The purchase coincides with the brewery's 10-year anniversary and a new era for the brewery as it enters into a period of growth and expansion, and (dare I say it) a bright future!
The existing brewery's current annual production is approximately 100,000L, of which about 85 per cent is sold at its own brewery bar. With the new site on Churchill Ave, the brewery hopes to increase this by fivefold. This will allow the brewery to begin supplying to the wider wholesale market (exactly details of capacity are still being worked out).
To assist with the expansion, Bright Brewery will also be bringing on two new brewers from next week - Richard Chamberlin as Head Brewer and Tom Wood as Assistant Brewer. And Bright Brewery says that it hopes to be able to bring on another 3-6 employees to the site in the next two years.
Bright Brewery owner and founder, Scott Brandon said, "The new facility also provides us with the perfect opportunity to achieve more of our sustainability goals, to make our beer as carbon neutral and sustainable as possible.
"Also, we'll be able to use our existing brewhouse to experiment more and produce some really interesting limited releases, which will help keep the brewery bar an exciting and enticing destination for beer fans."
Once Richard Chamberlin and Tom Wood are on board, Brandon hopes to release an anniversary ale.
The Bright Brewery story began in 2003, when Brandon and his wife Fiona Reddaway purchased the land for the brewery to be built on. The first beer was brewed at Jamieson Brewery in December 2004 and sold at a temporary brewery bar around the corner, while Bright Brewery was being built and brewing equipment sourced.
The doors to Bright Brewery were opened on Saturday 10th June 2006 (the Queen's Birthday long weekend) and the first beer was brewed on site just a few days later.
Today, the brewery makes MountainCrafted beers, inspired by the surrounding alpine environment and using fresh mountain water. All beers are brewed on-site at Bright Brewery, metres away from its 24 tap bar.
Bright Brewery will be having a little celebration next Saturday 18th June following the busy June long weekend.
Image: Scott Brandon and Fiona Reddaway
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