Don Tweddle
Juniors
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‘600,000 litres overnight’: Sharks star’s beer brewing pipe dream going gangbusters
NRL PREMIERSHIP
It started off with five mates, a garage and a pipe dream about best representing the postcode of 2230.
In the course of 12 months Sharks halfback Chad Townsend and a group of besties have gone from experimenting with a back yard beer operation to supplying most pubs in the Shire.
Yep, Cronulla Beer Co - encapsulating everything about the famous black, white and blue - is on tap at pubs and clubs all around Sharkies heartland.
It might have begun as a bunch of mates shooting the breeze over Zoom meetings because Townsend was unable to break the Cronulla Sharks NRL bubble.
But it quickly morphed into a full-blown business venture with the scope for exponential growth.
Since entering the market late last year, the Cronulla Beer Co “next level XPA” pale ale has taken off on tap at venues all over the Shire including Highfield Caringbah, The Prince Hotel at Kirrawee, Taren Point Hotel and the Miranda Hotel.
There’s also a stack of local Cronulla restaurants and bars stocking the cold beverage, with the business quickly upsizing from a tiny, backyard operation to brewing at the Rocks Brewing company in St Peters.
Ultimately the five Shire locals - Townsend, Adam Goode, Tim Frowly, Ryan Gardner and Daniel Wagstaff - want to open up the Cronulla Beer Co brewery in black, white and blue heartland in the Shire.
“Back in December 2019 my best mate and I had always spoken about starting a business together and he tossed up the idea of Cronulla Beer Co,” Townsend said.
“I loved the idea so we registered the business name straight away and it’s just taken off from there.
“My mate Adam is a personal trainer and he had a bloke brewing beer in his garage who was a client so we got him on board and away we went.
“What made it challenging is because I was in the bubble all the meetings had to be done via Zoom.
“We started off brewing two beers at a time and we’d give them out to mates for taste testing and get feedback.
“Then we had a blind tasting night where we invited a brewer and we got him to rate and review a variety of beers.
Chad Townsend with a case of Cronulla Beer co.Source: FOX SPORTS
“Our beer rated the second best of all the beers on the night so we basically went from brewing 20 litres in Tim’s garage to brewing 600,000 litres overnight.
“That was probably the biggest jump we took. Then we launched on October 30 last year and we pretty much sold out straight away.
“We put a few hundred cases online on our website and sold out within six hours.
“Then we’ve had great support from the local community - be it pubs, clubs, local restaurants - we wanted that real local feel for our beer.
“It’s been a lot of fun too along the way.
“We were sold out pre-Christmas and we’ve basically had to double our production.
“The goal is to get to the stage where we can open our own brewery in Cronulla and have a tasting room.”
The next immediate challenge is trying to gain further craft beer traction by polling strongly in the all important Gabs Hottest 100 Australian craft beers to be announced later this month.
We’re yet to sample the boys Pale Ale but the reports are strong.
Townsend and his mates are set on getting to the stage of opening a brewery in Cronulla.
Whatever happens next, it’s already been a hell of a ride for five mates from the Shire.
NRL PREMIERSHIP
- Source: FOX SPORTS
It started off with five mates, a garage and a pipe dream about best representing the postcode of 2230.
In the course of 12 months Sharks halfback Chad Townsend and a group of besties have gone from experimenting with a back yard beer operation to supplying most pubs in the Shire.
Yep, Cronulla Beer Co - encapsulating everything about the famous black, white and blue - is on tap at pubs and clubs all around Sharkies heartland.
It might have begun as a bunch of mates shooting the breeze over Zoom meetings because Townsend was unable to break the Cronulla Sharks NRL bubble.
But it quickly morphed into a full-blown business venture with the scope for exponential growth.
Since entering the market late last year, the Cronulla Beer Co “next level XPA” pale ale has taken off on tap at venues all over the Shire including Highfield Caringbah, The Prince Hotel at Kirrawee, Taren Point Hotel and the Miranda Hotel.
There’s also a stack of local Cronulla restaurants and bars stocking the cold beverage, with the business quickly upsizing from a tiny, backyard operation to brewing at the Rocks Brewing company in St Peters.
Ultimately the five Shire locals - Townsend, Adam Goode, Tim Frowly, Ryan Gardner and Daniel Wagstaff - want to open up the Cronulla Beer Co brewery in black, white and blue heartland in the Shire.
“Back in December 2019 my best mate and I had always spoken about starting a business together and he tossed up the idea of Cronulla Beer Co,” Townsend said.
“I loved the idea so we registered the business name straight away and it’s just taken off from there.
“My mate Adam is a personal trainer and he had a bloke brewing beer in his garage who was a client so we got him on board and away we went.
“What made it challenging is because I was in the bubble all the meetings had to be done via Zoom.
“We started off brewing two beers at a time and we’d give them out to mates for taste testing and get feedback.
“Then we had a blind tasting night where we invited a brewer and we got him to rate and review a variety of beers.
Chad Townsend with a case of Cronulla Beer co.Source: FOX SPORTS
“Our beer rated the second best of all the beers on the night so we basically went from brewing 20 litres in Tim’s garage to brewing 600,000 litres overnight.
“That was probably the biggest jump we took. Then we launched on October 30 last year and we pretty much sold out straight away.
“We put a few hundred cases online on our website and sold out within six hours.
“Then we’ve had great support from the local community - be it pubs, clubs, local restaurants - we wanted that real local feel for our beer.
“It’s been a lot of fun too along the way.
“We were sold out pre-Christmas and we’ve basically had to double our production.
“The goal is to get to the stage where we can open our own brewery in Cronulla and have a tasting room.”
The next immediate challenge is trying to gain further craft beer traction by polling strongly in the all important Gabs Hottest 100 Australian craft beers to be announced later this month.
We’re yet to sample the boys Pale Ale but the reports are strong.
Townsend and his mates are set on getting to the stage of opening a brewery in Cronulla.
Whatever happens next, it’s already been a hell of a ride for five mates from the Shire.
