11/03/2025
🍺💪🏾 “The Final Mash” 💪🏾🍺
It’s a sad time for Brisbane craft beer and our beloved industry.
13 years ago, the beginning of the craft beer movement in Brisbane was wild. Discovering what hops in beer were was total transcendence; It was new and exciting.
Filled with optimism, incredible collabs with international icons and style exploration, along with its fair share of ego. Being an OG of an industry, you aren’t immune to being taken advantage of nor making mistakes.
Be it our generosity and trust sometimes besting our common sense, the great brand confusion of 2021 or a mid strength lager with a big cow on the can, we have certainly learned some lessons along the way.
While I’m sure all Brisbanians will have a Newstead story to share, Newstead Brewing’s story certainly isn’t singular. Where it does walk the line of uniqueness though, is in its shear grit.
3yrs ago, after a crippling pandemic that bought the industry to its knees, we flooded. The humbling of that moment sparked a massive focus on integrity and authenticity. It was do or die. So we dug deep and did!
At our core, we have always been a small family business. Built on a deep passion for pushing boundaries and exploring possibilities. With an enthusiasm to be a part of something wonderful and contribute to building a community and an industry.
We could have been forgiven for closing the doors after the floods of 2022 and the experience of watching 9 years of our hard work go under water. But something amazing happened. Those who were “meant” to show up didn’t and those who did show up, were meant to.
Brisbane reminded us of what we were a part of. One hell of a community that deserves to be fought for.
So, the family stepped back in. Scrubbed the floor of all that went before us and with nothing more than grit, we began the process of CPR on a Brisbane Icon of craft beer.
Love us or hate us, the foundation of Brisbanes craft beer scene lies within the flood stained foot holds of our tanks. We owed it to our community and ourselves to try and breathe some life into the lady, tell our true story and push harder for our beloved industry.
And push we did.
We get by with a little help from our friends, and we are immensely grateful for the support of the community and the incredible passion, dedication, skill and ownership of our sensational team.
Never have I worked with such an incredible bunch of humans. From our core team through to game day rockstars, the tapestry of our most recent story is rich with skill, an ability to innovate and produce outstanding quality under crippling conditions.
It’s been an inspiring 3 years and every single one of our team were integral to every breath Newstead took, so it’s heart breaking for us all, that in these times of industry crisis, we just couldn’t weather this final storm. The old girl is done.
We leave with our heads held high. All of our work was not for nothing. We kept the heart beating of an industry that needs help from its friends right now and we proved that passionate authenticity, heart, and sheer grit truly do make an impactful difference.
We have been proud to host your weddings, your birthdays, your reunions and your wakes. We’ve loved the rush of serving you on a Suncorp event day and having many yarns with you on a chilled out midweek afternoon. From Doggett St to Milton, it has been an honour serving you all.
If anything can be taken from Newstead Brewing’s story, it’s to remain humble, keep evolving and bettering yourselves and please support your mates.
We may be gone, but not forgotten.
You will find a little part of us in every Brisbane craft beer poured. Cheers to an industry worth fighting for!
Since before the floods,
Newstead Brewing.
