Ballistic Beer Company has gone into voluntary administration

A popular Queensland independent craft beer brewer has gone into voluntary administration, a victim of the Covid pandemic and a recall.

Award-winning independent craft beer brewer Ballistic Beer Company has gone into voluntary administration, a victim of the Covid pandemic and a product recall last year.

Ballistic Beer co-founder David Kitchen said it was a hard decision to call in administrators but the right one for the business to continue after a challenging few years.

“There’s definitely a Covid hangover and the recall came at a cost,” he said.

“For those two reasons the decision was made to go into voluntary administration and get ourselves reorganised, get a healthy balance sheet and return to being a strong company.”

Ballistic Beer, which built its first brewery and venue in Salisbury in April 2017, has won multiple awards for its craft beers.

The brewery made last year’s top 10 in the GABS Hottest 100 Craft Beer countdown and is part of craft accelerator Mighty Craft’s stable of independent breweries.

It has locations in Brisbane’s Salisbury and West End, Springfield near Ipswich, Bargara at Bundaberg and at Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays. The company currently has 85 staff.

In September last year Ballistic Beer Co recalled its Hawaiian Haze Pale Ale, Hawaiian Haze IPA and Reef Pale Ale because of secondary fermentation which can cause illness.

PKF Melbourne’s Paul Allen and Jason Stone were appointed administrators for the company.

In a statement PKF said their present intention is to carry on Ballistic Beer Co’s activities and to continue trading.

“We are reviewing the company’s operations, activities and financial position to enable us to provide an opinion on the company’s future. It is expected that a proposal will be received and that, if accepted, will see the company continue into the future,” they said.

Ballistic Beer co founder David Kitchen at its Salisbury brewery.

Mr Kitchen said the admisitration process should take about five weeks.

“We have an industry partner that we will be working with and they will be bring to the mix additional skills and opportunities that were not available,” he said.

“We will get through these five weeks and I’m positive we will be all right.”

Mr Kitchen said throughout the process the business will continue to trade as normal, its products remaining on sale in venues and liquor stores.

The administration will only impact on Ballistic Beer Company and Ballistic Springfield. Its other related companies including Ballistic Whitsundays, Ballistic Hospitality and Ballistic Bargara are not affected.

The first creditors meeting will be on February 6.

Last year Sunshine Coast-based Stalwart Brewing appointed liquidators after Covid-19 restrictions drove it to the wall.

Administrators were also appointed to Woolloongabba-based Easy Time Brewing Co, which opened at the height of the pandemic in 2020. Easy Time was able to successfully restructure and remain open.