Pubs reopen: Local brewery finds a real silver lining during shutdown crisis
THE coronavirus lockdown has given Beaver Brewery the time to create silver aluminium cans for their beer, just in time for their reopening at 5pm today
Northern Territory
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THE coronavirus lockdown has given Beaver Brewery the time to create silver aluminium cans for their beer, just in time for their reopening at 5pm today.
Beaver Brewery owner Chris Brown said the shutdown allowed the brewery to expand its operations, selling beer by the can from their Coconut Grove site every second Friday.
“It’s been tough, same as everyone else, but we’re lucky we’ve got a good following and loyal following who supported us when we first rolled out the beer cans a few weeks ago,” he said.
“If this didn’t happen, we wouldn’t have gone through with the cans, there’s a silver lining to everything.”
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With a relatively open plan venue, Mr Brown said he wasn’t worried about reopening on Friday, ready for the hoards to return in a socially distant and responsible way.
“We’re planning to open as normal, we now have our whole carpark under liquor licence so it’s double the area we’ve had before,” he said.
“We have a new beer, a pilot batch of guava session IPA and we’ve got Taco Daze here as well.”
The local operation has also managed to capitalise on the reopening of other pubs, now selling their brew on tap at Six Tanks, Lola’s Pergola, the Precinct, Stonehouse and the Darwin Sailing Club.
“Right now, the problem is with most of the big boys there is not a massive variety that can come up from down south,” Mr Brown said.
“It’s been exhausted.
“I think we will increase in the next couple of weeks and once all the contractor taps come back, it’ll go back to normal.”
The venue doesn’t have its own kitchen but has always operated alongside a series of food trucks, with Taco Daze the first to serve food alongside their craft beer this year, ensuring drinks are consumed with a meal.
“We’ll be able to see the food van from where the bar is, it’ll be parked out the front of our place,” Mr Brown said.
“The onus is still on the public to do the right thing, but we’ll keep an eye on it, (the food truck) will keep an eye on it and everyone can have a good night.”
Like many, Beaver Brewery welcomes the opportunity to open their doors, load the kegs and start pouring the taps but are wary that if rules aren’t followed, the reopening could become a novelty rather than part of the new normal.
Originally published as Pubs reopen: Local brewery finds a real silver lining during shutdown crisis