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Young Henrys co-founder Ian Atkins has signed a deal linking up his Margaret River brewery, The Beer Farm, with a leading WA events company to create a new beer and cider brand, ‘Otherside’.
The initial Otherside range includes a Lager, a modern Australian Bitter, A Brown Ale and The OtherCider, produced using apples from WA’s south west.
This range along with seasonals and other one-offs will pour at The Beer Farm and events and venues managed by its new joint venture partner, Sunset Events, as well as being distributed externally in WA.
Sunset is renowned throughout WA for staging festivals including Groovin’ The Moo, St Jeromes Laneway and Southbound.
“They’ve tried to create an exceptional experience through music, I’ve tried to do it with beer production. By welding the two together, we hope that we will increase peoples’ experiences,” Atkins told Australian Brews News.
“Some of the other things we want to get involved with include helping the food truck movement. At the end of the day if you’ve got food, music and beer, other than love, there’s not much that people want.”
Josh Thomas, formerly of Barossa Valley Brewing Company and fellow Margaret River outfit Bush Shack Brewery, is head brewer at The Beer Farm, where Otherside will be produced.
With a canning line already in place at the brewery, Atkins expects to have cans on the market within a couple of months, once artwork is finalised.
Atkins stressed that Otherside’s relationship with Sunset Events will not preclude other local breweries from its venues and festivals.
“Part of my philosophy is we’re not here to railroad anybody. We believe that our beer stands up on its own merits… want to showcase it against the rest,” he said.
Otherside will be launched this weekend at Fremantle venue J Shed, a venue managed by Sunset as of 2015 under a 21-year lease with City of Fremantle.