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smorgasboarder<br />
into the aether<br />
And here’s another few blokes we think little of.<br />
Laughing away. They’re smug with the fact they are<br />
living the life. Two friends who dared to dream and set<br />
about realising that dream.<br />
Dave Johnson and Jimmy Young are a couple of<br />
mates who worked together in oil and gas. They<br />
lived on the Gold Coast and one day, while knocking<br />
back a few beers at Jimmy’s place, Jimmy said those<br />
seven words that so many have said before him: “I’ve<br />
always wanted to own a bar!” To which Dave replied,<br />
“I’ve always wanted to own a brewery!”<br />
Eyes lit up. Excitement grew. They pulled out the<br />
butcher’s paper and started scribbling down all their<br />
ideas to open a craft beer brewpub in Brisbane.<br />
Whenever they hit a dead end, they said, “Chuck that<br />
out into the aether for now, and we’ll deal with it later.”<br />
Any other story would have ended there. Any other<br />
two guys would’ve woken up the next morning,<br />
perhaps slightly the worse for wear, and shrugged it<br />
off as a pipe dream that they could never pull off. Not<br />
this story however and not these guys.<br />
Dave, the creative, the ideas man, would never let his<br />
dream die. Jimmy, the perfectionist, the action man,<br />
would never stop before the job was done.<br />
Over months and years, the plans kept forming, the<br />
brew recipes kept evolving, the pieces kept falling<br />
into place, and the boys kept working. Obstacles fell<br />
in their path, but they pressed on in their labours with<br />
Herculean determination. And then, one fateful day at<br />
the start of 2016, they signed a lease for a venue on<br />
Railway Terrace in Milton. Halfway through the year,<br />
their custom designed brewing system arrived on<br />
their doorstep.<br />
The following months had Jimmy and Dave working<br />
around the clock—fine-tuning equipment, ripping<br />
out all evidence of the previous tenants, building<br />
a brewpub from scratch… and of course, brewing<br />
enough ‘test batches’ of delicious craft beer to keep<br />
them hydrated during their marathon effort.<br />
Finally, at the end of 2016, the day arrived. Six years<br />
of vision culminated in the doors swinging open, as<br />
the delights of Aether Brewing were made available to<br />
the people.<br />
It truly is a remarkable story of two mates simply<br />
having a crack and working their clackers off to realise<br />
a dream. And their dream is now expanding into an<br />
entirely new realm, their brewpub in Milton can’t keep<br />
up with the demand and hence they are looking to<br />
establish a production facility in Northgate. It would<br />
see them in a position to distribute on a sustainable<br />
level.<br />
The only downside of all this expansion is the limited<br />
surf time. Jimmy had this to say, “We started this<br />
business so we had more time to do the things we<br />
love, like surfing. Having a fresh beer after a surf is the<br />
best. I mean, surfing is the ultimate escape, removes<br />
all stress and worries. A beer afterwards is just the<br />
icing on the cake.<br />
“One of the big things for us when we developed<br />
the business plan revolved around surfing before<br />
work every day and then heading into the brewery.<br />
Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened” Jimmy says<br />
laughing. “We’re way too busy, so buy more of our<br />
beer so we can.”<br />
In all seriousness, these guys have a sweet setup<br />
if you are in Brissy or are passing through. There is<br />
a super cool, friendly vibe to the place, the food is<br />
awesome and the beers are rippers. The vote for mine<br />
is the Hop, Skip and Jump IPA. And believe me, after<br />
a few of these you could probably add a stumble to<br />
that title. These boys are pursuing perfection and<br />
doing a pretty darn good job of it.<br />
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