In 2023 Five Barrel Brewing is looking forward to launching a spring range of craft beer featuring botanical illustrations of arrangements by local florists. It’s a far cry from the state of play in December 2015 when the family business began in Wollongong.
“Back then, we were still very much a VB, Toohey’s New kind of town, and the concept of craft was very, very novel,” says co-owner Phillip O’Shea.
Almost eight years on, their Keira Street taproom – which serves a rotating selection of craft beer brewed onsite – attracts a growing community of craft beer buffs and novices. In the early days, novices were the more common of the two, Phillip admits, having begun as one himself.
Phillip has a background in maths and finance, but almost 15 years ago quit a full-time corporate job to travel through Europe and the US, where an appreciation for the craft of brewing was emerging.
“I started my career just as the GFC hit,” Phillip says, “and I was working at a hedge fund and decided that that wasn't the course for me, so I ended up in corporate IT, worked in North Sydney for quite a while, and kind of looked around and saw that it was the kind of job that I could be in for the rest of my life, but, you know, again, that environment wasn't for me.
“I guess I've always wanted to try to do something different, so I quit without anything to go to and travelled the world, and absolutely loved the beer culture that was developing around the world and thought it'd be wonderful to bring it back to Wollongong.
“I found it absolutely fascinating that you could be in a bar in New York with 300 people packed in, watching a basketball game, and there wasn't even a bouncer at the front door, and I was like, well, why do we have such a bad relationship with alcohol here?
“The craft beer movement was really not about drinking to excess, and it was about the positive aspects of being social in a safe environment, and [that] was really the core motivation to start the brewery.”
Phillip had done some hobby homebrewing with a close mate during high school. He picked up where he left off, moved in with his sister (now a co-owner of Five Barrel Brewing, along with their brother) and brewed every weekend with his father. At the time, craft beer was still very new to the Illawarra.
“Even to this day, we still get people who come in that have never tried craft beer before, and a big part of our mission is to educate."
Phillip says people understand the difference between a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Sauvignon Blanc. “But the difference between a pilsner and a pale ale is lost on them.
“I've got to tip my hat to Dave McGrath from Illawarra Brewing Company – he was a pioneer before me – we were the second in the area.”
Phillip describes the first four or five years of Five Barrel Brewing as “a pretty bloody hard slog” – in terms of perfecting their brewing, enticing people to try craft beer and handling the rejection that comes with fighting for tap and shelf space at local venues and alcohol stores.
“I reflect on a joke [from] when I started the brewery, and it was basically all the hardships that you go through to open your doors are nothing compared to the hardships that you have as soon as you get them open,” Phillip says.
“Step one was getting council to understand what a brewery was; initially, their first reaction was that we were going be the next Carlton United, and that we needed to talk about upgrading road infrastructure and make sure that we had truck access.”
Eventually, Phillip replaced himself as head brewer with Brent Edwards of Good George Brewing in New Zealand. He says the quality of their beer shot up. Though IPAs (India Pale Ales) are now a staple, it was the Hoppy Amber – an American-style amber ale – that first gained recognition for the brewery. This has since morphed into their Navigator Red IPA.
Today the company brews on-site regularly – last year they made 27 limited-release beers (and seltzers) in addition to their core range – and their day trade looks very different to eight years ago.
“There was a lot of long lunches and morning teas when we first started out; they don't exist anymore,” Phillip said.
“We get a lot of support locally. We've got beer down at the brewery at WIN Stadium, His Boy Elroy, we're well-supported by Steamers, and then there's quite a few places that have us on rotation throughout the Illawarra.
“Headlands Hotel – Andrew and the team – when they opened up, they came down for a tasting, absolutely fell in love with it, and they've been pouring ever since.
“99 per cent of what we do is local.”
Their next brew is the Sparkling Spud Ale, to be released early next month in conjunction with the Robertson Potato Festival, before a series of floral beers take centre stage in spring.
“Shannon [Dyson], our artist, he was trained in like scientific illustrations of botanicals and… we've partnered with four local florists who have created some absolutely stunning floral arrangements that Shannon has then gone and illustrated,” Phillip says.
“We'll be releasing four of that series of beers in spring.”
“That’s been a project that's taken about 12 months to get to this point, so [we’re] really excited for that one.”
Five Barrel Brewing is at 318 Keira Street, Wollongong. To view their trading hours and full range, visit the website.
