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The latest news & jobs from Bright

Bright’s Evin Craney takes seat on IBA Board

Bright Brewery is thrilled to announced that our National Sales Manager, Evin Craney, has been elected as a Director to the Board of the Independent Brewers’ Association (IBA).

Evin, who has been with Bright Brewery since 2019, was elected to the board at the IBA’s AGM today.

He takes on the Board seat alongside his existing position as the Chairperson of the IBA’s Trade Engagement Working Group.

Evin has worked in Australia’s craft beer industry for the past 10+ years and said he was excited to join decision-makers at the forefront of the industry.

“I am incredibly fortunate to have been welcomed into the craft beer industry at the start of my working career and am looking forward to moving our amazing industry forward,” Evin said.

“But being an independent brewer in a country dominated by multi-nationals can be a really tough gig. I’m excited to be part of the IBA’s charge to support and represent indie brewers across the country and work to better spread the word of indie beer.”

Evin has a particular interest in gaining more support for indie brewers within ‘big box’ retailers along with goals to expand the Australian craft beer industry internationally.

“Aussie craft beer has come such a long way in such a short time and I think that, now, we need to show the world how good our beers truly are.”

During his time at Bright, Evin has spearheaded several notable projects including our Australian-first Paktech recycling scheme, gaining national and international distribution, the update of our core range, and he was instrumental in helping us survive the COVID pandemic – at which time time, he spent nearly 18 months home-delivering Bright beer throughout Melbourne’s suburbs.

Bright Brewery has a long history of representation within the IBA and we currently hold 2 of the 6 Chairs of the IBA’s Working Groups. Our Projects and Sustainability Manager Marthijs Heuperman also Chairs the Sustainability Working Group.

Bright Brewery’s founder and owner Scott Brandon said he was incredibly proud of Evin and Marthijs for getting involved with the IBA, and for helping pave the way forward for indie brewers in Australia.

“No one is more passionate about craft beer and independent breweries than Evin and I’m excited to see what he and the rest of the board achieve this year and into the future,” Scott said.

Evin joins new and existing IBA Board Members:

Matthew Shortal from Great Ocean Road Brewing

Chris Cefala from the Local Brewing Co.

Clare Clouting, Gage Road Brewery

Richard Watkins, Bentspoke Brewing Co.

Callum Reeves, Kaiji Beer

Lauren Jack, Ballistic Brewing Co.

The IBA is the voice for independent brewers around the country, with 432 brewery members and another 110 associate members. The IBA works with government agencies, industry, trade and international counterparts to represent the interests of Australian independent brewers. Working alongside its members, the IBA seeks to build a strong, sustainable future for our industry.

Razor Witbier named Top 20 Beer of 2022

We were absolutely thrilled to see our beautiful Razor Witbier named one of Australia’s Top 20 Best Beers of the Year by The Australian newspaper over the weekend.

Razor is a Belgian-style Witbier laced with coriander and orange zest and brewed with unmalted wheat. It is effervescent and cloudy with aromas of banana, bubblegum and citrus.

It’s name is an homage to the iconic Razorback Ridge on Victoria’s iconic Mount Feathertop.

No stranger to accolades, Razor was awarded an Independent Brewers Association Champion Trophy in 2019 for Best European Style Ale.

“This award-winner hits all the right notes,” according to reviewer Peter Lalor.

Craft beer is a competitive space to play in, with more than 600 registered craft breweries in Australia and tens of thousands of brews coming out each year.

Witbiers may not be the trendiest style of beer, but there’s a reason they’ve been brewed continuously for hundreds of years.

Is this the resurgence of the witbier? It might just be!

To get your hands on this award-winning brew, please head here.

To read the full Weekend Australian article (behind a paywall), please head here.

Buy Local this Black Friday with 10% off storewide

As Halloween and other American holidays gain traction here in Oz, so too has another American tradition – Black Friday!

Traditionally on the Friday after Thanksgiving – this Friday, November 25 – Black Friday leads to crazy online bargains, huge sales and discounts, and generally mass hysteria!

So while some businesses use Black Friday to move old stock or grab attention with bargain-basement sales, we thought we’d take a slightly different tack this year.

This Black Friday, we’re asking our friends and customers to think about where your hard-earned money is spent – and to consider supporting local, instead of giving it away to global tech giants or buying another blender you don’t need.

Think about buying from local, independent producers in your own community – or ones that align with your values – rather than from mainstream, internationally-owned monoliths.

The catch? Producers creating unique, small-batch products – like ours – can’t afford to take a loss with bargain-basement prices.

So while our discounts might not be as big as the majors, you can feel confident in the fact that every dollar spent is going into a family-owned, independent business – hopefully one right in your own community!

We can’t compete with selling cases of Great Northern for $40 – but we do have some great deals, including:

– 10% OFF STOREWIDE FROM FRIDAY TO SUNDAY: all beers, all merch, all mixed packs*

– FREE GIFT WORTH $22 for all orders over $150

– FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $100 (excl WA/NT)

* Excludes Mash Club subscriptions and sale items

And we’ll even do one better – in exchange for your support of local business, we are going to donate 10% of all sales made through our online store on Black Friday to Zero Waste Victoria.

Zero Waste Victoria’s mission is to empower Victorians to downsize their waste through everyday choices, while advocating for meaningful change. They aim to shift mindsets, facilitate action and spotlight solutions to reduce waste. Their impact is to amplify the community voice and connect people, inspiring and enabling them to reach their zero waste goals.

Our Black Friday Sale is on from Friday 24 – Sunday 27 November.  You can start browsing here now! Enter code: CODE: BLACKFRIDAY10.

Lemonade Shandy Launch

It’s the summer of Shandy!

On Tuesday November 8, we launched  the release of our Lemonade Shandy with a “competitive” game of lawn bowls at the Myrtleford Bowls Club.

The club room bar was stocked with plenty of icy cold Shandys; and Lilly from our events team was on hand with tasting samples for the thirsty local local bowlers.

Bright Brewery fielded two teams so needless to say the competition was fierce… A big shout out to Lance Symons, President of the Myrtleford Bowls Club, for helping us organise the event and lending a hand with a few coaching tips – it sure wasn’t an easy task!

Bright Brewery has been a sponsor of the Myrtleford Bowls Club since 2019 and is proud to support more than 40 local people, festivals, events and community organisations.

The Lemonade Shandy is available now in the venue, online and at independent liquor stores. Get some zest in your life and shop some here.

Work with us

Looking for a career change, a tree change or both?  Love to stay active and want to work with like-minded people for a business that cares about your physical and mental health, as well as the environment?

We are on the lookout for friendly, active people to come and join our team here at Bright Brewery.

We know how awesome Bright is to live, work and play, but don’t take our word for it, hear what our staff have to say in the video above.

We are currently recruiting for people in the following roles:

  • Kitchenhands (junior/senior roles/no experience necessary)
  • Qualified chefs
  • Cooks
  • Apprentices

Full-time, part-time, and casual roles are available.

What do we offer?

  • Award rates
  • Guaranteed work-life balance
  • Subsidised Bootcamp or Yoga Space memberships
  • Regular social activities (MTB, trail running, knitting, etc)
  • Bonus Green Transport initiative for ditching the car and walking/riding to work
  • A genuinely fun and enjoyable working environment

If you’re interested in joining our team, we’d love to hear from you. Please visit our Jobs Page or just pop in with a CV when we’re open.

Liebe Skii Competition Winner

Drum roll, drum roll……We have a winner!

It was with much anticipation that we drew the lucky winner of our Liebe Skii Competition via Instagram Live on Friday 7th October.

Congratulations to Hume Winzar of Sydney NSW! He has won a customised pair of Liebe Skiis, valued at $3200.

We would like to thank everyone who entered the competition. We received hundreds of entries which also helped us raise in excess of $3600 for Protect our Winters Australia.

Crafted by hand, by Gavin Bufton of Melbourne’s Liebe Skii factory, Hume’s new skis will be matched to size, ability, ski style, design, and other preferences.

We look forward to seeing Hume out on the slopes carving it up next winter!

“It was complicated, but it is delicious!”

It was a special moment last week when we launched INFINITE Stubborn Whisky Barrel Aged 2019 Stubborn Imperial Stout. A cyclical collaboration three years in the making with our friends at Backwoods Distilling Co; it represents a beer that is as complex as the process it was to make it.

So, how did we make it?

In 2019 we distilled Stubborn Imperial Stout into whisky that aged in French Oak barrels for 2 years. Once the whisky was decanted we re-filled those barrels with 2019 Stubborn Imperial Stout we had saved and aged the beer for 1 year in the whiskey casks.

Confused? Don’t be! Check out the video below with our Head Brewer Reid Stratton where he explains the process in more detail.

Given the limited nature of this rare and special beer, demand was sky high and INFINTE sold out online within one hour when it was released!  However, you can purchase INFINITE at one of these specialist bottle shops or at the Bright Brewery venue.

 

BRIGHTER TIMES AHEAD WITH LAUNCH OF NEW CORE RANGE PALE ALE

Bright Brewery is excited to announce a significant milestone in the evolution of its core range of MountainCrafted beers.

The High Country brewery is adding a new Australian-style pale ale to its roster of award-winning core range beers, which are available all year-round.

With a striking new design, which will be rolled out across Bright’s entire core range this year, Bright Pale is a 4.0% Australian-style pale ale, brewed with predominantly local hops.

Bright Pale was first launched as a venue-only product for Bright’s brew-pub in late 2021 but its fresh, subtle tropical flavour and low bitterness made it an instant success.

“We immediately realised we had something pretty special on our hands,” Bright Brewery Marketing Manager Laura Gray said.

“The beer just hit all the right notes with our customers – from its easy-drinking flavour and super sessionable ABV to its name, which is so synonymous with our brewery, we just knew this beer was going to be a bigger part of our story.”

Bright Pale will replace the long-running Blowhard Pale Ale in Bright’s core range lineup. Blowhard, a big, hoppy American-style pale, has been a staple of Bright’s core range for many years, “We all have a soft spot for Blowhard,” Gray said. “And we know there are people out there that really love it. The decision to move on was a hard one but, as we have learnt first-hand over the past 16 years, craft beer is all about innovation and the time felt right for us to try something new.

“And we know our head brewer Reid Stratton and his team have really created something truly special with Bright Pale.

“Blowhard will always remain an important part of our history – and we’ll all miss hearing people asking for it at the bar with a smile on their face!”

Bright Pale joins stablemates Hellfire Amber Ale, M.I.A. IPA, Bright Sour and the ever-popular Alpine Lager in Bright’s core range lineup.

Alpine Lager, which was voted Victoria’s favourite indie lager in the 2021 GABS Hottest 100 Poll and, most recently, the #1 beer to buy your dad this Father’s Day, is getting a fresh new look and feel to coincide with the release of Bright Pale.

The new core range artwork, created by designer James Sadgrove, is a striking, modern take on Bright’s MountainCrafted brand.

“We brew right here at the foot of the Australian Alps, and we live and breathe the mountain lifestyle.” Gray said. “We think Bright Pale really captures that spirit and we’re excited to finally see it out in the world.”

Bright Brewery has launched a Golden Lid Competition to celebrate the release of Bright Pale, open to beer lovers across Australia.

Fifty (50) cans of Bright Pale have been capped with a Golden Lid (in contrast to the normal silver lid) and those who are lucky enough to find one will go in the draw to win a swag of great prizes, including an Ultimate Bright Brewery Experience for you and four mates.

For more information on how to enter the competition, head here.

Bright continues to expand with new brewer

After another record year of beer production and sales, Bright Brewery is proud to announce the appointment of a new Assistant Brewer to its Brewing team.

Madi Bruce has joined the team at Fred’s Shed – Bright’s production facility – in her first full-time role as a brewer.

Madi is no stranger to Bright, however, having led the brewery’s customer service team as a Front of House Supervisor for the past three years.

During that time, Madi – who has long had a passion for brewing beer – completed her brewing qualifications, and worked as a trainee in the brewhouse as well.

“To be asked to be a brewer here in Bright is so incredible,” Madi said. “The team is so small so it really focuses on that passion I have for craft beer and learning about how it’s made.

“I’ve loved working behind the bar pouring beers but my real love is producing the beer so I’m excited to be heading in that direction.”

Earlier this year, Madi championed a new initiative for the brewery – leading the development of Bright’s first all-female beer, in honour of International Women’s Day.

That beer – named Fred’s Blackberry Pale Ale in homage to Bright’s late founder Fiona Reddaway – was created by Madi, and brewed by the women of Bright Brewery, including Fiona’s mother and three daughters.

Advocating for, and encouraging, women in the brewing industry is a passion for Madi, who is an active member of the Australian chapter of the Pink Boots Society.

“The female brew day here at the brewery was so exciting and such an incredible experience for all the staff,” Madi said.

Madi joins Head Brewer Reid Stratton and Assistant Brewer David Stokie who, together, create and brew more than 35 unique beers a year.

“Madi has brought such a spark into the brewery,” Reid said. “She’s come in with all these incredible ideas and all this enthusiasm and it’s really infectious.”

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