Located in Bassendean, the new system will allow Feral to increase their capacity from 400,000L per annum to 2.5M litres, allowing them to increase distribution and better supply the Eastern States.
“We have been brewing to capacity for some time now, and with our beers consistently picking up awards the demand for our product, both on the shelf and in establishments, has outgrown what we were able to supply,” says Brendan Varis, Feral’s Head Brewer. “It is fitting that the growth has come in our 10th anniversary year, as it signals to us that Australians are more adventurous then most people think as they have embraced our unique range over the past decade.”
He was also keen to stress that there will be no downgrade in the quality of his brews, it is simply an upswing in production that he has planned, rather than a mainstreaming of his beers.
“Making beer is my passion so we will definitely still be very hands on, in fact the new system will allow us to experiment with a lot more styles of craft beers while enabling us to supply a larger market,” he says.
That said, the production level is still quite small in comparison to some of the big boys. As Brendan explained, Feral will now be able to brew, in one year, the volume that the Japanese owned Swan Brewery can brew in less than a week.
The news is great for the Australian beer industry, signifying that the beer drinking public is embracing more experimental brews and the breweries that create them.