Craft beer players know the value of local appeal.
WESTERN Australia’s craft brewing sector has continued its strong recent growth, driven by domestic demand and a cohort of entrepreneurs taking a community-led approach to brewing.
WA Brewery Association chairperson and Bevy Brewery head brewer Andy Scade said many of the sector’s newer entrants had joined more established players in placing a strong focus on the local community and environment. “
More businesses are entering brewing, more breweries are looking at opening this coming year and there are quite a few breweries that are expanding,” Mr Scade told Business News.
“I think servicing the local community is where it’s starting to head as breweries concentrate on their local backyard rather than other markets, like the east coast.”
Blasta Brewing Company is opening its second venue in March, located a few minutes’ drive from the Perth International Airport and featuring a ‘departure lounge’ for people waiting for a flight.
Visitors will be able to book and pay online to receive an all-inclusive package of food, drink, merchandise and a shuttle to the airport.
The $9.5 million, 4,500 square metre expansion will generate an estimated 50 million litres of beer annually, while Blasta’s first brewpub in Burswood has a capacity of just less than 1 million litres.
Founder Steve Russell said the new High Wycombe venue was set to produce its first beer on March 1.
The Burswood location will also undergo change, moving to a new site down the road, closer to the train station and scheduled to open July.
“It [Burswood] will be more of a destination venue, with contemporary food and drinks, a cafe and a patisserie in addition to the classic brewery,” Mr Russell said.
Busselton-based Rocky Ridge Brewing Company is a leader in reducing the sector’s environmental impact and backed this up by winning the Promoting Sustainability prize at the 2022 Telstra Best of Business awards.
Co-founder and managing director Hamish Coates said Rocky Ridge was the first carbon-neutral and certified sustainable brewery in Australia.
This year, he said, the business planned to upgrade its power systems, double solar capacity and commission a carbon dioxide capture and reuse plant.
“The biggest thing for us is 2025 net zero, so we’re pushing really hard for that and trying to remove all CO2 emissions from our direct scope,” Mr Coates told Business News.
“The CO2 reclaim plant will save us 2,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. “We hope this will pave the way for other breweries our size and smaller to pick up the tech because it’s never been scaled down to this size before.
“We want to show that it’s possible and it doesn’t cost the earth.”
Rocky Ridge will be expanding production this year, purchasing more tanks for its Jindong facility, 20 minutes from Busselton, to meet a target brewing capacity of 3 million litres per year.
The brewery will also be opening a taphouse in Duncraig with a 200-person capacity in October.
ASX-listed Good Drinks Australia was ranked as WA’s largest drinks supplier in the craft beer market for 2022, with total sales increasing 15.7 per cent from 2021 to hit 13.2 million litres.
This month, Good Drinks’ brand Gage Roads Brewing Company celebrated the first birthday of its flagship venue in Fremantle.
In the past 12 months, the brewpub served more than 700,000 litres of beer to more than 500,000 visitors.
Good Drinks managing director John Hoedemaker told Business News the company had also secured a long-term lease of the land beside its Palmyra production brewery to expand this facility.
While it currently produces 24 million litres of beer, cider and Matso’s product per year, the additional 5,000sqm space will increase production to an annual 30 million litres within the next few years.
Mr Hoedemaker said the Gage Roads branding was inspired by a passion for the ocean, and in keeping with this theme the business had partnered with Tangaroa Blue, an organisation that cleans up beaches around Australia.
Gage Roads staff spend a day a year cleaning beaches together to contribute to this shared mission.
Outside of WA, Good Drinks grew its already sizeable footprint with the acquisition of Victoria-based Stomping Ground Brewing Company in August 2022 and plans a late 2023 opening for a Matso’s venue in Queensland.
Despite this, Mr Hoedemaker said Gage Roads was still committed to its local community of WA.
“One of the areas we’re focusing on this year is regional areas, so we’ve placed a number of our salespeople in the Pilbara region of WA and in the South West,” he said.
Elsewhere, Little Creatures said in December that it would no longer be leaving its premises at 40 Mews Road, as had been previously announced.
Sydney-based beverage giant and Little Creatures owner, Lion Australia, negotiated a deal to purchase the lease that had not previously been on the table.
“Maintaining our presence at our home means we can now look at making the original Little Creatures venue even better [through renovation],” Little Creatures group operations manager Carrie Watson told Business News.
Ms Watson said the brewery was committed to Fremantle and had plans to preserve the business’s 22-year history servicing the local community from the site.
Bassendean-based Feral Brewing Company was put on the market in 2021 before being withdrawn in April 2022.
Feral’s owner, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, claims the change of heart was due to the company’s valuable results and brand loyalty.
Feral Brewing’s production for the past 12 months remains unchanged from the previous year, hitting 3 million litres of beer.
FOUND. Goods head brewer and co-founder Will Irving (left) and co-founder Steve Finney at the former Perth Girls School. Photo: David Henry
Emerging
Among the sector’s newer entrants is FOUND. Goods Company, founded by Steve Finney, head brewer Will Irving, head of sales Scott Player and head of hospitality Nat Moeahu-Pehi.
Mr Finney has previously worked at Foster’s Beer, Little Creatures, Feral Brewing, Gage Roads Brewing and Otherside Brewery before resigning two years ago to establish his own brewery.
The vision for FOUND. Goods has been in the works for the past seven years and will make its debut in April at a 600sqm venue in Byford.
The small restaurant and brewpub will have a 600-litre brew kit and a 200-person capacity.
Mr Finney said FOUND. Lab would act as a prelude for the company’s significant brewery venue, to be built at the former Perth Girls School in East Perth.
The heritage-listed building is scheduled to undergo construction mid-2023 in a project to convert the area into a cultural precinct.
Mr Finney said once construction was completed in late 2024, the 1,600sqm FOUND. Goods brewery would have the capacity to produce 3 million litres per year.
Both planned FOUND. Goods venues will be designed to engage the surrounding environment and invite visitors to connect with nature.
“The Byford venue is a really nice, pleasant glass box on a lake surrounded by birds,” Mr Finney said.
“This concept plays into the idea for the East Perth location where we want to create native parkland and gardens in front of our venue.
“We want to bring a little bit of that regional feel to the middle of the city.”
FOUND. Goods will be exclusively focused on WA and has no plans to venture into the east coast market.
“We feel that we will have enough support and consumers in WA to just focus on our backyard,” Mr Finney said.
Tim Greaney says the craft brewing sector has grown rapidly in recent years. Photo: David Henry
Logistics
While consumers appreciate the rapid growth in craft breweries’ output and the vast range of beers in stores and on tap, some logistics services have also got on board.
Growler Depot in Canning Vale has carved out a niche servicing the sector with the provision of cool storage and transport to retail outlets.
The group’s customer base had jumped to about 65 with the takeover of another WA specialist operator, Beer Caddie, over the Christmas break.
Growler Depot managing director Tim Greaney said the craft brewing sector had grown rapidly in recent years and as it became more competitive consumers expected more quality control.
Mr Greaney led a buyout of the business in the past two years and invested in an expanded footprint.
The company has a 4,000sqm warehouse in Canning Vale with 1,500sqm of refrigerated area, as well as a fleet of trucks.
Mr Greaney said the specialisation was unique and reflected the specific requirement of craft brewers that their beer be kept at 3 degrees Celsius.
“When I started drinking beer 20 years ago there were about three [craft beers] to choose from,” he said.
“There are now 30 per shelf.”
