As it prepares to celebrate the first anniversary since opening its Brisbane brewery, BrewDog is reportedly actively seeking locations for its first Australian bars.

The Courier Mail reports that the Scottish brewer has given an ‘open-ended appointment’ to global commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield to “find the right location which would be between 500sq m to 1000sq m plus external/rooftop/terrace space.”

South Brisbane, West End, Fortitude Valley and Bowen Hills are apparently under consideration for the bar with the plan being to open by the end of news year. In addition to Brisbane, finding Melbourne and Sydney are also priorities for the brewer, which already operates more than 80 bars globally.

BrewDog’s Australian head of operations, Calvin McDonald, confirmed that the time was right to begin looking for Australian bar locations.

“BrewDog has never made a secret of its desire to bring craft beer to the people – and we’re really excited by the opportunity of bringing the BrewDog experience to as many Australians as possible,” he told Brews News.

“We’re always open-minded about our next moves – and never rule out any city if the circumstances are right – but it goes without saying that we’re keen to be able to bring our super-fresh Brisbane brewed beer to Sydney and Melbourne.

“I’m also grateful to the support of Brisbanites, especially in this time of COVID, for their outstanding support of DogTap in Murarrie.

“I had wondered if it would make sense to open a second site in Brisbane, but the continued success of the taproom has me fully convinced that the time is right for us to start the search in central Brisbane too.”

BrewDog’s Brisbane beers launched

BrewDog’s plans come as the brewer launched a packaged range of its core beers, brewed locally in Australia.

The ‘headliner range’, available at the brewer’s Brisbane DogTap and its online store, includes Punk IPA, Hazy Jane New England IPA, Elvis Juice Grapefruit Infused IPA and a West Coast classic Pale Ale.

As it expands its local production and starts to expand its local distribution footprint, McDonald anticipates they will be expanding its local fermentation capacity.

The brewer has already signalled its commitment to locally producing its range as far as possible, having ordered a pasteuriser to enable it to produce its alcohol-free range locally. Because of the processes smaller brewers use to brew alcohol-free beers, pasteurisation is necessary to ensure self stability.

BrewDog hopes to be producing its alcohol-free range locally by the end of Q1 2021.

Want to hear more about BrewDog Brisbane? Radio Brews News spoke with Calvin McDonald earlier this year on the Beer is a Conversation podcast