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