00:39:48
Speaker
Here's Gavin Croft of Slipstream Brewing reigning grand champion beer brewer on just what it can mean to take home a trophy. oh Winning a trophy is a phenomenal feeling. you know That's a large part of why we're going into it. We want to win. We want to be yeah known as the best beer in Queensland. Apart from the warm and fuzzies, I think it allows our customers to have a confidence in in our product. you know With the cost of living crisis that's going on and people just have a bit less money in their pocket at the end of the week, if they're going to spend good money for good craft beer, that kind of certainty that that it is a really good craft beer It's not lost on on our consumers. you know we we've We've had ah a really good year off the back of the results.
00:40:31
Speaker
Don't miss your opportunity to be part of the Royal Queensland Beer Awards. Enter today at rqa.com.au.
00:40:42
Speaker
Ren, welcome back. I thought we'd spend the second half chatting bit more about brewing, beers, highlights over the years, that kind of thing. um I guess first things first, like how would you sort describe your approach to brewing? Was there an eth ethos that you brought to it when you starting Blackman's going, these are going to be my sort of styles of beer. This is the sort of range we're going to have. So yeah, it's evolved over time. um I think big part of our beers we've been making is just that they need to you need to be able to have a few pints of it.
00:41:10
Speaker
um Yeah, even if it's a big, strong double IPA, you still need to be able to have nice, crisp, dry, easy drinking beer. What is the limit on Angry Regs?
00:41:21
Speaker
ah On the ABV. No, as in and how many pints you recommend? oh probably two, i think, yeah. So multiple can be two in certain cases. yeah, but that's a couple. Like if you can have a couple, think that's important. And then just, yeah, making sure they're really good in quality and, yeah, don't know. We just like all drinking good beer, everyone that works. But was always going to be sort of, you know, as well as sort drinkable, was it like going to be?
00:41:46
Speaker
I focus on hops in particular. so i remember, you know, I guess it was the lager, there was the whip beer early on, but I guess your best known beers, Juicy Banger, Moving Pale, Reds or whatever. Yeah, I think for us, we wanted to kind of encapsulate all styles and kind of have a bit of everything. Well, Arthur, the smoked porter was there from very early as well. Yeah, and that's still there, but it doesn't sell much. But is Arthur still around?
00:42:09
Speaker
Ah, no, no, he was my great grandfather. so easy he's He's never been around to say, just take that off town. Yeah. okay Um, yeah, but the hoppy styles, they just tend to sell a lot better in in the beer industry yeah for some ways reason. Yeah. yeah i've I've had friends that are going, know, what should we brew? I'm like, mate, just brew a hazy IPA or just fly off the shelves. Yeah. It's ridiculous. Yeah. Yeah. And you say it's evolved then. So how how has it evolved in terms, you know, I guess. Oh yeah. So we've moved into other drinks too. So, uh, yeah, started off with just like an IPA and a golden ale.
00:42:39
Speaker
We added a lager and a wheat beer and a porter. And then from there we've added stuff like seltzers. We've got a whole range of seltzer now called coast seltzer. Yeah. Um, and do people, that sort of put forward very much as the coast is from Blackman's, you know, or you, or have you. No, we kind probably a little bit more of that now. kind of separated it a bit to start with, think, um, talking a bit more in-house about it now.
00:42:59
Speaker
and then then we've just launched a spriz spritz range from coast this summer. So it's a wine based prosecco drink, um, with a lemon flavor. And do you work with a particular winery for that or? We make it ourselves. Okay. Oh, wow. So we get the wine in from a producer and then we blend it up with all the delicious flavors and things. Um, but yeah, I know they mostly sold, I see coast anywhere you go, anywhere around the the surf coast, Bellarine sort of area. It's always in there. Yeah. gee along the surf coast pretty well as well yeah Yeah. And then up in Melbourne, it sort of makes a bit of a, yeah, appearance here and there too. So yeah.
00:43:32
Speaker
And then ginger beer and is another one we sort of moved into, which again, that's like every year that grows and grows and grows. Like I think it's top four or five products at the moment. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. And and yeah you had the barrel farm that was a sort of an official or sort of offshoot brand. Is that, i think you say it's still around, but yeah. Yeah. So we kind of, we've still got some barrels from years and years ago. um and we kind of each year we pull a little bit out of the barrel. So I think we did a, we did Flanders red this year, the last two years.
00:44:00
Speaker
uh and we just sort of keep it at about one release a year because it's quite a niche market now too like there's not a lot of people around the niche within the niche within the niche yeah and they just they're like they're amazing beers and they have so much going on but they're just very cost prohibitive to the average person so yeah um yeah it just sort of stunted us a little bit by doing those beers so we just keep it small now yeah and i guess you've also um done well on the sort of you know awards front over the years you know there's a abers champion brewery awards not too too long ago i mean do you have you know if anyone ah out there what is the secret to ren and his team making great beers it's this i just following like the general kind of brewing rules how to make good beer like there's just things like ph and temperature and
00:44:45
Speaker
Yeah, there's a few things if you kind of follow those things, you make, you can make a pretty good beer. It's just, yeah and keep things consistent. I think that's important, like making sure the things you do when you brew are really consistent. So then even if your beer is average, at least it will taste the same to the punter that's drinking it. Because if it's chopping and changing all the time, they're be like that. Beer's never, like it tastes different every time I have it. Yeah.
00:45:08
Speaker
Well, we talked about Ernie briefly in the first half of the show. I've got an Ernie now. This is the Ernie Mark 2.0 and you were saying tropical haze, there's some fruit in it as well. Is that right as it fruited or? Yeah. Oh, mostly tropical hops now. So we ico again, we had some passion fruit, orange and guava in there a few years ago. Um, and now it's just... I best check the listing on your page. It might still be the POG version. Yeah. Well, the brew the brewers have kind of, we've all moved away from wanting to put other stuff in there and just get the tropicalness from the hops, which we're kind of managing to do. And it tastes probably a better beer now. So that's what... It's very tropical. The thing I was thinking, know, I was saying before we came and and back on was that, um, You hear the words, it's a tropical hazy and it's like, you know, four point something beer. You bet it could be quite juicy or almost, you know, like the hazy world of it sort of flow, but it's actually still lean. Finish is very sort of tight. to Is that something that's
00:45:58
Speaker
part of your sort of ethos is that you want that beer to have that sort of quenching sort of tighter finish? Yeah, totally. Yeah. When I suppose most of the people at work that make the beers, we don't love those sort of sweeter type hazies.
00:46:10
Speaker
Um, so we try keep it probably, I know the fragrance of a hazy with the sort of the drinkability of more like an American pale where it's that Kind of punchy, sharp, sharper finish, was but yeah and I Mission accomplished, I would say. More drinkable. Yeah, yeah well done, Ernie. You're you're re evolving into a delightful thing. Ah, good. Yeah. um And also, essentially, yeah you you reckon it's as simple as just learn how to brew well and just stick to it. Yeah. oh this is There's no likes yeah know secret hidden thing that yeah you've brought to the game and you know, Oh, I suppose i I had an education, which is helpful. I sort of think like brewing education, if you can get that, I think that's really good.
00:46:50
Speaker
Um, but there's so much stuff online now too. Like you can look up just like how to make a beer and what should be the main things I want to do. And a lot of it's just listed there. Yeah. Make sure you yeah do a diacetyl rise. That's pretty important.
00:47:03
Speaker
um Yeah, I don't know. just Yeah, follow the rules. Follow the rules. Yeah. yeah Well, um I remember when um you you did a – you saw a lot of gozers under their barrel farm. Yeah. ah They always had the most amazing, fine bead, incredible carbonation. Every time I had one, no matter what it was, even it had tomato in it whatever, oh yeah it didn't matter. Texturally, they were always – I had this amazing, lovely, fine bead carbonation as well. I was always like, you know, that's definitely a Wren. That must have been the native saltwater out of the beach. Maybe it was, yeah. I don't know. That's weird.
00:47:35
Speaker
Yeah, there you go. i and it Aside from me waxing lyrically about the beers of yours I've enjoyed over the years, um you know it do you or you know Jess have particular favorites, either they out of the core range or just beers that you remember you did as a one-off and were like, that was a banger? Well, yeah, Juicy Banger. That would be my favorite, I think. And Jess's probably be um Mervyn, maybe. Or Arthur. She drinks bit of Arthur. Yeah, Arthur's probably a really good one, too. That's just such a good chocolatey, smoky, thick beer. Do you still do the Imperial Arthur every now and then? ah We haven't for a few years. We should. Yeah, it's a good idea. Just dropping something to there. and And aside from the beers, any highlights, standout moments from over the years or maybe maybe it's events you've done here or events you've been part of? Um, yeah, well the Point Break Festival, that's been a pretty awesome thing. It's been great to have a festival where get all these kind of industry leaders from other cool breweries coming down and showing off their beer to talkies. It's pretty cool, fun experience to have. was thinking about that because obviously you know, it's midwinter. Yeah. and you're on the beach, you know, in Victoria. Yeah. you You never know quite what you're going to get. Yeah. It was funny because this year we thought, well, the forecast was for like rain and hail and everything. We're like, Oh God, it's not going to be good, but it was awesome. Everyone was here and it hailed and we all cheered and like kept on drinking. So it was pretty good. Yeah. Nice. And the theme for that is like, it's obviously a number of small, life I guess you're friends in the industry plus a couple of internationals and what just, you get a few hundred people through. Yes, I think we have 350 tickets on the day. um Both years have sold out, which is great.
00:49:07
Speaker
And yeah, just sort of showcasing but of yeah the best breweries around Australia and internationally. And just to bring people down here during the winter as well and remind them, you know. Yeah, and I suppose utilising, for us, it's our quiet time. So doing like doing something like that and bringing people to the venue on a typically quieter weekend is is good at value too. so Yeah. Yeah.
00:49:26
Speaker
And I suppose it's been fun whenever I've come down and what about, you know, any other events or moments from the years that have. For us getting beer into the Cats stadium has been like just such a wild highlight. Like for me growing up, going for the Cats and then having beer in that stadium, like that's just wild. Like it's pretty crazy. I never thought that would ever happen. And you've been what a lifelong since you were a like I've a member of the Cats. And now you go in there and just watching thousands of people drinking your beer. Pretty cool. So it's very good experience. And then I suppose just over time, like working with great people, the venues, like we're pretty lucky, so it's good. And do you get a bit of sort of access all areas thing as the beer providers? you get to go and hang out, you know, in the rooms with the team after the games? We get invited to like sponsor's day. got to look in the rooms the other day, but typically, yeah, just go sit in your normal seat and yeah. We do tastings at every game, so I typically go before the game and do a tasting in a bar we've got that looks, it's all branded up as our stuff. Oh, awesome. So it's like the Blackman's bar.
00:50:19
Speaker
And yeah, give out beers and samples of that, which is pretty fun. yeah Now it feels to me looking from the outside that it's been a sort of almost nonstop success story, Blackman's like, you constant, it was steady, I guess, you know, but considered growth, but have there been any sort of, you know, wrong turns long along the way? Any things you go, ah Oh yeah, definitely. Wish we hadn't done that. Oh yeah. And it's always, it's like stressful time and yeah, it's not a perfect dream story. Um, obviously the Geelong bar, that wasn't a success that closed down. Um,
00:50:50
Speaker
But yeah, we just sort of kept it at a snail's pace rather than probably trying to grow too quick because we haven't had huge backing from the start. So just take it slow and try things.
00:51:01
Speaker
And we typically try, or we try a lot of things yeah over the time. So yeah. And when you say backing, I mean, it's it's wider than just you and Jess, like you mentioned your parents, like when when you started out, like how wide was the sort of the family, family's involvement in the business? ah Also, probably when we got the original brewery loan, I had to get dad to guarantee that loan. Since then, I haven't had to, which is good. But that original loan, yeah, i probably yeah got him to guarantee that. So that was that was lucky. But yeah, and then apart from that, yeah, mom and dad and all our families really have just helped a lot over the time. And helped to a lot sometimes physically as well. like you know I'm assuming that when this area was built, there was probably some family assistance in...
00:51:41
Speaker
going on out here as well? Oh, for sure, where you're doing yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, like, everything we've sort of done over the time involved family painting or building things or making things or, yeah. yeah and And how's the Division of Labour work with yourself and Jess? You know, was that was that always pretty well established from the start and then you've... Followed those paths or have things evolved, especially with the, you know, the the addition of three kids along the way? Yeah, yeah, it's definitely evolved. Uh, it, it's probably been a lucky thing for us too. Over time we've been able to be a bit flexible as we've had kids because we can kind of pick like trying to take turns at working as well, which has been good.
00:52:15
Speaker
Um, but yeah, the start, it was just us working every single hour, um, ah doing everything. And then over time it's probably evolved more into like our actual roles. Yeah. Um, I kind of sort of do everything now probably.
00:52:30
Speaker
We might have to cut that. Yeah, that didn't make sense. No, I'm joking. So what do you mean by saying sort of across production and, you know, all? Yeah, just a bit of everything. So like a bit of brewing, hospitality, kind of running. Well, is that officially classified as, you know, working on the business rather the business? Totally. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, so like I make financial targets and do things like that rather than.
00:52:53
Speaker
Yeah. Brew beer as such. I don't brew beer lots anymore, which is a shame. Yeah. And then Jess, yeah, she runs the marketing department and runs a lot of the other part of the business, parts of the business. Um, Yeah.
00:53:04
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, it all seems to be working out anyway. Um, and, um, I guess looking ahead, what's on the horizon for Blackman's in 2026, uh, you know, there is a bit of a feeling out there that, you know, hopefully the worst of the worst is over. it doesn't feel like things are going to explode back into life, like the early mid 2010s again, but you know, hopefully, uh, some plans. Yeah, so, yeah, well, the last year or two, we've just sort of bunkered down and kept everything as level as we could to kind of navigate out of the wilderness.
00:53:35
Speaker
um But, yeah, I think longer term, just improve our venues. We've got improved our beer, improved everything we do, really. i think maybe 2027, we might be looking at some refurbishments or new things here. Yeah.
00:53:51
Speaker
But yeah, just keep kind of trying to... Fill the holes in the wall that the kids have smashed with the putters. Yeah, that'd be very good. I should do that, actually. Yeah.
00:54:01
Speaker
But yeah, nothing huge. But I think, yeah. but I guess from what you've been saying, there's been a constant thread throughout this conversation. There's never really been anything huge. It is a case of going, you know, what's the next thing that might work for us and just test the water that way, which seems to be a pretty common story and more common story now in the industry than it would have been, say, 10 years ago. Yeah, totally. Yeah. and any Any sort of, you know, bit dreams on the beer front, anything you've been dying to make and haven't yet done or or even even on the wider thing. We've started making a lot more um like European lagers. So we're rotating through them a lot, which is quite fun. I had delicious Italian pill. Yeah, that's a really good beer at the moment we've got. And we did a Japanese lager, or it's not European, Mexican lager. We're just rotating through all the lagers. Yeah. Which is quite fun because they're just such a beer to drink. as a big part of your training would have been at Camden as well. Yeah, yeah, it's quite lager. yes So even early days when we tried to push lager, people didn't really want to drink it in the craft scene. um
00:54:59
Speaker
But now they do, which is good. Everyone's finally got it. But then your average punter that comes in that just wants a beer, if you give them an Italian pilsner or a Mexican lager, they're like, no, no, they're like, this is amazing. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's like a good gateway beer for those people. Yeah. um Whereas if you throw an IPA in their face, going get...
00:55:16
Speaker
I'm pretty scared. Hi George. Sorry. Guest appearance. Yeah. Well, this is George. Hi George. You got to do some sort of like comedy walk as you leave now, just for the podcast. Oh, well I can do that easily. So what are we going for a canoe or maybe um over the stairs?
00:55:32
Speaker
That can be the real when we, when we go to publish and push it on socials. He did Santa the other night, all three venues. so Oh, nice. There you go. Kids don't listen to that bit. I was like over 18. Oh yeah. Um, I also want some pushing, much so pushing more lagers. Yeah. Well, it's just good. We're rotating through them is good because it kind of keeps it interesting, but does give that offering where people want something easier. They can drink it. Yeah. And for us, it makes up a big portion now of what we sell over the, in the venues is, is those easy drinking lagers. Yeah. Great. and i guess looking a bit more broadly than that you know if you had one wish to be granted for craft beer or indie beer local beer in australia what what would that be that that you think could make the the biggest difference to the way things are oh that's pretty hard um
00:56:19
Speaker
Oh, it'd be great if, I think if we had more chance with all the pubs, that'd be amazing. But it's sort of bit... Is it the same down here? Are you shut out of most venues? Yeah, you're pretty much shut out of all the pubs. Like we get in their bottle shops and all that, which is awesome. But it's too good for them to worry about putting any of us on tap. Because the deals they have... As a venue owner, I totally get it. If they said to me, you get this, I'd be like, sweet, I don't want you...
00:56:46
Speaker
Guys on tap. I really like you. i like everything you're about. I know you know i know you're local, but if you want to give me a hundred grand a year. Even your beers are great and cheaper and all that stuff, yeah it just doesn't compete. So that's that's that's ah that'd be a great thing to change the industry. But yeah, it'd be a lot of work. Because I guess that's the thing isn't it? you know A lot of breweries like yourself, doesn't how good you are, like you're still having to work on the fringes to an extent. yeah yeah And you can get really to the heart of local communities. you can get really to the heart of your local town or whatever.
00:57:14
Speaker
But you're doing it massively hampered, like you are having to work on scraps to an extent. Yeah, totally. Yeah, you're not getting in those big, really busy venues all of the time. You sometimes do, which is amazing. When you do, it's the best. Like like this Geelong Stadium. Yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah. You've got you've got that, and you've got, you know, the Indies. Now you need to fill the hole in that donut. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Oh, and it just changed to change the whole world for every brewer, probably. Yeah.
00:57:38
Speaker
Yeah. Including the big ones, which is probably why they pay so much money to keep everyone else out. Yeah. Oh, and yeah, they've got so many good beers now too in there, in their sort of caliber of what they've got. Yeah. Pretty cool. so Yeah, for sure. there That's great. Well, thank you so much for making time. I know we're very close to end the e here. You'll be very busy, all the hospo kind of things. So i appreciate you taking the time and um yeah, great chat.
00:57:59
Speaker
Choice and beers. Thanks for coming down. Cheers mate. been awesome. Cheers.
00:58:06
Speaker
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00:58:20
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:59:00
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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