CITY-BASED Irish pub Durty Nellies has joined Gage Roads Brewing and market leading craft brewer Little Creatures in gaining the support of a major corporate backer.
CITY-BASED Irish pub Durty Nelly's has joined Gage Roads Brewing and market leading craft brewer Little Creatures in gaining the support of a major corporate backer.
Durty Nellies, in Shafto Lane in the city's west end, is poised to become Western Australia's latest microbrewer in a deal with brewing giant Lion Nathan for an undisclosed sum.
Lion Nathan's James Squire Brewhouse has signed a license agreement with Durty Nelly's to produce two exclusive beers and the rights to offer the full range of James Squire beers on tap.
Lion Nathan, which is set to be acquired by Japan's Kirin Holdings, is already a major shareholder in Little World Beverages, the company behind Fremantle's Little Creatures.
Its investments in craft brewers and micro brewers is part of a longer term trend that has seen Australia's dominant brewing groups, Lion Nathan and Foster's, invest in many of their smaller competitors.
The emergence of the latest deal followed Gage Roads announcement last week of a strategic agreement with supermarket giant Woolworths.
Woolworths will acquire 25 per cent of Palmyra-based Gage Roads through a $1.9 million share placement.
In addition, Gage Roads has entered into an agreement to contract brew 350,000 cases of beer per year for Woolworths.
The backing of Woolworths is a major coup for Gage Roads which has delivered a patchy earnings record since listing on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Gage Roads chief executive Nick Hayler said the backing of a major company would assist the brewer's plans to increase production of its own labels and realise a greater economy of scale.
"We are very pleased to have attracted the interest and support of such a well-recognised company in Woolworths," he said in a statement.
Mr Hayler said planning had already commenced to maximise brewing capacity from the current level of 50,000 cases.
Durty Nelly's commenced construction of its new microbrewery in mid-2008, making it the first James Squire Brewhouse in WA, joining similar outlets in Melbourne and Sydney.
James Squire Brewhouse chief brewer Tony Jones was tight-lipped on the deal, but did say there were no specific plans to establish more microbreweries in WA "at this point in time".
"The specific details of the agreement are confidential of course, but essentially the owners can use the James Squire branding and pour the James Squire range on site, while our brewers will also install and operate the microbrewery on site," Mr Jones said.
