The Mid Kid Grows Up

We continue our expose of Australian craft breweries from last issue (Dec.’06 Honing the Craft) by looking at the middle level sized breweries. The pub breweries and micro’s, as a rule, brew less than half a million litres per year, so we’ll concentrate on breweries making more than that, but less then 80 million litres per year.

To provide a mental picture of this group of breweries, think of the ‘middle child syndrome’ in a family hierarchy. Any mum or dad knows what I’m talking about. The youngest (micro and pub breweries) complain that ‘mid kid’ get all the attention and advantages while they struggle for the scraps, whilst the oldest (big breweries) whinge that they don’t carry their weight and always have to help them with the chores around the place. In other words, the middle level breweries are in a ‘no win’ situation. The small guys are quick to mention the help the mids get from their relationships with the big breweries, while the bigs are less than impressed with their sales figures and incessant requests for increased advertising, marketing, and distribution. Like I said, they’re damned if they do and damn if they don’t.

The business plan for craft breweries worldwide is to create core brands plus limited release/seasonal beers to spice up their portfolio. The first task is to get your products ranged in the market and build the core brand to allow for expansion. It is paramount that once a craft brewery has established public interest in their product, that they are able to meet the demand. Many a small brewery has been doomed by this simple business practice, and the principle is the most significant factor for an alliance with a big brewery. With this in mind, let’s look at the leading lights in this category

Starting with the up and comers, Managing Director of Gage Roads Brewing Co. Peter Nolan began his passion for craft brewing from humble beginnings at the Sail & Anchor pub brewery in Fremantle, West Australia. “I was hired as a casual bartender with the opportunity to assist in the brewery. Within six months I was the technical brewer, taking over as head brewer eighteen months later. While running the brewery with colleague Bill Hoedemaker, we increased the capacity, doubled the range and took what was viewed purely as a marketing tool and turned it into a profitable division of the company. When I left the Sail to set up Gage Roads in 2002, my partner and I were the most highly awarded craft brewing team in the country.” Gage Roads Brewing Co opened in December of 2003, and over the next eighteen months, I coordinated the search for a location and suitable brewing equipment, developed our corporate logo and product branding, and hired key personnel for operations, marketing and sales. Our first brand launched on draught in June 2005.

Their current brewing capacity is 2 million litres per annum, scalable to 5 million with a brew length in their 40 hectolitre brewery at 4,000 litres per batch. GRB recently increased the capacity of the brewery by installing two more quadruple fermenters (160 hectolitres each) and a dual purpose fermenter/bright beer tank (160 hectolitres) and upgraded three lagering tanks from doubles to quadruples (80 hectolitres to 160 hectolitres). All three bottled products, their Pure Malt Lager , midstrength PILS and the IPA are distributed nationally by Hardy Wine Company and are available in most good bottle shops with a fast growing presence in on-premise outlets

According to Nolan “This is going to be a big year for Gage Roads. Last year we focused on commissioning the brewery, launching our flagship range and establishing our distribution in WA. The foundations have now been laid to support national distribution and we’re excited by the reception the brand has had in the east coast markets. In 2007 the focus will be on raising awareness nationally of the Gage Roads philosophy of producing all natural, world class Australian beer. One of the exciting things for us is to be out there competing on a national scale with the mega-brewers and international brands as a dynamic independent Australian craft brewery. When Bill and I set up Gage Roads our goal was to launch a range of all natural craft brewed beers brewed to a world class standard and make them available in restaurants and bottle shops nationwide. It is great to be part of that dream becoming a reality. The growth of pub brewing around the country will fuel the trend towards better beer by educating the public and Gage Roads will be waiting for these new customers in the bottle shop.

The Bluetongue Brewery in Newcastle, NSW began their journey at the popular local pub brewery (Queens Wharf Brewery) and created a local following for their unusual Ginger Beer. Moving off premise, their continued development is quite impressive. Their brewing capacity has increased to 6 million litres per year and currently churning out about 110,000 liters a week consisting of tap and pack, a breakdown of approx 500 kegs a week and 10000 cartons. Bluetongue are about to take back the distribution off Tyrrell Wines and take it into there own hands as of April 1. They will start off with a sales force on the Eastern Seaboard with reps based in NSW, QLD and VIC. Bluetongue is currently available on tap in 160 venues within Sydney and the Hunter region.

On Christmas Eve 2005, Bluetongue took on advertising guru John Singleton and merchant banker Mark Carnegie as a 50% shareholder, and as a result, a few major highlights have occurred. They signed a deal with the Outback Steakhouse chains in America, where we have been earmarked for 454 nationwide. Bluetongue Draught, alongside with Toomey’s New, have been selected as the two Australian beers to be served on tap. Bluetongue Traditional Pilsener in packaged form has also been included in the new range for Outback Steakhouses. It has been confirmed that they would like all 800+ stores to stock both Bluetongue products by January 01, 2007. Bluetongue also engineered two major publicity events in 2006. The first Singleton extravaganza was sponsoring The Sea Shepherd in an Anti Whaling Campaign, where a $1 from every carton goes towards the Sea Shepherd and Bond Blonde was launched by Paris Hilton on New Years day. Exposure was achieved in every media form nationally, and a TV commercial for Bondi Blonde will be released later this year. They are also expanding their sponsorship portfolio to include a 5 year sponsorship deal with the Newcastle Knights, Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium, and Beer supplier for Wyong Racetrack, Kristie Newton female golfer, and the Jack Newton Celebrity Golf Classic.

New product lines to compliment the core brands of pilsener and ginger beer include the afore mentioned Bondi Blonde, a low carb preservative free lager at 5.4% ABV, Hunter Draught, a 375ml brown bottle, mainstream draught beer, and Hunter Old, a 375 ml bottled black beer.

Two of the major ‘movers and shakers’ in the middleweight division are Matilda Bay and Malt Shovel breweries. Both enjoy a close association with major breweries, but employ very different approaches towards ranging their unusual products.

Matilda Bay was established in Fremantle WA in 1984, and over two decades has continued to push the boundaries of craft brewing to create new beers that challenge the Australian drinker while continuing to produce to the highest quality core range beers, Redback Original, Beez Neez, Rooftop Red Lager, and Bohemian Pilsener. Their ‘beer lab’, called “the garage’ is located in Melbourne where Malt, Hops and Water Guy’ Brad Rogers conjures up their range of ‘out there beers.

Last year, Matilda Bay released two outstanding examples of craft brewing; Barking Duck and Crema. Barking Duck is based on the saison style beers from Belgium; otherwise know as farmhouse ales, while Crema was a world first, a coffee flavoured beer, brewed using organic Australian beans. The early success of Barking Duck, including being judged third in the world at the 2006 World Beer Cup in the US has meant it will be re-released for a limited time on tap at selected venues across Australia from the 1st of February, and for the first time the beer will also be available in pack from bottle shops in 750ml bottles.

The recently released Redback Cristal is designed to appeal to a broad spectrum of drinkers, including those that are just starting their craft beer journey. “Cristal is an excellent introduction to craft beer and wheat beer in particular. The fresh, easy drinking style will appeal to people who perhaps haven’t tasted wheat beers before, and it’s a seriously refreshing style for summer” said Brad. Redback Cristal is also the first Australian craft beer to appear in a clear glass bottle, a look that is designed to “let the wheat shine through.”

This isn’t the only ground-breaking packaging idea that Matilda Bay has introduced – late 2006 saw their Bohemian Pilsner enter the market as a longneck 640ml ‘dinner serve’ bottle created for people to share between friends or take out to dinner at a restaurant

The Malt Shovel Brewery was founded by pioneer Brewmaster Chuck Hahn in September 1998 at Camperdown, Sydney, in tribute to James Squire, Australia’s first brewer. Its flagship James Squire Original Amber Ale was followed by Pilsener, Porter and India Pale Ale. Following the successful launch of James Squire Limited Release Golden Ale in summer 2004, Malt Shovel has permanently added the beer to its core range of craft brews. James Squire Golden Ale’s distinctive golden/orange colour is achieved by adding a touch of Carapils, a good proportion (30%) of wheat malt ensures a well measured tart finish that is rounded out with amarillo hops (22BU’s). James Squire brewers targeted 4.5% ABV to take the edge off it and create something a little more approachable, especially for the warmer months

In addition to the core James Squire range, limited release beers are brewed each year in summer and winter. Their method of experimentation is to facilitate styles created at their James Squire Brewhouses in Sydney and Melbourne. Last years Rum Rebellion Porter proved a big success. Utilising the rum barrel aging process, the innovative Malt Shovel brewers created a very distinctive flavour profile of ‘earthy vanilla undertone of oak with residual rum flavour.

This year craft beer enthusiasts can look forward to the re-release of their distinctive Hop Thief, a secret selection of hops providing a passionfruit tang. Hop Thief provides a backdrop malty smoothness to ‘cushion’ the impact of two American hop varieties never tasted in Australia before.

Tasmanian rivals J.Boag & Son and Cascade complete our list at the upper level. J. Boag & Sons Brewery has been around for over 125 years, yet only seriously available outside of Tasmania for the last 12 years since the launch of James Boag’s Premium Lager. The Brewer has developed a reputation for brewing premium quality lagers and currently produces around 50,000,000 litres of beer, giving it 2.5% of the Australian beer market. Boag’s experienced some strong growth in ‘06, spear-headed by its newer national brands, Boag’s Draught which grew at 25% and Boag’s St George which grew at 42%.The state break-up of Boag’s Sales is Tasmania –34%, Victoria – 22%, NSW – 20%, QLD – 12%, WA – 8%, and SA – 4%

The Brewer has big plans to more than double their current brewery capacity with the addition of a new brewhouse in the next couple of years. Director of Sales & Marketing, Lyndon Adams said, “We believe there is no better place on Earth than Tasmania to produce premium quality beers. The purity of the ingredients produced in this State, particularly the water certainly gives us an advantage over Europe, Asia, and America and even we think the rest of Australia.”

“Our aim over the next few years is to consolidate our reputation in Australia, grow our volume through our increased portfolio range and extend our brand reputation into new export markets, in particular North America. We have recently sent a container of recyclable kegs full of Boag’s Draught across to the US. This is a trial for us, using this relatively new technology, but if it proves successful, it will certainly open up markets for us that we’ve previously not been able to economically provide our keg product to. James Boag’s Premium is also finding some strong success in the U.S., now being widely distributed across most states.”

Plans for 2007 include a new advertising campaign for James Boag’s Premium which will be launched in May. The new ad is a continuation of the “Who is James Boag?” series. A new viral, radio and outdoor campaigns for Boag’s St George will be progressively released throughout the year, all still featuring the theme of gallantry

Unfortunately, due to the expansion of the brewery, the seasonal Honey porter will not be released in ’07,but there are some surprises on the horizon. The rumour is that Boag’s will be putting a competitor into the growing low carbohydrate category. Whilst low in carbohydrates, Boag’s will put their signature on the flavour of this new brand, which should be in the market in the first half of this year. Boag’s also have a new ale planned to be launched mid year. This beer may be a limited release outside of Tasmania. It is a traditional English ale, brewed with East Kent Goldings hops and will be a strong showcase for the skills of the Boag’s brewing team

More than just a brewery, Cascade Brewery Co has been integral to Tasmania’s community since founded in 1824 by Mr Peter Degraves, and endures today as a rich part of Australia’s history. His Cascade Brewery was renowned in the 1800s throughout the Australian colonies, and continues to thrive as Australia’s oldest brewery.

“The history of the Cascade Brewery Co is something we are immensely proud of and we’re happy to be honouring Peter Degraves for his vision over 180 years ago,” said Dominic Baker, General Manager, Cascade Brewery Co. Degraves fostered a legacy, built from his commitment to consistency, purity and quality, and Cascade continues his passion today. Cascade Premium Lager and Cascade Premium Light showcase the perfection of fine Tasmanian ingredients when handled by expert brewers.

Cascade Pale Ale, Australia’s oldest continually brewed beer, and Cascade Special Stout have also been iconic beers since first brewed in the 1850’s. These beers, unchanged, now form part of a permanent range dedicated to Peter Degraves. The collection groups together Pale Ale, Stout and newcomers Amber Ale and Blonde Lager which pay tribute to Cascade’s highly successful seasonal beer favourites that are now permanently available. Each beer has its own unique story, inspired by the characters that have been a part of Cascade’s colourful and rich past.

Our brewers still love to experiment with the freshest local ingredients available and the successful seasonal format will continue. Cascade will continue crafting small batch brews at different times of the year, known as Cascade Limited Releases. Cascade First Harvest, which has delighted beer lovers since first brewed in 2002, will naturally be a part of this range. The 2007 Cascade First Harvest will include the following hops: Explorer (for bitterness at the start of boil), Leggett (for flavour 60 min into boil) and Galaxy (for aroma 5min before end of boil). Explorer and Leggett are new research hops and we will be using virtually the entire crop, and along with Galaxy they were developed by the late Grey Leggett. We will include a commemoration to brewer Mr Leggett who sadly passed away last year. The style of brew will be the same as previous.