Issue #9: In like gin
No room for booze in the Budget, Taiwan comes to Sydney, fake beer festivals and more
A jam-packed update for you this week, with the alcohol industry’s reaction to the Budget, a look at the Australian gin sector, multiple upcoming events, and a dodgy beer festival so poorly organised, I almost wish it were going ahead.
What’s new?
Gerries Bar, Fortitude Valley. Somewhere in between a new opening and a revamp, the former Gerard’s Bar on James Street has been taken over by Justinn De Beer (co-owner of Brooklyn Standard, Hello Gorgeous) and Mark Rodrigues (ex-Palace Supper Club). Like the neighbouring restaurant it grew out of, Gerard’s Bar was known more for its food than its drink list, including a killer cheeseburger. De Beer and Rodrigues seem to be taking an incremental approach to the transition, swapping out a few things at a time. James Street has always been more focussed on food than drinks, so it’ll be interesting to see where Gerries lands.
Bar Sumi, Sydney. An East-Asian-style whisky bar is hardly news these days, but one from an experienced Taiwanese bartender certainly is. Wen Wang (ex-Maybe Sammy, ex-NOLA Barangaroo) has opened his first venue in Sydney’s Chinatown. Sumi is all about whisky, cocktails, and sake, and there are no menus. You tell the bartender what flavours you like, and they recommend something – not uncommon in Asian bars, but a relative rarity here. What intrigues me most about Sumi is the way Wang seems to have taken a venue from Taipei lock, stock, and barrel, and plonked it down in Sydney. That refusal to compromise for the local market makes it all the more authentic, and so far, it seems to be paying off.
The booze industry doesn’t like the Budget. The Australian government released the Federal Budget for the 2024-2025 financial year last week, and there was nothing in it to help the industry with excise tax increases, inflation, export costs, or anything else. Not really a surprise, since the government had barely hinted at any of those things in the lead-up. Equally unsurprising is the negative response from peak bodies, including the Independent Brewers Association, Spirits & Cocktails Australia, and Australian Grape & Wine. Their argument is the government’s forecasts for the booze industry are far too optimistic. For example, the budget projects a $180 million boost to federal revenue from spirits excise, despite the total take from that tax for the previous financial year coming in $200 million below estimates. Maybe the industry should look into hiring the lobbyists Qantas uses.
On trends
The big news this month was popular Australian gin producer Never Never Distilling being sold to CUB.
With Four Pillars snapped up by Lion last year, and the recent poor forecasts for gin’s local growth, it seems like Australian gin might have reached the end of its beginning. We’re certainly seeing fewer new local gin brands cropping up now compared to ten years ago – setting up a distillery isn’t such an appealing prospect in this economy. High interest rates and cost of living pressures are taking a toll on craft spirits, just like they are on craft beer.
All this suggests a wave of consolidation and closures is coming. Of course, the gin market is much smaller than the craft beer market, and the market for specifically Australian-style gin is a niche of that niche. How many brands can it realistically support?
There aren’t many publicly available stats to work with, but recent articles on Four Pillars claim it’s the highest selling local gin brand, accounting for 40% of all Australian gin produced. Assuming that’s true, let’s say Never Never is the next largest brand, with 20% or 30%. That leaves room for one or two similarly sized competitors, or more likely, a dozen much smaller ones. And some of those spots are inevitably taken up by Dan Murphy’s and Coles homebrands. Several smaller producers might merge together, but running multiple distilleries in different places doesn’t bring big operational efficiencies unless they’re all making the exact same gin.
All that to say, expect more sales and closures over the next year or so.
Also interesting to note: these gin distilleries weren’t bought by global drinks groups like Diageo, Pernod Ricard, or Suntory – they were bought by beer conglomerates with little history in spirits. Is Australian gin too small-time for those big names (all of whom have a significant local presence) or is it just that CUB and Lion are eager to diversify? A topic for another issue, perhaps.
What’s on?
Sammy Junior at Before and After, May 26. From 4pm on Sunday, Claudio Bedini, the manager of Sydney’s Sammy Junior, is taking the reins at Brisbane’s Before and After. Sammy Junior is an Italian-style cafe bar that’s one of the best places to drink in the afternoon in Sydney. Sadly, Bedini’s not bringing any of the bar’s delicious paninis with him, but he will be making cocktails from Sammy Junior’s new menu.
Zoolove, The Zoo, June 7. The Zoo’s big farewell show sold out a couple of hours after tickets went on sale this morning, but apparently part of it will be livestreamed on 4ZZZ from 10pm that night. There’s also a waiting list for cancellation tickets, if you’re feeling lucky. The venue’s still got another month to go after this show, so consider dropping by another night, too.
Good reads
The unlimited beer festival that never existed. Remember Karen’s Diner – the concept that seemed machine-tooled to go viral and then implode spectacularly, leaving loads of people out of pocket? Proving that one bad idea is usually followed by several more, the people behind Karen’s Diner have apparently been organising dodgy and/or non-existent “food experiences” around the world under the name Explore Hidden. Their latest, the Unlimited Beer Festival in Melbourne, was exposed by brewer Luke Robertson. His first tip off? An email from the organisers was riddled with links back to ChatGPT instead of a proper website 🤦♂️
At least that shambolic Wonka Experience in Glasgow gave us some fun memes. Explore Hidden can’t even do that. Brisbane bars turn to crowdfunding. The closure of The Zoo has caused more small venues to go public about their own financial challenges, with several setting up GoFundMe campaigns. Brisbane Times spoke to a few owners and once again raised the idea of a levy on big concerts to support smaller venues, and the need for a night mayor for Brisbane.
Mapping Brisbane coffee preferences. Using sales data from Square, a couple of journalists were able to see which coffee orders are most popular in different Brisbane suburbs. Flat whites are more popular in the inner city, with cappuccinos getting more common the further out you go.
And that’s it for this issue. Don’t forget to pop into Before and After on Sunday. If you do, you might even run into your friendly neighbourhood BBB correspondent there.
Until next time, may all your drinks be good ones.