Batch Brewing Co.

Founded in 2013, Batch Brewing Co. is an Australian craft brewery with a focus on unique, handcrafted, small batch beers with deep community inspiration. The company brews and releases new limited release beers regularly, each with its own unique combination of flavours. These exciting beers complement its award winning line up of sessionable core brands including an American style pale ale, American West Coast style IPA, nitrogenated milk stout, kettle soured ale with passionfruit and dragonfruit, and an Australian style pale ale.

Batch operates out of two venues in Sydney’s inner-west, with a main production brewery and tasting room in Marrickville, and an R&D and experimental brewery and tasting room in Petersham, the latter of which is in cooperation with Solotel, one of Australia’s leading hospitality groups. 

With a passionate team of over 20 beer enthusiasts, whose backgrounds include the drinks industry, finance, entrepreneurship and the arts, Batch is primed to grow its presence wider across NSW before accessing untapped interstate markets. 

Batch Brewing Co. was originally conceived as an idea in 2011, before becoming a reality in 2013. Founders Andrew and Chris found themselves in a chance conversation about craft brewing in Australia. The pair felt the market lacked creativity and transparency, and they wanted to build a place for the community to come and experience all the flavours that small scale craft brewing had to offer in a fresh, inclusive, socially responsible environment where creativity would be celebrated. Andrew was working with some of the largest alcohol brands in the country at Lion, while Chris was homebrewing outside of his day job with a leading investment bank, J.P. Morgan. 

The two were among the first pioneers of Sydney’s now buzzing craft beer scene. Taking a uniquely American perspective and combining it with Australian community values, Batch Brewing Co. was born. A brewery putting its community at the centre of its decision making, releasing a new beer every five days on average, to please all types of taste buds. Batch has made a point of drawing inspiration from responsibly sourcing new raw materials to continue to create new flavour experiences with a sense of place, while supporting suppliers who also share in its vision of an inclusive and sustainable economy.

With limited external investment to date, Batch has grown to its current position thanks to high quality, unique beers and a loyal community around the brand. With a main production brewery and a small batch R&D facility, a distribution network covering three states and ACT, and direct retail to an engaged community, Batch is primed to capitalise and expand further across the country.

As the next phase of growth, Batch intends to continue to strengthen its NSW presence through a series of new taprooms in key locations fed by its Marrickville and Petersham facilities and contract brewing partners. The additional taprooms will not only expand Batch’s direct customer presence, but will also underpin broad awareness to support wholesale sales. Batch is in the process of assessing potential locations that will maintain brand ethos, optimise impact in the community and maximise distribution potential.

Batch then intends to implement this “hub and spoke” production and venue model in additional locations in order to expand its reach interstate capturing a new audience while maintaining its high quality levels, brand values of community, and sustainability goals.   

The mix of the small scale R&D facility and larger scale production breweries will enable the various venues to have access to bespoke flavours giving each venue its own personality and ability to bond with its local community, while also giving the company efficient production of more popular beers served at all venues. As well as its own beers, the venues will serve a carefully curated list of other drinks from partner brands, as well as simple food options designed to complement and elevate the beer experience. Like siblings from the same family, each venue will have its own identity as defined by the employees and customers, while sharing common Batch values.

The craft brewing industry in Australia has boomed in recent years and shows no signs of slowing down as it enters the mainstream of Australian beer culture. As some of the original figures in the local industry, Batch has watched and helped the market continue to evolve and reach the levels it has today.

As the dominance of large beer brands continues to fall, craft brewing is expected to drive the beer industry forward, with IbisWorld expecting 4% annual growth until at least 2029 for the broader industry, with craft beer sales growing at closer to 10% annually in Australia according to Deloitte. 

Recent increase in craft beer acquisitions is evidence of the growing strength of the industry. Multinational alcohol giants such as Carlton & United Breweries and AB InBev have made a number of key acquisitions of successful craft breweries including Balter, 4 Pines, Pirate Life, Green Beacon and Mountain Goat.

Batch Brewing Co. has always prioritised its community and key stakeholders at every stage of its journey. It plans to continue to respect this ethos and believes a network of individual Australians who can interact with the brand daily will be a more powerful force for good than a small group of institutional investors. Through its hub and spoke model funded by passionate beer people, Batch will continue to deliver high quality beer with unique flavours and not be forced to play the high volume, commodity beer game dominated by the foreign owned brewing conglomerates.

In 2020, Batch’s original pool of 10 “angels” were given the opportunity to sell their positions through private transactions at a 285% increase in value. While a handful did take that deal, most investors are staying on, a testament to the management team’s vision and ability to execute.