Episode 036: Beer Tourism On The Brookie Trail
hello and welcome to the crafty P podcast I'm will I'm James and apologies up front uh if both of us are coming across a little bit croaky this weekend it's been a long weekend here in Victoria we were both away at the same event didn't manage to bump into each other but both woke up on Monday morning somewhat diminished when it came to our voices mine was actually completely non-existent on Monday morning uh great way to start my 50th year on the planet but thankfully has recovered quite cons L by now um but yeah so um it's also been a pretty uh challenging week not just for my vocal cords but for the beer industry um there was some news that started sort of filtering through from Brisbane late last week which has been confirmed this week uh by the team at newood Brewing yes so unfortunately the one of the pioneering of breweries of frison's craft Pier scene has um closed the doors permanently um obviously a lot of breweries at the moment in southeast Queensland are dealing with the impact of cyclone Alfred but uh this they say is completely related to that more to do with the 2022 floods where they were severely impacted they couldn't Brew for months and months and months and then on top of that they um also point to the current CH challenges many in the industry are facing as showing that they just couldn't keep operating basically yeah well I paid a visit um several months after the the 2020 floods I mean the flood waters there did come in like several feet high you halfway up some of the Machinery in the brewery took took weeks to clear out um they couldn't Brew for a number of months there and and I guess there was all the repair work that had to be done the venue was you know completely underwater as well um I think they've done what they can to try and come back but you know you try come back from that on the back of Co which would have impacted them with the closure of sunor Stadium across the road that used to send a lot of people their way on game days into you know cost of living crisis everything else that the industry is fighting against so it does sound like certainly staff and the and the the shutdown of the venue came pretty quickly but it must have it's been a many years sort of I guess in consideration I they were looking to the business from what they were saying um actually yes it's really sad I think you know they were they open a few months after green Beacon so 2013 those two breweries open very close to each other newad brought this fantastic level of hospitality um it was certainly I guess you know the real first real sort of that um Brew P high quality food that kind of thing that Brisbane had seen they've been very supportive lot of U other beer businesses coming along a lot of collaborations lot of stuff with the Arts lot of stuff with sport um and yeah just haven't been able to to make it work um I guess they live on in a way because they they moved well they had their original dogget Street site they took over the second the bigger venue and bigger um Brewery in Milton a few years after first opening the dogget street site was sort of taken over by working title where the original one of the founders of newad Brewing is one of the founders there Mark H with his mate Luke Shield so I guess there's there's some continuity you know from from the original Brew stad team carrying on through working title but yeah newad Brewing um is no more yeah yeah and um I mean another sign of just how cash strapped and difficult the industry is is uh the news from Convoy kegs as well that um they've been putting receivership um it looks like uh one of their main um backers has has decided to not invest any more so um we'll see what happens there we we're still working on the story at the moment so there'll be more information on the craft depart website once this um want you're hearing the podcast but uh yeah I guess for people who don't know Convoy they're one of the biggest um sort of leases and suppliers of cegs to the industry um you know we've work with them in the past on on part of origin um often if you walk past any Pub or Brewery you're going to see a lot of their kegs with the the um the red stripes on um and you know they've been they've been expanding foring you know forming Partnerships elsewhere but yeah clearly they've been caught up um and so yeah we'll we'll see what happens on that front we'll find out a bit more before the podcast goes live um I guess in nonclosure sale receivership news um we had a nice positive story from from gu Southern in wa yeah about uh so Funk cider is a name that a lot of people in wa would know they've been operating for some time they've moved into beer more recently and um they they've created a beer The Farmhouse ale with their uh with their own Bley and wheat that they've worked with some local people to get moled um so it's really good I I spoke to them a number of years ago and they were talking about putting this Brewery in and or or having the capacity to brew rather and then um realizing that they wanted to do it their own way and what can they do differently they have a farm they're Farm based they they understand ingredients and things like that so they wanted to really showcase that and and yeah I think it's really interesting thing um we'll see them I'm sure work with other malts and things like that so it would be exciting space to watch yeah H I think it's another example of breweries um and other business that be working in a sustainable manner um looking to you know I guess cut down bmrs whatever you want to call it ingredient miles and and do things that um you know I guess really highlight the partnership between breweries and agriculture especially when the brewery is the same bit of Agriculture Supply supplying there for the beer um looking a bit further ahead on on the other side of the country um Sydney Beer Week have opened expressions of interest for the 2025 Festival in October um they came back last year after a few years off um a little bit different this year last year they only wanted um events to be hosted at venues this year they're allowing breweries to get on board and and host events as well so you can jump on the Sydney bewe website to get your expressions of interest in forent before the end of April yes and also make sure you get your Blue Stone Brewery of the month shout outs in uh CRA as I said last week the team was stoked so if you want to like really uh really impress your local Brewery or really make them feel special uh make sure you get the applications in yeah and you can do that at crafty pin.com blone b l s t o n e and we'll be announcing the next winner pretty soon um yeah and uh is is fast becoming tradition on this podcast I have another apology to make in terms of names and pronunciations last week uh when we were talking about brigh Brewery I called there uh Evan crany accidentally I called him Evan cray who works for B spoke uh it's a mistake I often make often silently rather than recorded unfortunately I forgot to correct that one before the podcast went out yeah you didn't have an editor there just to just to correct it as it came out of your mou normally I have the other one standing over me reminding me of Who's Who so apologies to Evan crany and to Evan cray as well yeah you know who wants to be confused the other one anyway about time to head to our main chat of the week this is one of the two podcast interviews I recorded while I was in Sydney a couple of weeks ago feels like a lifetime ago in some ways um I headed up to Brookville uh we've done a fair bit of coverage on what's been happening in Brookville and the northern beaches um I mean there's been breweries there for quite some time like Dad and D were there for a number of years Nomad have been there 10 years Etc but now there's this real um clutch of them incredibly close together they launched the Brookie Trail uh one of many ale trails around the country a few weeks ago um and so I went and caught up with Johnny Bucknell one of the founders of freshwater Brewing Co who prior to that was working front of the northern Beach's Brewery at um Motors in monil and to Joel rwan who works for seventh day Brewery um literally across the road about 60 MERS away from freshwater um so we had a good chat about beer tourism and what they've been doing to sort of promote or encourage people to come out there promote each other um they had their second I think it was Brookie Fest not too long ago like launched the trail with a three-day event there was Dash and racing chili eating all manner of you know there was lots of beer and live music and stuff as well um but it's pretty cool what they're doing and you know understanding why they're doing it have a bit of a chat about beer tourism as well as the personalities of each venue um bit of an apology for that one there we've just switched to using some new cameras and a new setup recently to you know improve the the quality of what we're doing um but there was a slight glitch we're not quite sure why um but for a few minutes early on in the video audio is fine but the the video does get a little bit stuck stuty that fixes itself after about 6 minutes so if you are watching this on YouTube I apologize for the stuttery vision at the start um but aside from that yeah after the break we'll join Johnny and Joel um and will yeah great so if you enjoy it make sure you like And subscribe Cheers Cheers one of the best things about this craft beer industry of ours is the way everyone shares collaborates and lends a helping hand when needed but it's so often happens those good deeds can sometimes go unnoticed well now with the support of rings labels stickers and packaging who are themselves known for their out understanding service and strong relationships with the industry we're delighted to give every good beer citizen a bit of well-deserved recognition we're calling on you to nominate anyone who's gone out of their way to help you out it doesn't matter how big or small it's just a a wonderful way to give that person or business a shout out and thank you we'll highlight the best nominees on the crafty pun podcast and lucky winners of the Don a Rings Good Deed will win a Rings gift voucher and earn a big thumbs up from friends and colleagues so what are you waiting for give that good deed a shout out head to crafty point.com slrings and nominate today Johnny and Joel welcome to the show thank you for thanks for having me up in Brookie um apologies that it's day five of my very hectic Sydney trip and I look like death it's it's a long drive on the terrible spit Bridge so thanks for coming out our way yeah no no it's good good to be we get to how close all the breweries are but it has been quite an amazing thing but um I thought we s of start with probably the most recent news for the Brookville area which is the the launch of the Brookie Trail um part of bism kind of thing I don't know if one of you want to sort tells me tell me sort of how that's come about and what the Brookie Trail is um yeah so Brookie Trail it's kind of we've been working together as a group of breweries for a while now and the Brookie Trail launch is kind of the official launch of it but essentially it's Brookville has seven breweries and three distilleries and we've you know we're all on WhatsApp groups together we all we're all neighbors essentially and so last year we did a heap of events and activations um where we kind of got people to brookil to kind of discover more than the one or two places that they were going and then this year we kind of went hell for leather um and really pushed it hard kind of got some decent branding canaro really ill amazing illustrator um pulled together some amazing he's a local guy loves a beer and um yeah that how he was paid bit of Contra I think he got I think it worked both ways I think you know he got paid he also got some contract uh but yeah he's a legend and perfect for it he's a real kind of Northern beaches kind of figurehead and yeah and we we worked out essentially a a three Festival to kick it off um just to get people hopping from venue to venue cuz you hear heaps of like uh can we have a map like where is it even though like we're super close to each other and it's two minutes walk you kind of don't know what you don't know so having a map for people to discover like like even you when you you've been zipping around the place I think you've been kind of amazed that oh I went to move my car from out the front of buckety so I've been there now I don't know how tight they are around here I'll go to Dad and Dave's next and I drove that that way and then once I actually been around and parked the car I was like it's actually you got closer to the other one yeah it's literally like probably even 100 meters and then when I was parking the car above here earlier today you can see buckety out the back and you guys are across the road like it is so if we do have a little bit of muscle on our big brothers the in West Al Trail is that our platform is Tiny and 10 minutes you can do the whole lap basically maybe 15 minutes depending how many beers you had yeah Nick was like you know broken Bay a bit further out the way I oh how far and it's like it's are like 700 met exactly it's not a long way yeah you don't really get to sober up in between places so you got to plan plan what you're doing so that was the intention and we we all I mean we're small businesses all hustling to get people here and so the thinking was always like well let's just team up like you know we're we're not competing against each other we're just trying to get people a out the house and which is hard enough off the couch and then be here to whatever we have to throw like buckees and Seventh Day particularly well known for their live music um and so it's like if that's what you're into go for it if you're want a gin and tonic there plenty of places to go you if you want to be a garden if you don't want to be a garden if you got kids got dogs whatever it might be you kind of find it and yeah stronger together something for everyone and we realized that if twice as many people come to the suburb it doesn't bloody matter which venue they go to CU every single one of them will prosper yeah so the idea is amplify the suburb and something that 2025 will lead in really hard is how do we get the punters to come nice and early because if you come out nice and early especially on game day you're going to get to experience a whole lot of different places in some kind of like Festival like activity Zone yeah yeah and and so in terms of like who's put it together is it been funded or put together by the breweries or if you managed to get like government support or grants or anything like that to get it going yes so uh seventh day uh applied for the venue accelerator Grant from Seventh Day say that at the start I work at seventh T got his we didn't really do a good job at that uh yeah so seventh day were recipients of the venue accelerator Grant by the New South Wales government and then piggybacking off off that there was an opportunity to go for a group Grant which Brookville Arts District have also got some of our comrades in Brookville uh we hazily thought let's just have a stab at trying to get this grant uh not really knowing what we were doing or if we'd be eligible uh somehow we were successful part of the reason that we were successful was that we'd already banded together we' done Brookie Fest inaugural 2024 and it had worked and we hired a grant writer and we hired a gr writer that's kind of use yeah so we had a lot of data in front of us that looked really good uh so we got picked up for the group Grant uh and that has definitely Amplified our opportunity to to Really resource the other and is it open to just breweries or is is are there other producers on there can if other people come along can they be part of it or like how's it working so the intention was like when we first got going it was all bootstrapped and we did it ourselves it was like it's you know we're running our own businesses we're all super busy anyway but like get it get it like proof of concept up and now we we're there we've got the Grant and we could get the awareness out the next stage is the other producers the zoning in this area is you kind of have to be a producer wholesaler you can't just open a small bar around the corner unless historical um and so pretty much everyone that isn't already there is kind of doing something kind of interesting and worthwhile discovering so you know there's a there's coffee roters get them on the list you know there's an amazing um surf Museum and they do heaps of like popup events there the place I've seen yeah there's so many little pockets and like when you're wandering around an industrial area you kind of don't know what's around Each corner and so we're going to help get people to discover it and you know we know we there's a there's kind of a big push to promote and improve book fail and we know it's only going to get better so we just kind of make we our concern and our sort of focus is kind of what's epic about this area is the organic nature and how it grew like independent small businesses that have just you know got a passion and you know whether it be you know anything we don't as as things get gentrified it's quite easy for the little guys to get squashed and you know developers come in and and so you just we're just trying to Foster that Community um and keep it keep it within everyone's interest must been the impact today I know it's only like is it as we're talking now I'm not sure when the show's going out but like it's been about three or four weeks since you actually officially launched the concept so is it been sort of you had the big opening weekend but have you had sort of media coverage see more people were talking about it like yeah uh we already felt like the Brookie Trail existed uh at the very start of 2024 but we hadn't given it or we' given it a couple of [ __ ] names and then we finally came to you tell us what the [ __ ] names were ah the oh the collective no just I feel bad if there's a collective there there Heats of collectives and and then we realize oh that's just talking about ourselves we're supposed to be talking about the verb of what you do like you're supposed to Trail around the suburb so uh our head honcho uh Jackie Stanton uh came up with the name and she's like this is the name you need to tell people that they need to hop around they need to get here early and there's heaps going on with a name like that I think she should be a big beat producer as well jeffie Stanton just sounds like when you get to meet her she she is so badass and uh she's looking after a bunch of precincts who've got the grants and she's so passionate about little Blobs of suburbs just amplifying and working together uh I mean I think for us it's like we've got a platform now and we've got we're organized we've got a website uh you know crazy uh how 2010 yeah I know it's very cutting but um you know it's it's a platform to build on and I think like actually the awareness is there like we had a bit more cash to get posters out endorse it properly get some T-shirts that's important um and I think seem we them in a very freshwater sort of pallet as well or did you get nothing to do with me yeah I I mean I I was quite happy about it but yeah it's yeah it's good but um yeah I think uh it's it's successful just purely because of the awareness um and I think you know Amazed by how many people come to this area for the first time that live like a k away like what how would you someone who hasn't been to Brook Bell before how would you describe it because you know it's been a few few years since I was up here and driving in and you're like it's not not it's not the beaches of Northern beaches like it's functional like it's a lot you know there there shopping malls there know it's yeah it's an industrial suburb for sure it's not like the beaches uh curly Dy freshy only 5 minutes drive from here to go for a surve and then you come in this way and it's just a grally bir it's like the town that sort of in the middle of like a farming region that has all the like the tractor in the grain shops Brookie is the is supplying everything around the supply suburb uh and it's always been known as a as a mechanic suburb uh there's a macers that's been here forever and the car park is ionic that you go and sit there and and have beers when you're a teenager and there's a couple of it's not it's not on the TR though not yet uh yeah their inclusion is 50,000 perom okay come on kids yeah I'm only kidding uh how I think Johnny might have said it earlier the the suburb uh is definitely a bit rough around the edges every venue is a little bit different so there's something to offer every venue and what we're trying to push inh house is that the conversations we have over the bar yeah should be oh where have you been oh sick they do great beards oh cool where are you guys headed next oh they have live music you're going to have a great night just pay it for it it's going to go around last night you know Thursday evening there was cornhole championships on at your place there was lot live music on it buckes there was trivia on at maybe a couple of places as well um me and Johnny drinking beer here it was of the entertainment here I guess but exactly but from what I understand you know when you did the the opening weekend there was some crazy events on like who did the dashan racing uh buckety buckes did dashound racing uh we basically copy pasted what we did the first year cuz it went really well yeah uh we did we did chili chili eating comp which is amazing and then uh the very very OG skate shop on pitw road border skate shop uh hosted a Skate demo in the car park and it absolutely went off it was it was amazing it was kind of permission to be quirky it was like permission to celebrate the area like if you're going to Brookie Fest it's like you know everyone has their own connotations and associations and so like there was some awesome stuff and like real ctivity um and again like if you've got a dashound you can race one right and uh if you want to sweat your face off having chilies then that's up to you yeah to put a bit of perspective into it uh like dound racing is the iconic part of Brookie first and I think you can start at 11:00 on the Saturday there were 200 people lined up together into buties 11:00 a.m. on Saturday morning a lot of them yeah and they were full by 11:30 I've never seen it but I'm hoping this video is out there i' imagine it's pretty Dam amazing tiny legs you know there nothing better than that down a little path and it's something I think we've all agreed to a little bit is that we need toh we need to facilitate fun in it's really hard to get people off the couch Netflix is really really good at the moment we need to insert some theater to get punters out on the road and and stuff like dogs r in and chili eating comps and all this other stuff it gets people out out of there well I think what's impressed me as well is the size of most of the places as well like you know photo stuff seen for when we've done stories got listings on crafty pint for the various breweries I guess they're almost like title shops of the bar people enjoy themselves and then I come in here to freshw I'm like [ __ ] this is big and then went to buckes yesterday and like oh this Ang Ang I was expecting but it's you've got your beer garden out the back is big and you you you guys have got loads of space out the front as well as indoors and s give us more venue numbers so so now there is that space to I guess to be creative and do you know interesting stuff and obviously you know Nick's bring in another venue on board it's going to be you know big sports bar kind of thing as well and it's it's been quite amazing like the scope and the the size of places as well yeah and we have and we have the big dogs for Pines in our neighborhood as well so they really they're really able to amplify us as well and they're really they've been amazing their ability to say hey we we want to amplify that the Indie guys in the suburb obviously they they sponsor for Pines Park so that that's a big thing the manly footy games are a huge part of what makes Brook Val tick so it's just been really it's been really cohesive with with a lot of our colleagues yeah and in terms of um I guess I told about a bit before but like just to give people an idea again how close the breweries are like I I sat in buckes yesterday and I was like checking why where they were I think it said from where I was sat sort of Midway down the bar that freshwat was 72 M away you know and then like and you you must be about the same distance if that across the road you you could throw a tennis ball to your next venue that's the easiest way to explain it yeah yeah and is and is that how does that work you know to people are there people locals to who have a favor they always go to or people quite egalitarian you know in in their approach re bit of both yeah I reckon so like I think it you know it's it makes it easier you know this if if you're not and this there always the fomo right so if like there a group of people in here they're having a good time they do get a bit Twitchy after a couple of be and go wonder what else is happening so just it does mean you get that little bit of rotation but then you do have the kind of familiar faces that come in um but I think I think it's one of those things it's better together particularly because it's so close um and and also it's it just makes I don't know it it makes the um experience more interesting because we' all part of the reason why we kind of formed a collective is that if we all know what each other's up to then we can kind of offer something alternative so consumer wins right as a like as a [ __ ] beer frer myself like there's nowhere better to to go because you can go go from A to B to C and know that it's all going to be different yeah like the spaces a look different the you know the the take on things is very different and so it's it's great yeah and I think the Community angle on seeing that hey Johnny I ran out of salt can I I ran out of hops I ran out of went when they see that we're actively working together if I'm to look at a competitor that that might be like Manley which is an unbelievable visitation suburb has beautiful waters on both sides there's no way they're doing that with each other you know what I mean like we can we can do that because we're all small Indie guys we're all working together to make sure that our business run harmoniously johny's like give them a bag of sugar and don't tell them yeah yeah yeah what happened to my margarita Dave from Dad and Daves he is a genuine hero he saved up like you know he's he's got so many irons in the fire doing all sorts of amazing stuff and like if we don't have a specific like specialty Mt on hand it hasn't arrived we thought it was going to arrive yeah Dave's the first person first we go to and that's the kind of thing and he openly says like even when we were you know when you're setting up a brewery and your forklift breaks down yeah fortunately there's enough people that you can go to that might have a forklift which model do I like the best out of all my mates for well just you know advice and that's the good thing about it is that you know there's an open line of communication yeah and and Johnny and I especially over the last year we get to bump heads really really good and ask ourselves some challenging questions about business and it's not uh I'm going to lose patronage if I get some advice off Johnny or vice versa it's just the prosperity of the sub that's the way we look at it yeah that's great and so stepping back a bit how do you sort of view the role of beer tourism within the beer industry now especially that sort of changed landscape because I think there was a lot of talk about it sort of preco and like when we did when strong good beer week we were already pushing there was a lot of visitation from overseas especially new you know um New Zealand and whatever I guess it was an obvious pause and do you think that's a way it's you know an important tool I guess to bring people back into the beer industry yeah absolutely I think I mean you know this is where we're all it's quite easy to just get stuck in your bubble and it's quite easy just to sort of go all right well if we can communicate to this demographic that lives this close um then we can you know get going but I that helps you sort of think a bit differently instead of going oh let's just get our offering right it's like who are we actually really trying to bring in has to fit in the circle is I don't know there's a there's a beach called Manley just over there it's quite a good one they get a lot of right and the number of hotels airbnbs and we're only we that's part of why the Brookie Trail is useful is because you at least you've got something tangible that you can say to a you know one of these big hotels don't push people to go to the hunter Valley come here yeah um and yeah and and that and you know we're speaking to destination New South Wales with you know trying to get better relationship you know just getting on sydney.com th those sort of things as you know they're heaps of hits um that you know we're 5 minutes from you know an Uber from Manley there's a sorry ship ship time yeah we realiz gonna be big we realize that there is a bit of a bigger purpose now about the suburb yeah and to think that we have a bit of a hand in that Fu I'm ched that's cool I think five years from now uh there might be three times as many people that come and visit Brookville yeah and I'll get to have a beer with Johnny and go I'm out look what we've done kind of part of that yeah like we used to be the little skate rats that just used to come and skate in the car park here 20 years ago and look look what this suburb is becoming we can we can see it we're going to keep our eyes on the prize and and it's a slow Burn yeah but the suburb is indeed amplifying for sure and I I had this question before the break saying you know why should beer lovers whether from Sydney or further field come to Brookville but I guess that the enti entire past 15 20 minutes has been if you had one reason say soone you should come to the do the Brookie Trail because I mean I think in the name of that kind of Best of Both Worlds thing is that if you're somebody that is skeptical about crossing the bridge uh and coming this far and you live in marille and go I've got Jimmy heaps of beers here why would I bother it's like make a day of It Go for go for a swim go for a surf and then you've got any style of beer you want available you know like you can discover what what's the latest bus back to the city uh or how much is an Uber how how much do I own the be line is what less like 500 met just this road essentially and 12:30 12:30 and we sh 12 perfect I mean come on how good it's it's I can appreciate It's A Hard Sell because it's a hard sell the other way around like to put it in your calendar and say to your mates hey we're going to do an in West it takes a bit of work to get organized it feels like a bit of a holiday I really sort of go out to the you know great Melbourne's West when you do you gather a few people and you go and do you know visit hot Nation visit you know a few places while you're over there and it's off had a bit of a day out it's a bit of a holiday you know so I love West I I think because we go that way a lot more there's a lot of people obviously commute into the city um not a lot of people this go the other way and so it's just you know psychologically but is that like a bit of a campaign you know make a day of it you know cross the bridge uh this is the times the spit go up so just avoid this this this is a Brookie Trail meeting yeah yeah yeah exactly you taking not I'm I'm not here cons yeah exactly yeah um awesome now I'd love to go back and hear a bit more about the two breweries that you work for as well I'm involved with so we'll take a quick break now and then we'll come back and Shout about freshy and Seventh Day cool we're back with Steve hendo Henderson uh founder of the Rockstar Brewer academy uh for another chat hendo welcome back mate it's great to see you Craig how you doing I'm good I'm good now uh we've spent a bit of time over the last few weeks talking about the Rockstar Brewer Academy and how uh your your coaching your community can help Brewers Brew better beer save time save money um I'd love to talk about if you've got a few different examples of of breweries who' who've come into the program or the community with you know maybe a specific problem maybe uh an objective they're looking to reach um and how how you've gone about that how it's panned out um have you got anything in mind yeah probably a good good one for this week is to talk about a client who had gone through the beer Quality Boot Camp Foundation program had nailed the quality aspect of things but then started to look at the efficiency and optimiz and cost saving things how does that sound perfect yeah yeah awesome so um Mario he's from um Ecuador right and he runs uh a brewery called osia Brewery and he's a longtime client he went through uh the the Foundation program beer Quality Boot Camp was was blown away by the the the the content there that just took his beard to the next level but then you get to the point after you've done that when you go all what's next and in the current economic climate obviously it's going to be about cost reduction and efficiency uh and optimizing your Brewery and so once you finish be Quality Boot Camp you actually go into level two which is called the brewery optimization accelerator and what that does is it it puts in all of the things that help you to save time save money or put money in your till right so to give you a couple examples of the things that Mario did first thing he did was a module we've got in there called formulat killer Flagship lger right so he went from um you know um his his IPA being his biggest seller and wasn't doing great volume implementing formulated killer Flagship lger to his lger you know almost doubling his volume right because it was the beer that that the cons that these drinkers wanted to drink so the next thing that Mario did was um U because he had a lger as his highest volume skew in his Brewery lger yeast is really expensive right and so he was spending about $15 per 50 lit cake just on yeast okay and I said well have you thought about rep pitching East and he said well no I don't really feel confident about that because I don't know how to do it and I don't want to cross-contaminate my beer and put my business at risk and I said well okay come and have a look at and so we we you know we've got a few modules on yeast husbandry and yeast pitching repitching and so he went and implemented those things so his yeast costs right so what he was doing was using dry yeast single pitch and then dumping the yeast we implemented uh a few yeast husbandry modules and he is now able to confidently repitch yeast about six generation six Cycles I prefer to use the word Cycles than Generations so his yeast costs have gone from $15 per keg to 40 cents wow amazing uh that is that is a huge saving it sound I know it sounds too to be true but that's the reality of it if you're if you're a brewer who is getting a brick of of yeast and you're putting in a tank and you're throwing that yeast out you're literally putting money down the drain that to me is worth the price for admission right there I mean you're exactly right it it's tough times out there and uh you know at the end of the day beer is a a fast moving consumer good where margins are very very slim on on every element so if you can save a few dollars on on each item there then um yeah you're in you're winning I guess did their Journey continue or do you have another example there uh around improvements exactly so what Mario did so Mario uh pretty much uh most of his business is in his Brew Pub right uh and which is where most of his Revenue comes from and so after he tackled yeast husbandry and cutting cost there then it was about putting money in his till right and so we have a module in the Brew optimization accelerator called maximize Brew House efficiency so without changing any process apart from looking at um mol and Grist analysis and and and tracking brw housee efficiency with the same amount of raw materials on his 10 Hector liter brew house he was going from 900 lers of work to 1,300 L of w right into the tank and there still fit in the tank right and so what that basically means is that let's let's let's assume that you're an Australian Brewer right and you're paying Aussie beer prices okay in your Tap Room that's about3 to $5,000 of Revenue per Brew per turn right which is money that's just being left on the table and it was so easy to implement as well uh he spent I think it was about $80 on a set of GIS sibs and and and looking at the M Gap and checking a few other things in the brewery and all of a sudden his the amount of of w and therefore beer that he was producing without additional effort Skyrocket it amazing and you know I think um a lot of uh Tap Room owners and operators and Hospitality you know there there's a focus on the venue as like the venue has to make money the brewery has to make money but really for the venue to make money you've got to have your Brewery operating ently hoo thank you so much for the these sessions I'm excited about it if I was a professional Brewer I'd be booking in one of those calls with you straight away um if you are a professional Brewer or even uh you know just interested in taking that journey to professional Brewing uh give hendo a call I cannot recommend it more highly um you can book in a free 15minute calibration call not a sales chat just see if you're a good fit for each other uh just visit Rockstar brew.com calib ation
hendo thank you very much for this this session it's been great thanks Craig thanks for having me all right welcome back guys um bit about you the two breweries so I mean Joel start with you aren you the GM at 7 Day can you tell us like how and why Seventh Day first came to Brookville uh I've been involved with seventh day for two years uh as GM and previous to that I'd worked corporate hospo for the better part of almost 20 years uh seventh day Brewery was a bunch of correct me if I'm wrong you might not know uh School dads and moms from curly primary possibly who uh about seven years ago decided that they wanted to chance their arm at uh opening a brew and I guess at that stage who would have been four Pines Nomad dad and D would have been around that stage yeah that was the only that was the only ones uh Mike who had a production background had been learning with for Pines how to brew beer and all the sides on that uh and so they all came together put put some money together and and opened preco and pretty much Co kicked in straight away yeah uh so it's been uh chalous if it's the right word seven years uh the last two years that I've been involved I probably wanted to tell the guys that hey you're not a mediumsized business we're small okay so we need to so we need to think small yeah and we need to juggle a lot of hats and the same person who does rosters needs to clean toilets and serve beers and work weekend and just like we need to think small like like the Tomato analogy in your fridge you don't want your tomatoes to to run dead so if they're getting there you put it in a pasta like we're just like trying to think like we're really small and maybe don't think towards trying to become medium in the next 5 to 10 years let's just be a really small Punchy profitable business yeah so kind of that's where we are profitable yeah 100% everyone who's listening to this podcast and crafty parant knows a lot about what's happening in the industry and especially mediumsized businesses we want to be small we want to be Punchy we want to be making money we want to be a part of the Small industry we want to think small and Shop small and all of us want to do the same same thing that way uh what do we offer at sth day we're we're really really leaning into live music that's been a big part of the last couple of years live music the northern beaches is so historic so many good bands have come out uh so we just want to Foster that a little bit and just have some fun with it and if the bands are a bit [ __ ] so what let's just have fun with it only one night if the sound isn't so good who cares let's just put these guys on let's them have some fun with it let's have some theater around it uh the beer side of things uh I know Mike was always big on the pills at the start you know exactly and and he still is uh yeah pner and lger are by far our best tap sellers by a country mile uh everything on the ale sour all differential types of beers is there because it serves a purpose uh I like all those kind of lower alcohol weird beers and and there's a lot of punters that do but I still think you're everyday Brookie local is coming in for a logger yeah and there's heaps of good loggers in Brookville every single venue has a has a killer logger of pills yeah um which I guess is a fairly good segue to you Johnny given fresh water it is probably makes 80 or 90% of it been I first met you when you were doing marketing at modus sort of up the road um so sort of I guess what brought you there and then what led you and some of your other Motors colleagues to decide to go out on your own yeah so um yeah I was my background is marketing um it's funny because it's the bit that I'm useless at right now but um uh no time but yeah I I was a massive beer frer home rwer um just I'd worked on done heaps of brand stuff for bigger people so like done lots of things for like Tiger Beer and pill and um yeah some stuff here as well um with lion and you know it was I I love it I love the the marketing side of things but the thing that you find drives you a bit mad is the length of time to go from problem to solution and it was just nice just to get closer to um closer to the action you know there's a number of you can work in a marketing job and never step foot in a brewery you know it's kind of just sell the liquid you know rather than sell the everything else so yeah was working up there in monel um like right at the point where craft beer was um really kicking off like you know from a marketing point of view it was more like here's this beer coming epic beard you want it and then people and you know it was kind of pretty you know marketing's a lot easier when you got a good product to sell um and so yeah and formed some really really tight relationships with some awesome people that I'm still you know they're now dispersed around uh the the beer scene of Australia and we still all really tight niit group of people and along that way uh I was really I was really leaning into loggers from a home brew point of view and like I'd bring in my beers to my the Brew Crew and they were bringing in their beers and we were kind of Che checking different recipes and it was just kind of fun and um the we were drinking them a lot of time in freshy um and so you know it was like CR is like one is it one sub across like there's this bit of a habit in Brook isn't there of naming your Brewery not after Brook there's actually Brook Bell Brewing it's all like which is our favorite there a b Brewery but it's like it's a Heritage brand now um but yeah so obviously we tried to get to freshy but the way it came about was it was I was just cracking beers trying new you know it was either at the time it was either lgas or saon and it was like no Australians AR going to Dr sa they don't really drink P anyway um unless it's calledo exactly or xba um but uh yeah so we um we were just cracking that and it was the name originally was just a holding name it was like coming come to Fresh your breweries kind of like a bit of a joke and then you know when you start kind of going okay what is this thing in your mind it's focusing on beers that are crisp and sessionable post surf post swim with Community etc etc etc and then you sit down and I chat some local designers and went here's here's the name but you know Riff on it and they're like that's a pretty good name uh so we just sto and like I think the thing is is once you put the a suburb as the name you've got to own it you kind of can't half house it and so that's where the community side of it comes in and then and who are the other two modus X Founders then um yeah they'll probably be annoyed with me that I haven't mentioned them but yeah you out of trouble thank you uh so Brett Phillips he's IAD Brewer he's a gun absolute weapon he basically operates single-handedly um to took your some of your ler recipes and went it's all right Johnny leave it with basically I he tried to do the bides yeah exactly no he did he's absolutely killed it and so um yeah Brett's our head Brewer um and then Tom Bruce is our kind of head of sales he started off as like head of venue and then that guy can he can talk so he um he Ste out from out and he's now ah head of sales and kind of you know I think the beauty of knowing we've all known each other for so many years there's small businesses like there not really that clear delineation between you do this and you do this you kind of all get in and muck in and get stuff done and like I don't know what my role is everyone does the [ __ ] work yeah yeah are you cleaning the toilets here as well I have done probably will again when freshy opened uh the height behind it was enormous and I wasn't working in Brookville yet and I came here with my girlfriend and a bunch of mates and we were just like yes yeah just the whole the be and and and it's just it was willing to take a different Avenue in an otherwise really rough around the edge of suburb no this is the angle we're going to go and that's the thing is like when you when you're the first in the area a a long time ago if you're if you're kind of nomad or dad and Dave um whereas we were like we're walking into a an area that's pretty established um so we have to be different and we and you know I've dragged my wife and mates around some breweries over the years and I was like you got to get the toilets right because my wife won't come back you so it's like get that get that stuff right but then also just stand for something that we are and like that's where we've really leaned into the lger like I say grain to Glass I it's a bit cheesy but it's like every step of the way we have the kind of you know the horizontal tanks tapped into the Luca you know it's kind of full full gamut of making sure that if we're going to do it we're going to do it properly um and yeah and the juice Don't Lie the be is epic I mean and the reality is it is it is an education thing it's like when you're talking to people about six pills that's on tap like that's you've got to train your stuff to explain the differences but you know you we've got to stand for something the world is there's enough breweries certainly in BR Brookville but in Australia where you can as I say you can get whatever you want um and so we have people that come in and go hey I want to you know oat cream IPA and we'll say awesome we don't do that road head across the road you know and that's that's awesome and what are we drinking here today I'm drinking Wilbur's Shandy the camera nice little mstr quick quick plug uh I know very little about this but Wilbur is a sandwich shop in Manley and uh he is one of the most hustling little hospo Professionals in the area what's his name uh Rob other known as wombat Little Rob and it's just a reflection of what the suburb is all about like doing collabs with other small businesses coming up with cool ideas having some kind of word around and and story around the stuff that you do and Si up yeah and in terms of like the color palette you've G for here as well like and that sort of Cali you know Beach Vibe kind of thing you got with the murals like where did that come from is that from within the team or did you bring someone in you know put that together so yeah like I I'm a I'm a pretty average graphic designer and uh and so they're all worse than your mark uh terrible both of them yeah they're both pretty yeah I had to get another job anyway so um I was I had a pretty clear vision and when we were chatting to the team it was like we wanted to have these kind of pastel colors and be really approachable um you know be very beachy but also just be like gender agnostic like just s of say you are come here and you know we've got a pink bar and that's signaling on purpose um and the thing is is like I don't know coming into International women's day you kind of go when did beer get labeled a man's drink like that's just I mean there's a lot of evidence as to when it's mainly marketing but we were like we are as a bunch of small businesses we are all welcome to everyone yeah and that was a we kind of wanted to do a bit of subtle signaling of this is what we are and like the colors and the palette is just positive optimistic you know an alternative um and and that goes through all our deal and cans and you know we've got P can here funny enough um and we just you know we that's kind of we wanted it to look like beer but slightly not um again because you want to stand out on shelf so it all hopefully ties in yeah yeah oh no has it's a beautiful like and distinctive feel yeah um are you gonna go to what else I was say what you were saying before about how a few more years under about seventh day and you're saying howy you sort of came in and said to the team look we need to think a bit smaller and is has there been that sort of need to keep evolving whether it's the beers or just the offering or the brand or whatever to stay relevant yeah uh every week every Monday it's almost like a blank sheet of A4 comes out and well how can we approve each other this very week how can we get more punters down this Saturday to come and experience something new in Brookville so we never want to think we're on top of our game we want to start every single week fresh let's go 100 miles an hour uh what have we changed in venue uh I've spent a lot of time on deor and it's something that I have previously been really interested in just at home but I didn't really realize that it'd be really important in a venue yeah we were admiring all the uh the bits and pieces around the the shelving on the walls yesterday like the joke is like that we're kind of like a Galleria and if you come in every two weeks Johnny says it he's like always I'm always interested to see what new [ __ ] you got on the wall have some fun with it I have a work from home day on a Thursday and I have my little one-year-old so it's kind of fun that I just throw him on the little bag and we go to the charity shops and find some funny stuff that's going to become part of the aesthetic at 7th Day breu yeah I remember when before the GB which was iconic Richmond Hotel in in Melbourne sort of the rent was height and they moved down the road to different place it'd been there maybe 16 17 years and you go in there and you it felt like this organic being that had like a life of its own and like only there's like the staff or regular have been there for a long time could tell you when a certain thing had gone on the wall or how that happened but you still go in and even as a relative newcomer to it you'd be like this just feels like a living Beast that has its own personality Beyond like being a bar with walls and a roof it's like it's it's beyond the people and and it's actually it's got something yeah and I always liked kind of vintage surfboards and vintage clothes and fashion and all that kind of stuff I never thought of it I never thought of it from an ethical point I just thought that it was cool and I was into that kind of stuff uh and now I'm kind of like oh it's also ethical I can buy vintage t-shirts and get them printed and it's a good it's a good story as well so a lot of the junk that we've bought in house is just all repurpose stuff uh and you're right people come in and they're like oh like a couple of weeks ago a lady came in and she was like oh uh I believe that you have a couch from my granddad who passed away here and I was was like yeah off Market pleas and she's like yeah yeah yeah oh there it is it's over there and she came over and sat down on it he wasn't on the couch time he picked it up I don't think so we never wash the couch so we probably should yeah but no so yeah does it becomes it's very noticeable we stood at the bar what before we went outside for five minutes you can't stop looking around and sort of taking in you even if you can't work out what some of the stuff is it's the cohesion isn't there it's just like [ __ ] that we like or we think we like I think from an outsider's point of view I think you you kind of know what you walk into I think you've got you've like you are curating we're trying to show a bit of vulnerability in our own taste CLE like skateboards yeah like we're like this is we're into this [ __ ] are you guys into this [ __ ] oh cool like this is we're into this kind of music as well like we're in we're into surfing as well are you into surfing oh cool you'll probably like our place yeah nice so before we get to my the the past present future Tri of question to finish with just if people are listening or watching from somewhere else in Australia how far how far and why do you sell when your beers are you mostly just Sydney brands in terms of like drro uh and do you have like online store if people want to sort of get beers elsewhere like or do you have a bit of you know wider dist of your beers yeah I think I'm back to what Joel was saying we we've it's all about profitability and I think like when it comes down to it what we are like 2024 was a bit of a weird year and you know people had less money in their pocket and so we spent a bit of time kind of figuring out where we were so we've definitely gone way more local and's a hard Jack it's hard to make money on a can everyone knows it yeah but also like what do you stand for as well and I think that's the thing is like we are all pretty pretty local breweries and so we barely see us over the bridge like we all like Northshore and um northern Beach is is kind of our thing um 98% I'd say and then we do thing you know be a cartel here and there but pretty much um or like a tap takeover like you know but it pretty much it's we're on we're over here and I think that with this many breweries around yeah um I think also not knowing what every year looks like you kind at least if you're Consolidated and you know there's room to grow yeah it's it's kind of interesting like you're try and flog beard to manly but they're kind of like well if I tell people that the beers from Brook Val they might go and drink in Brook Val next time so Manley's a tricky a really tricky one to go manle anywhere in between kind of like Northshore Mossman that's that's a little bit closer towards inner West there's a little hot spot in there once you start getting over to the inner West there's a little bit of like oh no I'm down with the in West so and we totally get that uh and Johnny and I haven't even touched on the whole which your podcast has has nailed really really hard the whole tap percentages of trying to flog beer to a place that has one beer out of 20 on tap yeah and 100 local bre's trying to get that one tap you know and someone's probably going in at $200 a k
2025-03-19 20:06
