Back in June 2011, The Crafty Pint ran a story about the launch of a new group dedicated to promoting craft beer in its hometown. Bendigo Beer was the brainchild of a pair of beer loving locals, who had sampled the good stuff on their regular visits to Melbourne and various Victorian breweries but had struggled to find anything crafty in the city itself, other than at The Dispensary Enoteca. Justin McPhail and Trev Birks were determined to bring a quality beer scene back to a city that had once had a proud one and set about doing it one beer, one venue, one drinker and one event at a time.
At the time, we recall both the Bendigo Beer guys and Tim from The Dispensary complaining that they struggled to get even Victorian microbreweries to deliver beer to the city. We did what little we could to encourage one or two to make the trek and headed up there to visit some of the venues that have began dipping their toes into craftier waters soon afterwards. Yet even witnessing the passion of those involved up close, we could never have predicted the giant strides that Bendigo’s beer scene was set to take.
“I believe in good beer and what I see too often in Bendigo is macro lagers and lemon wedges in clear bottles,” said Justin back in 2011. “I believe Bendigo is capable of being a craft beer city.” And it would seem his faith was well placed.
Last month, Bendigo Beer announced they had become an incorporated, not-for-profit, association as they set out on the next stage of their mission. And at the same time they announced the city now had 35 venues serving craft beer – there were three when they started out. It’s a startling effort and one that serves as an example to others. For while The Crafty Pint fights to raise awareness of the entire Australian craft beer industry on a national scale, it is possible for more localised groups to make greater inroads on the ground.
With so much going on, we figured it was time to catch up with the originators again for a little Q&A…
What have you been up to?
Everything! We've been slowly adding new venues to our listing, organising events – we've had a couple already this year, and at least one every month until December planned, and importantly, setting up a regional arc of craft beer. Ballarat Beer we started midway through last year: we're developing our website and sorting out venues for that. Events are the next step.
Geelong Beer was initiated after a conversation with [brewer] Hendo, so we've recently been able to start working on local venues and events. At this stage, however, we need some local heroes on the ground – so talk to us, people!.
Trev and I have close connections to both these towns – Trev is from Ballarat originally, and I was born in Geelong.
Personally, I've been working on my own food events as dejustation, became vice president of a local food initiative that focuses on local producers, industry and consumers, am doing marketing/organising partnerships for our annual Blues & Roots Music Festival (100 artists, 4000-plus people, four days in November). In between all that – working a full time job!
Why did you decide to form the association?
So we can do MORE, and keep it at the same quality level of events our city has come to expect. As mentioned above, I'm pretty busy with my other ventures, so to get more people involved running the events, I'm able to be more of a mentor than running all the logistics behind these events.
We've got a cracking team, including Scott Seymour who has jumped on board (he helped set us up with the first event at the Basement Bar back in 2011 and various events over the past few years), Trev who’s naturally an enthusiastic member as vice president, Fatty Anderson of Goldmines Hotel has volunteered his services as treasurer, and Sam Bastian is now our official graphic designer (he has some cracking designs up his sleeve – look out for them!), as well as an agitator for change for our younger generation. I've stepped up as President, to hopefully lead us into the future to a productive, sustainable and proactive craft beer town.
How have things developed in Bendigo since you started?
We're a much richer and more vibrant city since we've started. We're lucky to be based in Bendigo at a time of change, young people standing up, old faces returning home, people who previously didn't have a voice now do. I can see Bendigo will be a fantastic city in the next five, ten, 15 years.
Demographic change has been key to this, and as part of Bendigo Beer's efforts, we're introducing a better drinking culture (drink less, drink better, match with food etc etc). We've got something like 30 venues on board now, with more opening up / changing hands / opening their minds to something better than the macro bland lagers we all grew up (and put up) with!
It's fast moving towards an enviable city to live, both with ease of access to Melbourne via the new Calder highway or the train. In addition to this, we're seeing areas like Castlemaine and Heathcote develop into food, beer, wine and cider havens. An abundance of good stuff!
The Dispensary Enoteca where the Bendigo Beer boys hatched their plans
What about the forthcoming Brookes Brewery?
I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say Bendigo Beer had an impact on Doug's decision to build a brewery in Bendigo (well, he said it himself!). The new setup will be pretty special, a bar and kitchen up the back, industrial setting, a Bendigo brew that is full grain, fresh hopped and good people brewing it – something that hasn't been in Bendigo for a long, long time. Bendigo was the first town in Australia to launch a bottled lager, and here we are 100 years later releasing cloudy ales. Circle of life is a wonderful thing.
What would you say have been your greatest successes?
They’re yet to come. Not to rest on our laurels, we've done some amazing things in Bendigo –30-plus venues from three in two years is pretty good! – held some great events, converted some great people. But for me personally, we should be at the forefront of craft beer in the world, not just Australia. I think we'll be heading that way. My aim for 2013 is to have IPAs on tap next to pales, and for venues to start hosting special one-off taps with barleywines and RIS [Russian Imperial Stout] and all the far end of the spectrum beers that Bendigo is yet to experience on tap.
Plans for the future?
Five year plan at a minimum is our own craft beer bar – it's in our goals, release a "Bendigo Beer", focus on the regional arc for Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong, spread the craft beer love everywhere in between. Trends indicate that people are beginning to look at where their food and beverage is sourced, and placing a greater emphasis is on local produce. We're in the perfect position to be a part of that educative process.
Do you have any advice for anyone else wanting to kickstart a craft beer scene in their hometown?
Know your stuff – people WILL ask questions. Be confident as a public speaker. We've been a good team as between us, we have a good understanding of beer styles, grain types, hop varieties, yeast strains, general brewing history, and an ability to project confidence and that knowledge in an effective way. It could also be something to do with the fact we get to drink "on the job" – we have to!
If anybody has any questions on how we went about things, they're more than welcome to get in contact with us, or better yet, learn by doing – come to one of our events! You'll find that Bendigo is not the "country town" you may think. It's part of a vibrant regional hub that is only going to grow into the future.
You can follow Bendigo Beer on Twitter and Facebook or drop them an email.
