The Bintani Brewery Radar keeps the brewing industry up to date with the progress of planned breweries and brewpubs in Australia, where they are in their development process, the installation of brewhouses and proposed opening dates. This month, despite the major upheaval caused across the industry by the COVID-19 pandemic, breweries-in-planning are cracking on and taking delays in their stride.

---

Western Australia

The Swan Valley’s Bailey Brewing Co is full steam ahead with exteriors completed from recycled brick. Co-founder Steve Bailey said they had taken on a head brewer, Damien Bussemaker, who previously worked at Ogdens Brewery in the Windsor Hotel in South Perth, as well as Elmars in the Valley and Mash Brewing.

“Damo is an experienced and innovative WA brewer and we are excited to have him leading our team, not to mention he’s a good bloke,” Bailey said.

Development of the core range has begun and will consist of a selection of “simple yet flavourful” beers, and plans remain on track for opening in late 2020.

Busselton’s Shelter Brewing is very close to finishing its build. Solar panels have been installed and flooring has been laid in the function room, and it should be at lock up stage in the next two weeks.

New general manager Paul Maley has been appointed to the venue which is on track to open its doors in Spring 2020.

“I’m very excited to join this amazing project and new business and along with the Credaro and Packard-Hair families and I can’t wait to help create a local institution on the beautiful foreshore in Busselton.

“I have a great affinity with this stunning location – look at the views, it doesn’t get much better than that,” said Maley.

South Australia

Woolstore Brewery in Mount Gambier will be opening before the end of the year, but is currently on hold until restrictions are fully lifted.

Plans for a brewery in the Adelaide Casino were launched earlier this year after the owners submitted a development application to the council. Brews News has contacted the Adelaide Casino but there is no word yet on whether there will be a known industry brand or brewer. Following approvals, the microbrewery could be open by October 2020.

A $1.5 million development in Verdun in the Adelaide Hills will include a new brewery, to replace Grumpy’s Brewhaus which was nearly fully destroyed by a fire in 2016. Udder Delights Cheese Cellar is taking on the project.

Reports say that the project is in its early stages and it is not clear if there will be an existing brand or a newly-developed brand taking over the brewery.

Queensland

Now that COVID-19 restrictions are being lifted, Bobs Beer at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast can get underway again. It’s currently in its build phase and builders are expecting to get the green light to restart work soon.

Once the green light is received, it will take approximately six weeks to get the brewery installed and ready for brewing, and 10 weeks to finish the venue and kitchen.

Brewer Ryan Fullerton told Brews News Bobs was looking at an August launch at the earliest.

“I’ve been brewing myself silly, and I’m quietly confident that the beers are going to be on point from day one,” he said.

Revel Brewing’s second site in Bulimba on Oxford Road is going ahead, with plans to open towards the end of 2020.

It’s looking up for Stalwart Brewing Co on the Sunshine Coast, having taken advantage of a Nambour council entertainment zoning area. The bar, restaurant and future microbrewery will be opening its doors as a taproom on Saturday 18th July as the pub restrictions in stage three of the government’s roadmap.

Founder Adam Tomlinson also received official approval from Nambour Council at the beginning of May to set up a microbrewery in the pub, a process which Tomlinson said took six months.

Plumbing approval for the brewery is next up, followed by cutting in floor drains and getting them epoxied. Next step will be bringing the tanks in, so the brewery should be up and running in a matter of weeks, he said.

Plans for a brewery in Miami have been submitted to the Gold Coast City Council. The Brewery Lane development will include a restaurant as well as a microbrewery and offices.

Quarry Road Beer Company in Brisbane is going through legals and the founders will be announcing more details in the coming weeks.

According to founder Mike Clarke, Sauce Brewing’s Cairns site is still going ahead, although they are spending the downtime during COVID-19 tweaking the business plan for the site, and once there is more certainty around travel and venue restrictions, decisions can be made on opening dates.

In the meantime, Clarke and the team are focusing on the original Marrickville site in the wake of some restrictions easing.

Moffat Beach Brewing is close to opening a second venue on the Sunshine Coast. Matt and Sharynne Wilson have seen such demand for their products, currently brewed in their Caloundra site on a 300L kit, that they signed onto a bigger second venue.

The brewery, which started as a cafe and microbrewery, has won a number of awards most recently winning Grand Champion Beer at the Royal Queensland Food and Wine Show and is now looking to expand.

“When we first put out our little brewery on the beach at Moffs, we thought we’d sit here on the beach and run a little brewpub,” said Wilson.

“We were quite content doing that but pretty much from day one we haven’t been able to keep up and we haven’t been able to sell packaged beer at all until we started doing gypsy brewing.”

Moffat Beach have acquired the new building located on the way into Caloundra from the Bruce Highway, and plans to install a brewery on site have been approved by council.

They are stockpiling beer to ensure they have enough for a soft opening which they are hoping will be in August, with the new 20hL brewkit from Tiantai expected to come online by the end of 2020.

“We’re pretty excited. It will look cool in there, and we’ve just finished polishing the concrete floors, the toilets are done, we’ve got a refrigerated shipping container, 20 taps and a funky mural on it. The landlord has told us if we do grow we can take some more of that space. I can’t wait,” said Wilson.

Cauldron Brewing at Hervey Bay is still going ahead, although founder Martin Potter said it may have been a very different story if COVID-19 had landed two months earlier.

He said they might have considered shelving the project for another two years, but had already invested a considerable amount in the project, in rent, approvals and consultants.

“At the moment, we can soldier on, get the job done, plan for the worst and work for the best or we can sit in the corner rocking,” said Potter.

“The venue itself may not open with the practicalities we planned or aesthetic we hoped for, but we can make that evolve over time as the world around us heals. End of the day it’s about good beer and food.”

However Potter said they had experienced rising costs and a few nasty surprises with utilities upgrades over the three-year planning period.

“In essence, the brewery is the easy bit. Converting an existing building to house it isn’t a major issue nor expense, but the commercial kitchen that’s become essential and integral to the project has been a money hungry beast, adding about $225,000 to the overall cost,” he explained.

The build of the brewery equipment has progressed faster than planned, and the brewery is due to ship on 2nd June.

Highline Brewing on the Gold Coast is in the planning stages, having been founded by Mat Hislop, along with business partners Nigel Fahey and Jarred Brown.

The trio have been brewing for a number of years, and in the last year have been studying the process, experimenting with recipes and developing their brewing skills and are in the research and development stage. They will be starting small in terms of size and launching the licensing process.

However Hislop explained that they would then want to ramp up the project and get a head brewer in.

“It is a nice thought to think that one day, Highline Brewing could be a fully operational microbrewery with tap house bar, also supplying local bars and bottle shops,” said Hislop

“But that would be the height of our goals with Highline and we would be more than happy with any way it goes, just as long as we can all have some fun brewing some good beers and equally as much drinking them with our mates.”

The team wants to lock down premises by 2021 and have a small 500L brewkit installed. By 2022 the plan is to get a taphouse up and running.

 

The team at Straddie Brewing Co have suffered several construction delays on the brewhouse and taproom in Dunwich due to COVID-19, which closed the island to visitors for two months.

With no brewery in sight, Sydes has turned to Brisbane brewery Ballistic in Salisbury. Sydes said that they wanted to work with Ballistic because it has a reverse osmosis filtration equipment at their Salisbury site which will ensure they can reproduce Straddie’s water profile.

It has now released its first lager, a Bohemian Pilsner, after head brewer Andrew Sydnes spent the last six months developing their core range which will include Amity Pale Ale, Jumpinpin India Pale Ale, Mid Track Session Ale, Myora Springs Gose, and Dunwich Saison.

Point Lookout Lager will be available to purchase from Straddie Brewing Co’s online store, licenced Island venues and select retail outlets in the Brisbane area from July, 2020.

Straddie will continue to release beers until their island site is built, which is now planned for early 2021.

Easy Times Brewing Co in Brisbane is still planned for the Gabba.

Victoria

Bendigo Brewing has submitted a planning application to the local council to launch a brewpub on McCrae Street in the town.

Alyssa Tucker, one of six directors of the new business, all mates from the town from a diverse range of industries, said that the team had received planning approval for the site.

The brewery will be a full brewpub with a kitchen and a basement bar, based in the site of a former gym and also a brewery in the 1800s called Kent Brewery, according to Tucker.

“There are a few breweries but no brewpubs, and over 60 venues that now sell craft beer in Bendigo, so it’s a big thing here,” she said.

“We’re all locals that got together and we spent a lot of time looking for the right site and we’re starting from scratch as a side project, but beer brought us together.”

All going well, Bendigo Brewing should open in early 2021.

Local councillors gave Deeds Brewingpreliminary approvals for their taproom in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Iris after a five-year process last month.

John Street Brewing Co is set to open before the end of the year in Melbourne.

Kaiju Beer is set to open a taproom before the end of 2020, as is Hop Nation‘s proposed second Footscray site, whilst Frankston Brewhouse is still in the works, and is on track for a mid-2020 opening.

New South Wales

Botany in NSW is due to get a new brewery and taproom with the launch of Slow Lane Brewing. Brainchild of Yvonne and Alex Jarman. It is set to open in Botany by September.

Founders Yvonne and Alex Jarman received planning approval in May 2019, and spent the last half of the year setting up brewing equipment.

The Jarmans have been brewing since January, as Slow Lane beers take longer than typical to produce as they are all can conditioned, and the brewers do a lot of mixed fermentation and barrel aging. They released their first beers in May, with a tasting room on Byrnes Street set to be open later this year.

In an update to the ASX in March, WA’s Gage Roads Brewing Co said that the Atomic Beer Project venue would be complete by April but that it would be delaying its opening date due to COVID-19. It is unclear if this is still the case although Brews News has been in touch with Gage Roads to confirm.

The founders of Bucketty Brewing which earlier this year made the decision to open its new site in Brookvale in the Northern Beaches rather than the regional town of Bucketty after rural zoning regulations scuppered the team’s original plans.

Bucketty’s co-founder Nick McDonald said that they are working with the council on the new site sorting out issues like parking, but he was hopeful that it would be worked out, although the Bucketty start date has been pushed to the end of the year due to COVID-19-related issues.

In Marrickville, Philter Brewing is finally setting down some roots after three years of looking for the perfect permanent home.

The tanks and brewhouse are in and the rest of the site is coming along nicely and it are planning on being open and operational in early July.

Dad & Dave’s Brewing in Brookvale is facing a big setback unrelated to COVID-19, with more news to come. In happier news, the brewers released an Oak & Whiskey Porter and Yuzu Sour made with gin from the same fruit.

Bull Road Brewery in the regional Riverina Plains town of Coleambally is heading for a late 2020 opening, as the team built their own brewkit, accoring to brewer and co-founder Benedikt Fischer.

Modus Operandi’s second site in Newcastle is still in the works.

ACT

Govinder “Gov” Toor of Wignall Brewery said that the team had hoped to be up and running by now, and are currently working on finishing the brewery’s glycol plumbing. He is hoping that it will be open by July at the Potbelly Bar in Belconnen ACT.

Tasmania

Communion Brewing in Burnie is on ice as the COVID-19 situation plays out, as founder Andrew Turner focuses on his existing business.

---

If you have – or know of – brewery-in-planning, let us know.