WA Brewery Golden West Brings In Administrators

February 29, 2024, by James Smith

WA Brewery Golden West Brings In Administrators

Another local brewery has entered administration, with the founders of Golden West in the Perth suburb of Subiaco running out of money. The directors of the business, which first launched as Modular Brewing before taking on the name of an historic soft drink company, appointed GTS Advisory yesterday.

The venue is now closed – albeit potentially only temporarily as the administrator is in discussions with another business interested in reopening the 350-plus capacity venue as a brewery in the coming weeks.

Golden West becomes the latest WA brewery to enter administration in the past few months, following Running With Thieves – now operating under a new ownership structure, and Sound Brewing Co – acquired by Cheeky Monkey in December. Many more across Australia have been through the same process – both Hawkers in Melbourne and Big Shed in Adelaide are currently working with administrators – as others have closed or sold in a tough 18-month period for the craft beer industry. We examined what this means for the industry in Where To From Here For Local Beer?

Mathieu Tribut, the director at GTS Advisory who is overseeing the administration process for Modular Brewing / Golden West, told The Crafty Pint the owners had been through a "quite successful" small business restructuring process in 2023 and had enjoyed good business in the last quarter of 2023. However, he says sales fell dramatically at the start of this year and they ran out of cash, leading to his appointment.

 

 

As a result, they were unable to trade, which led to the closure of the Subiaco venue yesterday. However, some members of the brewing team have been retained to complete the brewing of a number of batches of beer which the administrators plan to sell through distributors as they work towards a more permanent solution.

The administrator said there had been discussions with three parties interested in the business – discussions are continuing with one of those three – stating: "I'm confident that we will find someone."

While the existing directors will not be part of any future outcome for the site, he told The Crafty Pint: "We're fairly certain that the premises will remain and will reopen, but maybe under a different name.

"It's likely [the interested party] will take over the premises and continue as a brewery, but it may not be the same brand."

 

Final batches of Golden West beers are still being produced, with the administrator hoping to secure distribution within WA.

 

If discussions continue as hoped, he believes the business could reopen in around eight weeks.

Golden West was founded by schoolmates Daniel Burt, Stuart Nicholls, Jai Tulsi, Tom Luke, and Daniel Gammell as Modular Brewing, before the quartet welcomed Stuart’s workmate Cristobal Moreno and his brother Rafael to the team and evolved into Golden West Brewing Co.

Just last year, they claimed a trophy at the Perth Royal Beer Awards for their Smooth Bourbon Vanilla Porter, but now they've fallen victim to the economic challenges that have been wreaking havoc for many industries across Australia.

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