South East Queensland will welcome a lager-focused brewery next year, when the six million dollar Perentie Brewing opens in the Distillery Road Market precinct. And, while the project is new, there are some experienced hands at work guiding the brewery and its beers.
Perentie is the brainchild of Kenton Campbell, the founder of Zarraffa's Coffee and the company behind Distillery Road Market. The latter is located between the Gold Coast and Brisbane and features a fresh food market as well as a growing number of hospitality venues.
With Kenton new to beer, he's brought in people with decades of experience in brewing – and a fondness for lagers – to assist in the brewery's development and playing an ongoing role once it's launched: the Gold Coast pioneers at Burleigh Brewing, which was founded by Brennan and Peta Fielding back in 2006.
"[Brennan] has a wealth of knowledge to lean on," Kenton told The Crafty Pint, "drawing from his experience to make something that’s truly unique yet traditional in a sense."
The relationship between Burleigh, Zarraffa's Coffee and lager stretches way back too: the businesses first collaborated in 2009 on Black Giraffe, a black coffee lager, that's returned many times since. In a media release announcing the partnership, Brennan said the two businesses have long held a mutual respect and share common business values.
"I’m really looking forward to getting the long-planned brewery up and running and I’m stoked that Burleigh Brewing will play an ongoing part in Perentie putting out a fresh, top quality lager range,” he said.
The world of lager is a broader one than those who've grown up on a diet of Aussie macro offerings, but Kenton says their focus initially will be on beers they hope will appeal to entry-level craft beer drinkers as well as the more devoted.
"Our focus is narrower," he says. "To begin, we will brew a five percent lager, three percent mid-strength and a dark beer. We want to brew really approachable and sessionable beer that everybody can love, with just the right amount of differentiation, and that is also a sessionable beer."
The plan at first is to target their local market, with the beers accompanied by a food menu based around bar food including wood-fired pizzas, sliders and charcuterie boards.
"Perentie isn’t going to be everywhere," Kenton says. "We want it to remain special and keep to our foundation ideals of being traditional lager brewed locally."
As for the name, it feels rather fitting for a brewery too: the perentie lizard is one of the world's largest and is native to Australia's driest areas. So while the brewery team might be flat out like lizards drinking as they get their new venture up and running, they'll be hoping their future guests will savour every drop.
Will Ziebell is a history graduate who knows more about The Wire than he does about beer. He was awarded the AIBA Best Media trophy for 2018; HBO have told him to please send his fan mail elsewhere. He can be found on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
The beer(s) or moment(s) that turned you on to good beer:
Spending time living in the UK (and backpacking across Europe) when I was 21 certainly gave me a better understanding of the beer and different styles of the world. But I'd say it was a holiday to the High Country a little while later when lunch and a tasting paddle at Bridge Road Brewers created an obsession with Australian breweries and locally made beer.
You've got three beers to turn someone else on to good beer; what are they and why?
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Boatrocker's Miss Pinky: It's a raspberry-packed Berliner Weisse that neither looks or tastes the way many people conceive of beer.
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Bad Shepherd Hazelnut Brown: A luscious mix of chocolate and hazelnut that can appeal to the sweet tooth within us all.
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Stone & Wood Pacific Ale: As the father of my oldest friend once said to me: "It's the perfect refreshing pint that smells like they've loaded it with the God's herb."
The last beer you enjoyed:
Garage Project's DFA while sitting at the bar at Miss Moses as the sounds of The Rolling Stone drifting in the background.
Three things that represent you:
- Bruce Springsteen
- Ken Burns
- The State Library of Victoria
