Business has been booming for Phil O’Shea and his Five Barrel Brewing company, so much so he’s had to decline numerous invitations to exhibit at some of Australia’s finest beer festivals.
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That is, until now.
Crafted Live, Wollongong’s first beer and barbecue festival, will be the public debut for O’Shea and his crafty ales and tales of brewing.
It’s been a little over a year since he opened but the *** has been run off his feet with keeping up with the demand for his wares.
“We’ve made a conscious effort not to really do these kinds of things until we were 100 per cent ready,” O’Shea said.
“The timing was pretty good for us to get out.”
The former IT professional left a corporate life in Sydney to pursue his love for beer and opened the Keira Street brewery at the end of 2015.
Five Barrel will be one of 20 of the countries top brewers and cider makers on show alongside other local bevvy company Illawarra Brewing Company.
O’Shea said the Crafted Live – which also includes slow cooked barbecue competitions, workshops and live music – was a good way to win new customers as traditionally their marketing is word of mouth.
They’ve also just acquired two new 1800 litre tanks increasing production by 250 per cent to keep up with demand.
But he says they’re never going to be a “massive” brewery pushing product out everywhere and happy the majority of their business is between Austinmer and Kiama.