Former Bluetongue CEO Daryl MacGraw and head brewer Bruce Peachey have quietly launched a new beer brand.

MacGraw and Peachey began setting up Q Brewing Co or Qbrew in August, shortly after MacGraw departed his role as head of business development at Brewpack.

The company is no relation to home brew supplier Queensland Brewing Company, which also goes by the name Qbrew.

Q Brewing’s first beers – Quick Draw Lager and Quick Draw Pale Ale – have recently been tapped at a number of Sydney venues, leveraging MacGraw’s close ties with publicans including Arthur Laundy.

Quick Draw is MacGraw’s nickname and the beers were contract brewed at Rocks Brewing, under Peachey’s watch. The duo spoke with Australian Brews News about their plans.

“It’s sort of like the old Bluetongue team back together,” said MacGraw.

Added Peachey: “I’m looking after the production and technical side and Daryl’s looking after sales.”

“We’ve got a slightly different philosophy to most of the craft brewers out there,” Peachey said.

“We’ve launched these beers to be more drinkable and more sessionable. They’re both 4.5 per cent alcohol so there’s nothing bold about them.

“We’ve given ourselves a couple of years to see how it goes and then we’ll review what our options are – if we want to proceed to build a brewery.”

Peachey said Q Brewing’s beers are positioned as premium, setting them aside from the mainstream beer market, which continues to decline.

Nevertheless, he acknowledged that launching a new brand at this stage of their careers is a risky move for the duo.

“Neither of us are risk averse, that’s why we thought we’d throw our hat in the ring and see how it went,” he said.

Peachey stressed that the new beers are entirely his own recipes, completely separate to those that bore the Bluetongue badge.

“I signed the rights to those recipes away,” he said.

Look out for Q Brewing’s beers at venues including Chippendale Hotel, The Rose Hotel, Summer Hill Hotel and Quarrymans Hotel.