Beerfarm given council approval to build craft brewery at Glenworth Valley
With spiralling construction costs, tax hikes and a cost of living crisis, right now might be the worst time to build a new brewery. Luckily Ian Atkins is a glass-half-full type of guy. Here’s why.
Central Coast
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Now might not be the best time in the world to be building a brand new multimillion dollar brewery on a greenfield site.
But given the current economic headwinds “couldn’t get any worse” for fledgling craft brewers, it could just turn out to be a masterstroke.
That is the optimism of Western Australian Beerfarm founder Ian Atkins, who after nearly five years of looking to establish an east coast brewery, has finally been given the nod by Central Coast Council to build one at Glenworth Valley.
It has been an intrepid journey for Mr Atkins and his team to gain approval for their development application (DA) on Cooks Rd, let alone delivering on his $4.6m vision for a brewery capable of producing two million litres a year, a 280-seat restaurant and a 96sq m tap room.
“No doubt I’ll have a few more grey hairs by then,” he said.
Mr Atkins admits “the brew industry is in tatters” at present with spiralling prices for raw ingredients and materials, massive twice-annual excise hikes which ranks Australia as now having the third highest tax on beer in the world and a global cost of living crisis.
“We’re very cognisant of that,” Mr Atkins told this masthead.
“We are super persistent and excited to drive this but it’s with intrepid steps.”
Mr Atkins will be drawing on all of his experience to navigate Beerfarm’s way through the difficult economic climate in the hope it will be up and running when things eventually turn around.
It is something he has seen before, having been one of the early founders of Young Henrys brewery when it opened a second brewery on his property in the Margaret River town of Metricup in 2014 to produce beers for the Western Australian market.
However, they parted ways in 2015 with Beerfarm becoming a separate entity and brewing its own brand of beer.
In 2020 Mr Atkins purchased 10ha site at Halloran near Warnervale for $2.4 million before lodging a DA for a 1750sq m brewery, 450-seat restaurant and market garden to grow fresh produce for the restaurant.
Beerfarm secured a $900,000 grant under the NSW State Government’s Regional Job Creation Fund to help establish the Halloran brewery but when zoning issues arose, the DA withered on the vine and he was forced “back to the drawing board”.
He said he started talking to the owners of Glenworth Valley and it quickly became apparent they shared similar values about collaboration and growing tourism on the Central Coast.
Beerfarm’s edict is very much about having a small environmental impact and “low carbon miles” with produce grown onsite used in the restaurant and spent grain and water from the beer process used as stock fodder for grazing cattle, which in turn will feature on the menu as prime cuts of beef.
“When we started we set the goal to be a household name in Australia,” he said.
Mr Atkins said he hoped to start brewing at Glenworth next year with the restaurant and tap room opening in 2026.
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