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Laying Down Firm FOUND.ations ft Steve Finney & Will Irving
565 Plays2 months ago
FOUND. only launched in 2023 but the story behind one of WA's rising stars goes back far longer and takes in many of the state's best-known breweries and best-loved beers.
We sat down with two of the brewery's key players, Steve Finney and Will Irving, at the former Golden West brewpub in Subiaco as they were midway through turning it into a home for FOUND. It's due to open to the public for summer 2024, with the first brew taking place onsite the same week this episode was published.
Once open, it will give the team three venues in WA. Faced with ongoing delays to their original plan to open a sizeable production brewery and hospo venue in East Perth, they instead started out with FOUND.LAB in Byford, a 45-minute drive south of Perth, and have since opened a pop-up bar in Maylands.
This episode of the podcast covers their respective backstories, their first meetings at Feral's brewpub in the Swan Valley and subsequent time together at the iconic brewery, their vision for FOUND. – including how they're trying to create the ideal beer business and conceptualise what a modern Australian brewery venue should be, their thoughts on the future of beer in WA and further afield, bringing new people into the world of craft beer, and plenty more besides.
Links referenced in or relevant to the show:
FOUND.LAB: https://craftypint.com/brewery/819/found-lab
FOUND. Taking Over Former Golden West Site In Subiaco: https://craftypint.com/news/3443/found-taking-over-former-golden-west-site-in-subiaco
Brew & A ft Will Irving from his time at Feral: https://craftypint.com/news/1086/brew-and-a-will-from-feral-brewing
The Story Of Hop Hog At Ten: https://craftypint.com/news/1921/the-story-of-hop-hog-at-ten
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Transcript
Introduction to Found Brewery
00:00:05
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Crafty Point podcast. I'm Will. I'm James. So a bit of a different episode for you this week. Our lovely editor Matt is on holidays in New York at the moment, so we've pre-recorded this. You're listening to past Will and James, so we're not going to talk about the news or anything like that, but we've still got a fantastic chat with a guest. James, tell us about our guests.
00:00:25
Speaker
Yes, so the recording was done a few weeks ago, late July, when I was over in WA, and the head of the WA Brewers Conference and the awards and caught up with Steve Finney and Will Irving, two of the key players within Found, um which is, I guess, one of the newer sort of up and coming breweries it in WA. And always spelt in capital letters with a full stop.
00:00:49
Speaker
Yes, and normally upside down as well, even on that you on the Google Maps listing, with the founders upside down. Yeah, it's quite a discussion point when you catch up with them. So yeah, they're one of the newer, but I guess one of the more um sort of hyped up, exciting breweries in WA. And I'd imagine at some point, probably further afield as well, although as you'll hear in the conversation there,
00:01:12
Speaker
their aim really is to you know become a WA brewery and first.
Expansion and Growth
00:01:17
Speaker
um So yeah, we caught up with their Subiaco Brewery, which isn't actually and operational yet. We'll include in the show notes how they came to take possession of the the brewery. um They're working on it at the minute, although we did discover, um just as we were sitting down to do this recording, that by the time you listen to this next and listen to this chat,
00:01:37
Speaker
we'll actually be putting down their first beer at Subiaco. Their Super Corange Beer, which is called Super. It's pretty super to taste as well. And they had to be open in November to the public. That's right, yeah, yeah. So they've taken over the old Golden West Brewery, um Brew Pub in Subiaco. They've got the brewery up and running, but the venue's gonna take them a bit longer. um They also told us that their pop-up in Maylands, which they've been operating since early in the year, which is where we did the event with them the night before the recording,
00:02:06
Speaker
um Really great venue in the mainland suburb. They've got the lease on that till at least March next year, um which is pretty great. So they're going to extend the opening hours there. um And if you do head to WA, they already have another brewery. It's a small brew pub about 45 minutes south of the city um in Byford. So they just despite calling them a young and new brewery, they're obviously already doing a whole lot of stuff. Yeah, they're going to have like three two breweries and three sites within a few few weeks time. um But also they, and so Finney and Will have been around the beer industry for years and as have other members of the the team.
00:02:38
Speaker
they've had some pretty amazing yeah sort of key roles and amazing breweries in WA and that was one of the key things that came across when we did the event that meet the founders the night before that even some people who were sort of um I guess you'd say engaged beer lovers in WA weren't aware just how important these guys have actually yeah been within the WA beer scene over the years and
Roots and Strategic Moves
00:02:58
Speaker
Will's been responsible for some very iconic beers in this time um and Finney has had his finger and in many of the sort of the key moves of key breweries in WA. So yeah really excited to see what they um what they come up with. They're good friends of mine as well so hopefully the the chat went well. um I did my best to set up within the brewery. It was my first non-producer there set up with lights and camera and everything. um Did it in their brewery which was sort of being um fitted at fit up at the time
00:03:27
Speaker
The one thing I was told, just do not step on the brewery floor, because it had just been painted this vibrant orange um doesn't it three times, I think. and Hopefully there was another coat of paint to go down. Yeah, it's a really great chat about what their plans, their back to their backstory and beer in WA, the future of craft beer. um But yeah, so no news now, um but we'll be back with a more normal intro next week and for now. Great. Enjoy the show. Cheers. Cheers.
00:03:58
Speaker
Hi, we're here in Subiaco with Steve and Will, the founders of Found. You found beer co, found brewing, just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found. Just found.
00:04:12
Speaker
good
00:04:15
Speaker
Just found. Just found ah Well, yeah, so it started in Fed earlier this year, um Golden West, who were in here. Another brewery went into voluntary administration, didn't come out the other end of that. And we just saw an opportunity to kind of ah acquire some assets and then... um And were you looking for a brewery in this part of town or was was it purely, oh, hang on, we should look at this when it happened?
00:04:50
Speaker
Well, it's been a bit of a, it's probably been a bit of a a journey to get here, to be honest. It really has. I mean, we've worked on on quite a few different sites over the last few years. um So everything from, you know, two and a half thousand square metre warehouse in Ashfield, which is, you know, Easter Perth, ah through to another production brewery site that we're working on in Osborne Park just before this.
00:05:15
Speaker
um the East Perth girls' school, which is still on the radar. yeah But, you know, due to economic conditions. just putting East Perth girls' school is not operating as a girls' school anymore, you know, and um not moving a brewery into the girls' school. It's not. I guess it's the name of ah the precinct and it was ah a building that was you know built in 1930s, originally as a girls' school.
00:05:37
Speaker
And it was actually the police ah police station for a lot longer than what it was the girls' school. yeah um But you know developers had adopted the girls' school, which ah yeah you get a quite a few weird looks at yeah you know when you tell people. um And it's just because it's like become part of like our everyday conversation. You're like, oh yeah, brewery and the girls' school. Yeah, get you get a few odd looks. Because that was the original plan we first spoke to you about found. it and I guess we'll get to the back story a bit later just because it goes back a long way but that was the original plan wasn't it you were going to launch in with this like thousand capacity venue and you know big production facility and
00:06:15
Speaker
That's still going to happen you thinking um it's definitely still on the radar um when is kind of an unknown and and that's really so hopefully you can get this one over. But that's kind of what has then led into us opening found lab, which is down in Byford, you know, 45 minutes out of town. yeah semi-regional sort of location where, you know, craft beer is still new. We're actually able to almost pioneer and craft beer in that region, those regions still exist. But it's still residential, like sort of, you know, it's quite a town or or an outer suburb. people start down
00:06:51
Speaker
Yeah, it was like proper swamp farmland and it's, I think it's touted to be the biggest housing development, what, bigger than Ellenbrook. 40,000 people in in the next year or so. It's just, yeah, it's it seems to be housing upon housing and We're just this little laces in the middle on an irrigation lake. You say that yourselves, other people might be like, they're they're the blight on our swamp. Ultimately, without all the the journey along the way and you know without um without the girls' school ah brewery being delayed, yeah um you know it it has meant that we've kind of had to pivot and do a few different things. And ah when this opportunity came up and Golden West had you know unfortunately gone into an administration,
00:07:35
Speaker
um you know It was like Subiaco, we're right in the center of town. yeah It's a suburb which is is only just starting to come back to life. It's one of the only suburbs where you know apartments have continued to get built through COVID. yeah There's a lot going for it. It lost a lot when it lost the AFL and the football and the stadium. However, it's back on the other side of that now. and It was just a, it was a really bloody good opportunity. And you were saying it's a, it's what, two, three stops from the city and it's a pretty good.
00:08:06
Speaker
train ride for beer lovers as well. Yeah, yeah it's a cracker. So from from Perth, I think it was at City West, there's Fat Brew Club. yeah West Leaderville, there is Besc. And then we're just a couple of stops down the road. So happy days. Nice. And so we to in terms of what's happening here then, so there was the brewery was in place, there was a venue in place, but it's still been a few months to get it as you want it. So yeah what's the going on there? The original bones are ah really good for the venue.
00:08:34
Speaker
But you can see behind us in the brewery, we just need to do the floor right, need to get the grades down to the drain just for the and mental health of me. yes There's nothing worse than and a Friday afternoon squeegeeing water into a drain consistently. So yeah, we're just doing things right first time for us yeah and then we'll be up and running. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks inside here and then end of October for front of house and outfit out.
00:09:00
Speaker
And in terms of now, so you're based down at Bifid making beer and you're here, well, you know, hammering and shunting stuff around. Yeah, pretty much plucking away being a tradie full time. Luckily enough, we've got some other good support in the background as well, which means that, you know, we've still got our banking and finance and all the other side of things happening. But yeah, kind of allows me to be a tradie and we're to make beer down in Bifid. And me to step on your wet floor. floor and leave a few footprints on there. So we had one rule right behind us. This epoxy got laid this morning and the one rule was is don't step on the epoxy. Fucking three times. Nevermind. Nevermind. Moving swiftly on.
Industry Experience and Challenges
00:09:41
Speaker
We'll come back in a bit more of the fan story in a bit, but essentially you guys have had a number of different roles in beer before, but how did you guys first meet?
00:09:49
Speaker
Oh, what did we say? It was 2000, what did you say, eight or nine? Yeah, I think somewhere around there. Yeah. Ferrell Brewing Company. I was there from 2007 and then this tall fellow rocked up every now and then. Yeah. Once we started to shift a bit of product, I think I did that. Ferrell White, I think we first did in the machines and beer was selling itself and then I got to know you from, I don't know, bi-monthly visits. Yeah, I think at the end of the day, there was nothing that was ever going to stop me from having a few pints of hot dog. And if it meant a 45-minute drive out to the Swan Valley, I was working little creatures at the time. It had absolutely nothing to do with the territory that I looked after. Research, though. It was just research. Yeah, to drive out to the valley, I catch up with Will and Brendan.
00:10:41
Speaker
and just always have a few beers. Well it's funny because I mean was there sort of was fairly held in that sort of regard in wi time so I got into beer in Australia was of 2008-09 and Ferrell was starting to get that reputation in the west as like one of those places if you were serious you know if you go to wi if first time I flew into Perth I went straight to this one without it my first stop I think was actually Ferrell. Was that the Ferrell beer?
00:11:05
Speaker
That could well have been in the four-wheel-drive van. And Brendan Rock brought up the following morning, and what the hell is this thing? are Some guy's starting a beer website, apparently. At least we weren't collecting coasters or, like, tables. Yeah, cam labels. We were living too early for cams, I suppose. But was there there was definitely that thing for sort of those of us on the East Coast. was like you got you You have to go to Feral. as like was ah for you just a similar way in WA as well. I think creatures was that first. yeah I think that was like ah I lived in grew up in Greenmount and Fremantle is the other side of the world for me. But we'd make sure we you know get down to creatures to eat and drink there. Yeah. I think it took a very long time for the feral to get really recognised in WA. Okay. um it's It's kind of something that
00:11:53
Speaker
You know, I got a couple of friends that work in high fashion and I've always got a saying that you've always almost got to make it internationally or at least interstate when you're from WA to make it in WA. I think it's an Australian thing. and i Having been here 16, 17 years myself, it seems easy or you do have to be a big internationally for anyone in Australia will recognise the success of an Australian. yes is it a yeah Is it a tall puppy thing or something? ri that I'm not sure what it is. That was that was it that was even the same in like ah local beer community as well. yeah it's really like it's really a cultural place It's really just a cultural thing. that I just don't know yeah i don't know how to really, yeah, why. um But it's it seems to not only just be for the beer industry, but it it carries across to other industries. um But yeah. i mean
00:12:42
Speaker
took a fair while for Farrell to really get good traction in WA. I had ah ah a solid crack at it. but that three oh yeah yeah tell to Tell us how you used to go to Farrell for beer and end up with a job there over time just from hanging out with people there. Similar thing with you, is that right? You you just go and hang out for drinks and hang out for a job? Were you yeah yeah i the brewing at the time or anything? Working with liquor stores wanted to get a job there as a brewer but didn't know how to get into it and I just made myself available.
00:13:11
Speaker
yeah at the brewery house, sat there every day when he comes and goes, still here. Yeah. Make use of me. Yeah. Just yeah was in his peripheral the whole time and then said a few right things to him. And he put me on as a salesman. And three months later, sacked. Yeah, I wasn't too good. Okay. And did you manage to, you know, you had retail practice, so surely you knew what people wanted to hear from the other side of the counter. I was very nice to reps when they came into the liquor store. yeah And I just thought everyone was nice. but It's not the case. Like the first liquor store I went to in High Wycombe, I didn't have a booking and the guy told me to piss off. okay So I was like, eh. Harder than I thought. Ollie, just because you're in High Wycombe. What is this crappier shit? This isn't Jim Beam. true and so we we sack done or as a no no we've got another roll come and try this instead yeah we take toilets are blocked yeah he gave it to uh another company to sell throughout their portfolio and he said uh yeah you can stop selling beer but i'll i still want you to work with the company yeah and i just said give me a roll i don't want to be you know in front of house and then you know
00:14:16
Speaker
delivery driver or something like that and said, just give me a roll, I'll do it well. And he said, well, my brother's leaving next week to be a refrigerant mechanic up north. Do you want to jump at the brew house? And I was like, if I can give you up. Yeah. And what were the beers in the portfolio then? Obviously Hot Pog was around there. That wasn't out of it back then, no. So that was... Well, that came in, yes. So probably a year or two after you started brewing, I guess. Yeah. So that was, would have been, Feral White was the big one. That's what I used to go down there and drink, like on the weekends. And that was like the biggest selling beer by far.
00:14:45
Speaker
um we had like the stock standard six that were on there so it was uh yeah ferro white, a pale ale, organic pilsner, monty's mold, uh i don't even know maybe a dark or something like that and then a rotating tucker um And that was really at a time where, you know, pretty much every brewery just had the traditional, more traditional European style beers on tap, pretty much. Yeah, it was pretty simple. The simpler talk. But they made early batches of Razorback, I guess, by then and a few of the other beers, maybe. I think a tusk might have been made by then. It was horrid. I think the first tusk was 2007. It would have been after I joined. I don't remember making
00:15:34
Speaker
it that way, but the dry hopping wasn't a thing back then. yeah So it was purely all hops in the whirlpool. Biserage. Yeah, remember it being high alcohol and just being like... Horrible. Which, yeah, it didn't get read to until really, what, 2012, I think we read the Tusk. Yeah. So when did you actually join the business then? So you you were just going as a fan, whilst working as a rep for the little creatures? So, yeah, pretty much, um you know, I think I started at Farrell in 2001. No, I started at Farrell in 2011.
00:16:05
Speaker
um You know, really that was with the yeah the expansion of the brewery and the expansion into the Bassandine site brew Corp, which was kind of a, you know, collaboration with Stallwood at, or John Stallwood at Nail. Cause all the brewing had been, apart from the white that was contracted, had been done like that 12 heck kit in the brew pub. Yeah. Yeah. So we're doing it there. We had a little Mahin fill it in the shed. yeah Just across the way and a couple of famines.
00:16:30
Speaker
in there. So I'm pretty sure the beer was just selling itself at that point. There wasn't any one. Thank God. Yeah. It was just a simple thing. It was like we'd make beer and we'd go and it didn't even have a sales rep on, but then obviously when, uh, yeah, uh, brew Corp happened. Yeah.
00:16:45
Speaker
And so did, did Brew Corp happen around about the time that Lion sold them? Was it a nice sort of synchronous? Yeah, so it was pretty much, um, I think one of the things that always kind of held in the back pocket, part of always going out to the Swan Valley and having beers with Will and Bren was, uh, you know, in the background. It's Chris Preacher's sales. I've got my escape route plan. Yeah, pretty much. Cause at the end of the day, I never wanted to go back to working, you know, for a big brewery. So I think I was the first to jump ship out of the little creatures sale. And funny enough, our other business partner, Scotty Player, he'd actually helped me at the time negotiate basically my agreement when I started up at Feral.
Conceptualization and Planning
00:17:27
Speaker
And he's still mates now, so it must have been pretty good advice. So I think, yeah, that's kind of a bit of a funny one and, you know, how things work in circles. But yeah, it's just been a good ride since. Yeah. And so you were with feral for what, so the five years or so? I think it ended up being nearly seven. So, you know, I was at creatures up until the time of sale and then from 2011 to 2017 when feral started to coke. Yeah. Yeah.
00:17:59
Speaker
And you stuck around for a while after that. Yeah, from the Coke sale. I reckon I was there for about 15 months. And did you move to Basandine and Brew there, or did you always stay at the working on the smaller kit and doing the fun stuff, so to speak? Did the fun stuff, but the original Basandine site, I was doing both yeah until we actually hired more brewers, so and that was a pretty stressful time. um I think we got down to something like six beers on 18 taps or 16 taps. Yeah.
00:18:31
Speaker
at one point just because I couldn't be everywhere. And then once it shifted to full production, I just made a choice to be R&D in the valley and stayed there ever since. And do you have a particular favourite of all the beers you made over that time? Were you always working with Brendan on the recipes or was a lot of it left to yourself? Originally. So early days was always like through bread. We kind of developed something Taste it, tweak it and and go from there. But then when obviously Bru Corp started up, um he was just there the whole time. So it's just left to my own devices and figuring me stuff out. and And beer got better for it. yeah but was it Was there a favourite Will Irving beer? so Was Watermelon Warhead yours? or No, that was stillless friends as well.
00:19:20
Speaker
um I mean, obviously like the the good swansong in the tip of my head is Biggie Juice. It was a nice one to to leave behind and then... Designed for Ed at the Royston in Melbourne for Pint of Origins, is that right? Yeah, Biggie.
00:19:38
Speaker
Ed's nickname was Biggie, or is Biggie. so yeah and that And that was like really early days of hazy as well, and that that became, I guess, the flagship after Hop Hop, really. Yeah, it was a tough one. i think looking back that that was the hardest beer to make. Yeah. Because there was no stalls that you'd get a fresh version of over in Australia. Like you couldn't really get a tree house just sent over or anything like that. But you could read kind of what people were talking about and you can just I mean after making I don't know how many different beers we could figure out. Okay we can do this, sweeten it up a bit, lower the bitterness, get the right yeast strain and then chuck some hops at it. Yeah.
00:20:16
Speaker
So I think the first, actually the first biggie was actually, yeah, it was a collab with the Royston, but it was for Pine of Origin. You know, I think every year we went pretty hard at the Roy for Pine of Origin and obviously still- Oh, you made your Victorian debut for the Pine of Origin this year. We did again this year. So that was, you know, again, everything works in circles and it's bloody awesome to go back to the Roy because, you know, we've done so much work at the Roy and the fact that, you know,
00:20:46
Speaker
Yeah, Biggie was created for, yeah you know, a bit of a tribute for the Biggie thing, Ed. And once you were done with Feral, like, it's been a while since you left Feral and found starting, so have you brewed elsewhere in the meantime? No, I did a little bit of consulting in between, but I took a year off as a stat-herbed Ed. Talking about working in circles, where where were you doing consulting? Yeah, um ended up re...
00:21:14
Speaker
It's the fucking word for it. Um, put the kit back together for, um, for our, so our board. Yeah, of course. Yeah. So it's our care ago was one of the founders of Feral back in the day. Now's the great Northern in Melbourne. ye And then came back when Feral was selling the brew pub or Coke was selling the Feral brew pub. yeah Al came back in. Okay. And so he's, but well then brought you back in as the guy that knew the kit. Yeah. I think he had it, uh, the plan that I'll just get him to put it back together, but I'm going to keep him as a broad.
00:21:44
Speaker
we'd been in conversations for ah for Found since 2015. So, well yeah, we knew where it was gonna go. We'll take a little break there and then we'll come back and talk about the backstory to Found and the plans for future. Easy. Awesome. but
00:22:03
Speaker
And we'll be right back. But there's no doubt that running a craft brewery can be tough. There are so many moving parts, and often not enough hands to manage it all. And when things get tight, sadly it's often the marketing efforts that get put on the back burner. But believe me friends, if you're not talking about your business, nobody else is either.
00:22:22
Speaker
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00:22:52
Speaker
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00:23:21
Speaker
Consider us your in-house marketing partner, helping you connect with customers while you get on with the job of making great beers. Email Craig at CraftyPint.com for more info. And now, back to the podcast.
00:23:40
Speaker
All right, welcome back. Here with Steve and Will at Found in Subiaco. We've talked a bit about your i guess past careers in beer and how you got to know each other. You mentioned before that fat the discussions around Found started in 2015, but it was another eight years before the first Found beer was released. So, you know, yeah how did it take that long to come to fruition?
00:24:00
Speaker
um Pretty much along the way, we just we wanted to make sure that we had all of our I's dotted, all of our T's crossed. yeah um So really we started working on sort of the business financials straight up. yeah um Basically dedicated almost ah an hour and a half every morning.
00:24:17
Speaker
ah you know, from 2015 through to 2021, working on that back of the house business modelling. And on top of that, a big sort of document which pulled together at branding, our people and culture, all of our strategies. um Basically, we we started this business with a like a really thorough understanding of the direction we're going to take.
00:24:40
Speaker
And was that drawn from the other businesses you worked for over the years or looking at businesses outside of beer or was it purely from your own experiences and what you thought the craft brewery could look like? um I think I have to say that it wasn't influenced by the breweries that we've all worked for.
00:24:56
Speaker
um you know like There's definitely been a huge amount of inspiration there. Everything from You know, the the beers that we're brewing, the beers that we want to put out, and the way that we treat people, the way the culture that we want to build. um You know, we've we've learned so much along ah along the road. I think the mistakes that we saw, the the and probably could have taken... I'm hiring you as a sales rep. Yeah. Yeah. of Just knowing what we could have taken advantage of earlier on.
00:25:28
Speaker
and and um I know when we make big decisions now as a business owner, you kind of look at it differently, but I think, you know, saw a lot of things that we could have done back in the day that, you know, would have got us there a bit quicker. And I think one of the, um like, probably some advice that I give people out there is that at the end of the day, you actually learn more from the things you dislike doing, and more than any other thing.
00:25:56
Speaker
So there's a ah lot of ah lot of stuff that happens in this industry, especially you know when you are pioneer it all are part of pioneering the industry, that night there is no pathways yet, or there you know they had to be created, which meant that you know quite often there's a lot of stuff you just didn't like doing, or you didn't agree with whether it's you know business owners, brewers, whoever it be.
00:26:22
Speaker
through the you know learning basically what you don't like doing. um that's That is the biggest learning and probably the biggest influence to us, well at least myself. And so but but how would you define your role within Found? I guess you started off in sales but then became more of a brand sort of marketing guy.
00:26:41
Speaker
the in the role at Ferrell. So how how are the sort of roles defined? And you've also got Scotty involved in the team as well. So yeah how sort of found sets that set up? and So when we um you know when we really decided to take the jump and and start found, we wanted to make sure that basically we had a director within the business that really looked after each part of their business. And we wanted to make sure that we'd We're relationships people. So, you know, it's basically a whole bunch of relationships we've created over like a number of years, which has kind of led to, you know, our founder group.
Business Strategy and Team Structure
00:27:20
Speaker
So, you know, we'll as a director of production and brewing. We've got James, James Petlow, who heads up our hospitality arm. James also has two bloody awesome venues here in WA. You've got Scott Player, who will head up the sales and consumer marketing side of things. And then myself kind of as operations and joining the dots between the rest of the team. But one thing I think we've learned as well is that, you know, that all sounds good on paper, but as actual business owners, it doesn't always- It just do what has to be done. It doesn't always create a plan. Clamour. Tell them the story about the lab.
00:28:04
Speaker
like probably i got test I don't know, I've got so many plumbing stories now. Well, is someone in the women's toilet had done the doozy, blocked everything up. And Finney was there with his family and and friends having a couple of beers. Manager comes up says, Finney, can you give us a hand?
00:28:23
Speaker
This is him telling me the story. He put a garbage bag on his hands, reached in, throw up into the garbage bag, grabbed whatever he said. And then inverted that, covered himself in spirit. So those that know me, I'm really bad with smells. I've got no idea how I've become the plumber. And I think even if I judge a beer that's really heavily oxidized, I've got to... I've got to gag reflex, especially the heavily oxidized IPAs.
00:29:01
Speaker
Yeah, it's a how I've ended up being the one that deals with smells. I'm just imagining that scene in Trainspotting where he dives into the loom to get his suppositories out. It appears pretty much right on point right there. Even he didn't throw up. <unk> Yeah, anger's even there's been some toilet fixing last week and yeah, all this goes on. yeah But it is handy too. So it's like, because we've known each other for so long, I can bounce ideas off.
00:29:29
Speaker
of Finney and just talk to him how we, you know, used to talk to Brent about making beers, like, you know, what do we want to do with it? Where do we want to go? It's not all about just me and my ego wanting to, hey, this is my beer. yeah it's um It's a team. did you kind of So did you kind of know as part of that plan, it's it been so long, and these are going to be like four or five or six beers we know we're going to make once once we start? like we pretty much like at least the core range was there. Super was always going to be our, what we, you know, would want to be known for. and so might So much so. I mean, you know, I think when we go to market and again, like we're going to take a very focused approach, um you know, and we we do believe in, you know, everything we do is kind of this mantra of sustainable growth.
00:30:17
Speaker
So with that, we're going to focus on one beer. We're going to push and market one beer. There'll be obviously a whole bunch of experimental sort of what we call our wandering range, still in the background and obviously available, you know, at our brew pubs and venues as well, full selection. But when it comes to that wholesale, we'll be really driving a tight focus. And Super is, what sort of style of beer it is and why it's called Super.
00:30:44
Speaker
obviously tastes super, I'd imagine, but you know, is there more to it than that? Yeah, I think you had about eight of them on there. I'm pretty sure that was you. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, behind the name, super and the style. So what's the, what's the story there? So style is Hazy Kyle, 5.2%. I wanted to make this beer a bit, well, just a happy accident we talked about last night, but The glycol jackets on our first brew made the beer extremely dry, fermented just pretty wildly. And after tasting, I was like, yep, that's pretty bloody drinkable. It's not where I want it, but it's it's it's more in the direction of not a sweet hazy that you drink a couple of pints and you're just like, nah, it's a bit cooling.
00:31:28
Speaker
I'll move on to something else. I might've been better today if it had been sweet and cloying. I only wanted a couple of plants. But the idea with it is drinkability. And then because it doesn't have so much residual sweetness in there, you've got to throw more hops at it. Um, but that's fine. I think it just, it carries all that tropical, uh, fruit from a couple of American hops. And, um, I think among the ninth or 10th iteration of okay changes to it.
00:31:53
Speaker
And it might even change a little bit more before you put it in pack. but was ah It was actually quite a funny one. It was like a bit of an experiment, like experiment when it came to Biford because, you know, we're we're in a suburb where, you know, craft beer really isn't a thing. I mean,
00:32:09
Speaker
King Road's not too far away. um But as ah as a suburb, it's it is very mainstream. So, you know, we're expecting our lager to, you know, overnight be, you know, straight to number one ah largest, just you know, biggest selling item. But, you know, we always had the aspirations and the background for super, like,
00:32:29
Speaker
super needs to be number one and how do we get that beer to be our number one seller overnight just when you know first the first week of opening yeah it was our life of selling beer it's kind of interesting you say there as well i've had conversation with other people that other breweries not in major cities yeah um and they're like there's so many people out there that still haven't had craft be I think it's one of those things kind of hope for the industry that you know in these tough times, is that there's still tons of people out there like this guy was working for a smaller like trophy multiple trophy winning brewery and he was like 90% plus of the people that come in here.
00:33:04
Speaker
They've come here knowing it's a craft brewery and they just like, do you have something that's like Northern? And it's like, and then you can try and britain win them over. And it's like, and we we kind of forget we've been involved in beer for so long yeah in our little bubble and craft beer is sort of established and the bigger breweries are making craft style beers or whatever.
00:33:23
Speaker
that it's sort of there, but actually there's still vast ways of the country that have never absolutely never had it. And by coming to somewhere local, maybe that's the way of winning them over as well. It's not like, hey, try this stuff you've picked up at a bottle shop. It's your local place to go to and they can get to meet you and hopefully
Educating Consumers and Local Focus
00:33:38
Speaker
they'll like you.
00:33:38
Speaker
you i I bang on about this a lot. You know, it's back to, you know, there's, there's been a lot of breweries that have opened up in the last five, you know, five, seven years that, you know, all I've known is the, the growth of the industry. So, you know, they've, they've jumped on the roller coaster. Uh, that roller coaster is now, you know, obviously just hitting the other side. What's been forgotten is how to pioneer and bring people, new people into.
00:34:08
Speaker
like understanding good beer. And, you know, we can, a good beer can be ah a beautifully made, super clean, crisp blaga, or it could be a 10% triple IPA. And, you know, I guess creating that range of beer, there's, you know, you're going to have people come in and go, I don't like this, all these beers on tap.
00:34:32
Speaker
And that's the way that it should be because not one person should really enjoy every single beer that's on his tap. You've got to find you but find the beer, find the beer that you like and that suits your taste. And give them an experience where they're enjoying drinking the beer they are as well.
00:34:48
Speaker
It plays a massive role, I guess, when you're winning new people. yeah We've got a cracker in our little, what, mail-lands taproom. And it's actually a guy that comes in pretty much every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And know his story, I'm talking to him the other day, and and know he's drunk nothing but a low-carb mainstream lager since being in Australia for six years. And he's discovered Northern Lights, which is basically our you know, weed, terpene, American Strong Pale sitting at six and a half percent. And and he drinks nothing now but Northern Lights. I mean, if he thought it was great Northern. I mean, I mean, that's that's a that's a jump beyond. Yeah, I'm sure that's not just a jump yeah know into a, you know, American Pale to an ah IPA to, you know,
00:35:42
Speaker
This is huge. you know um So it still shows though, there's still so many people out there looking for, or not ah not don't even know yeah know they're looking for something else yeah for something else, but there is more. And you know I think that's the one thing we can also you know thank COVID for is,
00:36:01
Speaker
You know, COVID did really bring that local butcher, ah baker store, you know, really to the forefront and, you know, go back to the the days where every village or every community had their their brewery, um you know, it's kind of brought that back too. Where did the name found come from? And is that something that's between there from 2015 or?
00:36:24
Speaker
No, I think, um you know, I think if we go back to 2015, when, you know, we're just talking about, um you know, starting a brewery, it kind of had a different working name at that stage, which, you know, really is the complete opposite to to found. But funny enough, it's still along the same sort of, you know, it's got same mantra behind it.
00:36:43
Speaker
um So when the when the team fully came together, which was probably 2020, 2021. Yeah, 2021. Basically, we, you know, we ran a little workshop and through that workshop, we basically came up with a name found, which, you know, we've we've worked in all of us have worked in this industry for, you know, a long time. And, you know, we've we've built, you know,
00:37:13
Speaker
awesome workplace culture, like great staff, make great beer, you know, good hospitality. And and really, I guess like, you know, we found our place. And in terms of, you know, founds growth, you know, you're thinking you're wanting to grow within WA or do you have sort of visions once you're sort of established here of going national because I guess that's been the biggest impact for the last couple of years is people, you know, so few good breweries that had expanded nationally or had some sort of regional representation have all pulled back in. We've actually got to know happen again we've got no aspirations to really send found national. yeah um You know, we we are WA proud. We're all about WA.
00:37:58
Speaker
um You know, as a whole heap of other stories, I can, you know, go down a rabbit hole in this conversation, but, but you know, yeah, I think, I think, you know, yeah, we we will be state-based. we'll We'll still send a little bit of stock, you know, obviously over East around, you know, different festivals, events or activations. We'll still make sure that we are part of the industry and, you know, you know,
00:38:23
Speaker
like We absolutely, there's nothing more than we love seeing a beer on, you know, somewhere on the East Coast, but it costs a lot of money to nationally distribute beer and back to that whole sustainable growth sort of mantra. We want to grow in WA and we want to, you know, really succeed in WA and we want to be known for it as a WA brewery. We almost want our marketing campaign to, you know, look like a tourism WA campaign to bring people into WA.
00:38:51
Speaker
um yeah down to Byford, into Subi, check out all the other different regional breweries you know throughout WA as well and and like get behind, again, growing the industry as a whole. ah the future For the future, I can't wait to get the Mahin operational again. So we've decided to to invest in, funnily enough, young Henry's old 640 mil, 650 mil Mahin filler. yeah So we'll be moving back to glass and, you know, ah I don't know how many. sort Yeah. my light so There is nightmares there. I mean, up and until, you know, doing a but probably ah one and a half million liters of Hopthog through two Mahines running side by side at Brew Corp. Yeah. designed on brewery small So nice to jump back on that bandwagon. And so do you think there there is a bit of a movement? I know and Dangerous Ales have put out there. ah You can get.
00:39:50
Speaker
They're crispy boy lager. They now put out as big boy as well, which is in, you know, 640 mil. Do you think there's going to be a bit of a movement there or is it just a sort of, you know, and i don't know bit a bit of bit of nostalgia? i I mean, I think we've forgotten what it's like drinking out bottles. but But purely for this, it's going to be, you know, we've got a tank of one of our wandering that's far up the behind.
00:40:13
Speaker
knock out a pallet, leave a third here, third in bifit, third in mainlands, and then, you know, just have fresh beer ready to roll straight away. Just the extra treat. but yeah I think, yeah, we've been talking about going back to, you know, obviously like super main release being cans. You know, there's there's so many like good attributes to, you know, a tinny. But I think for our limited releases, we're definitely going to go back to that 640, 650 mil bomber. Or you're going to sell it. We've got these neat racks that fit so many more cans in a kaleidoscope. We're going to have to sit with the King Browns or something. I don't know. Yeah. But I think, yeah, I think it's just,
00:41:00
Speaker
it's it's part of it's It's really nice, go drink back out of a bottle sometimes. It actually feels quite nice on your left. but And in terms of but sort of the future of WA beer scene, obviously it might be WA proud, but it's more of a focus on found. In terms of like what would you like like like to see here? because there's not i mean I guess there's not a huge penetration in terms of craft beer venues and stuff like that. i mean Where do you think you know you'd like to see WA beer go more generally?
00:41:25
Speaker
Well, we'll take back the crown. ah I don't think we actually lost the crown as being the mecca of draft beer. I think others have tried, but I might say it. I don't know. We've got some epic breweries down this way. Rocky Bridge and King Road that we're drinking right now. Funnily enough, drinking a feral Boris and you know back to independence. um Interesting cycle.
00:41:52
Speaker
you know yeah you know i think I think as an industry where you know we are very tight. um I know we're tight all around Australia, but you know we are very tight in WA and you know we really still stick by that mantra of you know the the rising tide floats all the ships. And you know I think beer is only getting better at the moment.
00:42:15
Speaker
Yeah, touched on beer coming out of Rocky Ridge is by far the best it's ever been. ye King Road just you know absolutely knocked it out the park. Every day of the week, you can and it doesn't matter what style Steve's brewing, it's gonna be bloody fantastic. You've got Fat Brew Club down the road doing you know quite a lot of experimental different stuff, which again, they they seem to be hitting the mark when they're doing that experimental type beer as well.
00:42:44
Speaker
You know, and not only that, you've just got some really good flagships out there where yes, it might not have the sparkles. It might not be the shiniest thing on the, in the shelf, but consistency is just, you know, like bang on. yeah I'd love to see us crack that, what are we at, like 18% total? Okay, really? brush beer all yeah You know, the drinkers, I'd love to see us to get into bigger figures, yeah even if that is just WA only, but yeah. You know, I think we, you know, to that point, we just, i the you look at Gage Roads, you look at what Gage Roads has done, you know, for craft beer in WA and over the last, you know,
00:43:25
Speaker
three, four, five years since, you know, getting off the stadium, you know, that that really has introduced a whole new drinker. So back to, you know, we talked about pioneering the way You know, basically that's putting a, you know, Daedra single fin or a, a paleo in the hands of 60,000, you know, drinkers every week. That's, you know, that's a whole lot of new fridges around Dunkley hay, which have, you know, we're replacing mainstream lager with, you know, a.
Future of Craft Beer in Australia
00:43:57
Speaker
you know, a craft beer. um And, you know, we all know that once you take that path, and once you start discovering beer with flavour, it doesn't matter whether it's beer, coffee, wine, whatever it be, um ultimately yeah end up going down a bit of a rabbit hole. Yeah, and I think we'll continue to see the whole of Australia growing. But, you know, I guess, you know, there has been a, you know, there has been hard times and it's, and I think there's a lot more hard times to come.
00:44:26
Speaker
ah But, you know, those that do well, you know, will continue to do well. Those that don't adapt and change and move and look at their business model, i you know, that's that's where might may struggle and continue to struggle. But I think ultimately, you know, tra be is going good is going to continue to grow. and I think this is maybe just ah a little bit of a stall point. but Good beer always wins. Yeah, nice. Well, I drink to that, or I already have drunk to that, as of you will. But with your imperial status to it. You know, the the new feral Boris. side Yeah. the Great self-promotion, just like me in a music festival t-shirt on my own podcast. And on that note, and thanks got us thanks for having me over here. Have a look. Good look. I'm getting the place open. Thank you. I'll be back when it is, I guess. it's Absolutely awesome to see you over here in WA. No worries.
00:45:20
Speaker
Yeah, till next time. Awesome. All right. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers.
00:45:27
Speaker
The Crafty Pint Podcast is produced and edited by Matt Hoffman. You can get all your beer related news and reviews on the Crafty Pint website, craftypint.com and can stay up to date on future podcast episodes via our socials.
00:45:42
Speaker
We wouldn't be able to produce the podcast or the website, events or festivals we run without the support of the beer industry, whether that's suppliers, bars, breweries or bottle shops. If you'd like to support the show or partner with the Crafty Pine in other ways, please reach out to Craig via the details in the show notes. And if you're a beer lover who'd like to support what we do, you can join our exclusive club for beer lovers at the Crafty Cabal. Visit craftycabal.com for more. And until next time, drink good beer.