Independent Brewers Association launches Save the Industry campaign; Akasha enters administration

Akasha Brewing Company Pty Ltd has become the latest brewery to enter into voluntary administration. The news follows closely behind the announcement by Deeds Brewing, who began restructuring its business with Deloitte administrators the week prior, and reveals a continuation of worrying trends that have been forecasted to worsen.

The restructuring of Akasha Brewing is set to be handled by Henry McKenna of Vincents as appointed by the company’s directors. 

​​“Our entire team have worked hard building a highly successful and respected brewery over the last 9 years, however the past 12 months has been extremely challenging for our industry and the wider economy,” said Dave Padden, Founder and CEO at Akasha Brewing.

“Whilst we felt this step was necessary to ensure the future success of the brewery, it was a very difficult decision to make.”

The directors of Akasha have reported that the voluntary restructuring has been decided upon as a way to deal with financial losses accrued due to factors such as declining consumer demand for craft beer, increases in production costs, and increases in excise tax. 

The business has advised that it will continue to operate as normal during the voluntary administration process and that employees, suppliers and customers will not be impacted in any way. 

“If you’re a fan of our beers, we’d really appreciate your support during this time,” said Padden.

Akasha Brewing’s voluntary administration announcement does not apply to its The Barrel Room and The Edwards venues. 

In lieu of the current trend, the Independent Brewers Association (IBA) have launched a campaign designed to help save Australia’s independent beer industry. The Save the Industry campaign provides brewers with all necessary resources to bring awareness and attention to the current issue.

The campaign follows the IBA’s recent proposals to the federal government outlining what needs to change in Australia’s brewing industry. It also follows on from its decision to cancel BrewCon 2024 to focus financial resources into industry-saving campaigns. IBA CEO Kylie Lethbridge said the cancellation was not an easy decision to make.

“It was really hard, and you know, I don't ever want to cancel anything,” she said.

“My first day of being CEO in this organisation was the first day of lockdown in Victoria and so it's just been one cancellation after the other.

“Thankfully, we were able to run it in 2023, and so I now have a better understanding of how to do it. I’ve got a better understanding of what the resources, both financial and human, that it takes to run that conference successfully: it is a risk that we just can't take; having to spend that amount of money and time on developing something as large as BrewCon is.

“Our member surveys all reflected, you know, ‘we're in trouble. We need help. We need help with doing business.’ So we're, we're now turning our head to developing programs.

“We had [also] predicted quite a reduction on income for BrewCon [2024], which made it even more of a financial risk. And really, at a time when our members are fighting for their survival, we couldn't take that risk that the IBA, you know, potentially lost money.

“And so we just couldn't take the risk of BrewCon. So we're just saying, we're not going to do option A for you this year. We're going to do option B. I hope that that delivers just as much benefit."

For more information visit askforindiebeer.com.au or the IBA website.