Freshwater Brewing Co. on Beyond The Pass
An all-inclusive brewery injecting some much-needed brightness into the Australian brewing scene.
In this episode, Tom Bruce & Jonny Bucknall (Freshwater Brewing Co. Co-founders) and Graeme Alexander (Lightspeed’s Hospo Oracle) talk brewery communities, better lagers, why when it comes to pouring Czech tech is the best, plus we make a serving of hearty brisket tacos.
Who are they?
An incredible brewery
What do they do?
Beers, cocktails, tacos & good times
Since when?
2022
Freshwater Brewing Co. was made of a mixture of good experience and timing.
With each of the Co-founder’s shared histories in the brewing industry, they had plenty of ideas and understanding as to what they wanted Freshwater Brewing Co. to be and, more importantly, what it wouldn’t be.
There is a path that is well-trodden when it comes to setting up a brewery. Fit out a warehouse with brewing equipment, keep it dark and dirty, pump the pub rock over the speakers and get to pouring your beers.
It’s a business model that has worked for many in the past, and it will continue working for many more in the future. It just wasn’t what Freshwater Brewing Co. wanted.
Instead, Freshwater Brewing Co. and its delicious brews are just the tip of an iceberg that subverts the usual tropes of an industry that has found its niche in grunge and rough edges, providing a community hub that caters for the many, not the few.
It begins with beer
“Braised brisket tacos” is hard to say (for me)
As with most good times, this dish finds its roots in delicious, wonderful beer. I only wish I had enough time to be there when this happens, but Chef Chris isn’t playing any games when it comes to crafting the star of his tacos. This brisket cooks for a full 6 hours in a bath of Freshy’s Smoked Helles Lager (amongst other things that he wouldn’t tell me) to achieve a tenderness and complexity of flavour only found when you spend hours upon hours soaking in booze.
*Note, telling your significant other that you’re not drunk, you are, in fact, building some complexity of flavour within yourself does not work as a valid excuse for embarrassing yourself at the family Christmas this year.
Next comes the tortilla
Corn > flour
There’s something you should know about me: I’m a taco snob.
For me, if you’re making tacos and you want them to taste anything like their counterparts in Mexico (and I guess the US too), you’re gonna have to ditch the flour tortillas and serve them up on some corn.
You can imagine my joy when Chris reached for some white corn bad boys upon which we were to build something absolutely bueno. It’s a small adjustment that can take your tacos from Old El Paso to muy sabroso in an instant.
Head Chef Chris knows what he’s doing.
It’s taco time
Chris handles the meat, I’ve got everything else
There is no sweeter time than taco time. Try arguing this point with me and it will be the most one-sided argument in the history of time because I’ll be too busy fanboying over tacos to respond.
To go with our braised brisket we need some accompanying ingredients and it starts with a fresh, zingy slaw: shredded cabbage dressed in their own sriracha/kewpie mayo. It’s sweet, it’s salty, it’s amazing.
Next comes a mountain of brisket on each and a glint in my eye so loving, so sparkling that my wife might start to get suspicious that she’s about to lose her husband to a plate of food.
This is then joined by a spoonful of Chris’ own charred corn salsa: a refreshing mix of charred corn, jalapeño and capsicum that cuts through the hearty umami of the beef and adds a little heat to the mix.
Our tacos are finished with a pinch of pickled red onions for a bit of acidity, some fresh lime and the only thing you would never find me putting on any food, ever: coriander. This is no slight on Chris, but coriander tastes like soap (to me) and has no place anywhere on a plate of food.
Our tacos are complete. They’re hearty, they’re balanced, the coriander has been picked off and cast asunder (by me) and they last about 30 seconds before I’m staring down at an empty plate and a room full of people disgusted at my savage dining techniques.
Building experience
“When he was ready, I’d come and run it for him”
All 4 Co-founders of Freshwater Brewing Co. seemed destined to own their own slice of brewing heaven, such was the calibre they built up in the years leading to Freshy’s opening.
Stints working in some of Australia’s finest brewing companies showed them the ropes and let them observe what works and what doesn’t, first-hand.
Jonny tapped into a skillset that seems tailor-made for his role: an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of beer (and a healthy/disturbing obsession with yeast) paired with a marketing background. Tom and Chloe (Morgan-Webster) have each seen to the smooth running of many a bar, whilst Brett Phillips brought along his brewing knowledge from nearby Modus Operandi to complete the dream team.
Values
“You’ve got to stand for something”
Freshwater Brewing Co. is located in an area that isn’t lacking when it comes to breweries. In fact, they are one of six within walking distance of each other and, whilst some might view this as saturation, the teams behind these breweries lean into their close proximity to build up their industry, rather than to try and compete with one another.
This has led to breweries in this neck of the woods becoming much more than a place to sample a flight of heavy IPAs and buy a t-shirt for the road. They’ve become wholly individual experiences, each adding something different to every buck’s party or brewery crawl in the area for an afternoon of debauchery.
There is no competition, only the common goal to make their small pocket of the world a beer drinker’s paradise. And I dare say they’ve achieved just that.
Doing things differently
“Straight from the get go…”
As soon as you start talking to Tom & Jonny about Freshwater Brewing Co. one thing sticks out in the way they talk about their business and their ideas: everything is deliberate. Every single decision they have made, has been made with purpose and can be justified. Nothing is on a whim.
And it’s this attention to detail and foresight that has set them up for the levels of success that they’re enjoying and which permeates throughout every facet of their operation.
From their choice of beers (90% lagers, due to their proximity to the beach and a demand for sessionable brews), to their food offerings, down to the decor itself. Every last inch of this place is thoroughly intentional and it is a breath of fresh air breathed into an industry at risk of succumbing to what I like to call IPA fatigue.