Scottish-born brewery and hospitality business, BrewDog, has released its two year blue print for growth across Australia and New Zealand.

The 14-page document, designed to support its current crowd-sourced funding campaign, expands on already-announced plans for the region.

BrewDog’s plans include launching four venues in two years, with the first planned for Brisbane and Sydney. It hopes to secure locations for two more by 2023.

Short-listed locations for additional venues include Melbourne, Auckland, Perth, Newcastle and the Gold Coast.

Having recently employed its first salesperson, the company says its plan is to have eight full-time sales representatives employed, including its first New Zealand hire.

While announcing plans for Australia and New Zealand expansion, the company said its priority is further expanding its Brisbane base.

Plans announced include alterations rectifying some issues with the existing outdoor space, including providing additional shading to the existing venues outdoor areas. Despite its popularity, the venue’s initial designs didn’t fully cater to Brisbane’s sub-tropical climate. The outddoor seating will also be expanded

Seating will also be expanded with the addition of a mezzanine level that makes use of the locations river-side location.

A pastueriser will be added to facilitate production of BrewDog’s alcohol free beer range, and plans for its adjoining hotel have also been confirmed.

In a move designed to bolster its flagging local crowd-sourced funding campaign, BrewDog has offered to consider opening a BrewDog bar in any town that has more than 500 equity holders through the raise, with the aim of opening an venue before 2023.

While the Brisbane venue has been well received by locals and is regarded as one of the most profitable of the group’s bars internationally, the equity raise has not been strongly embraced by locals.

The company has raised £74 million ($132 million) globally from more than 145,000 equity investors, though its local campaign has managed to raise just $600,000 since launching in December.

Despite a high profile internationally, BrewDog’s founders are yet to speak to Australias media about the crowd-sourced funding campaign, the company’s valuation and their plans for a future IPO. In 2018 James Watts told The Scotsman that a 2020 IPO was ‘on track’.

Listen to BrewDog’s Australian General Manager Ed Bott discuss BrewDog’s local plans and more on the Beer is a Conversation podcast.

Below is the company’s media release outlining the announcement.

Media Release

A craft beer hotel is set to open in Australia

Brewdog supercharges its Australian expansion plan, with new sites to open in Sydney and Brisbane

Australia will soon be home to its first craft beer hotel, thanks to BrewDog Australia. The craft beer trailblazer has announced the exciting development as part of its ambitious two-year blueprint for its antipodean expansion, which also includes the launch of several new sites across the country and New Zealand by 2023.

Since its launch in 2019, BrewDog Brisbane has become one of BrewDog’s most successful sites globally and the blueprint reveals a staged plan to make it Australia’s ultimate beer destination.

Alongside plans to open a second BrewDog bar site in Brisbane and its first in Sydney, the blueprint reveals plans to open BrewDog bars in Melbourne, Perth and Auckland – complete with micro brewing facilities so locals can enjoy freshly brewed beers on site.

BrewDog has also revealed exciting plans to open the country’s first-ever eco-friendly craft beer hotel, The DogHouse Brisbane, that will cater to both human and canine guests. Following on from the success of The DogHouse in Columbus, Ohio – TIME Magazine named it as one of the Greatest Places on Earth in 2019 – The DogHouse Brisbane will be equipped with shower beer fridges and hotel-room draft beer taps filled with fresh Aussie-brewed Punk IPA.

Ed Bott, BrewDog’s ANZ CEO, said: “We are extremely grateful for the outstanding support we have received in Australia since we landed Down Under. It’s been a pretty wild ride so far, but we have ambitious plans for Australia and New Zealand, building a fast-paced sustainable business that can be a force for good. We can’t wait to bring our relentless obsession with incredible craft beer to the rest of the country and for our Punks to be able to head to their local BrewDog bar and get their paws on our freshly brewed Aussie beers.”

BrewDog was born with the aim to revolutionise the beer industry and redefine beer-drinking culture. The first carbon-negative beer business in the world with the ambition to become the world’s most sustainable beer business, BrewDog is owned by thousands of craft beer lovers across the world who have all invested in the brewery’s pioneering ‘Equity for Punks’ crowdfunding program. These 180,000+ ‘Equity Punks’ are the brewery’s heart and soul.

After releasing the blueprint for its expansion Down Under, BrewDog has now extended its pioneering crowdfunding initiative, Equity for Punks, until 31 March in Australia to give more beer lovers the opportunity to shape the future of the Australian-owned company. They have also opened up the raise to New Zealand.

Bott said the response to the current raise in Australia had exceeded the initial $300,000AUD target and is currently sitting at over $570,000AUD with over 845 investors to date. The raise is now scheduled to close on 31 March 2021, with every single dollar raised used to sustainably fuel BrewDog’s growth across both countries and fund investment in groundbreaking, high-impact green projects to help build a more sustainable future.

Aussie beer drinkers who want to see a BrewDog bar open in their town can help speed up the process by participating in the brand’s pioneering crowdfunding initiative, Equity for Punks. The brewer has also confirmed that if more than 500 Equity Punks join from the same city before the current raise closes on March 31, they will open a BrewDog bar there within the next three years.

Changes are already underway at the Brisbane beer campus, adding a larger outdoor seating area with shaded seating on the riverside terrace before they expand the brewery to install a pasteuriser that will help expand its AF (alcohol-free) beer range and an additional packaging line. Next, they will upgrade the taproom adding 100m2 of private event space, expanded walk-in takeaway shop and larger kitchen space.

BrewDog plans to fuel its growth by employing eight full-time sales reps across Australia and New Zealand, increasing its product line and launching a number of special limited edition collaborations. The first, a European collaboration with the kings of Manchester, Cloudwater, was released last month, and they are also working on releasing their alcohol-free beer range as soon as possible. Starting with Nanny State, the range will be expanded later this year with Punk AF, Hazy AF and its raspberry AF Sour, Faux Fox.

Investments can be made through the OnMarket platform at www.brewdog.com/efpoz. Full details can be found in the Offer Information Statement.

– ENDS –

Equity for Punks Tomorrow

Core shareholder benefits:

When buying shares in Equity for Punks in Australia and New Zealand, investors will get their own tree dedicated to them in the BrewDog forest in Scotland, where the brewer plans to plant one million trees by 2022. They will also get access to a whole raft of benefits from free beers on your birthday, to sustainably sourced T-shirts and accessories, through to exclusive events that celebrate craft beer and BrewDog’s community.

Benefits include:

• AGM invite with +1 to the first ever Australian AGM – an annual beer, food and music festival
• A free beer on your birthday
• 5% discount in all BrewDog bars
• Invites to brew with BrewDog on Beatnik brew days
• Exclusive access to new beers
• A copy of BrewDog’s book, Craft Beer for the People
• Free brewery tours around the Brisbane facility