WHAT WE DO
We brew beer. Real beer. Natural beer.
With real – and really great, carefully chosen – ingredients: water, malt, hops and yeast. Sourced locally, wherever possible.
No additives, no preservatives, no artificial stuff.
Brewing beer is basically like cooking soup. Mill malted grains and boil them in a large pot with hot water. Add hops for seasoning. Get rid of the spelt grain (ours become healthy cattle feed afterwards). After the cooking, add yeast for fermentation (and more hops, if you like). Allow to mature.
If you want to create really nice, tasty soup, that also lasts and remains fresh and that won’t give you a headache (that’s probably not so common in soup, but you know what I mean), it helps, when you know a few things about it, so education and experience plus strict, ongoing quality control - e. g. sampling - are mandatory. That’s easy with our brewer Bert’s background.
What we mean when we say we’re running a brewery is: we brew small batches of beer in our brewery: a large shed with a cold room, a brewhouse and a bottling machine, filled with malt, hops and yeast as well as bottles, kegs and boxes. We package it. We deliver it to venues and bottleshops in our local area, where it gets served to you.
Why do we stress that? Because that’s not what all people who say We're running a brewery do. So we also explain to you
We brew beer. Real beer. Natural beer.
With real – and really great, carefully chosen – ingredients: water, malt, hops and yeast. Sourced locally, wherever possible.
No additives, no preservatives, no artificial stuff.
Brewing beer is basically like cooking soup. Mill malted grains and boil them in a large pot with hot water. Add hops for seasoning. Get rid of the spelt grain (ours become healthy cattle feed afterwards). After the cooking, add yeast for fermentation (and more hops, if you like). Allow to mature.
If you want to create really nice, tasty soup, that also lasts and remains fresh and that won’t give you a headache (that’s probably not so common in soup, but you know what I mean), it helps, when you know a few things about it, so education and experience plus strict, ongoing quality control - e. g. sampling - are mandatory. That’s easy with our brewer Bert’s background.
What we mean when we say we’re running a brewery is: we brew small batches of beer in our brewery: a large shed with a cold room, a brewhouse and a bottling machine, filled with malt, hops and yeast as well as bottles, kegs and boxes. We package it. We deliver it to venues and bottleshops in our local area, where it gets served to you.
Why do we stress that? Because that’s not what all people who say We're running a brewery do. So we also explain to you
WHAT WE DON'T DO
So what we do not mean, when we say we’re running a brewery, is: we buy beer from a beer factory somewhere, put a fancy label with our name on it, and try to sell it to you as a local product, via a clever marketing strategy.
That’s what many other small “breweries” do.
We also do not mean: we buy cheap ingredients, which are produced by enormous agricultural enterprises and purchased in enormous bulk quantities (which we can afford thanks to our multinational shareholders). We process them and throw in additives and preservatives, to improve appearance, taste and longevity. We do that in one of our enormous beer factories, where we employ more laboratory staff than brewers, distribute it to all the venues in your country and tell you, that this is great beer, especially made for you in your local area, through our enormous, very colourful and very expensive marketing campaigns.
Like in the beer from up here, a slogan which might give you the idea, that those beers are brewed in the Northern part of Queensland, but actually only refers to history. CUB, which is now owned by the world’s largest brewing company, AB InBev, with headquarters in Belgium, bought the Cairns Brewery - which used to brew Great Northern beer - in 1931. They now produce the beer in Brisbane, which is, as far as our geographical understanding goes, not very far up in Queensland.
That’s what many big breweries do.
So what we do not mean, when we say we’re running a brewery, is: we buy beer from a beer factory somewhere, put a fancy label with our name on it, and try to sell it to you as a local product, via a clever marketing strategy.
That’s what many other small “breweries” do.
We also do not mean: we buy cheap ingredients, which are produced by enormous agricultural enterprises and purchased in enormous bulk quantities (which we can afford thanks to our multinational shareholders). We process them and throw in additives and preservatives, to improve appearance, taste and longevity. We do that in one of our enormous beer factories, where we employ more laboratory staff than brewers, distribute it to all the venues in your country and tell you, that this is great beer, especially made for you in your local area, through our enormous, very colourful and very expensive marketing campaigns.
Like in the beer from up here, a slogan which might give you the idea, that those beers are brewed in the Northern part of Queensland, but actually only refers to history. CUB, which is now owned by the world’s largest brewing company, AB InBev, with headquarters in Belgium, bought the Cairns Brewery - which used to brew Great Northern beer - in 1931. They now produce the beer in Brisbane, which is, as far as our geographical understanding goes, not very far up in Queensland.
That’s what many big breweries do.
WHO WE ARE
We’re a small family business: Bert (brewmaster, farmer, dad) and Bea (manager, farmer, mum). Our little son helps, when he’s not busy going to prep or playing, and we also employ two casual helpers from our neighbourhood.
Bert has been brewing all his life. He started working as an apprentice brewer after finishing school in 1992, added advanced education as master brewer later and managed the microbrewery Brauhaus Nittenau in his hometown Nittenau, 150 km north of Munich, for more than 13 years. Since 2012 he’s also a trained farmer.
Bea started off less practical. She got herself a university degree and worked in management, administration and consulting. Her slight career change may give you an idea of how much she enjoyed that. Since 2012 she’s also a trained farmer.
Besides our full time jobs, our love for amazing food and drinks led to more and more brewing, cooking and tasting, until we finally ended up with a part time farm, half a butchery and a restaurant at home. And in 2012 we decided to start our own business – but not in our home area Bavaria/Germany, where we were born and raised…
We’re a small family business: Bert (brewmaster, farmer, dad) and Bea (manager, farmer, mum). Our little son helps, when he’s not busy going to prep or playing, and we also employ two casual helpers from our neighbourhood.
Bert has been brewing all his life. He started working as an apprentice brewer after finishing school in 1992, added advanced education as master brewer later and managed the microbrewery Brauhaus Nittenau in his hometown Nittenau, 150 km north of Munich, for more than 13 years. Since 2012 he’s also a trained farmer.
Bea started off less practical. She got herself a university degree and worked in management, administration and consulting. Her slight career change may give you an idea of how much she enjoyed that. Since 2012 she’s also a trained farmer.
Besides our full time jobs, our love for amazing food and drinks led to more and more brewing, cooking and tasting, until we finally ended up with a part time farm, half a butchery and a restaurant at home. And in 2012 we decided to start our own business – but not in our home area Bavaria/Germany, where we were born and raised…
WHERE WE COME FROM
Bavaria is a very beautiful state in Southern Germany. With a population of about 10 million people it is home to about 650 breweries. There are many magnificent historical villages and small towns, and each has its own brewery – at least one. The village with the world’s highest brewery density - 4 breweries and 1500 inhabitants – is, of course, situated in Bavaria.
There’s lots of traditional craftsmanship. Becoming a brewer there is like becoming a carpenter or a blacksmith.
There’s lots of diversity. Regarding food, there are 1500 sausage varieties. 500 cheese varieties. 300 bread varieties.
There’s also lots of traditional farming. We used to breed old, traditional sheep and cattle breeds on our small farm.
And it’s right in the centre of Europe, so it’s 60 km to the Czech Republic (oh, the beer!) 140 km to Austria (oh, the wine!) 400 km to Italy (oh, everything you can eat or drink!) 420 km to France (do we have to say anything?)…
Bavaria is a very beautiful state in Southern Germany. With a population of about 10 million people it is home to about 650 breweries. There are many magnificent historical villages and small towns, and each has its own brewery – at least one. The village with the world’s highest brewery density - 4 breweries and 1500 inhabitants – is, of course, situated in Bavaria.
There’s lots of traditional craftsmanship. Becoming a brewer there is like becoming a carpenter or a blacksmith.
There’s lots of diversity. Regarding food, there are 1500 sausage varieties. 500 cheese varieties. 300 bread varieties.
There’s also lots of traditional farming. We used to breed old, traditional sheep and cattle breeds on our small farm.
And it’s right in the centre of Europe, so it’s 60 km to the Czech Republic (oh, the beer!) 140 km to Austria (oh, the wine!) 400 km to Italy (oh, everything you can eat or drink!) 420 km to France (do we have to say anything?)…
HOW WE GOT HERE
But, we had fallen in love with Queensland, during an Australia trip in 2007. In fact, we had fallen in love with each other in the course of the planning of this trip – but that’s another story. However, we couldn’t really get it out of our heads and finally, on our honeymoon in 2011, which we spent in the High Alps of Italy’s South Tyrol region – amazing landscape, wildlife, food and drinks and space for thoughts and dreams - we seriously considered making the big move.
The final decision was made after lots of research in July 2012. Then we began to gather our equipment. We used to think you’d have to be really rich to be able to start a brewery. We weren’t. We decided to sell our beautiful house and land. Not enough. But due to the long brewing tradition in our area, Bert used to work in historical breweries. So he knew about all the trouble, that old equipment causes, and he knew how to fix it. So why not try to find used, pre-loved equipment and put it together? So Bert built our brewhouse from dairy tanks. For many months he gathered and prepared everything – while we also still worked in our jobs and side-businesses and, in the meantime, had our baby son.
Until in February 2014 the three of us hopped in a car, then on a plane, another plane and another car and another plane and finally, a few days later, arrived in Bundaberg. Our gear followed - after a logistical nightmare including trucks, containerships, customs, biosecurity and endless forms, as well as endless costs - in November 2014 in five big 40-foot-containers.
And then, we started from scratch. With a 1 year old baby. In a country that we loved, but where the awesome people we met, had a bit of trouble understanding our slight accent - probably a mix of German with the British English we had learned in school. And we didn’t even have a bank account. Or a tax file number. Or a drivers licence. Not to mention that we had left behind all that we knew, including our friends and family. And do not ask about the still ongoing visa process, that eats up thousands and thousands of dollars and hours.
And from all the spots in the world we chose Australia. And from all the spots in Australia we chose Central Queensland. The small coastal community of Baffle Creek, to be precise. Because we think it’s perfect for us. We love country life and we love the ocean. Rolling hills and thundering waves. Beef and Reef.
Did it make us rich and famous? Certainly not. Was it easy? Certainly not. Did it make us happy? Certainly yes. Because we love where we live and how we are able to live here (on 40 acres of beautiful bushland) and we love what we’re doing.
But, we had fallen in love with Queensland, during an Australia trip in 2007. In fact, we had fallen in love with each other in the course of the planning of this trip – but that’s another story. However, we couldn’t really get it out of our heads and finally, on our honeymoon in 2011, which we spent in the High Alps of Italy’s South Tyrol region – amazing landscape, wildlife, food and drinks and space for thoughts and dreams - we seriously considered making the big move.
The final decision was made after lots of research in July 2012. Then we began to gather our equipment. We used to think you’d have to be really rich to be able to start a brewery. We weren’t. We decided to sell our beautiful house and land. Not enough. But due to the long brewing tradition in our area, Bert used to work in historical breweries. So he knew about all the trouble, that old equipment causes, and he knew how to fix it. So why not try to find used, pre-loved equipment and put it together? So Bert built our brewhouse from dairy tanks. For many months he gathered and prepared everything – while we also still worked in our jobs and side-businesses and, in the meantime, had our baby son.
Until in February 2014 the three of us hopped in a car, then on a plane, another plane and another car and another plane and finally, a few days later, arrived in Bundaberg. Our gear followed - after a logistical nightmare including trucks, containerships, customs, biosecurity and endless forms, as well as endless costs - in November 2014 in five big 40-foot-containers.
And then, we started from scratch. With a 1 year old baby. In a country that we loved, but where the awesome people we met, had a bit of trouble understanding our slight accent - probably a mix of German with the British English we had learned in school. And we didn’t even have a bank account. Or a tax file number. Or a drivers licence. Not to mention that we had left behind all that we knew, including our friends and family. And do not ask about the still ongoing visa process, that eats up thousands and thousands of dollars and hours.
And from all the spots in the world we chose Australia. And from all the spots in Australia we chose Central Queensland. The small coastal community of Baffle Creek, to be precise. Because we think it’s perfect for us. We love country life and we love the ocean. Rolling hills and thundering waves. Beef and Reef.
Did it make us rich and famous? Certainly not. Was it easy? Certainly not. Did it make us happy? Certainly yes. Because we love where we live and how we are able to live here (on 40 acres of beautiful bushland) and we love what we’re doing.
WHAT YOU GET
So after all that, what do you get when you grab a bottle or a glass of Baffle Beer?
Great beer. The best beer we could brew for you.
It is not 101% perfect, like all food that’s made in a kitchen - or a brewery, not a laboratory. It does not come in exactly the same shape with millimetre accuracy every time, like a burger from a food chain. That means you may notice light variations in flavour, cause its taste depends on many factors, like the intensity of this harvesting season’s hops.
And it’s not the cheapest you can get, cause the economy of scale clearly does not work for us. You also won’t get free merchandise with every stubby you buy and you won’t see our logo on your favourite football-shirt, cause our marketing budget is located somewhere around zero. But you may find it at your local sports club or community event, as we love to work with and support local community groups.
You get an honest, tasty, locally made product. Brewed and bottled in Baffle Creek. By some guys you now know a little bit.
So after all that, what do you get when you grab a bottle or a glass of Baffle Beer?
Great beer. The best beer we could brew for you.
It is not 101% perfect, like all food that’s made in a kitchen - or a brewery, not a laboratory. It does not come in exactly the same shape with millimetre accuracy every time, like a burger from a food chain. That means you may notice light variations in flavour, cause its taste depends on many factors, like the intensity of this harvesting season’s hops.
And it’s not the cheapest you can get, cause the economy of scale clearly does not work for us. You also won’t get free merchandise with every stubby you buy and you won’t see our logo on your favourite football-shirt, cause our marketing budget is located somewhere around zero. But you may find it at your local sports club or community event, as we love to work with and support local community groups.
You get an honest, tasty, locally made product. Brewed and bottled in Baffle Creek. By some guys you now know a little bit.
