Update 14 August 2022

Firstly, apologises for the lack of blog posts over the last couple of months.  We have been extremely busy with the build of the brewery (and balancing my work commitments) and trying to find time to write a blog post kept being pushed back, but I have been cognisant that a number of people have contacted us wondering when I would be putting my thoughts out to the internet again. 

I thought I would start with an update of where things are at, and then continue the discussion on our Seasonal Beer Line-up.

Brewery Equipment

All of our equipment has arrived and is now in place (it is looking really good if we do say so).  Work in continuing with commissioning with burners, flues, and auger having been installed.  We still have some other stainless-steel fabrication happening to make our brewing life easier.  We have spent some time over the last couple of weeks really looking at our systems and processes, and what changes we can reasonably make in some of the pipe work to improve our brewing processes now that we have seen it in place.  It is something that Daniel and I are very keen on as I previously mentioned we want to work smarter, not harder.

Water and Settlement Tank Install

Water is an essential element of making good beer and makes up the overwhelming majority of what goes into the good liquid. Jason and the team from Plumbing Force has spent a lot of time getting our water and waste system installed. 

Our water filters have been commissioned, and we are in the final stages with our settlement tank having be placed last week, and hopefully being commissioned this week.  It will mean we will finally be able to run water, and clean our production area floors, something that personally has driven me crazy over the past couple of months since the epoxy has gone down.  Having a clean work area is critical for good sanitary practices and in turn producing good beer.  As a wise brewer once told me, brewers are really cleaners (keeping things clean) and plumbers (moving liquid around). Something that has stuck in my head over over the last couple of years.

Brewery Electrics

Work has commenced on linking all the brewery electrics to the pumps, auger, and valves, and we have a million wires and air lines (ok maybe not a million but a lot!) to install. We have one of the best in the business working on this for us – Kochy, who is a seasoned expert with Lion, and his knowledge and expertise has already been a godsend with a number of suggestions of some minor reconfiguring of pipework to improve our processes.  

The electrics and commissioning the burners will be the final piece in the puzzle, and once completed it will be time to start testing the brewery with a water run, and passivating all of the stainless steel in preparation for our first brew.

It will be a very surreal moment when we get to this step but will mean all the hours of planning and installing will have paid off.

Tap Room Install

Our last phase will be the tap room install, and we have a lot to do, and is really the final piece in the puzzle if everything going according to plan and we are allowed to open in October (please send positive thoughts to council). But we have planned it out and have leaned on family and friends to help us out in this area, to try and keep the costs down.  I will do a full blog post on this topic in the next couple of weeks (promise).

Anyway back to our thoughts on our Seasonal Tap line up.

Our Seasonal Line Up

Following on from my last blog post where we announced our four (4) Core Range beers, it is time to discuss what else we will have on offer both our Limited Release (Seasonal) Series and other Artisanal Products.

Limited Realise (Seasonal) Series

An important element behind opening a brewery for Daniel and myself is to be able to be creative – not that our core range isn’t creative, but we definitely don’t want to be a sausage factory pumping out the same beers each and every week. There needs to be a balance and we are of the firm believe that a good brewery needs to ensure that each batch of our core range beers have the same flavour profile each and every time, but we also want room to explore other beer styles.

We intend to allocate four (4) of our taps to our limited release series to ensure we have something new and exciting for people to try when they visit the tap room, and for those that want to take some cans home or order them on-line.  Two of these taps will be allocated to current popular styles – i.e. Hazy IPA, and Sours. 

Seasonal Hazy’s

We decided to not have a Hazy IPA in our core range (but will have a Hazy Session Ale) as given the styles popularity and lots of people that buy them are always looking for next flavour and aroma profile (gone are the days of people only drinking a certain beer), we believe it is the right approach, and time will tell if we land on a certain Hazy IPA that will be lighting in a bottle, and we will need to make it part of core range.

Seasonal Sours

The second permanent limited release series will be for Sours.  We really believe that sours are a good gateway beer for a lot of people that aren’t really beer drinkers, and with an endless array of adjuncts (such as fruit and spices) that can be added it will be a good style to have ongoing on tap.  Our plan is that each sour will have ingredients that reflect the season that it is brewed, and we are very keen to explore the provenance of these ingredients so to help tell the full story of the beer and make a real connection with the farmers that grew the ingredients that will go into the sours.

Other Seaonal’s

The remaining two taps will be allocated to other beer styles where we can explore the finer points of historic beer styles and new trends and fads.  I really love the diversity of beer, and love to learn about the history of how a beer style came about.  So expect to see a number of historical beers linked to the seasons and historical events, such as Stouts in winter, and beers like Marzen in October to celebrate Oktoberfest.  

This will be very much a work in progress, and what we decide to brew will evolve as we find our feet.

Initial Seaonsal’s

Our brewery is in its final stages of being commissioned, and its scheduled to be operational by the beginning of September (finger crossed).   Whilst the brewery will be operational the tap room it will not initially be open to the public, as we finalise all the requirements with the council Development Application process. It’s a long journey and we are getting there, but who know what curve ball will be thrown at the 11^th hour.

We have put a lot of thought into what we should brew first, and intend to brew a number of lagers, as we can told them in tank and really condition them using traditional methods, to really bring out the best in the beer – something I personally am very passionate about.  We will hold off brewing our core range, Pale Ale, IPA, and Hazy Session Ale, until we have some real certainty of when we can open our tap room to the public, as these styles are best presented as fresh as they can possibly be – and we really want to showcase all of our beer at their premium.

Other Artisanal Products

Whilst we already have our Producer / Wholesaler licence, we do intend to transfer this to the Artisanal licence once our Development Application has been approved.  This transfer will allow up to sell in our taproom other Queensland Artisanal Products and Queensland Wine.  At this stage we intend to sell Cider, Seltzer and Queensland Wine in our Taproom for those non beer drinkers.  We have decided to currently hold off on selling Artisanal spirits initially, as we feel it is more complicated to serve with different mixers and requiring things like ice and lemons and limes, and having to purchase different glasses for them. We initially want to keep things as simple as possible particularly in our initial months of operation.   

Summary

We are extremely excited that all the hard work we have put in over the past 12 months is finally coming together, and our project plan is currently on track for an October opening. We have a lot of hard work to do over the next couple of months, balancing brewing and getting the tap room into shape, and we are eternally grateful for the support we have received from our family and friends to pull this all together.

Until then.  Cheers to the journey.

Phil