Brick Lane Brewing Co has been announced as the official beer sponsor of the Melbourne Rebels rugby union team, the brewery’s second sponsorship deal leveraging its founders’ sporting ties.

The Rebels deal follows the March announcement that Brick Lane had become the official beer sponsor for Melbourne Storm, which is co-owned by sports agent Bart Campbell, who is also the biggest shareholder in Brick Lane.

But there are no deeper ties between Brick Lane and the Rebels beyond the fact that the brewery considers Melbourne its heartland, and its shareholders include former rugby players Tim Horan and Dan Carter, co-founder Paul Bowker told Brews News.

Brick Lane co-founder Paul Bowker celebrates the new partnership with the Melbourne Rebels

“They also play at AAMI Park and that whole area is a bit of a focus for us, the Richmond area in particular,” he said.

“We’re starting to get really good traction around there, so it makes sense to support teams that are based around that locality.

“And, probably a bit like us, the Rebels are sort of in start-up mode after a bit of a rocky patch. We looked at them and thought, ‘that’s a brand we can probably grow with’,” said Bowker.

He said the Rebels sponsorship is similar in nature to that of the Storm deal, including some on-ground signage, pourage at post-match functions and access to players for promotional purposes.

Bowker said building and works at Brick Lane’s Dandenong site is rapidly progressing. The brewhouse will be lifted into place next week and the facility is expected to be operational by August 2018.