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Big. Smart. Authentically Cheeky. – Cheeky Monkey Brewing Co
2 Playsin 7 hours
“You’ve got to be open to opportunities.”
Earlier this year, Cheeky Monkey announced they were opening a venue in the heart of Perth’s CBD. It will give the Margaret River-based brewery four homes in WA – and they’re not done yet, according to their director of operations, Brendan Day.
He’s our guest on this week’s podcast, beaming in from their main production facility in Vasse for a chat about the expansion of their hospitality footprint, how hospo has been in their DNA from day one, and how they’ve adapted their business strategy over the years.
We also discuss the challenges and opportunities for breweries competing against both major hospitality groups and multinational brewers, how the breweries in WA’s South West have gone from disruptors to a harmonious part of the region’s global appeal, and his desire to see greater professionalism throughout the beer industry.
Of course, this being Brendan, we also discuss Big Dumb Beers – and how they arguably need to be Big Smart Beers these days, and attempt to entice him to get the gang behind the Beer Sucks podcast back together.
First up, James joins Will from the banks of the Lower Glenelg to discuss the week's news on Crafty, including a deep dive into AI art in beer, the impending arrival of a gluten-free venue in Collingwood courtesy of TWØBAYS, and the launch of this year's Pink Boots Society Mentor Program.
Start of segments:- 0:00 – The Week On Crafty
- 12:52 – Brendan Day Part 1
- 38:16 – Bowimi on brewery field sales
- 43:38 – Brendan Day 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
Camping Challenges in Southwest Victoria
00:00:05
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Crafty Pine podcast. I'm Will. I'm James. How's things, Will? I'm doing great. James, how's your camping trip? Whereabouts are you? We're sort of in the very southwest of Victoria, down towards Nelson on the lower Glenelg. We're completely sort of away from any phone reception. any internet but we had come like fully equipped with everything you possibly need Starlink ah power we've been reliant on solar however and we've not had a great deal of sun I say that now as I'm being blinded while we while we record this so having to manage everything we also had the the ah ah caravan fridge decided to stop working on gas which is great although not before it burnt through a whole canister of gas and our mates hot water tanks gone. So it's apart of from that, everything's going swimmingly um and and all the rain, I guess, you know, hasn't been great, but you know, here we are.
00:00:54
Speaker
Yes. Yes. Wonderful. I hope you're enjoying the time away. It's definitely hasn't been any sun in Melbourne while you've been gone. So you wouldn't be charging anything here either. Excellent.
Podcast Equipment Troubles and Solutions
00:01:03
Speaker
One other thing I have to point out is that, you know, we've we've we've lugged our podcasting gear around so much recently to so many places. I thought I'd brought...
00:01:10
Speaker
i didn't want to bring everything. I figured it was unnecessary to bring all the different arms for the microphones, whatever. Thought I had enough stuff and then got here and realized I'm missing a crucial bit for the microphone. So for anyone watching on YouTube, you may have realized that um to get the mic near enough to my mouth, it's cable tied to one of our light stands because I had no other means of getting it to sort of stay in position. So...
00:01:32
Speaker
Other than that, good to go, which is, i guess, kind of appropriate because when you get to the main guest later on today, Brendan's sound isn't perfect. And we were speaking to him from ah the the boardroom at Cheeky Monkey. So maybe it's ah kind of, you know, in keeping with with the the theme for this week's show that I'd have some sort of a mic setup issue when we got cracking into it.
00:01:52
Speaker
Yes, you're just like any early hunter gatherer. Yes, exactly. Just having to make do with what we can find. Well, I'm not sure they had cable ties or light stands or microphones. So, you know, I'm in a slightly better position.
00:02:03
Speaker
um Anyway, enough of my ah sort of, you know so self-inflicted woes.
AI in the Beer Industry
00:02:08
Speaker
Will, you've got an article call that's gone live this week that you've been working on for some time. um Well, partly because you're sort of waiting to get hold of the right people, but also you've had a bit of fun whilst putting it together as well.
00:02:20
Speaker
Yeah, well, it's so AI graphic design. I think, um well, anyone who's scrolls through Instagram at all and in the beer world in Australia will see that there's there's definitely a lot more of it. It's appearing on beer cans as well. So I've been thinking about doing a story about this for a while. And then um late last year, we spoke to the Ivy's bar manager at Netherworld and when she mentioned that they don't stock beer that has AI art on it. I kind of felt that was the sort of thing I was missing because I didn't want to just talk to breweries and graphic designers. I sort of um wanted to see some of the other views out there. um Yeah, it's it's ah It's definitely a vexed topic. it's It's controversial. I mean, whenever you wade into Instagram comics, you see any anyone using it in the comments section, people will say, this is AI slot.
00:03:12
Speaker
I think it's becoming sort of increasingly controversial as well as... ah for concerns for the water usage, the sustainability of it, also how the art that's then recreated is used and the fact that some of these large tech companies are also major donators to the Trump team and things like that. It's sort of...
AI's Role in Craft Beer Labeling
00:03:33
Speaker
yeah You know, it's borderline, I think, a ah sort of cultural conversation at this point. So, yeah, I spoke to Ivy, Emma, from from who's an artist that they use often, and then also Clint Weaver from Pocket Beagles. He's Melbourne-based graphic designer. He's well-known for his work in Coke and Spirited. He does a lot of work for Bright Brewery. And, um I mean, he's been, well, I've known Clint for at least 10 years now. I met him when he was designing Froth Magazine way back when. So, yeah, picked apart some of their views.
00:04:03
Speaker
um And it's interesting, i as with everything, I guess it's not really a you know black and white topic and the shades of grey, like Clint talks about how, you know, there are some tools that are kind of handy um with it within his work. And I think some of the brewers you spoke to, I guess for sort of background, kind of off the record, were saying that There's times they use it, they don't use it for their labels, you know but there's there's times where they're like well, we need something to you know put on social media. we We might use it then, otherwise we're not going to use it at all. So I think there's definitely um theres shades of grey in there. But um I mentioned the fun. You decided to create your own AI-generated brewing company. i don't Maybe not say too but want people to go and see the the beautiful but the beautiful stuff you came up with, but um looks like you had a bit of fun doing that as well.
00:04:44
Speaker
Yeah, well, I honestly, I was really vexed about this myself. I kind of, I sent you the copy for the article or most of it in place last week and over the weekend, you know, I'd had in my head last week, I was like, I feel like I need to use AI art to, for this story because that makes the most sense. And then kind you know, I, I had my own personal concerns about it in terms of some of the issues raised and the sustainability piece particularly. So I was like, oh I don't think I'd And on Monday, I was like in in good conscience, I don't think I actually want to do this. And then I kind of felt that while some people use AI and some people are aware of it and then some people hate it as well, I also felt like there was a large amount of people who probably wouldn't be super familiar with what I was trying to talk about. So I sort of tried to, i think, use some of the the common ways we see AI in craft beer in the story to sort of illustrate exactly the point. But yeah, I was sort of surprised by... uh some of the what the prompts can get you and that was the other reason i wanted to use it because i hadn't actually used it very much so i i used gemini which is google's and um yeah i was surprised sort of i found it increasingly funny when i asked for a brewery and it gave me paleo paleo ale rather than pale ale it kept using the word conquer for some reason and this is what people talk about in terms of hallucinations right where the kind of ai feeds off ai And it it gets itself confused increasingly confused. And by doing that, it sort of muddles itself up, can't sort of get out of a rhythm and things like that. So it was interesting to sort of experience that a bit more firsthand as well and to understand, you know, there's articles out there where you can pretty clearly see AI written and you kind of understand
00:06:29
Speaker
how it's happened a bit more I think once you use it yourself and you see how quickly it can run down this tunnel that just has no sense of reality itself kind of and and how quickly you sort of run out of oxygen in there.
00:06:41
Speaker
Well, I am looking forward to when you manage to get together with someone to make a beer with conkeys in it.
Gluten-Free Dining at The Free House
00:06:46
Speaker
have no idea what what it's going to be what it'll taste like. But it's funny you mentioned paleo, the paleo ale there, because kind of nice segue into another story you've put together this week with two bays. um A lot of the, you know, a lot of the grains and stuff they're using would be from sort of more ancient time with their gluten free beers. And they're looking to sort of expand into the into the city.
00:07:08
Speaker
That's a wonderful segue. I thought you were about to tell me that Pete Evans was an investor in two bays. but i no No, no, no. I'm just just just just thinking about the ah the benefits that some of these older grains have for people like Richard Jeffers and my daughter who are celiacs. so Yeah, so Two Bays, I've locked in a venue in Collingwood. It's called the Free House. So it will be, you know, a distinct venue from Two Bays. It's not like Two Bays, Collingwood or anything like that. I mean, kind of a pub vibe, pool tables, ah sports on the TV, and full menu, all gluten-free. Also, all the beer, all the drinks, everything completely gluten-free. It means they don't have to worry about cross-contamination. I've got family members who are celiacs as well and and they do get nervous about eating out even in places that say they have a gluten-free focus or have a gluten-free menu sometimes the um the contamination can happen and it is uh makes people very unwell so they don't have to worry about that but You know, as Richard is very proud of his beers and and the team make and says that anyone can drink them, which often I love drinking two-base pale ale myself, even though I'm not avoiding gluten, that the menu he he does want to, he did talk about how it's also about showcasing just the the sort of quality you can get, even if you aren't using gluten and and the menu will be quite broad, Latin American, sort of Brazilian, Chilean, Peru, sort of inspiration from a lot of those places.
00:08:36
Speaker
Now also news about the the latest Pink Boots mentorships have opened in partnership with ah Jane Lewis from Full Colour Life. Yes, definitely. So they're looking for both mentors and mentees. So if you're, I
Pint of Origin Festival Launch
00:08:48
Speaker
guess, a more experienced member of the beer industry and would like to help newer members in their career development, or or if you're looking for sort of to build your own leadership skills, then you can apply for either roles. ah we We have all the details on on the site right now and they'll be in the show notes too.
00:09:05
Speaker
And looking ahead from from our perspective, the Pint of Origin launch party tickets have all sold out for that next week now, but the festival itself obviously is approaching pretty fast, about a month away, so we'll have the full website going live any day now, including passport registrations. We've got some great plight prizes for anyone that signs up for the Pint of Origin passports this year, tied to the crawls, um and yeah, a whole bunch of you new things happening this year, so that'll all be going live in the next few days, um which brings us, I guess, to this week's main guest.
00:09:32
Speaker
Yes, we're joined by
Cheeky Monkey's New Perth Venue
00:09:34
Speaker
Director of Operations at Cheeky Monkey, Brendan Day. Earlier this year, they announced and we reported on the fact that they now will soon have a new venue in Perth CBD. It's the fourth venue for the Cheeky Monkey team. i think on the East Coast, they're probably not a brewery that many people are familiar for. They're unashamedly very, very, very focused on Western Australia. And yeah, I mean, this multi-venue strategy, as we touched on with two bays, is something a lot of people going down. And I think Brendan provides a lot of insights on how they've done it and their approach and how how they've had to build a team to allow it to happen and and be just as serious about hospitality as they are about brewing beer. And I think also adapt to the different markets. You know, they've got their two places down in the southwest. They took some the former Sam Brewing Cone Rockingham on a couple of years ago. Now this one in Perth CBD is going to be a more elevated offering. um But he he just talks about, i guess, sort of the the place that um breweries in the southwest now play in the wider Margs region, but also the way that breweries in WA, some of them are really becoming respected in the sort of wider hospitality food and drink space. um And also being Brendan, where we have a chat about big dumb beers. He's always been a fan of barley wines and Imperial Stouts and stuff like that. So we're talking more in ah a case of sort of big smart beers these days and having to be a bit more sort of, um I guess, considered in in when you're making these sort of bigger limited releases.
00:10:54
Speaker
Unfortunately, there is a couple of issues with Brendan sounds. It's not quite where our guests often are. As it turns out, the room he was in was maybe a bit too large and a bit too echoey. We didn't realize it at the time, but it's a wonderful chat anyway. So enjoy it. I mean, these are the lessons we get when we're a yeah traveling podcast in the way we are, even when we don't travel.
00:11:14
Speaker
I think in the space of just two months, we've recorded them across New South Wales, across New Zealand. um I'm now sat by a river where there's no phone or or a Wi-Fi reception. So we're're we're doing the best we can, given the circumstances we've ah put ourselves into.
00:11:28
Speaker
So enjoy the episode. If you'd like to recommend other guests, maybe they might too come from WA, you can always email us at podcast.com. at craftypint.com. You can leave a review, a comment, a like, subscribe, anything like that, however you get your podcasts. Please do so because it does help other people discover us. So enjoy the conversation. Cheers.
00:11:50
Speaker
Cheers.
00:11:53
Speaker
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00:12:06
Speaker
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00:12:25
Speaker
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00:13:07
Speaker
Well, you need to get back to Froth Town. We're always there every year, Brendan, but you know you're not making your way up there up from the Southwest. No, we haven't recently. We've been a little bit just considered with our festival outputs with the team, but um I'm keen to come as a punter again this year, so I'm excited.
00:13:27
Speaker
Excellent. Well, Will's going be on his honeymoon, so you'll have to make do with me this time around, but I'm ah sure we can make do. But um anyway, back to back to the here and now. um i guess one of the main reasons we're chatting you today, other than to hear your dulcet tones, is that Cheeky Monkey have signed up another venue. do you want to tell us a bit about your plans for Perth?
00:13:46
Speaker
that's but It's pretty exciting. So we are going to be opening up a venue in Brookfield Place, which is on St George's Terrace in the Perth CBD.
00:13:57
Speaker
It used to be Bar Lafayette and Grilled, and we've worked with Brookfield to amalgamate those two venues into one to give us a little bit more of a space that feels authentically cheeky, bigger venue as well, obviously.
00:14:16
Speaker
and we've been able to extend the beer garden a little bit. So, yeah, we're really excited for this next unusual event. What does authentically cheeky mean?
00:14:28
Speaker
Jeez, what? How's that meant over the years? That's a very good question. I guess for us, we we like a very casual but high-quality offering, so you need a certain amount of space to do that.
00:14:42
Speaker
Being a super cool, you know dimly lit, awesome bar that you know I might like to frequent as a pump-out, just isn't what we're trying to do as a brand. We want to be a little bit lighter, brighter, have the space.
00:14:56
Speaker
sorry I guess if you boil it down, it's it is that casual but high level, very high quality, obviously, that everyone always tries for.
00:15:06
Speaker
But having that good, casual, it feels familiar, it feels comfortable space is is one of the key pillars of what we're trying to And what about, ah was there anything about, did you want to be in Perth CBD or was more the space was right? Like what we sort of looking for when you were searching out a new venue?
00:15:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's funny that you ask that because when we were looking, CBD was specifically not on my map of where we wanted to look, but we were approached for an offer that we felt was worth exploring.
00:15:46
Speaker
So we we did it, we made the meeting, we went and look at the venue, talked about what could be possible. And I mean, before we even got inside, Just looking at, you know, it's a beautiful big thing, heritage listed, beautiful red brick, which we incorporate a lot throughout our ground, both at Caves Road, HQ, the bar at Lockingham, it's red brick. It's a very key design piece of of what we do.
00:16:14
Speaker
and standing outside there in a precinct that house such amazing operators in print hall but bearish w churchill puppy katsu all these places are a precinct within a precinct especially and when we thought about what we could maybe bring to the table there we got generally excited and then when we heard what feels vision for what they'd like to for us to achieve there it really just aligned again with what was authentically else. They wanted a more casual operator to come in and offer this new space within their precinct.
00:16:54
Speaker
So it is one of those times where it was very opportunity-led. You know, while we're actively been looking for another venue, and and as I said, CBD wasn't quite on our radar, the right opportunity just came along. And then it was one of those things where it was not only in you know, a good potential about working again with Brookfield, seeing what we could do there. It all just aligned it and kind of became a no-brainer, really.
00:17:22
Speaker
So essentially there's bit of pressure on to keep the ah the standards, the existing tenants have got people expecting from Brookfield Place then. Yeah, honestly, it's, yeah, there is a lot of pressure to do that.
00:17:36
Speaker
um And how we do that, while again, I don't want to keep saying word authentic, but Look how we do that while being authentically cheapy is something we've already been putting a lot of work into.
00:17:48
Speaker
that differs to some of our other venues is is also another key consideration. Working with or you know serving people who have a limited time window for lunch breaks, for example, hasn't been a key pillar of what we do. So making sure that we offer our menu or have options or set things up in a way that we can absolutely smash stuff out while still keeping it high quality for people who are on their lunch break, hour, 45, whatever they have.
00:18:20
Speaker
The key things we've been working on even far before we've done the handover or started fit out because Yeah, well, it's very exciting to be in this precinct with these operators I just mentioned. It does set the bar quite high and, you know, while we don't mind the challenge, we we want to not only meet the bar, but we want to help elevate.
00:18:40
Speaker
um So, yeah, it's it's something that um we think about a lot, to be honest. And you mentioned other venues, so this will be the fourth Cheeky Monkey venue for now, and second in coming online you know in in a couple of years. How have you sort of, I guess, managed that pivot to having more venues? You had two obviously for for a number of years, pretty close to each other in the Southwest. Then you got the one in Rockingham now here. So, you know, I guess, have you changed as a group to be able to manage that? And how do you decide what the look and feel and the offer should be to sort of suit each audience as well?
00:19:13
Speaker
Yeah, I think under Puneer, we are lucky, I guess, you could use the term, that our origins started at our Cave Road group, which
Cheeky Monkey's Strategic Expansion
00:19:23
Speaker
is very hospitality-led. you know, when Cheek & Market Cave Road opened, it wasn't focusing on wholesale. There was actually really no wholesale. It was a hospitality venue.
00:19:33
Speaker
And Brent, the other director, has been there since day one. So he's come up. That hospitality side of the business has been his life. So we've got the good structural and business understanding for what to do with a bit of a hospitality expansion.
00:19:50
Speaker
Other than that, I guess the next key thing is having the right people in the right places and and setting up a structure where those people can do what they need to do.
00:20:01
Speaker
You know, we've currently now got a head of hospitality, which is not a role we had in our business before. and learning to work with them and supporting them so that they can do what they need to do, be boots on the ground, is absolutely key.
00:20:17
Speaker
And then just racking shop, it aligns perfectly with the business and with the expansion. um You know, it's definitely a challenge when you're trying to balance your production capacities and your capex expenditure, your marketing resources, all that stuff, because the hospitality side,
00:20:37
Speaker
And the wholesale side, you know, while they work synergistically and they both feed into each other and create a very nice flow of customers, it is a whole other of set of resources you need. That's a whole other set of strategies. So, you know, every year now would be when we do our marketing strategy, our wholesale strategy, now we need to have a hospitality strategy that incorporates and works with all those. So it's definitely created more work.
00:21:07
Speaker
But I feel like we're positioned to handle that at a business understanding level of what we're trying to achieve. But, you know, as as is quite often, or you could argue always, having the right people in the right places and making sure they're supported has just been absolutely fundamental.
00:21:26
Speaker
I guess you're one of a few WA brewing companies that has been taking this approach now. you know Froth have got three venues, you know a fairly fairly spread apart, a bit more spread apart than you guys have. Rocky Ridge, obviously, they've got a number of venues, including one over here. um Is that something you expect to see more of, whether in WA or else elsewhere? And has it sort of helped that there's another a number of, I guess, your peers and you'll be mates with some of those people out there sort of following a similar strategy that you can tap into lessons learned and share knowledge?
00:21:56
Speaker
Yeah, look, I hope we can. I hope that craft beer community can can continue to support each other through this. I think it's a very viable business strategy for us and it's definitely a very viable business strategy for others as well. i would temper, you know, how will I talk about it. I don't want it.
00:22:21
Speaker
I wouldn't want everyone to think that's the only path to success. As as I said earlier, it is a whole other business that you are now running. And it's a very different business that you need to run with very different strategies, very and different staffing requirements, very different hours. You know, as with everyone, at times you can feel burnt out like you've worked enough in a week.
00:22:47
Speaker
i To then have to go into a hospital venue help out on a Saturday or Sunday after you've already clocked a 60 hour week, it can be a little bit draining. um So it's not, I wouldn't say it's kind of a golden goose, but if you have a set up like ours, when we have a production facility where we can produce more than what we are currently producing, have all that vertical integration of our own venues where we can capture that margin,
00:23:16
Speaker
And where we can control the experience is is really a big one. you know The more people we can get coming into our venues, being that authentic, cheeky experience can then translate into wholesale sales as well. So it does flow really nicely through us.
00:23:34
Speaker
But it's not it's not just an easy ticket to um you know a better business, I guess. i just You mentioned wholesal like the wholesale retail balance. Do you think if wholesale was still going gangbusters like you know pre and during the peak of COVID, you would have gone down this path? Or how has it been a case of going, we actually need to find other routes to market now that the world has sort of changed to an extent?
00:23:59
Speaker
Yeah, for us, I think I first mentioned it in my in my first board meeting with the company before I was even a director. It was going back three, four, maybe even five five years ago now.
00:24:12
Speaker
I said we need to do this. And it wasn't so much about volume. wasn't about cash flow or margin or all those other things that can be nice when you get all the pieces to fit. It was about experience and, know, guess route to marketing if you distill it down.
Customer Experience at Cheeky Monkey
00:24:28
Speaker
But having people come into your venue and have an experience, um it's it's just huge. As long as that experience is good, right? It can also be a double-edged sword if you're not delivering. um But...
00:24:43
Speaker
It's having your own marketing channel essentially. It's your own owned medium. the So for those reasons, it was it was very much experience-based, like bringing people in, having them experience, having them to drink our products. You know, I know you guys are a big fans of going out as well, much as am I. It's one of my absolute favourite things in the world to do.
00:25:08
Speaker
Go out, park meal, climb, whether it's with, your partner, friends, or even by yourself. I did that the other weekend when I was home alone. I actually went to Wild Hop and had lunch by myself. It was that day.
00:25:22
Speaker
It's just such a great experience. So if we can be the capitalists for those good times, if you can have a great time with us, it's it's just super powerful. Yeah, and I guess you did come from, you know, the original place is, well, which is still the original place, was a big, massive, colourful, come one, come all, HOSPO venue. So I guess, you know, it's been in the DNA from the very start.
00:25:43
Speaker
Yeah, it has been our DNA from the very start, even since before was with the company. You know, it was a very welcoming, inclusive, family-friendly style venue.
00:25:54
Speaker
I think, you know, 13, 14 years ago when Cape's Road opened, you know, we had the big kids' playground. outside. That was pretty rare down here back then.
00:26:06
Speaker
You know, i think Margaret River especially was a little bit more wine-focused, a little bit more fine dining. I would say snobby, but I don't want all the winemakers I love in the region to hate me for that.
00:26:18
Speaker
um So that was definitely not not the usual trend. Now I think you'd be pretty hard-pressed to find a venue down here that doesn't have a playground for an example, that doesn't welcome that family friendly experience.
00:26:32
Speaker
um So that has been part of our DNA and continuing to incorporate that through different venues is is an exciting opportunity, but it's also a challenge. You know, Wollongham venue does not have space for a big kids playground or something outside. and so we have incorporated that family friendly element through with an area for families and screens for footy and stuff so that it's not just come in, sit down, let's talk about all the notes of our West Coast IPA.
00:27:04
Speaker
It's come in and have a good time with your mates. Be a client all by yourself, as I said earlier. And that's, I guess that's what we really strive for. And are you, you know, is is four enough for the moment? I know this fourth isn't open yet, but are you sort of still always looking around for other opportunities and things like that to keep expanding this way?
00:27:25
Speaker
Yeah, we we are still looking. i would say there's definitely another one on our horizon. Plus that, I think we'd reassess. and Another one is ah is in our, you know, short, mid-long-term business strategy. Both Brent and myself actually went to have a look at ah another venue the other day, which feels absolutely in insane considering you haven't had handover on Perth CBD yet, which I think will happen next week. Yeah.
00:27:54
Speaker
But it's hard. Finding the right opportunity can just take time. You know, you might get lucky and you find something that's perfect, somebody that offers you something perfect as soon as you're ready to look, um or you can spend two years looking for something that's right. So we need to keep this process going while getting Perth online. and And as I've said, it can feel kind of crazy, but we definitely want at least the another one year.
00:28:22
Speaker
And how do you start identify areas? Is it a particular demographic? Is it an area where there isn't an existing craft beer offering? You know, do you have ah a formula you work through? or I mean, it sounds like at the same time, even if you did, if someone came to you and said, hey, this thing's just come on the market, you might
Choosing New Venue Locations
00:28:38
Speaker
look at it. But, um you know, yeah how do you how how do you work out where a good location could be for a cheeky venue?
00:28:45
Speaker
That workflow can flow in a couple of different ways. I mean, we've definitely come up with a set of parameters of what we think would be ideal. And in one of those parameters is, you know, a bit of a point of difference. What can we offer to this community that can help elevate it or offer a new experience, offer something that's not already there?
00:29:07
Speaker
um And I would love to pretend that that's exactly what we do, you know, we go to an area. We know the demo, we know this, we know that, and we go find that venue and we negotiate a week and we lock it down.
00:29:23
Speaker
um But no, you've got to, or at least in our kind of history or my opinion, you've got to be open to opportunities. And I think keeping ourselves open to opportunities is what's going to lead to a very, very successful long-term venue at Brookfield Place that that we're going to be really proud Now, our our good friend and crafty contributor of many years, Guy Southern, has chatted a few times to to us and I think, know, on end-of-year podcast, and about how a number of WA brewery venues are getting sort of recognition in the wider hospitality space as being, you know, i guess the best venues whether compared to, you know, compared alongside restaurants or pubs or whatever.
Recognition of WA Breweries
00:30:07
Speaker
um Why do you think that is? You know, I guess there's been a number of years for you know, beer venues to evolve what i have you, but it does seem, you know, you look at the the latest sort of good food guide, there's a number of brewery venues in there as well. i mean, what do you think it is that brewers are doing well to sort of capture that wider audience?
00:30:24
Speaker
think brewers and those of us that love beer generally inherently care about flavours of all kind. I know I'm not alone in that, you know, I love wine, I love good tequila, you know, I love good American bourbon.
00:30:41
Speaker
I also love food. I think a lot of us deeply, deeply care about beer. about food and what we can do in that space. So I think when you can get that business structure right and you can get those right people in the right positions, breweries are just as capable of any venue of producing some of the best food in the country.
00:31:05
Speaker
i think when you pair that with products that are made by the venue that you're at, which is what breweries do, it creates just the best experience. it's It's very hard to talk.
00:31:19
Speaker
You know, you have your local community tied in, you have products that are made locally by local people supporting local industries, you know, and then you're pairing those with flavours
00:31:34
Speaker
especially with breweries that don't mind pushing the boundaries. you know A lot of breweries will push the boundaries with what they can offer, what food they're doing. And I just think as an experience, it's it's just as good as anything else on the market. And I love fine dining. I love a dive bar. I love teffanyaki. I love whatever. As long as the experience is really solid, I'm like pretty down for it. And I think breweries can offer a lot in that space.
00:32:03
Speaker
especially when you add that layering of, hey, come drinking our beers as well, whether it being fresh brewed, we're pairing it with this, brewed, especially for this venue, whatever that may be.
00:32:14
Speaker
And I guess is there a bit of differentiation as well? I've heard about the you know the rise in the number of AusVenue Co venues in WA, which I guess can fall into a bit of a cookie-cutter sort of format. Do do you think that that sort of works in breweries' favour, that they are generally going to be in a different space and and with a different offering and you know looking to maybe capture an audience in a different manner?
00:32:35
Speaker
Yeah, it definitely can, especially just from a an attention point of view, you know, I don't know of any breweries out there that are doing what I've kind considered cookie cutter offerings, to be honest, maybe there's some, I'm not Where it makes it hard though is, you know, the likes of, ill stay ka offer you offering something that can be a little bit cookie cutter-ish. Their buying power is huge, so they're really able to drive those prices down to a place that brews car. So even a marine like us that offers a very casual kind of menu, you know, steak sandwiches, burgers, wings, tacos, these kinds of dishes that aren't fine dining by any stretch, it can be hard because we operate in a little bit more of a premium price point.
00:33:26
Speaker
So I feel like breweries that can really get in their head around and effective financial strategic management of their menus and are definitely going to be a step ahead. And Brendan, um same with the venues. I mean, how are you sort of finding it, support locally? You know, WA was cut off from the west of the world for a long time ah during COVID and there was seemed to be a real ground sale of supporting local. Is that stuck around at all five or six years on or or does it sort of feel like things always were?
00:33:58
Speaker
If you had asked me a month or two ago, may have had a different answer. I'm not going to lie. um Look, at a consumer level, yeah, 100%. I mean, we are growth across all channels.
00:34:13
Speaker
So I've got to thank out our customers for that, you know. So there's definitely still wins there. As those financial pressures come in, you know, it was COVID,
00:34:24
Speaker
It was interest rates. Now it's fuel. Whatever it may be, it can be very hard for venues when they're getting offered insanely price tags or rebates, especially from the two big multinationals.
00:34:38
Speaker
And i can't even blame them for that. You know, like they've got bills they need to pay as well. They're struggling. They're fighting the fire. um So I'd say at a consumer level, definitely yes.
00:34:49
Speaker
At a venue level, like definitely yes still. You know, as I said, we are in growth, so like that can't happen if we're not seeing amazing support from venues, from retailers.
00:35:00
Speaker
um But the the fight can feel a little bit hard at times, especially in times like these where, you know, people are just getting offered prices that we can't match with the other business. And that's always a hard conversation.
00:35:17
Speaker
We do our best to do that by offering something different, offering better value where we can, helping to bring customers in, whatever that may be. So, yeah, look, definitely yes, but the fight can feel real hard. at times um and but Before we come back, I have to have a been chat bit more specific. I'll start that again. that because I coughed as well.
00:35:40
Speaker
ah Before we take a quick break and then come back to chat a bit more about Cheeky Monkey and Brendan yourself. um i have a guest question from Guy again. um He was keen to ask you as someone who's been invested and involved in the beer industry for longer than your, is it a decade with Cheeky Monkey You've certainly been there a while. You were with Maine. Redwood distribution. um What do you think the industry should be doing to sort of um maintain or or gain sort of fresh relevance and ideally sales in this sort of um tougher time?
Raising Professionalism in the Beer Industry
00:36:09
Speaker
Well, might be a bit a boring answer i to be honest, but I feel like the beer industry really can and should raise its professionalism levels.
00:36:22
Speaker
um We're not in the days now where, you know, you could open any venue, and you're gonna see double digit growth. And I think we need to be very strategic, very financially literate, very consistent, very intentful, very thoughtful to ensure that we're growing or developing really healthy businesses. I mean, we're at a point now when Perth comes online, I think we'll be definitely above 50 FTE staff pushing 100 on the books.
00:36:56
Speaker
And being responsible for all of those people's getting paid every fortnight is a huge weight and privilege as well, but it's a huge way of making sure your staff are paid, making sure you can stay in business. So I'd like to see professionalism increase. i'd like to see career development opportunities increase, especially as the total number of breweries may contract with closures and less opening. I think keeping people very highly skilled very good people for the industry, within the industry. It's something that we need to work on and focus on.
00:37:29
Speaker
And
00:37:33
Speaker
stopping some of the crowdfunding where people aren't ever going to see a return is definitely something I think we should be talking about. So I guess if you distill it down, as much as I will love talking about beer, love talking about big dumb beers, love talking about whatever it may be,
00:37:53
Speaker
What I'd really like to see is is the industry continuing to evolve and and really become more professional, look after our people, look after our communities so that we can be here for the long run. Wonderful. Let's come back and talk about Big Dumb Beers. Cheers.
00:38:10
Speaker
Cheers.
00:38:16
Speaker
Hey guys, over recent episodes, we've talked a lot about Boemi, which is helping breweries around the world turbocharge their field sales operations, driving both revenue and efficiency. Today, we're chatting with Dominic Bocock, Boemi's CEO, on why you should be considering the platform as a key partner in your sales team. Dom, thanks for joining me.
00:38:36
Speaker
Thanks thank me Craig. It's great to be on. Mate, to kick us off, there's a lot of sales CRMs out there. What makes Boemi different for breweries in particular? Yeah, great question. There are some great CRMs out there on the market, but I think a big part of it is something that's really designed for this specific use case. um A lot of platforms are built for people sat in an office or loads different sectors. What we've tried to do is build something specifically for this industry, specifically for people out on the road as well. I think that's such an important thing. to make it really rep friendly, otherwise they're not going to use it. um So it really enables sort of strategic visits with really sort of accurate data driven approaches to making sure your team are just you know doing what they should be doing, which is being out on the road and and getting in through doors and selling. Can you can you give me an example of kind of how that how that works in practice? Yeah, sure. So I think we'd been out in the field, we'd felt the pain that a lot of sales reps had felt. um Being able to plan routes, being able to easily record data when you get into an account, even just being able to easily understand the data from previous visits. Some CRMs, they're very powerful in theory, but it's like pulling a tooth just trying to get that data that you need. um So we really just wanted to make it incredibly easy for them to sort of plan, record and organize their data and then go a layer up from that, really give their managers the ability to understand how they're getting on the field, where are their key areas that could be improved and just generally make sure that they're being as efficient as possible.
00:40:10
Speaker
Yeah, nice. And yeah you can really get down to the nitty gritty on the detail in the in the in the reporting and tracking, can't you? 100%, you know, whether you've got, you know, just a couple of SKUs or whether you've got loads of SKUs. The idea is we, there's so many different ways you can break down data and we want to make that really sort of at the reps fingertips. um So we give the ability for them to understand sort of things like rate of sale, You can understand exactly what types of listing you have. Is it packaged? Is it on a rotational line? Is it keg? All these different things which a general CRM might not think about. um
00:40:41
Speaker
Furthermore, we do have things like contract manager as well, which is designed to for sort of full end-to-end contract management. We know how crazy some of these contracts can be, really complex terms, and they can easily just get lost in a drive somewhere. So the idea is to make that all really easy to build understand and renew these contracts with all the complex terms within them to make it super easy for the team on the ground. Awesome. And um you know reps can even use Bohemi or the app to plan their day, right? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think you know being if you are if if if you are hitting the road, geography is a massive part of it. Australia is not a small place, obviously. And and making sure you're being efficient with your route planning um and making sure that you're actually going to the accounts you need to.
00:41:25
Speaker
We all know what it's like. You can probably want to visit a few of your favorite locals, but actually making sure that you're going to the right accounts at the right time, that you're able to just hit those places in the most efficient order. And if you're not able to make a visit, okay, where am I going to go next? Being able to have those suggestions of where to make the biggest impactful visits for your next your next trip, essentially, is is a really important part of the platform. And the map view that we give reps is is where, you know, they spend a lot of their time when they're on Boemi.
00:41:53
Speaker
um I guess beyond the the sales reps on the road, um how does Boemi make life easier for the team back in the office? Sure. So I think, you know, data is, everyone talks about how important data can be, but it's extraordinary how many platforms you can get the data in just about, and then you, it's really hard to get it out and in it in a way that you sort of need to understand it. So, We make it super easy to build out reports. We create a load of custom reports for the managers.
00:42:19
Speaker
We really try and understand what the end goal is though as well. I think working backwards from that. So you can be really granular if there's really granular things like, right, i want to see rate of sale by different accounts. i want to see different segmentation. I want to see how my team are performing, maybe gamifying it and a nice leaderboard. These are all things we can build into the platform. on both a management level, so you can see across the team, but even for individual reps as well, being able to start understand sort of how they're tracking against their KPIs. um You know, whether it's the carrot or the stick, it should be really easy to sort of understand how that is all being visualized in the platform and what outcomes you need from it. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much, Dom. I guess for our podcast listeners, if you'd like to arrange a demo with Boemi, head to boemi.com forward slash crafty hyphen pint and enjoy. I think they've got a 50% off onboarding fee at the moment. Yeah, yeah, spot on, Craig.
00:43:14
Speaker
We've got 50% promotion running ah at the moment on the onboarding. um so yeah, if you do want to jump on a demo, no strings attached. Hopefully we can show you around the platform, see how it might help you guys and go from there. There you go, Dom. You're already saving brewers money. I love it. Fantastic, mate. Thanks so much for joining me. Thanks so much, Craig.
00:43:32
Speaker
Really appreciate it.
00:43:39
Speaker
Welcome back now, Brendan, we've touched on it a little bit in terms of the backstory, but for those particularly maybe on the East coast who aren't as familiar with the cheeky monkey story, do you want to tell us a little bit about, uh, the brewery's origins?
Origins and Evolution of Cheeky Monkey
00:43:52
Speaker
Yeah, to absolutely. And that probably is quite a few, um, given that we are so WA focused in, you know, nature and how we go about things. Cheeky monkey, born about 14 years ago in the Mark River wine region.
00:44:06
Speaker
at a time when there wasn't as many awesome breweries as there are now. Started by some family and friends that really wanted to do a more casual offering in the heart of wine country, wanted to do beer, wanted to have it very welcoming and family friendly and whatnot.
00:44:27
Speaker
um So I guess that's that's the origin of Cheapy Monkey, to steal down really simply. And, you know, yeah you had a an original head brewer that went on and did did a few things as well elsewhere?
00:44:40
Speaker
we've had we've had some stunning head brewers that have gone on and and absolutely crushed it. ran over at Pirate Life. Lex, who, you know, was involved with Hippocampus and Distilling.
00:44:55
Speaker
Ross, who's now heading up the the brewing side from Rocky Ridge. Dylan, who's who's gone on to Wild Whop. Very fortunate to be a place that's, you know, kind of been a part of many, many elite brewer stories. It's it' something they're really proud of.
00:45:14
Speaker
And I guess you've maintained, you know, standard over the years as well. There's been and plenty of trophies over the years, whether for beers or for the brewery as a whole. um You know, how do you think that sort of standard has been maintained throughout, given, you know, you've name checked a few head brewers that have been through over the times?
00:45:30
Speaker
It's difficult at times. You know, having very amazing, very influential people in the business league can always create some waves, that's for sure.
00:45:41
Speaker
um But I think, you know, as I kind of touched on earlier, having that really solid business structure outlined it and very clearly, defining who you are and what we do and what do we expect can really help mellow out some of those ways so that we can keep producing during employee turnover.
00:46:02
Speaker
And it's funny because who we are is being different things at different times. And at some points we couldn't even answer that. You know, we we were really trying to figure things out.
00:46:15
Speaker
And at other times, you know, we did some work with the marketing and design agency at one point in time and They asked us what our goal was and and we quite honestly said at the time we want to be the number one craft brewery in Australia. That was a very realistic goal for us at that time and and I look back to a much younger, much less granny's beard, Brenda and, oh you know, it's like looking at your kids grow up a little bit.
00:46:41
Speaker
um That is no longer what our intent is. While we definitely want to be the best brewery we can be, You know, even that we've reined in and and we are very WA focused now.
00:46:53
Speaker
You know, we've made sure we get a little bit of stock out of the state when we work with selective people. um But our our efforts are 100% within WA. And, you know, that's only something we've learned by going about what do we actually want to achieve? What are the opportunities? What are we, how can we go about things? So, um yeah, being clear about who we are,
00:47:18
Speaker
being clear with communicating that to your staff, which sounds like super simple, but is something that we struggled with, you know, at times where we thought it was obvious, but some staff weren't quite on the same page.
00:47:32
Speaker
um So being clear with who we are, communicating that clearly, and then having the strategy and the structure to support that all is is kind of been key for us. Have you found that quite freeing with the beers? Because one thing, you know, if you're trying to be a national brand, you kind of have to tie a lot around a flagship or a couple of beers or something like that. Like, do you find it still gives you the room to to be a bit more experimental and fun in your approach to what you're doing?
00:47:58
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. um And while at times, you know, after those long weeks where things aren't going quite right, yeah you look at some of those bigger Bruce models and you're like oh, I'd love if seven of those tanks were all one beer and it didn't matter that this one would be. You know, that would be real nice.
00:48:18
Speaker
Instead, I look down there, i'm like, every tank has a different bearing at the moment um on very, you know, planned schedules and whatnot. um The fun to be able to do what we kind of want, you know, to a certain extent, and B, very agile is definitely something we try to use to our ability at times.
00:48:41
Speaker
We also really try to empower our staff to... um to take a punt on something as long as you've done your homework or as long as you've come up with a strategy. If it doesn't work, um you know, and you haven't bankrupted us in the process, like, that's okay. Like, we don't know everything. the industry continues to change. People's tastes continue to change. Opportunities evolve.
00:49:04
Speaker
So we like to use that ability to be agile, to let our staff try stuff out that that, you know, you might not be able to in a bigger brewery. And um i know you but you know have, ah I guess, a great spread across WA now. You've got the place in Rockingham. You've got the the venue coming on board in the CBD. But you asked a very much sort Southwest-based operation.
00:49:27
Speaker
How do you sort of yeah view the Southwest? We talked about it earlier. you know It was originally very very much home wineries you know and surf and et cetera, cetera. But breweries have been – does it you know dozens have been open at some stage, most some have kind of gone, but there's probably around 20 in the widest of southwest region now. Is there a sort of nice, harm you know, harmonious coexistence between the the grape and the grain these days?
00:49:52
Speaker
I'd say better than it has been in the past for sure. um
00:49:59
Speaker
I think it was a little disruptive to what, what you know, as many good breweries down here as there are now, and they're There really is. You know, you've got us, you've got Rockies, Beer Farm, White Hot, Eagle Bay, all these others. I won't name them.
00:50:15
Speaker
You've got world class breweries down here. I think when the vast majority of people in the world who know of Margaret River, think of Margaret River, it's just still thought of as a wine region. And maybe rightfully so, I don't know. you know we do produce some of the best wines in the world down here as well.
00:50:33
Speaker
um But I think that has changed to where instead of being disruptive or seen as a threat, we've definitely helped elevate the region. And breweries are now one of the reasons people come down and spend their tourism, their play dollars down here. So I think it is pretty harmonious.
00:50:52
Speaker
And I think there's people, you know, not to toot our own horn, but people like us that are helping to support that as well. um Our wine list at Rocky Ridge, much like one at CBD will be, is 100% Southwest wines. We won't run any non-Southwest wines in our venue.
00:51:10
Speaker
And that's, you know, I think that's smart business for us. It is our home in the Southwest. We produce some of the best wines. Like that gives us a bit of a point of difference or something for people to think about when they come and visit us if they don't want to drink one of our big dumb beers or whatnot.
00:51:27
Speaker
um But I think it really helps to support our local community as well. And I think if you're supporting your local community, even if your industry is a little bit disruptive at first, you're always going to find um some some zen or some balance in the area at some point.
00:51:42
Speaker
And in terms of yourself with Cheeky Monkey, like you were working in and around beer for number of years beforehand, but how did you first come on board with the business about a decade ago? Quite opportunistically. left mining a long, long time ago.
00:51:58
Speaker
to go back to uni. um I studying pre-med essentially for for lack of a better term um after doing a lot of emergency first response stuff in mining.
00:52:11
Speaker
I thought I was going to be a doctor. I saw my current partner on the fact that I was going to be a doctor someday and had to sit her down and tell her, like, no, i want to get into the beer game some point.
00:52:22
Speaker
Luckily, I have a very supportive partner who um asked you if I knew what I was doing and I said no. You're being authentically Brendo. I was authentic. What you see is what you're going to get. Yeah.
00:52:35
Speaker
Much love and credit to her. She then asked a great follow-up question and and asked if I'm having fun with it. I was like, yeah, but it we'll figure it out. So followed the beer path. I was working part-time at Made Liquor, one of the best bottle shops in the country.
00:52:53
Speaker
um And through doing in-store tastings, was actually Elliot, who I've got to give a shout out. um Thanks, Elliot. Saw the way was talking customers in doing in-store tasting. He was like, man, you should do some beer sales repping.
00:53:08
Speaker
ah And I kind of took that on board and and followed a couple of opportunities um after doing in-store tasting with Cheeky where we had probably too much fun. It just opened up that door to that conversation.
00:53:24
Speaker
i didn't quite know what I was looking for at the time because I was studying. I'd actually deferred my current course of studies and moved into commerce and B-law at the time. And that was definitely still my priority at the time. So it's not like I was looking for a full-time role. And Cheeky, not ever having had a salesperson before, didn't really know what they were looking for either.
00:53:46
Speaker
um But I met with Brent and we had a chat and and kind of made it work. And at some point I was like, no, this is definitely my priority. This is what I want to do. And um from there, being very fortunate to to help grow the sales team um who actually Alan is now head of sales for and absolutely crushing it.
00:54:10
Speaker
um But, you know, so I got to be the only salesperson come with a sales manager and um Going back to what I said earlier, I think national sales manager or something was even my title at one point.
00:54:25
Speaker
And then very fortuitously, very lucky, i've got to be very heavily involved in NPD, so new product development for the company.
00:54:37
Speaker
And then that kind of transitioned into an operations manager role where I moved down south to head up the ops. And then very, you know, very lucky, you know, I do want to thank Murray, who has passed, and Brent and Richard for the opportunity to join the board of directors for Cheeky, something I've been very proud of, even if it means I work much harder than I ever did before, unfortunately, something I'm very proud of. So I guess that's my little history with Cheeky Monkey. And in terms of your sort of role within the business evolution, you were involved in the rebrand few years ago,
Rebranding and Strategy at Cheeky Monkey
00:55:15
Speaker
is that right? And you talk about MPD as well. But it's always felt to me that, you know, you may not be one of the founders, but you've probably been as important in the way that Cheeky Monkey sort of looks and is now. You know, would you say it's fair that you've been a sort of key player in the way the business evolves? You've mentioned earlier, you know, that first board meeting you had saying, I think we need to do this. We need to have more venues. it does feel like um you know you were perhaps the sort of the key piece of the jigsaw that you know cheeky may have known they were looking for and you may not have known you you were that key piece well we should probably skip that question james people already think i've got enough tickets on myself so no in all seriousness i think um
00:55:59
Speaker
I've had something to to provide the business that was always more than just where I was, um but very lucky that um the business saw that and recognised that and allowed me that voice um into the business.
00:56:14
Speaker
and And both Brent, who's the other executives of working the business director, we bounce off each other very, very well, very different people. with different skill sets and different backgrounds and, and you know very lucky to um have found somebody that I can work with, that can tolerate me, that, you know, may not always like but can appreciate that I'm going to talk my mind at all times, you know. As I've got an order, I've learned how to do that more respectfully. But I'm always going to kind of say it how I see it, which I think is... um
00:56:52
Speaker
you know, has provided value to the business I've had. But very fine words from you nonetheless, James. I appreciate it. Not at all. um And I guess, you we'll mention it before we went to the break. Big Dumb Beers is something that, you know, you've ah been a proponent ah of, a a big fan ah of, um I guess you've been behind many barley wines, all that kind of stuff over the years. I guess for people who aren't maybe haven't heard the phrase Big Dumb Beers before, you know, where did that come from? What are they? And I guess in this more straightened times, you know, what sort of role do you see for those sort of beers?
Strategic Releases of 'Big Dumb Beers'
00:57:27
Speaker
think they definitely still play a role. um I think much like the business strategy, much like marketing strategy, they need to be very considered now.
00:57:38
Speaker
Again, people are being more selective with where they spen and spend their money and I think much like the early IPA race,
00:57:49
Speaker
We've all bought some that weren't quite worth what the the price tag was, you know, and it's I don't even say that and in a super negative way. When you're doing something super experimental, like it's hard to get right even if you have an R&D kit. Like when you scale it up, that presents a new set of challenges. So, yeah.
00:58:09
Speaker
We've been very selective with how we do them, but we're definitely still doing them. You know, the Pina Colada Hot Cream that we've released like two summers in a row now is like absolutely one of my favorites.
00:58:21
Speaker
um We've got some more in the schedule coming up. you know We've got an Affogato Pastry Stout, which is a little bit low-radiv so that we can make sure we feature it on our banks coming up.
00:58:35
Speaker
got a pretty cool, um, silverback curl album coming up this year, which is not full, you know, BDB, but it's working with, um, Jibber's Hot Sores. We're doing like a MOLA-inspired silverback variant, um,
00:58:49
Speaker
you know if that can kind of live up to the likes of, you know, perennials of Praxis or something that is, you know, big, but I'd actually call it more smart than BDG with its use of adjuncts. Big smart beers. That's what it needs to be now. Yeah, yeah. Because there was a tough time, I guess, when you'd been putting out, you know, big you know, um thick smoothie sours and barley wine and pastry beers pretty much on the reg, weren you know, for for a period. And I guess, um did you sort of get to the time going, actually, we really need to stop this altogether, you know, and and have have you sort of found that balance? and And is it something you're seeing with other players, you know, similar to yourself in WA? Yeah.
00:59:34
Speaker
It was definitely never we need to stop it. It was more just we needed to get more considered with our limited release program. I mean, we are no strangers of taking the piss out of ourselves, you know, like we definitely do. i remember one time we posted a meme, you know, where it was cheeky monkey milking a very over-milked cow of like got a limited release schedule up. Oh, another hazy idea. Yeah.
00:59:59
Speaker
So and we we just needed to get more considered with not only our BDBs, even our hazy IPAs. Make sure our limited release schedule is always going offer value ah to our customers and be worth picking up.
01:00:14
Speaker
um It's kind of funny, you know, I mean, I'll go through a huge wave drinking stuff. There might be a couple of months, all I want to drink is margaritas or whatever. At the moment, and I'm like, I want big, like, double hazies or...
01:00:28
Speaker
a bone dry lager or Riesling. That's really more than a drink at the moment. If it was my choice of what we were brewing, we'd be brewing a lot of double hazeys at the moment. you know um I feel that needs its own Boilermaker type category, lager followed by ah you know a sort of a double hazey and then the Riesling as well. Yeah, finish it off. It sounds perfect. know Throw a steak or some tacos in there and we've got probably my perfect night out.
01:00:57
Speaker
But, yeah, so I think there's there is still a huge space for them. And and as I said, we've got some some in the pipeline coming. um But, yeah, it's just been very strategic and considered around them. And maybe even doing some more R&D. I know there was one year we were going to do a coffee and fig silver back the area. And the fig ingredient we used, even though we bench top trialled it,
01:01:23
Speaker
did not work. It was like horrendous when we scaled it up to a full batch. um So you know having to waste the batch because you haven't got it quite right is just not something... you know It's hard to bear, but it's even worse than putting out bullshit into the market, which we'll never do. So yeah being strategic, being considered, and just trying to do them as best as we can is is where we're going with those now.
01:01:48
Speaker
But unfortunately, we haven't released the bundle in one in long time. i'm sorry Might need to speak to the brewers about that. Well, i know it will be keen. Sales team, probably It is what it is. And are there any other cheeky beers you'd love to bring back?
01:02:03
Speaker
I mean, I guess we're caught we're doing a variant of it at the moment, like with the Affigato Stout. But Long Mac Topped Up was like a bit of a favourite of mine, not only because the beer was so good and, like, the beer was so good, but playing on the whole W-Way, Long Mac Topped Up,
01:02:20
Speaker
um You know, which as East Coasters, you guys probably want to stop the podcast now that I'm even talking about MacDopter. You know, that just hit on so many levels for me. So so that was an absolute favourite.
01:02:35
Speaker
We did a Maple Gold Creek Porter that absolutely hit the mark for me. I thought that was fantastic. um illegal tender spiced rum silverback color we did that i'm seeing a theme here there's not too many ipas or hoppy beers coming it's all the the iavv dark beers am who i am james
01:03:02
Speaker
Now, Brendan, this isn't the first time we've podcast together. um You and Lesky and Tim, you ah beat the Crafty Pint the Punch by a number of years with the Beer Sucks podcast that ah I came on, did a couple of live shows. It's the only time i've ever been dressed as He-Man in private and in public. um So, you know, will we ever see Beer Sucks return, whether in the you know live arena or or online?
Return of the Beer Sucks Podcast?
01:03:27
Speaker
we We honestly, we want him. Huge shout out to Lesky, who's the head brewer at Slumdog now. And Tim, I'm still going to call him Gunslinger, even if his social media doesn't call him that anymore, um who's who's not in the industry but was a very influential part of it for a very long time. I mean, I've still got a group chat with just us three and It's probably one of my most active chats in my whole phone. My partner, Emily, actually asked me in the other day, who do you text the most?
01:03:55
Speaker
It might be the boys. We have talked about it. We've still got the equipment. We still all have the love for it. we We might just need to start small and do a like, hey, we're doing a one-off that isn't like, yeah, and we're bringing it back. um You know, we've all kind of got a little bit older, families. I live down south.
01:04:17
Speaker
and all the rest that goes into it. But some of those episodes that we did and and you featured in some of those were some of our absolute favourite times together, you know, to to do a podcast like you guys are doing now.
01:04:34
Speaker
You hang out with mates, you talk to producers you love, get to drink a few beers. Like, yeah, that that was a lot of fun.
01:04:43
Speaker
Even when we had technical difficulties like... crafty sax one we tried to do at Frothtown where we'd like, yes, sign on because Chiqui Munker was sponsoring the the silent disco in upstairs on the big marquee at Frogtown. were like, yeah, let's do a song podcast. That would be great because everyone will be able to hear us in their headsets.
01:05:02
Speaker
Turned out not to be the best way to do a podcast. um But we got through it. It was pretty awesome. and Do we have Mazin involved in that one in the early days of Haw? Because i think it was Mazin. We did. It was as Mazin was quite vocal about a number of issues. That's why are we love him. But, um yeah, I mean,
01:05:20
Speaker
Once we worked through that, and think we ended up just getting rid of the headphones at one point. Yeah, people. Yeah, yeah. I'm sure everyone was changing the channel. Yeah, yeah.
01:05:32
Speaker
Yeah, so maybe maybe, and as I said, maybe we just need to start small. We're doing one episode, like, because we never even finished it properly. So maybe we just need to do one proper send-off episode. Yeah, to start at the end.
01:05:45
Speaker
exactly. And what does the future hold for Cheeky Monkey?
01:05:55
Speaker
i'd love to be sure. i'm really would. Who knows? But that's quite exciting, to be honest. I think we've got a good game plan um for how to continue how to make sure we continue to evolve and, as I said, become a very professional, very long-term part of the WA industry. And that's something, you know, that carries real weight for us and is something I'm super proud of.
01:06:24
Speaker
um yeah We do continue to invest in, you know if you think of your EnviroSocialGov kind of ESG matrix, we're pretty heavily involved in that social piece, especially internally. mean, we do a lot of sponsorships and stuff externally, so many awesome breweries do. um you know Something we've brought in recently and is currently evolving, You know, we provide UpDoc to all of our staff, so they've got free telehealth services 24-7, and I'm actually starting to work with UpDoc.
01:06:57
Speaker
Now I see how we can maybe bring in psychological services for business partners of theirs. So that's something that when, you know, you talk about the things that aren't just the liquid and glass or the can, all of those things, I think, is stuff that gets us really excited and is going to help keep us to to moving forward. and becoming these really very legitimate, very long-term, very important businesses within our society and and within our communities.
01:07:24
Speaker
Outside of that, think if you get you focus just on the beer and the offerings, um As I said, another venue. We'll keep working on all of our, you know, especially the hop-driven products. We've got a few things in trial right now, which super exciting.
01:07:41
Speaker
um And maybe after this chat, throw a few more BDBs in our release schedule. um But, yeah, that's that's what gets me excited about Cheeky's future.
01:07:52
Speaker
That's great. No, well, best best luck with it all. Thanks for coming in for the chat today. know you're only at the brewery but because we're having this chat today. So, you know, you can ah clock off, return home to the family or put your feet up and drink some more Imperial Stout. Yeah, hopefully you in the coming weeks or months and all the best. Awesome. Thanks, guys. and Thanks for having me. It was awesome.
01:08:13
Speaker
No worries. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers.
01:08:18
Speaker
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01:09:29
Speaker
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01:09:45
Speaker
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