Beers
14 Mar 2024
$15-million brewing collaboration centre announced for Brisbane
An application to build a new $15-million collaborative brewing centre was lodged with the Brisbane City Council last week.
Owner Shaun Lockwood sees the Morningside facility as an incubator brewery for up and coming brewers, contract and gypsy brewers, and for existing brewers needing more capacity and local production.
Lockwood also hopes that the hub will suit hospitality chains looking for their own beer brands and even festival and event producers looking for their own event-specific beer.
“A lot of contract brewers choose to brew at other people’s breweries because they can’t afford to build their own brewery,” he said.
“We can guarantee them the capacity and give them the confidence to focus on selling beer.”
Lockwood said the facility will also enable interstate brewers to brew their recipes in Queensland for the Queensland market.
“Freight costs a lot to move beer cold and keep it fresh, if interstate breweries want to supply Queensland customers without shipping their beer around the country they can brew 40 kegs with us and get the freshest beer possible into the Queensland market.”
Despite only lodging his application last week Lockwood is “100 per cent” confident that it will go through and hopes to get approval within two to three weeks.
He said he has already had interest from contract and gypsy brewers, which if the uptake eventuates will help utilise the 200,000-litre capacity facility.
“We would have three brew kits of varying sizes operating at any one time, which will allow up to five brewers a day with three brewers working side by side.”
The facility has the potential to operate 24-hours a day.
“We have an opportunity to fully back the Australian craft beer sector.”
British-born Lockwood says he’s been homebrewing for almost 30 years.
“The Australian beer scene was pretty dire 10 to 15 years ago and couldn’t compare to the smorgasboard of craft beers on tap at pubs in the UK.”
“If you can’t buy it make it, right? Or built it.”
The Morningside facility is scheduled to open in December 2018.
