Big Shed Brewing have appointed voluntary administrators, becoming the second Australian brewing company to do so this week, following Hawkers' announcement on Monday.
The Adelaide-based operation, which launched in late 2012 and had grown to become one of South Australia's biggest breweries, brought in specialist insolvency and restructuring firm Heard Phillips Lieberenz as they look to restructure their finances.
Co-founder Jason Harris said the challenges facing the brewery can be traced back to 2019, when they invested heavily in the business after moving from their original home to their current one in Royal Park
Describing the past few years as "a rough ride", he told The Crafty Pint: "We invested in the expansion of the business just prior to Covid, leasing a brand new site and a brand new everything. That was the start of it all, however, shortly thereafter, we were hit by a series of one-off events such as global pandemic, rising interest rates, etc."
They implemented a series of cost-saving measures coming into summer which they said, together with increased trade, helped the business; however, Jason says it wasn’t going to be enough once the summer season ended.
"We have a viable business which is being held back by debts incurred during Covid," he added. "With the peak season coming to an end we knew we were going to face further challenges.
"We decided the best way to ensure that we will be here for the long haul was to call it early to ensure we give ourselves the best possible opportunity to come out on the other side stronger, making the best of this for our staff and our creditors.
"What this industry needs now more than ever, is the support of its community. We learned through the shutdowns just what this community means to people so, if you do have the means, get around your local independent brewery, as we all need your support.”
Big Shed become the third independent brewing company to enter administration in 2024 – Wayward Brewing were the first on January 2 – with several other businesses going through the process since the second half of 2022.
In a statement announcing the move, administrator Mark Lieberenz said: “We are open for business and look forward to continue brewing the full range of Big Shed beers and welcoming customers at the Big Shed.”
Brewery co-founder Craig Basford added: "We appreciate this comes as cold comfort but we will be doing everything we can to get the best possible outcome for our creditors too. We want them to see the light at the end of the tunnel as much as we do. What we need now more than ever is the support of our community of beer drinkers, those who want see Big Shed around for the long haul."
We examined the ongoing spate of voluntary administrations in Where To From Here For Local Beer? yesterday: the root causes and the impact it is having on the wider beer world. The Independent Brewers Association (IBA) is calling on the Federal Government to take steps to ease the pain on small brewers after a number of years in which they've been hit by one major challenge after another.
Media Release: Voluntary Administrators Appointed to Big Shed Brewing
On 13 February 2024 Mark Lieberenz and Anthony Phillips of specialist insolvency and restructuring firm Heard Phillips Lieberenz were appointed the Administrators of this micro brewer located in Royal Park.
The Administrators are continuing to trade the business as normal and are working closely with the founders of the business to restructure the operations of the company and to come to terms with creditors.
Mr Lieberenz said: “We are open for business and look forward to continue brewing the full range of Big Shed beers and welcoming customers at the Big Shed.
“We are delighted to be working with a staff and management team who feel as passionate about their business as they are about their products,” said Mr Lieberenz.
Co-Founder Craig Basford added “While no-one ever wants to be in this situation, we know that its necessary for our staff and business. We invested heavily in our business expansion up to December 2019 only for the world to shut down in March 2020. It is fighting that ongoing battle that has us where we are today.”
Craig continued: “We appreciate this comes as cold comfort but we will be doing everything we can to get the best possible outcome for our creditors too. We want them to see the light at the end of the tunnel as much as we do. What we need now more than ever is the support of our community of beer drinkers, those who want see Big Shed around for the long haul.”
The Administrators will be reporting regularly to creditors and will disclose the financial circumstances of the company to them when they meet next week.
James Smith launched The Crafty Pint in 2010, two years after moving to Australia from the UK. He was taken to Mountain Goat within weeks of landing in Melbourne, joined their indoor cricket team, and is still navigating the rabbit hole that is craft beer to this day.
The beers that turned you on to good beer:
- Watching pints of McEwan's 80 Shilling settle when visiting family in Edinburgh.
- Pints of flat Bass from the jug at the Cap & Stocking in Kegworth.
- A first Paulaner Hefeweizen when working in Munich in 1998: “This smells of bananas!”
- Castle Rock Harvest Pale – how could a 3.8 percent ABV beer be so good? (It turns out it was an early example of the three Cs – Cascade, Centennial and Columbus – in an English bitter).
- Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA poured through hops at the Sunset Grill in Cambridge, MA, in the company of a man who turned out to be the Beer Nut (while we were both covering a double murder case at the time).
- Ordering a Mountain Goat Hightail on my first day as an Aussie resident as it was local and I’d never heard of it; “A dark Australian beer; well I never…”
- Murray’s Icon 2IPA at Beer DeLuxe Fed Square, recommended by a guy I’d not long known who's now the main man at Fixation, served by Mik Halse, now head of sales at Hawkers. How could an Australian beer smell as good as that?!?
You've got three beers to turn someone else on to good beer; what are they and why?
- Any really good, fresh and balanced West Coast style IPA. Punchy hop aromatics are the most obvious way to capture someone's attention and these IPAs, done well, present the key components in beer (if you're sticking to just water, malt, hops and yeast) in harmony yet with the volume turned up.
- Saison Dupont. Arguably a selfish choice here as I bloody love the broad saison style and dearly hope it will finally take hold in Australia one day. Given a choice, I'd probably crack one enlivened with Brettanomyces like Molly Rose Matilde for myself but, when it comes to turning on someone new, you've got to go with the classic.
- Rodenbach Caractère Rouge. Because if you don't enjoy or can't appreciate this beer, I'll never win you over. And because Filip, the fruit and wood specialist at Rodenbach that designed it, is a beautiful human.
The last beer you enjoyed:
Fixation IPA at The Incubator.
Three things that represent you:
- The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- Golden Plains
NB All articles written by James in the first eight years of the site appear as By Crafty Pint. Today, that's used for collaborative efforts by the wider team.
