1.
Okay, let's get the bad news aside first... We won't be opening the cellar door in April. It's been a frustrating ordeal and I'll get to the reasons. I wanted to be able to sell our first beers from our home, but that's not to be.
We can't open the cellar door because we have yet to obtain an occupation certificate for our space. Being an 1890 warehouse, it came as no surprise that we would need to upgrade the building in order to meet elements of the Building Code of Australia. The majority of the upgrades surround existing fire safety and accessibility issues. To be clear, we are not upset about what we need to do to make our space safer for everyone and dignified for persons with limited mobility.
It's the timing surrounding all of this that has done my head in. We have known what we needed to do for a number of months, but been unable to start on them because we've had to wait for consent. We have that now, and are working through the laundry list of upgrades. For anyone in construction or who owns a small business this is part and parcel, however it's all still new to me. As a result, it's been a frustrating experience of managing my expectations on opening the space.
At this stage, May is looking likely but I will not announce a date until I know for certain that we are in the clear. Thank you for your patience.
2.
Another thing about this next step is my personal expectations of the beer quality and its authenticity. What we are doing here at Wildflower is very personal to me. But being wild beer, each day brings its own new set of challenges. I'm nervous releasing my beer to market because my expectations of it are so high.
The beer will ultimately speak for itself. At the time of writing this though, I am happy with how it is tasting and feeling pretty good about all the above.
3. Beer!
Now on to the really exciting part. We have a licence, we have beer that is ready, so we will be sending out the first release of Blends #1 of both Gold and Amber this Thursday 20 Apr. Brutally honest, we are pretty tired of watching the bank account go one way, so we aren't going to hold out on selling until the cellar door is open. Regardless, there is beer ready to be enjoyed and getting that in y'alls hands is the business of our business.
From Thursday you will be able to purchase our beer from the following locations:
NSW
- Automata, Chippendale
- Beer Cartel, Artarmon
- Bitter Phew, Darlinghurst
- Bucket Boys, Marrickville
- Creek & Cella, Leichhardt
- Five Way Cellars, Paddington
- Flat Rock Brew Cafe, Naremburn
- The Oak Barrel, CBD
- Oldfield Cellars, Gosford
- Platinum Liquor, Strathfield & Bellevue Hill
VIC
- Slowbeer, Richmond
- Bar Liberty, Fitzroy
We have had something to do with all these bottle shops, restaurants and bars for varied amounts of time and for different reasons; however, they have all been keen supporters of our brewery.
We are fittingly NSW heavy but if you are far from these locations and would still like to purchase our beer, you still can on our online store here > wildflowerbeer.com/collections/beer.
Tasting notes and further information for Gold Blend #1 and Amber Blend #1 will be posted online before Thursday.
Events:
On Thursday night, I'll be at Platinum Liquor (Strathfield) pouring tasters of my beer, eating cheese and having a good time from 7.30-9. Come and join along in the fun of our first release.
Below is a list of a few upcoming events surrounding our first release.
- 20 Apr- Tasting, cheese, bottle share at Platinum Liquor Strathfield
- 5 May- Tasting at Bucket Boys, Marrickville
- 6 May- Wildflower in Residence at Bitter Phew (details to follow).
Thank you all for the support and interest you have shown in this project over the past few months. It has so far been a wild ride and it only promises to get crazier!
best
topher
