TWØBAYS Brewing Co owes its success to changing one traditional beer ingredient

A small Australian company is now booming after nine months in business after changing just one key traditional ingredient.

Experimenting with new ingredients is the mark of any successful chef — and one brewery has taken that approach when launching their beers.

Rather than create a beer with traditional grains like barley, Richard Jeffares uses alternative grains — allowing his brewery TWØBAYS Brewing Co to be entirely gluten free.

It was a very deliberate decision on Mr Jeffares’ part, as he himself is a coeliac.

By brewing a gluten-free product, he is able to tap into the 15 per cent of the Australian population that is gluten intolerant.

“There are not many gluten free beers in Australia but roughly 2.3 million people or 15 per cent of Australians are gluten free so there is a market for it,” Mr Jeffares told news.com.au.

The craft beer market is predicted to be worth $357.20 million by 2025 which spells good news for Mr Jeffares, who plans to keep growing.

In nine months though he has already grown the business exponentially, from nothing to being stocked in over 600 venues and with an annual revenue of $1 million.

It is not the brewer’s first time running a company either. Before launching TWØBAYS Mr Jeffares owned a bulky goods franchise and helped run over 100 million-dollar businesses.

TWØBAYS founder Richard Jeffares at the brewery. Picture: Supplied

But Mr Jeffares always wanted to own and grown his own brand. His love for craft beer alongside his coeliac diagnose a few years ago was the catalyst for TWØBAYS.

“I wanted to still enjoy beer so I met with the retail chains to determine the size of the market, which was large enough to consider. Once I did that I had to work out if brewing a decent gluten-free beer was possible,” he said.

To do this Mr Jeffares embarked on a cross-country trip across North America during winter to see both the scale of the industry and the production of gluten-free beer. On this trip Mr Jeffares managed to secure exclusive access to certain malts that would replace the traditional barley normally found in beers.

“We use millet and rice malts which aren’t grown in Australia. You have to grow the grains and malt them in a gluten-free way and not in a malting facility that also does non-gluten free products.”

Mr Jeffares compares switching the malt from gluten to gluten-free to being similar to how vineyard crush a variety of grapes together to create various flavours. Rather than being daunted by the prospect of changing flavours, Mr Jeffares embraced the opportunity to experiment with styles and flavours.

“Gluten free grains have their own flavour profile, which is different to barley, but we don’t see that as a barrier; we see it as an opportunity. Wine is pressed using an assortment or grape varieties and beer can be brewed from many grains – not just barley, wheat and rye.”

With production organised the next step was getting the beer stocked which Mr Jeffares said was not limited by scope.

“We see ourselves as not limited in venues as most places are recognising the need to have gluten free options on their menu and that is expanding to drinks,” he said.

The starting point though was restaurants with gluten free menus, either partially or entirely, but it quickly expanded beyond. The brewery has had success in pizza restaurants throughout Australia, as well as vegan restaurants and many taphouses. The biggest coup for the brand though was being stocked in Brae, Australians top restaurant.

TWØBAYS beer on tap. Picture: Supplied

Mr Jeffares believes their success lies in the brand and innovation. The brewery was never limited to just their own taphouse in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula as they sold bottles to liquor stores throughout the country. The brewery also kept creating new styles to entice customers.

“We have done about 25 styles as we aim to release a new beer every quarter to give our consumers different styles and choices, “ Mr Jeffares said.

“We just launched a summer ale and before that it was an XPA and that keeps it interesting.”

The summer ale joins the TWØBAYS Brewing Co IPA, Pale Ale and according to their website the No Man’s Land XPA will be returning in time for Christmas.

The challenge for the brand now is to expand beyond the 15% of the population that is gluten free. To continue to grow TWØBAYS has to attract all types of beer drinkers and its something that starts in the tap room.

Mr Jeffares said that 80 per cent of customers to the taphouse weren’t gluten intolerant themselves and were brought in by friends that were.

“But once they try it we get overwhelmingly positive feedback from all parties, so we know it’s popular,” he said. “In venues where we are on tap our beer sells just as well as any barley beer.”

It’s when the beer is only stocked in bottles that Mr Jeffares says they lose sales. But he understands that people want something cold that is on tap in front of them and not a beer bottle hidden away.

“People are interested in trying new grains, particularly beer lovers who want to try various styles so really we are just trying to get it in front of more consumers,” he said.