There’s a minor obsession in the craft beer world with market share. Depending on who you believe, and which breweries you argue should be lumped in with the crafty crowd, in Australia the figure is generally considered to sit somewhere between one and four per cent of total beer consumption. What’s not up for argument is how this section of the market is growing; gobbling up pieces of the pie like girthsome man at a cheap buffet. The question is more along the lines of how much can be eaten before the “wafer thin mint” arrives.
Part of the answer lays with how many new people can be introduced to craft beer. While market share for craft is increasing, total beer consumption is falling. This adds another dimension to the pursuit of market share in that it’s not simply a game of stealing pie off the bigger kids, but also helping to bake a larger one. And a key ingredient in doing so is introducing new people to the joys of better beer. That inevitably means taking craft beer to areas where it’s seldom, perhaps never, previously been. Places like the Sutherland Shire.
âThe Shire’, as it’s more commonly known, is an area just south of Sydney proper. Its population numbers approximately 200,000 but its craft beer venues number approximately zero. If there’s an area ripe for growth, this could well be it. That’s certainly something the Cochrane family are banking on because it’s where they’ve recently opened the Blackrock Brasserie.
The new venue, in the suburb of Sylvania, is run by siblings Lance (General Manager), Bryce (Head Brewer) and Lisa (Marketing Manager). It is, to most eyes, a brewpub. However, it’s also not. A matter of semantics it may be, but the Cochranes view Blackrock as a restaurant and brewery, not the other way around. They’re planning to win over a traditionally non-crafty community to better beer by taking a food first, fine dining approach. It’s a slightly different approach than most, but one that has merit, as Lance explains.
"We’d wanted to do a family restaurant for a while, but we wanted to differentiate ourselves,“ he says. "The brewery side developed from my love of craft beer and my brother playing around with home brew.
We explored the idea of setting up a 200 litre system and the idea just grew from there. Once we started looking at the restaurant and microbrewery together we could see that there was a whole world of craft beer and food pairing that hadn’t really been explored fully in Australia. There’s still a stigma in Australia where beer is only seen as something to be had at a pub, rather than something than can go hand in hand with, and often be the inspiration for, good food."
The venue they’ve created to take on the apathetic Aussie drinker is nothing if not spectacular. Several dining areas sit snugly against the backdrop of a pristine, customised 1200 litre brewhouse. Fully enclosed in glass, guests are able to see every movement the brewer makes and it means that, however much the focus might want be on the food, the brewery remains the major point of difference and the star attraction.
The beer being produced will eventually serve 10 independent taps although, with production still in its infancy, the range – produced under the label of Blackhorse Brewhouse thanks to an existing trademark on the name Blackrock – is currently limited to a Kolsch, Australian Ale, Red Ale and Stout. But they’ve already done their first one-off release – a Dark Kolsch which debuted at GABS – and plans are afoot for an Amber Ale, Double Bock and Blueberry Wit.
Says Lance of the beer range: "The idea is that we’ve got our core beers and as we crank up production we’ll start filling the rest of the taps as well. But to have ten of your own beers on tap at any one time can be a bit of a juggle, so the plan is always to put a few guests on."
To date, those guests have included the likes of fellow NSW brewers HopDog BeerWorks, Illawarra Brewing Company and Doctor’s Orders – brewers not shy of producing an upfront beer when offered half a chance. Which begs the question: how is it all being received?
"The locals are really starting to embrace us and, more importantly, the beer,“ says Lance. "We’re finding our customers range from first time craft beer drinkers to those who know what good quality beer tastes like. We get comments from people saying they’ve travelled the world – in particular America – and have visited brewpub venues and had been waiting for a venue like that to open up in Australia. We also still get the odd request for a VB or Corona so it makes for an interesting mix of customers."
An interesting mix it may be, but the whole idea is to keep them interested. To do so parts of the menu have been designed to pair the food with Blackhorse beer, such as the bite-sized tasting menu and the Brewer’s Choice Degustation which takes the same approach but on a main meal scale. Those that have attended brewer’s dinners elsewhere will be familiar with the concept and mightn’t find it groundbreaking, but for a sizeable chunk of Blackrock’s customers this style of beer and food matching is likely to be foreign to anything they’ve seen, tasted or experienced.
Lance at the helm
It’s a fair reflection of Sydney’s rapidly expanding and increasingly exciting beer scene that not only has Blackrock been created the way it has, but that it exists well outside what you might call a safe catchment area for beer lovers.
The Shire is now well and truly on the beer map.
You can keep up to date with everything at Blackrock Brasserie via its Facebook page and Twitter account. Look out for its listing in our craft beer directories of awesomeness soon too.
