Madocke Beer Brewing Company plans to build family-friend brewery with taphouse and live music in Ashmore, Gold Coast
Exciting plans have been unveiled for a family-friendly craft brewery, taphouse and live music venue to be built in a busy Gold Coast suburb. SEE THE PICTURES
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A FAMILY-friendly brewery and taphouse featuring live music has been proposed for Ashmore, with Madocke Beer Brewing Company poised to move its operations from its Pacific Pines garage to a 615sq m warehouse.
Belgian brewers Jimmy Van Eetvelde and Annelies Nijskens have been on the hunt for larger premises on the northern end of the Gold Coast since last year.
Mrs Nijskens said the couple had secured a long-term lease of 268 Southport Nerang Road close to the intersection of Wardoo Street and close to Ashmore City.
“It’s very exciting and has been a long time coming. But we’re excited to announce to our customers that, subject to approval, we’re opening a new venue around September this year,” she said.
Being located on a major arterial route, and with closest residents at least 250-metres away, Mrs Nijskens said an acoustic engineer’s report stated that live music was definitely an option as it would not generate disturbing nuisance to the neighbouring area.
Of the 615sq m site, 300sq m will be used to house the brewery, with some 200sq m to be used as an indoor and outdoor seating area. The brewery can hold 200 people, but under current COVID restrictions this number must be halved to just 100 patrons.
“We’re aiming to ensure it’s a family-friendly venue,” she said.
“While our focus will always be on Belgian style beers as it represents our background and history, we’re expecting to attract all craft beer lovers through expanding our range of beers and beer styles.
“Not many places on the Gold Coast cater for families, so we’d like to cater for little ones too by making sure they feel welcome in our homely designed taproom.
“There’s nothing worse than having children asking ‘can we go home now’ every five minutes.”
In regards to production, Madocke Beer Brewing will go from producing 10,000 litres a year to around 75,000 litres a year, with the potential to even produce more.
Traditionally Belgian beers are a lot higher in alcohol than the average Australian beer, the average is about 7-8 per cent but can be as high as 10 per cent, so the company plans to introduce a mid-strength range.
“A taproom cannot survive solely on beers of around 7-8 per cent alcohol, so we’re working on a range that is a hybrid of the Belgium and Australian type beers,” said Mrs Nijskens.
Meanwhile, Madocke has just released a beer in time for Valentine’s Day called a Framboos, a ‘Belgian Style Fruited Witbier’ featuring orange peel, coriander and with some packed with raspberries flavours.
"The beer is as delicious as it is unique with it’s punchy, fruity flavour and striking red colour.
“We’ve had people asking us for weeks what we will release in time for February 14. They come in 750ml bottles so and are just perfect to share with your loved one."
The brewery, who won five medals at the 2020 Independent Beer Awards, has also secured a distributor in Western Australia.
A development application is due to be sent to the Gold Coast City Council this week.
SEPTEMBER 2020: Belgian-style craft brewery in Pacific Pines plans to expand
IT’S the worst kept secret in Pacific Pines, but other Gold Coast beer lovers may fall off their stools to learn a Belgian couple operates a fully licensed craft beer brewery from a residential garage.
Madocke Beer Brewing Company is now so successful that brewers Jimmy Van Eetvelde and Annelies Nijskens are hunting for larger premises on the northern Gold Coast to open a larger tap room that’s family friendly.
“We’ve had people walking their dogs past our house, see the brewery and come up and ask us what we’re doing,” said Ms Nijskens.
And they’re told the story of how two Belgian nationals moved with their two young children to Pacific Pines after selling their successful airconditioning business in Belgium, leaving family and friends behind.
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Without a lick of English, their two children – aged 10 and 12 at the time – started school at Pacific Pines and soon made friends.
Pursuing their love for brewing and Belgian beer, Mr Van Eetvelde decided to put his brewing skills to use, setting up a Belgian-style brewery in their garage.
The couple applied to the Gold Coast City Council to become a home-based brewery business and received approval.
As far as they are aware, theirs is the only such operation in Queensland.
“It does seem odd we do it out of a residential garage, but we are a fully approved home-based business with an annual production cap of 10,000 litres per year,” Ms Nijskens said.
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For the past 18 months the couple opened up their garage on Friday and Saturday afternoons for the locals to see how they operate from home and to sample some small tasters.
But sadly for some, the business was recently told by the council that the way it operated its local brewery did not meet the current legislation anymore, meaning regulars could no longer drop into the brewery for a taster.
“Being a victim of our success, I suppose it was a slap in the face but a kick in the butt to make ourselves move forward, so that’s what we’re going to do,” Ms Nijskens said.
Earlier this year, the day before the pandemic was announced, Ms Nijskens quit her job so she could help her husband ramp up their brewery, which was nominated last year for the award Best New Brewery Queensland 2019.
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“Our current set-up is actually a pilot system, something bigger breweries use to make new recipes so when we move into a bigger premises this won’t be a waste. It’ll be where I make test batches or new beer, next to the bigger system we still need to purchase,” Mr Van Eetvelde said.
Belgium has a world-famous beer culture that began in the 1200s. Such is its importance, UNESCO listed its rich brewing scene (with nearly 1500 styles) on its list representing Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Mr Van Eetvelde said so far they had created 14 styles of Belgian beer, with many more in the pipeline, each with a name as crafty as their business – referring to the story of “Reynard the Fox’’, a medieval legend in the area they come from.
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The brews have been gaining traction in Queensland’s craft beer industry and are sold at six venues across the Gold Coast and nearly 12 in Brisbane.
“We used to have people come from all over to taste our beers. Some would come from the Sunshine Coast. Just recently we held an online tasting session with the Belgian Club in Victoria,” Mr Van Eetvelde said.
“So many say ‘oh my god, this feels like beer back home’ – and that is the biggest compliment we can get.”
Once in bigger premises, the plan was to produce 120,000-150,000 litres or more.
They hope investors will see their booming Belgian brewery as a sure thing.
The only way to visit Madocke at the moment is through Hop On Brewery Tours, but customers can order online and pick up their beer or get it delivered.
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